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I’ve lived in places with strict self defense laws and lax self defense laws. When I originally lived in the place with lax self defense laws, I thought it must be better if people don’t carry weapons. Then I moved to the place with strict self defense laws…it was worse.
I was subjected to random aggression on a nearly weekly basis. I’d be sitting at a train station with headphones on, minding my own business, when drunk assholes would take it upon themselves to square up and accuse me of anything that came to mind (am I looking at their girl, am I a queer—the irony in that contrast is not lost on me). There were several times that I actually did fear for my life, and all I could do was run away and be late for whatever I was going to. Every time, the biggest ape on the street knew they would win, and they felt entitled to rule their space with an iron fist.
Then I moved back to the place with lax self defense laws and saw it with new eyes. Drivers are more polite because they don’t know who could be armed. Nobody comes up to me in the street and harasses me for no reason. The implication that I could be armed really does seem to make people think twice, and I’ve started to believe that the impulse to check yourself in case you get shot is the only check and balance that aggressive assholes seem to understand.
Now, to the surprise and horror of my younger self, I carry a gun. It took me a while to get used to, but it has given me a new sense of security and calm if any altercation does occur. My girlfriend is disabled and can’t run from a fight—if someone targets her (which has happened multiple times before since she is visibly helpless), I must stand my ground to protect her. Also, it clarifies my thinking to deescalate conflict in those moments because I know I’m comfortably prepared if someone else takes it to a violent level. I don’t need to shout or puff up to create a barrier between her and an aggressive person, I can observe the situation while knowing that my hours of practice put me in a good position to come out on top if somebody wants to fuck around and find out.
It is my sincere hope that I will never shoot at anything other than paper. I do not want to hurt anybody and have never started an altercation with anyone. 99% of the time, retreat is still the best option. That said, I know I have it in me to protect myself and my loved ones if the moment ever required it, and I am comfortable enough with it to not be paralyzed by indecision if that day ever comes.
Needless to say, if I lived in London, I would feel better if I had something other than my fists to protect myself with because my body is not designed to be an effective weapon in the same way that my knife or pistol is. There is a whole lot of time between the start of an altercation and the arrival of police—until they get there, I’m the only responder I can count on.
I live in London as a fuck ass poor student in Forest Gate, Ilford (technically Essex) and Stockwell (all fairly shabby areas) before later moving to a nicer area (Clapham).
The only people I saw with weapons were the police.
Regardless of how you may feel, the statistics are not in your favour. Just compare gun deaths per capita in the US vs a country like the UK and it’s clear that the US approach to gun control (or lack thereof) is insane.
And not just gun deaths: deaths from all violent causes.
I just replied to another commenter about this same thing. My decision was not motivated by gun death statistics, but rather the odds of my own death or injury (and that of my loved ones) due to the changing circumstances of my neighborhood and prior life experience. I wrote about that in a response to another user in this thread also, and hopefully it sheds some light on why I chose to buy a firearm.
You are correct, the US approach to gun control is insane, but if you live here, these are the conditions that have been set for us so far. Either you bring your fists to a gun fight, or you have a gun. There are more guns than people in this country—the odds are slim that a robber is coming in empty handed. However you choose or don’t choose to prepare for that possibility is a personal decision, and circumstances got bad enough in my neighborhood that I felt it was necessary right now.
If we enter an age of peace and understanding, I’ll happily give up my pistol. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, as they say.
Right. And make sure to ignore any actual statistics while calculating those odds, right? Just purely based on feels.
Im sorry I live in the us and crazies acting like dicks is not something unusualy if you live in a dense enough region. Im guessing you lived somewhere denser and saw more of that crap compared to when you lived somewhere less so.
I mean, it’s hard to get denser than manhattan, but I personally chalk it up to being poor and bad luck with neighborhoods declining after I move to them.
well yeah that is going to effect stuff to. I lived in a neighborhood at one point where I would make it a point to return home different ways because of the local hoodlums.
Oof such a flat earther take. Just to note statistics and facts support nothing you've claimed.
"This is my lived experience"
"O yeah? I read online that's statistically unlikely, checkmate flat earther!" 🤡
It is scientifically accurate to say that someone with self defense equipment is more likely to save themselves during a criminal altercation than someone without self defense equipment. If that wasn’t true, there would be no reason for ladies to carry pepper spray when they go out at night.
I don’t deny science, but using overall gun death statistics is misleading. If a victim has to shoot someone in a self defense situation, it still generates one gun injury that could apply to those statistics.
You can look up hundreds of security cam recordings on YouTube of people who successfully defended themselves. Those people would have been in a worse position if they had not been prepared.
All egomaniacs believe, a "gun" will save "THEM" but the statistics are VERY clear, you're more likely to kill some else accidentally/on purpose, kill yourself, or get the weapon taken away from you and used on you then ever use it successfully in self defense.
Guns are popular for self defense do to clever marketing, lack of common sense, and steering of american culture.
Got a link to support this data?
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/13/602143823/how-often-do-people-use-guns-in-self-defense
.09% chance to use a gun in self defense. In a study NOT done directly by gun lobby. (those studies show fun facts like twice the number of people claiming they shot someone in self-defense as total gun shots in ERs)
Thank you for providing a link.
