Dilbert wrote:
GAscott wrote:
Being armed doesn't always prevent a crime
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/...article34330491.html Quote:
Cyclist robbed at gunpoint at Columbus bike trail
A 42-year-old man told Columbus Police that another man robbed him at gunpoint Monday at the bike trail between Hilton Avenue and Willis Road.
The Columbus man said the gunman aimed a pistol at him and demanded his property. Within minutes, the
thief had fled the scene with the victim's bookbag,
SIG Sauer P226 firearm and a Motobecane mountain bike collectively worth $1,250, according to the report.
So that bike was worth $300? Last time I checked the classic aluminum Sigs were $950. Also, carrying a full size pistol? They like being uncomfortable?
Anyone who thinks they could effectively use a gun while on a bike, when the bad guys are the ones to initiate the confrontation and they are either in an ambush or they have a car, they are apparently unable to engage their brain properly and reason through the situation.
Let's face it. We know it. You should know it. You like the feeling you have when you carry a gun. That's it. Call it false sense of security or whatever it is. It isn't rationally reasoned out. Feelings are fine, but not when safety is concerned. You need to be cold and calculating.
I agree.
For all the arguments put forward to justify carrying a gun, it's pretty obvious the real reason is not rational at all.
The comments about Europeans and Canadians being ignorant and emotional, making generalisations about americans and getting their ideas from TV shows is extremely ironic.
The arguments for carrying a gun are statistically flawed and are essentially excuses to justify an emotional need. The language being used by several of the pro gun carrying guys is straight out of a TV show "perps", "bad guys", "gang bangers", "hill billies" - it's TV shows and paranoia with 0.1% reality mixed in. I presume I'm included in the accusations of ignorant generalistions? - I'm basing my assertions on many sources, including perhaps 20 visits to the US since the late 90s including working there for a while at one stage. My mention of TV shows in the earlier post was not suggesting I thought they accurately reflected reality but rather that the fact they exist and indeed are the rule, not the exception, says a lot about the psychology of those producing them (having said that I fully realise they're consumed outside the US too). Setting both of those sources of information aside, some of the comments in this thread alone are enough to confirm much of what I said in my earlier post. And I did make a point of stating that my comments only applied to a certain contingent of the US population. Funnily, those complaining about sweeping statements are I suspect within that contingent ;) but I didn't make sweeping statements.