Re: Should Target take action to keep rifles out of their stores?
How many people are attacked in parking lots? Plenty of women, that's for sure. Or stopping for gas on the way? Or if your car breaks down after dark and you or your wife have to wait for a tow truck?
Man, you do not think these things thru at all, do you? Easier just to complain about stuff that makes you 'uncomfortable'.
You're talking about the concealed carry of a handgun and I was discussing yahoos with their assault rifles over their shoulder. I haven't commented on anyone carrying concealed, except sarcastically in response to someone who implied those who have problems with open carry of rifles are "s'ing their pants." I'm very sympathetic to the unique dangers women face when alone. My sister in law recently got her permit - she lives on a remote farm, my brother is often working in the wee hours of the morning, and she's alone with five kids, driving in and out of this property. She carries a pistol. Fine. I support that.
I have serious doubts about whether carrying a pistol increases or
decreases the net safety of most people who carry them, but that's not my decision to make except on a personal level.
And no one cares if you trust them...I dont trust a single other person on the road I'm driving on. Too bad for me, I have to deal with it. And I'm alot safer in Target with guns than driving on the roads every day.
Well, obviously the store owners who ban guns care. YOU don't, but people who want their customers to feel comfortable shopping do. Perhaps it's the 15,000 or so injured from accidental shootings each year, the 600 dead, and the possibility that guns in the store can be used irresponsibly, escalating a fight to a deadly confrontation, etc.
And you mentioned driving - would you feel more or less safe driving if the next new demonstration of gun rights is to have a .50 cal strapped to the bed of the truck with one passenger manning it as the truck rolls down the interstate. I don't know about you, but I'd avoid that truck....
See....it's your perspective on the object, not the object itself and American has been on a campaign to demonize guns...and love their cars (this one since the 50s). And you can certainly see how people just pop their babies in cars...even with mere acquaintences...out of convenience and off they go at the drop of a hat....placing themselves and kids in more danger than they EVER are from people carrying guns out in public (concealed or open).
I think that "America" in most cases is just pointing out the dangers of guns. 10,000 murders, 20,000 suicides, 15,000 non-deadly accidental shooting injuries, 600 accidental deaths, that owning a gun and having it at home INCREASES your risk of death, more guns in a state = more gun deaths, not less.
The guy with the rifle KNOWS everyone is watching him...duh. It's a statement in many cases (not that I agree with it). It's the ones you cant see until they open fire or hold up the cashier. :roll:
Yes, it's generally a "look at me, I'm a
Real Man with a gun," statement in my view. It's also IMO counterproductive, because people rationally don't trust strangers with assault weapons. Duh...
BTW, I didnt even shoot a handgun until my 40s. I never needed one before and I havent needed it since I got it. I try to carry as a rule...and used to... but am more about convenience today unfortunately, until I get a smaller one. There's no fear involved. It's prudence, just like carrying my cell phone. I dont like that either but I had to MAKE myself carry it everyday, everywhere...and that certainly has served a purpose in emergencies many times. Do I need it every day? No, but when I need it, I NEED it.
I learned to shoot, I liked it, and I recognized another tool to add for my own protection. So dont try building yourself up by tearing others down. Are people that practice firedrills with their family at home fearful? Or prudent? The ones that teach their kids about not getting into cars with strangers...fear? Are they scared every day their kid will be kidnapped? Or is it just smart to prepare your kid for it?
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First of all, other than those who are being deliberately insulting to me, I'm not tearing anyone down. I'm trying to explain a position. If I insulted you, I apologize, but my point has been simple - I see it as common sense to distrust people carrying weapons in places where the need for them is exceedingly remote. Their presence IMO increases my risk of death/injury instead of decreasing it. I think this belief it rational and consistent with the evidence.
And comparing guns to fire drills perfectly illustrates my main point. A fire drill has NO downside at all. But guns are not risk free ways to protect yourself. If you own one and keep it at home, your risk of death by gun INCREASES because of suicide/accident/domestic violence. But for some reason, gun organizations now have shifted the focus from gun safety to convincing everyone that guns aren't risky at all, that the old common sense rules of gun safety don't apply anymore and when we have people walking around with loaded weapons, everyone is more safe, not less. And this is at a time when the murder and crime rates are decreasing and have for decades, not at their peak. Not ONE of the gun owners on here even recognizes ANY risk at all with people (total strangers) walking around armed and loaded. It's just bizarre and irrational to me. It is, IMO, properly a question of evaluating risk, the increase in safety being armed versus the risk of injury/someone grabbing your gun and using it against you etc. In this conversation there is no downside evaluation at all - it's assumed that armed people in public places are all upside. I don't get it.
30 years ago it would never occur to anyone to stop at a mall, reach into the back seat, and grab their shotgun/assault rifle, and strap it on their shoulder to get a new pair of jeans. Now I'm supposed to look at people who do that as
predictably sane, responsible individuals. Sorry, but I don't. They might BE, but I'd never assume such a thing.