Why do you need to carry a gun?

[XponentialChaos]

My mortgage lender requires me to have home insurance.

Do you understand the definition of "voluntarily" or did you simply miss it?

Are homeowner's who voluntarily carry homeowner's insurance paranoid?

[/QUOTE]

I had edited.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

Not long ago, I walked to the mailbox, and along my route I saw a Copperhead snake. For those who are uninformed about this particular snake, it is venomous. A healthy adult probably will not die from the bite, providing that they receive medical attention promptly. However, children, and elderly, will find the bite far more deadly. Not to mention pets. Everyone on my street has dogs, and I have cats as well. Additionally my neighbor is in his 80’s, and he would probably find the bite life threatening.

So this snake was a danger to my pets, my neighbors, and the children who live a quarter mile away.

I pulled the pistol I habitually carry, and shot the snake. I was in my yard, in my neighborhood, if you can call it a neighborhood to live in such a rural area. Yet I was armed, because this is not the first wildlife threat I’ve found myself facing. We also have Wild Boar, which are very aggressive and potentially dangerous or deadly. Coyotes are heard from time to time as they roam along the wooded areas that take up a vast majority of the space out here.

I did not go looking for the snake. I did not go out of my way searching for it. I found it on my normal path, walking to the mailbox in my rural area, on my land. In my yard, the area with grass and such.

So why carry a gun? Because if I had to turn around and rush to the house to get the pistol, the snake may have moved, and been difficult, or impossible to locate. Perhaps he would have returned to the woods, where I sometimes walk, to check the property, but never in a hunting frame of mind. That snake might have bitten my dog, my cats, or my neighbors pets. It might have bitten my neighbor, the old man who has his mailbox positioned next to mine. It might have bitten a child. The best you could hope for is an expensive trip to the Emergency Room, sucking your cash out to pay for the care you would need to minimize the danger.

There is much truth in the old saying. It is better to have, and not need, than to need and not have. There are. Probably a dozen more Copperheads within two hundred yards of where I sit. In the woods, or marshy areas. Hunting and living, and just as much of a danger to the neighborhood as the one I shot. I did not break the law. In Georgia, you can kill venomous snakes, but not non venomous snakes. The experts tell you to take two steps back, and run away if you come across one. That is not my way. It leaves the problem for another. It leaves the danger for my 80 year old neighbor, his dog, or the dogs two doors down who meander over to say hello now and then.

It leaves the danger for the children, who ride their bikes up and down the dirt road.

So why do you need to carry a gun? Because there are more dangers than the odd robbery, or attempted murder. Because the world is filled with threats, two legged, four legged, and even no legs at all. With a gun, you have a much better chance of survival than without. With a gun, you do not guarantee survival, but you increase your odds dramatically.

Yes, accidents are going to happen, just as they do with cars and drivers. Yes, people are going to use the gun to criminally harm another. And yes, people who have guns are going to die before they can get the thing into play. I didn’t say it was a miracle answer, I just said it increases your odds of survival. No one can guarantee your safety or protection. The best that they, or I, can do is give you a fighting chance at survival. Be it from a Copperhead, or a Shitheaded thug. If you choose to take no action to protect yourself, that is your choice, and I’ll respect it. But do not try and take that right from others, because I won’t respect that.

dont even waste your breath with the useful idiot gun grabbers .
your real fights are in statehouses all across the country

Gun grabber

i didnt read any of this thread
but heres the best answer i can give them
WHY
BFYTW!
HA!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Walking to the mailbox with a gun seems excessive to me.

Do you guys take a shit with your guns too?

Sometimes...

 

[K9Buck]

Personally I dont need or want your respect who the fuck are you ?
WHY
BFYTW!
HA!

A lot of emotion, but not much persuasion. I've noticed you spew a lot of rhetoric, but not much in the way of a reasoned argument.

 

[XponentialChaos]

I don't think a person needs to shoot a gun in order to form an opinion about guns.

I agree. With that said, some very prominent gun-control advocates have made some staggeringly ignorant and factually incorrect statements on guns. You'd think they would go and learn something about them.

"Assault rifles", "Automatic Weapons".

Meh. I think it's often just brought up as an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

You'd be surprised.

