[$tinkle]

after qualifying for a CC last saturday, i thought i'd be more inclined to get a handgun, but actually now less so.

maybe an 870 tactical for the home (hallway death funnel), or camping, but as far as carrying on my person, not so much.

i can count on my vagina how many times i've needed one.

 

[Arkayne]

I've been training in CQB for awhile now and am still not a gun owner. Am I vulnerable? Yes, but I consider myself less-vulnerable. If you are someplace where you need a firearm, maybe you shouldn't be there in the first place. That's just me.

 

[eaterofdog]

I am not a big gun nut, but I do keep a powerful handgun in my home. Mostly because anyone can get a gun in America and I want a option if some crazyass tries something.

I'm not really into the passive victim thing I guess.

 

[ultraNoob]

I train CQB with my airsoft all the time. My neighbors never see me coming

Seriously though, I wouldn't feel vulnerable at all. A firearm isn't the only weapon you need to defend yourself or your family. Although, I may feel inadquate if an intruder has a gun and I don't (yah, yah, joke away). As I get older, my verbal assult skills have evolved from blantant threatening of a severe beating to being able to diffuse situations. I've talked my way out of more hostile situations than I've had to physically act on. I have to hand it to those scientologists, they have some great classes on how to direct and diffuse hostile situations.

 

[BMXman]

I've been training in CQB for awhile now and am still not a gun owner. Am I vulnerable? Yes, but I consider myself less-vulnerable. If you are someplace where you need a firearm, maybe you shouldn't be there in the first place. That's just me.

 

[ire]

I took the CC, but never got a hand gun......I think in the heat of the moment I may use poor judgement and shoot someone, and in Oregon they had better be trying to kill you or you go to jail

 

[$tinkle]

my instructor looked like a gun guy: pot belly, full of life's regrets, and even threw out the phrase when advising judgment on when it's ok to shoot someone else "i'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6".

i think that's where i turned the corner. it's not guns i don't like, it's those "gun people"

 

[johnbryanpeters]

You did not include a "neither more nor less vulnerable" option.

Life's certainly simpler if you're not packing iron.

 

[Westy]

The only situation I have ever been where a gun was present and drawn was while camping. In the backcountry of the Jefferson National forest about 10 hillbillies came running through our campsite late at night. My buddy had a .357 magnum with him and he pulled it out when we heard a throng of drunk rednecks coming in the dead of night. They passed through withough incident. My buddy felt good about having his gun but the fact is we were outgunned and having a gun at all would have just meant that it was more likely that we all would have gotten shot. What made it worse was the fact that I was the only person who had any experience using a handgun and I didn't have the gun. I would have rather had more beer we could have offered as a peace token.

 

[BMXman]

it's not guns i don't like, it's those "gun people"

 

[BurlyShirley]

Depends on the situation so I can't vote.

If I get a job counting Salmon at a weir in the Alaska backcountry, you bet your ass I'd feel vulnerable with a handgun at all times.

If I spend my days in a cubicle farm, notsomuch.

 

[Westy]

Depends on the situation so I can't vote.

If I get a job counting Salmon at a weir in the Alaska backcountry, you bet your ass I'd feel vulnerable with a handgun at all times.

I'd rather have a shotgun in that situation. They have these bear loads that shoot M80's like a grenade launcher so you can just scare them away, or scare them into a murderous rampage.

 

[$tinkle]

If I get a job counting Salmon at a weir in the Alaska backcountry, you bet your ass I'd feel vulnerable with a handgun at all times.

you'd prefer a handgun over pepper spray if a bear rolls up on you?

 

[sanjuro]

I take your gun away before you could use it on me.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I take your gun away before you could use it on me.

I take your engrish away before you can has use on intarwebz

 

[BurlyShirley]

I was just using extreme examples of situations in which being armed would either be necessary or not, not trying to start a debate on effective bear repellant methods.
But yeah, a shotgun, pepper spray, whatever works.

 

[sanjuro]

I've watched this 5 times, so now I am a gun-take-away expert.

 

[$tinkle]

I take your gun away before you could use it on me.

you know what a gun is, right?

 

[$tinkle]

<u2b-schyte>

I've watched this 5 times, so now I am a gun-take-away expert.

doesn't show how to take it away when gun is held sideways & someone keeps calling you 'son'

fail.

edit: this is how it's done:

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

I've watched this 5 times, so now I am a gun-take-away expert.

What if the gun isn't painted neon yellow, will the technique still work?

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

my instructor looked like a gun guy: pot belly, full of life's regrets, and even threw out the phrase when advising judgment on when it's ok to shoot someone else "i'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6".

i think that's where i turned the corner. it's not guns i don't like, it's those "gun people"

How odd, that was almost the exact mental image I had of you.

