The debate rages on
My previous post about the sicko who decapitated that poor kid sparked a lively debate about guns in the hands of the public. This has been covered before but I will say it again.
As a police officer, I don't think I have anything to fear from a law-abiding citizen who carries a firearm. In fact, I consider it just another good guy out there watching my back. I have never ever had a problem with a citizen who was licensed for concealed carry. If someone is responsible enough to go through the hoops to carry concealed, they are not the type to go around shooting up the town.
The only armed folks I have had problems with are ones who are already shitbag criminals to begin with. These folks are usually convicted felons but still carry guns. If they are already predisposed to break the law, I doubt additional penalities for carrying an illegal gun will deter them.
This begs the question of should we demand that our law-abiding citizens go defenseless while the violent criminals will go armed no matter what we do? While I agree that the police are usually (but not always) better trained than an armed citizen, we can't be everywhere. As the saying goes, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.”
I suppose the US would be a safer place if all the guns vanished but that won't happen. The furies are out of the box and guns will always be a part of American culture. The best solution (IMHO)is to let the honest citizens have the means to protect themselves if they so choose.
While there are many sides to this issue, I know one thing. If me or any other responsible gun owner had been on that bus in Canada, things would have ended up differently.
10 bits of radio chatter:
Very nicely put
An armed society is a polite society.
Actually, it would be an even more morally bankrupt society if we could truly (and magically, no doubt) get rid of all guns. Then the US would be like Canada, and you could go around stabbing people on busses for kicks all you wanted and no one would be able to do anything about it. We'd all be bloody sheep surrounded by wolves, and that would be awful.
Right on JL!
And spot-on to anonymous at 1:32 AM too!
JL:
AMEN.
Anon:
Great comment - I'm with you 100%!
B.G.
(law-abiding AND armed)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=973_1217721136
http://www.nraila.org/ArmedCitizen/default.aspx
thank you for your comments on lawfully armed citizens, of which i am one. i've held non-resident carry permits in n.h. and mass. (my own state does not issue or require any form of "pistol permit" to possess or carry) i've found many street cops who feel as you do, it seems the brass are the ones pushing "gun control" that affects criminals very little.
"gunner"
I usually agree completely with your posts. But here, I take exception. If every firearm on the planet magically disappeared tomorrow, we would be less safe.
If all the guns were gone, criminals could form gangs or roving packs and take down citizens with impunity. Machetes and swords would rule the day. Home invasions would carry no risks.
A gun is an equalizer. It makes a 110 lb. woman capable of handling a 250 lb rapist. It makes criminals think twice before robbing old men. If it was in my power, I would teach firearms in schools, train everyone, and give tax breaks on firearm purchases by citizens with concealed carry permits. That would make America a safer place.
Here's a link to a story about a woman who used a firearm to defend her 3 year old from a man armed with an axe this week:
http://www.myfoxgulfcoast.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7185305&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
You can't say the world would be a better place if she hadn't had that gun.
I am a woman who lives alone in a high crime area of the San Francisco Bay Area.
I own a gun which I keep at home for my own protection. I have taken a gun safety class and go to the range about once a month to keep in practice.
My Berkeley-type friends think I'm nuts to have a gun, but I was ever so glad to have it when I had a prowler in my back yard a few months ago too! I didn't have to use it, but I felt much better having it. I was able to shout, "I have a gun and will kill your ass if you don't leave my yard right NOW!" Thank god he high-tailed it.
In California, the laws are so strict, that they very rarely give permits out to citizens who live in urban environments like mine.
I'm a honest law-abiding citizen who has only ever had one tiny brush with the law. Ahem. About 10 years ago I got a ticket for failure to come to a complete stop at stop sign. "California roll." it's called.
I often take my dog go camping and travel around in very uninhabited areas by myself. I looked into getting a permit for when I travel like that -- for say if I was stranded or by myself in an uninhabited area, but I found the process costs to be too much of a burden.
That said, for me to get a permit, I would have to fill out a lengthy application, write a "good cause" statement, go through an interview, a background check, a psychiatric test, and qualify on the gun I wanted to carry. None of these are an issue, per se, but the process is cumbersome. I don't know what the permit process is like in other states. The initial cost is around $500 and then another $250 every two years! Ouch!
So for now, when I am traveling to uninhabited areas or when I go camping I do take my gun. When I am on the road, I have to keep it unloaded and in a locked case in the trunk. I cannot carry the ammo in the trunk, either.
When I camp in the wilderness, I do keep the loaded gun with me, but I'm pretty sure that's allowed by California law.
QUESTION FOR YOU JOHNNY LAW: Hypothetically I am pulled over for something and I am carrying my unloaded gun in a lock case which is in the trunk. Does the officer who stops me need to know that? I figure I wouldn't volunteer the information unless he asked, but is it better for me to say I have it up front?
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