Is it time to talk about guns?

My Mother.

 

Being British, owning guns is very difficult, you have to be vetted by police and you have to prove you need a gun such as a farmer ect, they must be locked in a steel cabinet with ammunition kept in a separate place, this is for shot guns , you would never usually able to own a hand gun, and defiantly not anything like a AK47, there is a 5 year jail sentence for even carrying a knife in public unless it's connected to your work or in a tool box, out police force do not carry guns , we have an police armed response unit to deal with armed robbery ect and is heavily regulated,

 

What is your point, if you don’t know anyone, it doesn’t happen?

 

Out of those 25,250 days have you met a murder, rapist, child molester ?

 

Good, then you know that evil exists and may strike at anytime with no warning,

 

Thinking that more and more guns will stop violence is like thinking that spending more and more will get one out of debt.

 

I have a fire extinguisher in my home, never used it, I know how to use it, I hope I never need it.

Walking into a home and getting the drop on someone is a possibility,
What are you going to do if you find him before he finds you, he has a gun what do you have to defend your family ?

 

Japan is very similar to this, they don’t play. You get pulled over by the koban (police), if you have a baseball bat in car, there better be a baseball glove and baseball uniform, and you better be on the way to or coming from a baseball game- or else you’re going straight to jail.

 

Imagine that happening here in America….. News at 11:00

 

Agreed Sir

 

I think like everything else in life that can be quantified, anything can always be reduced to percentages and should for be for edification, depending on the importance of the circumstances. There are some people that are going to die in car wrecks. Likewise with fires, falls, murders, plane crashes, vaccinations, falling trees,guns, fist fights, poisonings, etc,etc and on and on ---percentages work for any and all facets of life. For example: I quit flying back when I left Hawaii for the last time in 1976. It just isn't worth it for me to go through the stress and the results of my vivid imaginings of the end when it comes via a plane plunging to earth with people screaming , piling up in the front of the plane------YIKES! See what I mean. Now the odds on that happening are miniscule compared to driving on a public highway. I've rolled two cars, been in a drag race wreck where the the two in the the front seat of the other car were killed. In the car in which was riding in the front seat, my friend the driver was horribly injured and lived an awful life afterward and then me. I lost some teeth, got a whiplash that bothered me for years and years. I also worked as a roofer and roofing contractor from the age of 27 until the age of 70.

So--to conclude: Willing to buck the odds of crashing in a plane however much the odds would be in my favor. Nope. Foolish? Perhaps.
Willing to buck the odds of dying on the highway after beginning to drive at 8 years old until this very day at 82? Yup. Foolish ? Perhaps
Willing to vaccinate? Yup, even though a small percentage will die from a vaccination. I grew up before polio shots / cures were discovered. Saw results of polio firsthand. Foolish? Hell no.
Willing to roof even though I fell off 4 or 5 times over the years and hurt myself in two of the incidents and had to work on jobs that not many would do? Yup. Enjoyed the physically difficult, hard work, the satisfaction of helping people with serious situations and the money I made. Foolish? Depends on who you ask.

So: My usual long winded / typed point is that I now keep a gun at the ready in case a member of that very, very small percentage of assholes that want other peoples stuff and don't mind killing said others or at least frightening and humiliating said others to get their stuff. And woe to the asshole that thinks that he has a right to my stuff and to impose upon me and my family by fright , humiliation and worse. --- his attempt will gain him a serious case of lead poisoning.

( No Children here in the house and if I lived in a peaceful, country--I would not own any guns.)

 

Agreed Sir

 

If I was still single, I would have the same view. However, now that I have a family- I’ll do anything I can to keep them safe. Security system, cameras, weapons, etc. I have it all, and I have peace of mind. As the saying goes, “Better to have and not need, than to need and not have”

 

I should have clarified in my posts #939 and #940 that we have no kids below 21 anymore. We're TOTALLY READY for any home invasion.

I saw a cool sign some years ago ( not a big billboard ) in a home's yard. It said -

"This homeowner is very well armed and a proficient shooter. There's nothing in this house worth risking your life for."

I don't know if anyone - day or night - would take the time to read his sign, but if they saw it, I have to think it would give them pause to reconsider their plan.

 

Actually that sign just tells criminals there are weapons in that guy's house... It might peak their interest.