 

[$tinkle]

How odd, that was almost the exact mental image I had of you.

and i picture you as fashioning something chrome which accentuates your mons pubis

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

and i picture you as fashioning something chrome which accentuates your mons pubis

Please, chrome is so middle class.

 

[?????]

Where is the "I don't live in the ghetto, so I don't need one." option?

I have a rifle for hunting purposes, but don't feel that I would ever need to shoot a person. I don't see myself ever getting into that situation.

 

[JohnE]

I own guns, and Mac and Cheese. If I am forced to use a gun, it is because all other means (Dogs, phone, verbal judo, intimidation)have failed. I dont normally go places I feel the need to carry in. Work is another story.
I would think a gun in a cubicle farm would be required.

Mac and Cheese, well, thats another story too. Ate some Spirals today with my daughter. Delicious lunch time treat...

 

[Lowlight7]

You guys get to choose the time and place of your gunfights?

 

[MikeD]

I've been training in CQB for awhile now and am still not a gun owner. Am I vulnerable? Yes, but I consider myself less-vulnerable. If you are someplace where you need a firearm, maybe you shouldn't be there in the first place. That's just me.

Do you not realize that "training in CQB" would actually require you to have a real gun? Such training would also be the culmination of LOTS of actual firearms experience. Who exactly is providing you this training?

Do I guess incorrectly when it I say you're playing modern ren-faire, I mean, Airsoft?

If you want to dress up and play "operator," well, have fun. But please don't dispense advice on serious topics or evaluate your own safety based on play-acting.

And to backstop Lowlight--if one could predict where violence would occur, no one would ever be a victim of violence, much less need a gun. True, you can guess where violence is more likely and avoid it (unless you live there and can't move), but then you're ultimately putting your safety in the hands of statistics. This isn't terrible--many Americans go through life this way, or even living in complete oblivion to the dangers that may surround them, and live just fine. As a risk-management professional, I consider statistics as a primary way of avoiding trouble. But some people choose to have a final option available in the event of the truly unpredictable.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Do you not realize that "training in CQB" would actually require you to have a real gun? Such training would also be the culmination of LOTS of actual firearms experience. Who exactly is providing you this training?

Do I guess incorrectly when it I say you're playing modern ren-faire, I mean, Airsoft?

If you want to dress up and play "operator," well, have fun. But please don't dispense advice on serious topics or evaluate your own safety based on play-acting.

And to backstop Lowlight--if one could predict where violence would occur, no one would ever be a victim of violence, much less need a gun. True, you can guess where violence is more likely and avoid it (unless you live there and can't move), but then you're ultimately putting your safety in the hands of statistics. This isn't terrible--many Americans go through life this way, or even living in complete oblivion to the dangers that may surround them, and live just fine. As a risk-management professional, I consider statistics as a primary way of avoiding trouble. But some people choose to have a final option available in the event of the truly unpredictable.

How do you know he isn't talking about Halo 3?

 

[Arkayne]

Do you not realize that "training in CQB" would actually require you to have a real gun? Such training would also be the culmination of LOTS of actual firearms experience. Who exactly is providing you this training?

Do I guess incorrectly when it I say you're playing modern ren-faire, I mean, Airsoft?

If you want to dress up and play "operator," well, have fun. But please don't dispense advice on serious topics or evaluate your own safety based on play-acting.

My fault, I've been training in CQC (Krav Maga and some Defendo) which is unarmed combat. However, a lot of the training scenarios include an armed baddie. I don't want to be a firearm owner until I feel proficient in the above and then I'll move up to CQB.

I've messed with some high-power airsoft when I was younger and plinked cans and drop targets but have never played "operator". Although, knowing the power and feel of those guns was my inspiration for training in CQC.

 

[$tinkle]

True, you can guess where violence is more likely and avoid it (unless you live there and can't move), but then you're ultimately putting your safety in the hands of statistics. This isn't terrible--many Americans go through life this way, or even living in complete oblivion to the dangers that may surround them, and live just fine. As a risk-management professional, I consider statistics as a primary way of avoiding trouble. But some people choose to have a final option available in the event of the truly unpredictable.

for me, this is what i relate to. i'm not menacing looking by any means, but being just over 6 feet & 200 lbs tends to be a deterrent to most criminal activity, but probably isn't a big factor if someone just wants to **** somebody up. a last resort weapon sounds reasonable, and in all likelihood i would never have to fire it. of course, my intentional exposure to risk is rather low

 

[1453]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_re_us/student_death

one could take one's chances I suppose.

 

[MikeD]

being just over 6 feet & 200 lbs tends to be a deterrent to most criminal activity

I thought we agreed to leave your momma out of this.

I'm really scared by the stats in your poll, though. 80&#37; of people here feel that they lack the rudimentary self-control to not inflict unwarranted deadly violence on other people? Geez, no wonder society is so ****ed up. (Ed: that's rather skewed, now that I see it was the only "no" option available...)