There's something the self-defense crowd does that really irritates me. I'll be clear. I like firearms well enough. I own several, but my focus is marksmanship as a skill, so I consider photography and hiking and bicycling to be cheaper and more convenient skills with more value. I like my Xbox more than my firearms.
I'm of the opinion a good knife is for slicing veggies and bread. I like cooking. I do own a handgun, but I bought it for the express purpose of learning how to shoot a handgun and determined that I'm not good at it. I also noticed that few other people are either. Many like the BANG noise. Some are clearly insane in various ways. I think my enjoying target shooting was more a love of math and concentration, which is why I love my driving simulator so much. Same part of the brain.
And firearms do have a place. I consider them a valuable method of last resort defense against wild predatory animals or feral dogs. Usually more convenient than a broadleaf spear. I find it morally and ethically irritating that spears aren't legal for hunting game. I am firmly in favor of lions being hunted and killed by men with spears. If we did that, mountain lions wouldn't be so blasé about human males and would run in heavily-scarred terror from us like they should. Sadly, while most men would agree with me about this, we don't say so out loud where women can hear us. More's the pity. So we hunt with firearms, which are fine too, just not visceral enough. Guns are a little too clean. I suppose this is why I prefer fishing and photography.
The rest of the time we see firearms carried or used? It's by paranoid people who are HOPING to have a lethal confrontation with someone they'll feel justified shooting "in self defense". The saddest part is, the person they shoot might be someone just like them, reacting in the same paranoid way to someone carrying a concealed weapon. A friend of mine once told me something really important, something that changed my whole view: "The hulking huge guy knocking on your door in the middle of the night might have broken down in his car, and just wants to use the phone to call for a towtruck." And you know what? He was right. That's most cases.
If you're not a criminal, you're going to have very little reason for a gun for self defense. Nearly all cases of home invasion robbery are criminals breaking into a place where other criminals have huge amounts of cash because they are drug dealers, and most of the time, the ones breaking in know the people socially or in business together. They never ever admit that in the news stories. Ever. You have to dig to find out the reason they delayed calling for the police after their home invasion robbery was they were packing up the drugs and money and hauling it off to hide it somewhere off premises so the search warrant wouldn't cover it, then cleaning up the residue, and evidence, so only the dogs would know there was hashish tar traces left behind, etc. Its never innocent people having their doors broken down by thugs. NEVER. Just to be clear.
Nearly every case of someone being mugged or raped and murdered was someone who should have known better than to be there at that time and physical condition. We know what the bad parts of town are. We know not to go there "to party" or "hang out" because that's how those people end up in the news, and later get arrested for murder and felonies related to that.
If you find yourself reaching for a firearm going out the door "because you need to go somewhere unsafe" ask yourself this question: "Why am I going there?" Are you suicidal? I wonder about that. Aren't there other places to go which are safer? And is a few cents off on groceries really worth the life you may lose going there? That's stupid.
If you find yourself thinking daily carry of a firearm is really important, you are living in the wrong place. Pack your stuff, move somewhere safer. If you find yourself surrounded by people doing daily carry, you have the wrong friends. Get new ones. And seriously consider moving somewhere daily carry isn't a common hobby.
The only people who can justify daily carry are cops, park rangers, and ranchers protecting their herds from coyotes. That's it. Everybody else should move somewhere smarter and saner. Or find a legal occupation.
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