Top 10 Most Idiotic Anti-Gun Quotes from Politicians

I still think it's just an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

Shooting a pistol once isn't going to change someone's opinion on guns.

 

[jasonnfree]

People who live in nice suburban areas and feel a need to be armed all the time....I consider them to be whackos. This from someone that used to carry a pistol while doing late night collections. A smith snub nose .38. All a guy really needs and like I say, the suburbanites who are packing are just fantasizing. They'd probably poop their pants and shoot themselves in the foot or butt if they were confronted by a real thug

 

[K9Buck]

I had edited.

I don't have a mortgage but I nevertheless carry homeowner's insurance.

I also don't have car payments, but I nevertheless carry more than the state-mandated minimum.

Life is full of risks and we all have to decide for ourselves how much we're going to invest in mitigating those risks. The odds of you being assaulted while walking in your neighborhood don't necessarily reflect the odds for someone else walking in theirs. It's presumptuous for you to claim that, one who carries a gun to their mailbox, is "paranoid".

 

[K9Buck]

People who live in nice suburban areas and feel a need to be armed all the time....I consider them to be whackos.

Yea, no single woman needs to carry a gun. Talk about a paranoid bitch, right?

 

[K9Buck]

I still think it's just an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

I guess I missed it. Who is using that as an "excuse" to avoid discussing the topic at hand?

 

[XponentialChaos]

I had edited.

I don't have a mortgage but I nevertheless carry homeowner's insurance.

I also don't have car payments, but I nevertheless carry more than the state-mandated minimum.

Life is full of risks and we all have to decide for ourselves how much we're going to invest in mitigating those risks. The odds of you being assaulted while walking in your neighborhood don't necessarily reflect the odds for someone else walking in theirs. It's presumptuous for you to claim that, one who carries a gun to their mailbox, is "paranoid".

I'm in a safe neighborhood.

Are you?

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

Personally I dont need or want your respect who the fuck are you ?
WHY
BFYTW!
HA!

A lot of emotion, but not much persuasion. I've noticed you spew a lot of rhetoric, but not much in the way of a reasoned argument.

what reason do you need to disarm anyone cuck?
are you out to save just one child ?

what are your reasons for taking away peoples civil rights ?

and that was a mistake i didnt mean him i meant the gun grabbers

 

[XponentialChaos]

I still think it's just an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

I guess I missed it. Who is using that as an "excuse" to avoid discussing the topic at hand?

I came from a different message board a few years ago. I'm sure it works the same here too. There would be a school shooting or something and it was always the same song and dance:

Liberal: "THIS is why we can't have automatic rifles."

Conservative: "Derp, that wasn't an automatic rifle."

Liberal: "Well whatever. There need to be more restrictions on those guns."

Conservative: "You don't even know what 'those' guns are. You don't even know what an automatic rifle is."

Basically that.

 

[K9Buck]

I'm in a safe neighborhood. Are you?

Pretty much, although we were recently victimized by a gang that would drive out from the city into suburban communities like mine in order to burglarize homes, break into cars and rob people. Eventually, they were caught.

 

[K9Buck]

I still think it's just an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

I guess I missed it. Who is using that as an "excuse" to avoid discussing the topic at hand?

I came from a different message board a few years ago. I'm sure it works the same here too. There would be a school shooting or something and it was always the same song and dance:

Liberal: "THIS is why we can't have automatic rifles."

Conservative: "Derp, that wasn't an automatic rifle."

Liberal: "Well whatever. There need to be more restrictions on those guns."

Conservative: "You don't even know what 'those' guns are. You don't even know what an automatic rifle is."

Basically that.

If we ban AR-15's, then we'll need to ban EVERY semi-automatic rife along with every semi-automatic handgun. Liberals are in a never-ending quest to strip Americans of their guns, by hook or crook, by any means necessary.

 

[K9Buck]

what reason do you need to disarm anyone cuck?
are you out to save just one child ?
what are your reasons for taking away peoples civil rights ?
and that was a mistake i didnt mean him i meant the gun grabbers

You're as dumb as a rock and too stupid to engage. Carry on.

 

[XponentialChaos]

I'm in a safe neighborhood. Are you?

