Crush
Posts: 1031
Status: offline
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As one who does carry a weapon often, I think there are a couple interesting facts that get lost in the argument. Fortunately, those facts are available at http://www.gunowners.org/fs0404.htm Yeah, gunowners.org, but the stats they cite are definitely NOT from gun nuts. They completely cite their information, from FBI statistics, university studies and the like. People who carry concealed weapons, at least those in Florida, have to go through a background check, take a class and exhibit some level of proficiency with a handgun. Other states are even more rigorous. Frankly, those people concealed weapons are those least likely to use them except in extreme situations. They KNOW what the consequences are if they misuse their weapon. They have cleared the state-mandated background check...NOTE that this is NOT the same background check for purchasing a weapon as Cho did. What is interesting to note is that while you can't legally carry at a school, you can carry in a bank. At a mall. The movies. Even the public library. All sorts of places that people go every day. Why choose a school to shoot people? One obvious reason: No one can stop you easily, since everyone is prohibited from being able to defend themselves unless they are actually touching you. No tear gas. No knife. Sure, a stunner, but that means you have to hold it there for a few seconds, right next to the bad guy, to be effective. Just a quick ZAP ticks them off. Laws are followed by law-abiding people. They aren't by those that break them. It is time to actually trust people. After all, isn't what we do here? As a masochistic bottom, I trust my sadistic top. As a sub, you expect to trust your Dom/me. We do this every day...we trust bank tellers and wait personnel with our financial information. We trust doctors, nurses, teachers, and a whole bunch of other folks every day. We trust the police too, but you can't keep a SWAT team following you every moment of the day. You have to take care of yourself....a cell phone isn't a weapon. I have had a gun in my face, been robbed and pistol-whipped. To this day I carry both the memories of that day and the damage to my jaw. I was fortunate enough to survive it because a car came by at the right moment and the bad guy ran off. Would my having a weapon helped? I don't know, but I would have liked the option. If nothing else, I would have been much more aware of my surroundings, carried myself differently and may never have been mugged. Don't carry if you don't want to...that is OK. But don't seek to control those who want to carry something to protect themselves and others. Let's make the bad guys keep guessing who might make their day and those who won't.
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