Not wanting to rain on anybody's parade, but just thought I'd slip in here for a moment and post something that's actually related to the topic. I spoke to an old college friend yesterday. He still lives in New York City, and was mugged a couple of months ago, by a guy with a knife.
I told him I (legally) carry a gun in Florida, and I would have citizens arrested the mugger, in addition to not losing any of my money. He's still stuck in the New York liberal anti-gun culture mentality. Too bad he never served in the military.
I sleep better knowing that I am my family are in a position to protect ourselves should that be necessary. Our local police force probably does the best it can, but 10-15 minutes for an emergency response in our neighborhood just doesn't cut it if you have some crazed maniac trying to kick in the front door, nor would it help if you are about to be robbed, mugged, raped or worse in the parking garage. Certainly gun free schools are an attractive target for the cowardly sociopathic thug intent on getting his name in the newspapers.
New Mexico has been an open carry state since its inception. It has also been a concealed carry state for quite some years now. There is a lot of gun crime here because we not only have an unusually high percentage of illegals--and SOME of those ARE violent drug dealers, thieves, robbers, murderers, rapists, etc. while some/ maybe many/most are good people--and we have our share of gangs etc. But I do not believe there has been a single incident in which somebody with a concealed carry permit was involved in an unfortunate incident/accident or committed any kind of crime. There have been at least a few instances in which one or more of those folks broke up or prevented a crime.
I once served on a jury in which about 150 or so of us were called as the jury pool. At one point, either a prosecutor or defense attorney asked the assembly of jurors in the room who had CC permits. I was surprised that about 30 or so people, men and women, raised their hands. Those were then interviewed further and presumably 12 of them were drafted onto whatever jury applied.
So the New Mexico culture, even though we are pretty much a bright blue state these days, pretty much supports or at least doesn't try to modify the 2A. We are considered one of the most high crime, violent states, and yet most areas in New Mexico, including here in Albuquerque, are as safe as anywhere in the country. Such as my neighborhood in which the worst crime in the 19 years we have lived here was a kid putting a firecracker in a mailbox. And I would guess that the large majority of my neighbors have firearms in the home. And we share values on what makes good neighbors too.
I am strongly convinced that the problem is not the guns but it is the culture.