Pretty much, although we were recently victimized by a gang that would drive out from the city into suburban communities like mine in order to burglarize homes, break into cars and rob people. Eventually, they were caught.

Then I don't think I'm being too presumptuous.

I agree that there are places where one should carry a gun while going out to check the mail. But I don't think I'm being overly presumptuous when I say that I think some gun carriers are excessively paranoid when they live in a safe neighborhood or, in this case, a rural area with snakes, and feel the need to carry while checking the mail.

See if they're describing constant violence in their neighborhoods, that's one thing. But it's constantly a mentality, like yours, of preferring to be safe vs sorry. And I get that. I just think it's excessive is all. Just like how you don't carry a gun when you take a shit even though a pack of ninja assassins could bypass your security system, break into your house, kill your dogs, and then kill you. It could happen, it's just not likely. Nor is it likely for you to get assaulted when you go out to check the mail in a safe neighborhood.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

I still think it's just an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

I guess I missed it. Who is using that as an "excuse" to avoid discussing the topic at hand?

I came from a different message board a few years ago. I'm sure it works the same here too. There would be a school shooting or something and it was always the same song and dance:

Liberal: "THIS is why we can't have automatic rifles."

Conservative: "Derp, that wasn't an automatic rifle."

Liberal: "Well whatever. There need to be more restrictions on those guns."

Conservative: "You don't even know what 'those' guns are. You don't even know what an automatic rifle is."

Basically that.

If we ban AR-15's, then we'll need to ban EVERY semi-automatic rife along with every semi-automatic handgun. Liberals are in a never-ending quest to strip Americans of their guns, by hook or crook, by any means necessary.

so youre for the 2nd..like i said i didnt read the thread
but youre just one of those people who will tell you you cant say wetback

same thing saying wetback is a civil right

i dont care who your married to our who your kids are
talk about emotional..cause that whole thread was about YOUR EMOTIONS

eat me cuck

 

[XponentialChaos]

I still think it's just an excuse to avoid discussing the topic at hand.

I guess I missed it. Who is using that as an "excuse" to avoid discussing the topic at hand?

I came from a different message board a few years ago. I'm sure it works the same here too. There would be a school shooting or something and it was always the same song and dance:

Liberal: "THIS is why we can't have automatic rifles."

Conservative: "Derp, that wasn't an automatic rifle."

Liberal: "Well whatever. There need to be more restrictions on those guns."

Conservative: "You don't even know what 'those' guns are. You don't even know what an automatic rifle is."

Basically that.

If we ban AR-15's, then we'll need to ban EVERY semi-automatic rife along with every semi-automatic handgun. Liberals are in a never-ending quest to strip Americans of their guns, by hook or crook, by any means necessary.

I wouldn't propose that, and I don't think that's even logistically possible if it were passed into law.

 

[K9Buck]

I'm in a safe neighborhood. Are you?

Pretty much, although we were recently victimized by a gang that would drive out from the city into suburban communities like mine in order to burglarize homes, break into cars and rob people. Eventually, they were caught.

Then I don't think I'm being too presumptuous.

I agree that there are places where one should carry a gun while going out to check the mail. But I don't think I'm being overly presumptuous when I say that I think some gun carriers are excessively paranoid when they live in a safe neighborhood or, in this case, a rural area with snakes, and feel the need to carry while checking the mail.

See if they're describing constant violence in their neighborhoods, that's one thing. But it's constantly a mentality, like yours, of preferring to be safe vs sorry. And I get that. I just think it's excessive is all. Just like how you don't carry a gun when you take a shit even though a pack of ninja assassins could bypass your security system, break into your house, kill your dogs, and then kill you. It could happen, it's just not likely. Nor is it likely for you to get assaulted when you go out to check the mail in a safe neighborhood.

I think your take is mostly reasonable.

In summary, when I leave the house, I carry a gun to give myself a better chance of surviving in the unlikely event the worst happens.

 

[K9Buck]

I wouldn't propose that, and I don't think that's even logistically possible if it were passed into law.

I'm all for cleaning up crime and violence. Making criminals out of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens isn't the way to do it. I have some ideas on how we could do that, but I suppose that's another thread.