Bob S. has spoken quite a few times on a particular meme among the anti-gun folks, specifically that those of us who own (and especially those who carry) guns do so out of fear.
I joined a cloth diapering message board yesterday, because I want to cover this one's butt in a cheaper fashion, and managed to immediately get sucked into a discussion of concealed carry specifically and gun ownership in general. I won't name the board or use direct quotes, because I'm not sure how much of it is open to the general internet public, but it was an interesting discussion.
One of those on the other side of the fence was a woman who was born in Canada and now lives in America, with her American husband. She said that, where she grew up, people only carried guns if they were criminals or about to go hunting. So I asked her if it bothered her that the bad guys were much more likely to be armed than the good guys. "No," she said, "I just stay out of the criminals' way!"
Huh. That's a new approach.
She further clarified that every time she and her husband move somewhere, she does exhaustive research. She ensures that they move into the safest possible neighborhood, even if it means her husband has a very long commute to and from work. They have a dog. And an alarm system, which she is very careful to set every time her husband is gone.
In short, she bends her life around criminals.
Erik and I talked about it when he got home from work. Understand, please, that we don't go out of our way to put ourselves in dangerous situations.
But...
We live in a neighborhood which is affordable and about which I am absolutely passionate--I grew up in this part of town, and I want to be part of its renewal. Erik has a pretty short drive to & from work, the girls have a school they love, and we're very near downtown, which is important to me. (Once the baby is born, we'll be able to walk into town.)
But it's not the safest neighborhood in the city. (I'm honestly not sure what is.) We can live here, though, and not be scared, because we own guns. We do not have to bend our lives around criminals.
6 comments:
Damn straight! Maybe she likes living in the clouds, but the real world is far more interesting. If I could afford to live in the clouds, I still wouldn't.
I own a couple of sweet revolvers and a rifle. I can shoot the revolvers and hit what I want where I want. I live alone in an area of the city that is always on the list of crimes by zip code. There was a break in here before I lived here but since, none.
I know if someone broke in, I'd shoot them. If they had guns, I'd kill them. But I don't go out looking for trouble and of all my friends, conservative or liberal, I'm the only gun owner. If I'd not dated that crazy x-Ranger dude, I'd probably not have a gun nor know how to shoot.
Playing the advocate here; that trial in CT in the national news today was in a high income, expensive big house neighborhood. Two guys followed the mom from the grocery with her two daughters to learn where they lived, then broke in later, tied up and beat the husband [an MD], and raped her and her older daughter and killed her. The two girls died of smoke inhalation after the criminals set the house on fire. So obviously while some places in the country are safer than others, you cannot make careful decisions about where you live to an extent that something like this would happen.
Guns are not the answer though, and I will not live in fear.
Sabra,
Thanks for the link, greatly appreciated.
I find it ironic that we are told by antis not to resist criminals otherwise they will hurt us -- but we are the ones living in fear.
Ironic that despite crimes at the locations I still patronize (banks, restaurants, stores) instead of running away -- I'm the one living in fear.
I don't go out of my way to put my family or myself in dangerous situations -- but a look at a crime map shows that dangerous situations are all around me.
Who's living in fear: those who deny reality or those who accept the dangers of life and keep going?
"I just stay out of the criminals' way!"
Do the criminals in Canada wear signs so people know who they are?
It sounds to me as if she is the one that lives with constant fear, not you and Erik.
I'd point out to that lady that anytime a serious violent crime occurs somewhere other than an urban slum there's some sobbing woman proclaiming,
"This is a nice neighborhood! Thinks like this never happen here."
Yeah, they don't happen....until they do. Plenty of unspeakably horrible violent crimes happen in so-called "good neighborhoods" yet every single time people acted SHOCKED that it could possibly happen to them.
I have an alarm system, good locks, and security lights. No dog because of allergy and frankly I spend enough time in my day cleaning up shit to come home to more that isn't my flesh and blood.
My neighborhood is a very safe one (tho like you I have lived in some less safe ones for various reasons) But there's still some pretty nasty crime that rarely happens here. Even a "Safe neighborhood" has its statistical variants.
Also I WORK and COMMUTE through some nasty places, so its a very wise move to keep a gun handy at all times.
Great post!
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