how many of you have armed themselves?

by buffalosrfree 83 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Sailor Ripley

  Sir,
  
  It seems that I see most of the kooks in fatigues who talk about covert opps and black helicopters are at the gun shows.
• 

  Seeker4

  I've owned guns since I was 11. I also live in a US state, Vermont, where anyone can carry a concealed weapon without a license. Also, because it's a mainly rural state, there are a lot of guns and hunters here. That having been said, Vermont has the lowest per capita murder rate in the US, and the highest number of colleges and universities per capita.

  Guns are a tool, like any other. My guns are for hunting and shooting, but I wouldn't hesitate to use them for protection if I needed to. I also have several bows, and tons of knives. For some reason I love knives, and I know how to throw knives and hatchets with considerable accuracy, and I always carry a knife on me. I figure if you don't have a pocket knife on you, you can hardly consider yourself a man! I use mine nearly every single day for a hundred different things.

  I also keep a sawed off shovel handle by each of my outside doors. A year ago a man, dressed just in his underwear, wandered out of the forest behind my house into my yard. He was a mental patient and had been wandering, barefoot and essentially naked, for three full days. That was a bit freaky.

  I've also studied tai chi, karate and aikido, and I stay in good shape.

  BUT, the best thing I possess for self-protection is my MIND. It's always with me (for the most part!), and I've found that just being aware of what's going on around me has kept my ass out of trouble.

  In my adult life, the number of times I've used my guns, knives, clubs or fists to protect myself? 0. The number of times I've used my wits? Plenty.

  A college professor friend asks a class that he teaches how many times do they think a police officer in the US draws his gun with the intent to use it in the course of his working life. Some students say once a week, and others scoff at that as being way too often. The most common answer he gets is that the police probably draw a weapon once every six months on average.

  The actual fact of the matter? The average police officer draws a weapon in the line of duty once every 18 years! That's about once in their entire career.

  That the US is a violent nation with bullets flying everywhere is a grossly overblown myth.

  S4
• 

  KW13

  i got an 8inch blade in my drawer.
• 

  Twitch

  Just a hunting knife under the bed.

  BTW, has anyone here studied hapkido?
• 

  cruzanheart

  
  I have . . . A BASSET HOUND!!! Guaranteed to lull any terrorist into a false sense of security before he springs into action and defends his loving family. TRANSLATION: Basset will either lay down where the terrorist can trip over him, thereby breaking the terrorist's neck, or basset will pee in terror, causing terrorist to sustain fatal slip-and-fall injury. You have been warned.
• 

  Twitch

  (((cruzanheart)))

  Do u have a permit for that?

  :-)
• 

  betterdaze

  chuckie77 said,
  ***My mate in Wisconsin is a police officer there, and when I told him the cops in Australia arent allowed to take their weapon home with them, his response was, "well why not? Dont they trust them enough to let them take guns home"? Ludicrous!!!***
  chuckie77,
  Please explain why you believe this is "ludicrous."
  There is NO SUCH THING as an "off-duty" police officer. They swear to uphold the law to protect the public at ALL times. This is why it's called "duty" and sometimes that duty even comes before their spouse and their children. My dad served over 30 years of his life -- yes, it's also called service -- to the people of the City of New York. He retired as a Lieutenant just months before the planes hit, and after many years past of gun thugs in Harlem and the South Bronx exercising their "civil rights."
  If an officer is off work and witnesses a crime in commission, he is required by law to intervene, whereas you and I as civilians are not. We can stand clear, or run away. By the time we would dial an emergency number, all sorts of bloodshed and mayhem could occur to innocents. An officer is well trained to handle these situations, and, believe it or not, the law in most states precludes officers from drawing their weapon in public if there's no preliminary threat of force by the perpetrator. You see, the criminals have more rights than we do!
  Officers are required to undergo firearms training (with regularly scheduled range duty and yes riot control methods), and operate at a distinct disadvantage to the criminal element who possess more potent firearms with no training at all.
  Sweetie, methinks you'd being singing a different tune entirely had you been violently accosted on your visit to Wisconsin and your police officer mate was powerless to protect you.
  We knew growing up that even if someone invaded our home, dad's government-issued service revolver was hidden in one place, the bullets in another, and there'd be no time for him to act to protect mom and us kids, anyway. That's the leveling factor that is really ludicrous!
  The crimey types hold the upper hand no matter what, even if you reside with an officer of the law who, under order, brings his protection home.
  ~Sue
  P.S.: My non-JW former cop dad is thoroughly disgusted with all the elders in Pennsy who are gun nuts. It's one of the major reasons he never joined up with "Jehovah's" people: How can you preach love and be armed to the teeth?
• 

  misspeaches

  I do understand where Chuckie is coming from.

  As you know, here in Australia we don't have the gun laws that you have over in America. To us the whole thing seems so surreal. When there is a shooting it makes the national news its that big of a deal.

  From my perspective the whole arming yourself seems to be a really big deal. Its a completely different world for us. And to be perfectly honest doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

  Question though.. sort of on the issue. I heard somewhere (actually it may have been on the Simpsons!) that the reason the gun laws are in place is in case England ever tries to invade America? LOL - I'm sure that's not it but I wanted to find out.
• 

  SirNose586

  Ok, so I gather that Mr. Paranoid Survivalist represents the minority amongst gun owners, but he'll get more attention because he conforms to the stereotype. I understand now.

  You'll have to excuse my ignorance in the area of gun ownership as I live in what Justice-One would call a "socialist paradise," a haven for pinko-commie-liberals, aka socal.
• 

  katiekitten

  My rural home was recently burlarized by a known crack head while we were out. He stole my husband's shotgun! Now, we have an alarm system and a brand new Ruger 9 mm. I never wanted to own a gun but we had to do something, for Christ's sake!

  Well of course he stole your husbands shotgun. But he wouldnt have if
  (a) you didnt own one
  (b) you had kept it in a plasma cutter proof gun box like somebody suggested.

  So now you have another gun for a burglar to steal. Is it kept in a burglar proof box so he cant get to it? And if so, how do you propose to get to it in time to shoot him when he comes to burgle you?

  Ive got to admit, coming from a relatively gun free society, I REALLY cant understand how guns = safety.

  I have to agree with the poster who said if you own a gun you have to be prepared to take a human life without flinching and without hesitating a single second. Now I know, as much as I would like to feel safe, that is not me. I would hesitate because im law abiding and basically peace loving, and if I was weilding a gun at a crack head burgling my home and I hesitated, he would have even more reason to shoot me (cos I would be waving the gun around issueing hopeful commands like "leave my house you crack head"!)