Carrying a handgun on the AT

[Okie Dokie]

...or showed up with a pintle hitch on the back of his pack pulling a howitzer...?

[slow]

BTW this board ....may get in a big problem from Over this thread.?

[squeezebox]

excuse me for not being able to quote specific stats here. But it's fair to say there has been an increase in handgun violence over the past decades. Obviously there is an arms race concerning handguns in America now. so what drives that arms race? Criminals with better and bigger guns! right. and more of them also. So what is the response of some of the citizenry? In short to arm themselves with bigger and better guns and more of them also! Unfortunately the increase in gun violence shows that both sides are becoming more willing to engage in hand gun violence. So people on both sides are becoming more willing to shoot now ask later. both sides are more willing to shoot over more trivial reasons, as this escalation increases. It's easier to steal from a dead man. Another example the guy who was willing to shoot the college students over his cooler of beer. The point I want to make here is that what ever side of this handgun arms race you are on you are part of the problem. The armed citizen also adds to this arms race as well as the armed criminal. He provides the reason for the criminal to become more violent more readily.
I realize that is not the intent of the armed citizen but unfortunately gun violence continues to increase.
And NO it would not be worse if it was not for you, an individual, to try to protect all of us.

[Okie Dokie]

Think of the most stable person you know right now...Ok? now would you be most comfortable in which of the following situations: 1) they carry openly, 2) they carry concealed and tell you about it upfront or 3) the carry concealed and you don't really know but suspect they are carrying. Which of these would bother you the most (it's the same person in all three cases) and why?

However, it changes things quite a bit if you change the first sentence to; THINK OF A PERSON YOU HAVE NEVER MET BEFORE IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE.

Probably the best post on the subject...it's the people you don't know well (yet) who carry openly that you should evaluate carefully...that's why I said if you carry keep it to yourself, or expect a great deal of scrutiny... lots of people will decide to move on without ever getting to know you...and that's their right...weigh it out - either way is fine with me...

[The Weasel]

Weasel, from what you have said, I think that this is the crux of the matter is the different worlds that you and I live in. When you see someone with a firearm, you feel terror (well alright probably not all the time). I see it as something perfectly normal and I am not inclined in the least to feel any fear. When I encounter individuals with a firearm, I do not automatically think that they are up to no good (this does not mean that I do not maintain situational awareness; nor does it mean that I reveal that I am armed – concealed means concealed). I just don’t live in fear of any sort of boogie man. And so I would probably find myself striking up a conversation with said individuals.

Weasel, and Shelter Leopard, too, If yall ever make it to Williamsburg, let me know. We'll go puch some holed in some targets. Shlep, I am a good teacher, and who knows, maybe you will get a different perspective. Or anyone else for that matter too!

Tuck ---

You pay for the targets, and I'll pay for the Peanut Soup. I've been hanging out in W'burg for something north of 50 years, so I'll bring pictures of what it looked like when the trees were small.

But terror? Nope; not for me, and, it appears, probably not for Shelter Leopard, who I haven't met but who sounds fairly feisty. But I operate on the 'fools rush in' principle. As I said, if I'm walking out along a fairly remote trail and, unlike pretty much everyone else, I come to a solitary person loading their Python, and I don't know why, I'm going to be very wary, and prudently will just keep on walking. And if I was at a shelter, and someone I didn't know, started pulling out a 9mm and field stripping it, I'd consider moving on as well. There are a lot of graves that were filled by Eagle Scouts who were crack shots but who went bad. So I'll just keep on moving on. Single women might feel even more reluctant to stay in such a place. That's not "cultural" or "terror" or anything other than being smart. I'd keep moving in parts of LA, parts of Detroit, and even parts of Long Beach, Indiana, if I came to someone just sitting in a park holding their pistol and watching passersby.

So sure, I'll be glad to punch targets with you. Now that we're introduced, at least. But you need to realize that maybe not everyone is a "wuss" or "terrorized" just because they are nervous about people walking around with guns in their hands. Sometimes 19 year old women and 60 year old men get a little nervous justifiably. Even say, at a Virginia College or a Texas Army base.

TW

[Reid]

All the bad guys have guns, you should at least know how to use one. If anyone wants to say that the gun laws are a problem in the first place for the bad guys to have guns then you should also remember how many countries have had extermination problems because of societies inablity to defend themselves.

I Thought you might appreciate this . . .

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun con trol.
From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to
1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded
up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939
to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend
themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to
1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were
rounded up and exterminated
------------------------------
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964
to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were
rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Uganda established gun co ntrol in 1970. From 1971 to
1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up
and exterminated.
------------------------------
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975
to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were
rounded up and exterminated.
---- -------------------------
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the
20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

[Reid]

and wrestlings fake

[squeezebox]

Reid we are not a totalitarian government. We have a functional judiciary, and checks and balances. Your previous argument is worthless in light of we have much better and more civilized ways of protecting ourselves, that do not involve killing each other.

[Reid]

Reid we are not a totalitarian government. We have a functional judiciary, and checks and balances. Your previous argument is worthless in light of we have much better and more civilized ways of protecting ourselves, that do not involve killing each other.

those were just facts

[BR360]

excuse me for not being able to quote specific stats here. But it's fair to say there has been an increase in handgun violence over the past decades.

Sorry, Bryce. F.A.I.L.

Seeing your post I did a Google search for the terms "FBI statistics" and "gun violence." Took all of 10 seconds.

The FBI says gun violence has decreased since its peak in 1993.[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Owner/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/guns.htm

Your argument is not based on fact. It is based on something you want to be fact so your position can be supported.

[BR360]

We have a functional judiciary, and checks and balances.

We have a politicized judiciary. We have a politicized Justice Department where a clear case of voter intimidation is not being prosecuted, and the Attorney General has said he would ban handguns. We have no checks and balances, because we have one party controlling the Executive branch and both houses of Congress. And the leaders of that party advocate massive taxation of guns and ammunition to make gun ownership financially unfeasible.

Were it not for the Heller decision last year by SCUSA, we would have had a quick move by the President to exert Executive powers to ban handguns.

I have inalienable rights to my life, my liberty, and my property. Gary Hilton deprived Meredith Emerson her rights to same. She didn't necessarily need to whip out a gun on a moments notice. But had she one readily available, she might be alive today, along with the 3 other hikers Hilton killed in NC and FL.

[Alligator]

Spiralling out way beyond the AT as usual.