Re: Bullit County
Let's start by saying I enjoy a day at the shooting range when the opportunity presents itself and I can get a friend in the military or the police to "share some ammo" since I'll take up macrame before shooting at those prices. And I don't even know what macrame is.
I grew up in New York, was mugged 3 times growing up and generally found that being intelligent and speaking calmly and considering "Why would this guy need a 15 year old's $10 so bad he'd resort to this? Is he doing it because it's fun or because he's desperate? Can I come up with a better solution here than people ending up hurt or arrested?". In two of three of the cases, I ended up at McDonald's sharing a meal and stories with the guys. This is no exaggeration or joke. In one case, I felt (in my young naivety) that I might have helped the guy see a better solution to his problems.
As a guy, and a not so attractive one, I don't generally worry that someone will want to rape me. I guess it could be a concern with my wife or daughter, but there's things in life which make sense for anyone which is "If you're out on a party night in the city, travel in groups. Alcohol + People = Stupid people with bad judgement". Still, the best solution in general is not to go out of my way to place myself or my family's lives in positions where these things can be an issue. I'm not running or cowering, it's more like how I don't try to juggle knives. It seems like a lot of fun to me, but I know I'm bound to learn a hard lesson from it.
You state "In a similar situation, if you're cornered by a thug brandishing a knife, but you're armed, you have no duty to retreat,"
And all I could read there is "Are you really that impressively stupid?" ... I honestly really love the wording you used. It sounds as if this is a matter of duty and honor, as if we're all battlefield and glory. This isn't battlefield and glory and there is absolutely no such thing as glory on the battlefield unless you're an idiot anyway. That's crap that governments sell weak minded people to make sure they have someone on their team. Being a soldier is just a job... a VERY WELL PAID job... but roughly equal to driving a garbage truck or delivering news papers. If you're dumb enough to think that swinging guns around and shooting people for a living is heroic, you're a moron. It's a shit job and it screws you out of years of developmental opportunities that prepare you for when you can't play fun and games running around shooting people you don't even know for reasons you don't even understand.
There is no duty, honor or sanity in what you say. Even more so... you're saying "Even if I can get away, my bravado and pride makes it so that the better thing to do is to pull my gun and escalate the problem". You're just as much of a criminal as the other guy if you think this way.
1) I have no problem with people having guns. I live in Norway now which has one of the highest percentage of gun owners. Carrying a gun on the street is illegal and generally pointless. Even the cops don't do it.
2) I do have a problem with people who seem to think there's an issue of duty or honor to "pop a cap in that bitches ass" when they threaten me with a knife or make me generally sad. I have an issue with some moron who thinks "Hey! If I have a gun. Let me shoot first and ask questions later! Oh... I prepared myself for this situation... no I didn't learn things like how to manage conflicts. I went to the shooting range and made sure I clearly understood my rights regarding how to properly shoot them so I can go to court and win". Seriously... you clearly demonstrated that you have a pre-prepared defense it seem you've been practicing to justify killing another person while simply waiting for an opportunity to use it. I personally would love to know the name of the prosecuting attorney in the trial when it happens so I could share this posting with him. To me this is practically premeditated murder by a person who hasn't even identified his victim but wakes up each morning praying for a change to exercise his rights by law to kill someone.
Do you intentionally hang out in band neighborhoods? Do you have a conceal carry permit? Do you keep it close by? Are you so confident of you rights and defense that you don't even keep a lawyer on speed dial for defending you against charges over the murder but instead have 10 lawyers on speed dial in case someone tries to take your gun away from you? Do you wake up each day hoping someone from the government will come and try and take your gun away so you can exercise your second amendment right and shoot them because it's clear a tyranny has come into power and it's your personal responsibility to take up arms against them... no... not your right. It's you're duty!
People like you give me nightmares. Armed idiots who premeditate murder, sometimes for years or decades and simply hope the world is so bad that you'll get a chance to finally do it. You're actually the reason we need stricter guns laws and why the second amendment needs to be further amended to include some "within reason" clause.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