As I understand it, that statistic does not address whether or not having a gun in a self defense situation increases your odds of survival. It says that .09% of people with a gun ever use it in self defense.
That is the equivalent to saying that the vast majority of people who own a fire-extinguisher never put out a fire. I don’t want to have to put out a fire, but I own an extinguisher, just like I hope to never be in an armed altercation, but I own a firearm. I’d wager that most people who own any kind of self defense equipment may never need to use them.
You may not like this source, but they are citing FBI statistics that are genuine to my knowledge: https://www.shootingclasses.com/blog/posts/what-the-fbi-data-really-says-about-self-defense-shootings-and-why-most-cpl-classes-miss-the-mark/
It says that over 50% of altercations involving a gun are ended when the gun is presented and not fired. A gun is presented in an altercation over 1 million times per year in the US, so that makes a minimum of 500,000 altercations that were concluded due to the appearance of a gun. Similar numbers have been presented in every safety class I’ve taken along with accompanying videos of that happening.
For what it’s worth, a gun is only one part of the gear I carry. I like to be prepared. I also carry a first aid kit, flashlight, leatherman, knife, compass, mirror, and other useful items on my body nearly at all times. I live inside of hundreds of miles of wilderness—it isn’t just humans I am preparing for the possibility of encountering.
Of course I'm not going to give any weight to an obvious propaganda site... ROFL
I mean did you even look at the "supported organizations" it reads like a who's who of extreme gun nuts.
Do you dispute that they are quoting FBI data? I’m not trying to be deceptive, I was looking for an overview that reflects the facts that have been presented in every safety class I’ve taken. I found similar numbers in other articles, that one just had the best formatting for presenting the same information.
Also, do you see what I mean when I say that your statistic of .09% is not accurately reflecting if a gun is an effective self defense method?
I dispute everything from propaganda sites, it's not worth my time to track down their BS and figure out whether they out right lied, took a quote out of context, intentionally misrepresented it, twisted its intended meaning, or cherry picked a single fact out of a hundred that seems to support their claim.
Nah, if you want to believe that to support your misguided belief that's on you.
I’ll dive for the direct FBI data when I have time after work today and put it here when I find it.
I am willing to have my mind changed if compelling information is presented. Did you have anything to say about your own misleading .09% statistic?
Yes, first it's not misleading, it is a fact from a reputable unbiased site and properly sourced.
Second, I'm done wasting time on you, it's pretty clear you'll continue to do anything possible to ignore the truth because it impacts your desire to carry a deadly weapon around to satisfy your insecurities.
Good day.
The way you were using the fact was not supporting the assertion that a gun is an ineffective self defense tool in an altercation. If I misunderstood what you were getting at, you are welcome to correct me.
I’m sorry you found this a waste of time—I thought you were trying to convince me of something and I was trying to have a discussion about the numbers with you. I’m not trying to ignore the truth, you just haven’t showed me anything that says that a gun isn’t effective to have if you are being attacked by someone. I’d much prefer you show me some compelling data than just run away, but you are, of course, welcome to do whatever you want.
See you around. No hard feelings.
you gun types are nutters.
Areas with very restrictive personal defense laws in the US like Massachusetts have lower gun death rates per 100k by a huge margin over wide open states like Mississippi. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/issues/gun-violence-in-the-united-states
Guns don't make people safer. Knives don't make people safer.
Sikh knives don't really fall into those aforementioned categories though, and i'm not trying to show any support there just because of one person's actions. If someone wants to kill they are going to find a way.
The overall number of gun deaths was not a factor in my decision, the prevention of my own death and injury of my loved ones was. I responded to another poster in this thread explaining the events that led me to choose to buy a firearm—maybe that will at least explain why I made that decision. I researched calibers and bullet types to make sure that I had the smallest chance of sending a bullet through the wall into the neighbors apartment. I practice on a regular basis to build safe habits into muscle memory. I’ve taken classes to learn from professionals and to be legally compliant. I keep everything locked up or on my body in a safely designed holster 100% of the time.
If you think that makes me a nut, then whatever, man. I’ve tried to be as safe as possible and make responsible decisions based on my life experience and the changing circumstances of the area I live in.
This happens in the US too. This isn't unique to places with strict self defense laws
My story was in the US. I was talking about two different US states.
Where the hell do you live that you have so many crazies?
Granted, invoice in Vancouver and here it's all queer trans cis gay whatever mixed and nobody gives a shit because why would you give a shit about that?
The strict self defense laws were when I lived in Manhattan. After the sun went down, things got crazy on a regular basis. I’m not an aggressive looking dude—skinny hippy type. I never started anything, but in the two years that I lived there, I was rushed head on by meth addicts twice, nearly mugged by a man in a ski mask, stalked in a park, and aggressively confronted by drunks at the subway platform many times.
I can’t explain it. I guess I just look like someone to bully if you are a specific kind of jerk.
I now live in a different state, but the worsening conditions in the country have caused my neighborhood to explode with the homeless and addicted. People have set off the fire alarm three times in the last year and tried to break into apartments when people open the door to evacuate. One of the people robbed was my next door neighbor—that is when I decided to buy a firearm. My apartment has only one exit, so if someone gets through my front door, I am essentially blocked in with no way to retreat.
It wasn’t a decision I made lightly or even desired, but life taught me that I needed to be ready to defend myself.