NY GUN OWNER's GENEROSITY to Criminal

Well Dave--you can't shoot a hungry guy surely? One might easily have a lifetime of nightmares were one to do that.

spendius wrote:

For your nocturnal serenity,
shoud u wait until he has finished his last meal ?


On a personal note,
I feel a little uneasy about the distribution of furniture in my bedroom,
which I have arranged for optimal delight n convenience of televisionary entertainment.

If I were ever awakened by a burglar in my bedroom,
I am prepared to render a 1 gun salute with my 2 inch caliber .44 special
Taurus Model 445 revolver. Altho it is loaded with hollowpointed slugs,
to maximize energy dump into the target, overpenetration is very likely.

The problem is that my 7 foot High Definition TV is across the room
from my bed (in place for optimal observation). If I shot a burglar
from bed, my HD TV 'd be in danger from overpenetration of the round,
even tho it is hollowpointed to put on the brakes within the target.

I suppose I 'd need to arise from my bed and flank the burglar
to get my HD TV out of the line of fire. Thay shoud sell de lux
bulletproof models, to abide the event of burglars.

How do the English cope with this problem ?





`

Done in by a ricochet. Sweet justice.

Basically we have nothing worth stealing and if we are invaded, which is very rare, we claim, I gather, about twice as much as gets stolen off the insurance. We are not allowed to bear arms for which we are mostly very grateful. We have a tendency to think that personal defence speaks of fear. Your post betrays what we would say is a morbid fear but that doesn't mean it is unjustified. It just isn't justified here.

We admire and trust our cops.

It's all very well talking about killing another human being but actually doing it can be quite dangerous to one's future mental health.

David wrote:


spendius wrote:

I was once in morbid and unjustified fear, well over 50 years ago.
When I reached the age of 8, I moved from New York
to Arizona. I was alone at home a lot, while my parents
attended to our commercial properties, returning home around 9 PM.
We lived in a safe area; during those 5 years, I never saw the police
arrive with any lights nor sirens. Regardless, I used to wonder:
if anyone breaks in here, how the hell am I going to defend the place?
I felt vaguely uneasy.
A few weeks thereafter, some of the kids were playing poker.
To cover a raise, one of them bet a 2 inch .38 Smith & Wesson
revolver; (thay were plentiful, unlike in NY). I won and from then
hence I enjoyed a tranquil state of mind. That was the first of my
gun collection. We liked practice out on the desert or in gunnery ranges.
I made holsters for it out of scrap leather and took it everywhere,
until years later, I upgraded to a .44 revolver with hollowpointed
slugs for better stopping power. I never had any actual use for it
(other than supporting my state of serenity) until one night when
I was driving home from my girlfriend 's house around 1 AM.
I was alone on the road, except for an old car that pulled up
abreast of mine, to my immediate left, whereupon a bullethole
appeared in my left driver 's side window and that car continued
exactly abreast of mine, until I withdrew my .44 caliber
stainless steel mirror (visible in low light conditions) 2 inch Taurus
Model 445 Revolver. I heard a scream and the other car departed apace.
I suppose thay had somewhere better to go.
It was a good thing that I had full glass coverage.
The next day, a glassier popped in a new window.

It has been estimated that each year 2,500,000 Americans
deter violence by a display of defensive firepower without discharging a shot.
In America, its better to HAVE a gun and not NEED one,
than it is to NEED a gun and not HAVE one.



spendius wrote:

U be the judge of how to run your own country.

One of your police who had retired on an old age pension
complained that he had been required to falsify statistics of
criminal violence (I apologize for having failed to record his name)
after your prohibition of defensive personal armament,
such that, for instance, multiple violent felonies at the same
time and place, tho with different victims, were recorded
as one crime, to keep the statistics low. I don 't know,
but I have heard that some of your newspapers have decried
a crime wave in England, especially hot burglaries in occupied dwellings.




I suppose admiring is OK.
Trusting is something else.





This can be true.
For instance, I remember a NY police officer who was charged
by a lunatic armed with a pitchfork, and had to kill in self defense.
This fellow was adversely affected in his mental health.
Psychological assistance proved of no avail.
He found it impossible to continue on the job.
He subsequently committed suicide.
To me, this makes no sense, bit it was HIS mind that was the judge.

I had a cab driver in Las Vegas, who spoke of having left
the police force after having killed in self defense, on the job.
U never know. Different people react differently.
Self defense is not compulsory, but I think its advisable.




`

Yes--but you haven't killed anyone. How do you know what it would do to your mind if you had.

I cannot imagine what a pub would be like if guns were known to be in shoulder holsters and half the handbags.

Andy Warhol referred to his being shot in the chest at short range as an "accident". A collision of psyches I suppose he meant. One has to accept accidents. To be too fearful of them must distort the whole of one's ideas.

As Sir Henry Rider Haggard wrote--"There's plenty more where I come from."

Our police, apart from highly trained special units, go unarmed.

David wrote:

spendius wrote:

I accept your reasoning,
but I WILL do what I have to do.
Self defense outranks everything.



spendius wrote:

An armed society is a POLITE society.
We have bars in which the police have a great social presence
on a customary and habitual basis.
Thay r not hells of carnage.



Agreed.
Y r we discussing accidents ?




I 've heard that.
I don' t think its advisable,
unless the citizens r prepared to defend themselves.

If u don't mind my asking,
Y do u write your name without a capital ?



David

Because I am only a lower-case Spendius. Thank goodness.

But I do love that character.

Will this type of generosity
now become politically correct ?

I shouldn't think so Dave. PC people are very Upper-Case.

It wasn't generosity. It was a sort of gesture in honour of M. Flaubert.