ffmedic84 wrote:
It's 2 injured cyclist because we know the outcome. Do you think they knew they would only be injured? Yes they still would have been knocked down but if they were properly trained gun owners (if you own one you better be) they could have drawn there weapon and ended the situation. I guarantee nobody would get close enough to take that gun away. I'm surprised by the number of people on here that live in a pussified world of rainbows and unicorns. Like I said before believe it or not there are people with bad intentions and unfortunately it might not be just to injure you.
It's the surprisingly large number of responses like these (which are very common any time anyone brings up the issue of guns) that leave me unconvinced that the majority of people packing guns in public situations are capable of making good decisions with the gun when it matters. Throw in a heated situation, and odds of that happening are even worse.
I'm preaching to the choir here, and I am well aware that arguing against gun owners is exactly the same as arguing against religion, which means that no amount of reasoning, or rational decisionmaking will sway them, but here's how I see it:
- Odds of a cyclist getting lethally attacked by a person on a bike ride are close to zero. If you're riding through Compton or parts of Mexico where druglords rule, you've got no one to blame for yourself for the bad decision to ride there.
- People are rarely rational when they get in heated arguments on or off the bike. Throwing a gun into that mix is the quickest way to guarantee senseless deaths, even if all the gun owners were very trained reponsible individuals. Misunderstandings inevitably occur but with a gun there's no takebacks.
- Even if you were packing, on a bike, the odds of you being able to draw it fast enough to stop a car is pretty much zero. Add to the fact you're in bike shoes, and you'll never chase down your assailant when they run away.
- If your assailant REALLY wanted to kill you, even after the argument, they'd just wait until you remounted your bike, and then run you over with their car. Just goes to show that in theses car-bike encounters, the odds that the assailant really is out to specifically kill you is essentially zero. It's the misunderstandings that escalate things.
But of course, that's all way too rational for our pussified society. (And weirdly enough - I actually enjoy shooting guns at the range even though I don't do it regularly, and I love violent video games and am a die-hard MMA fan and part-time practitioner. I'm pretty testoterone stereotyped in my interests, but when we're talking lethal force, I'm going to go with reason, and not macho.)