Well so far we had a gun thread, and a brief discussion about use of lethal force in the debate thread.
One point I didnt make in either place.
In the states in areas where legal concealed is permitted, everyone carrying a gun isnt the stereotypical redneck, power hungry, idiot, vigilante that the anit-gun folks want you to belive they are.
In my various time at the gun range, on the job, and elsewhere i've encountered lawyers, doctors, engineers, research scientist, firemen, profeseurs, house wives, and everything in between who carried guns.
These folks were very skilled with there weapons, regular shooters, all practiced exemplary gun saftey, all were "expert level" on the laws concerning their guns, use of deadly force, and all practiced the rule of "stay out of situations that you will likely ever need a gun for and hopefully youll never have to use it"
Thes folks were often younger than police men Id see, had better vision than police officers Ive seen, were much much much better educated than police officers Ive seen, and many of them were much much better marksmen than police officers Ive seen.
They were not vigilanties, they did not look for trouble, they lead very normal (exemplary really) lives. They were not paronoid, and no one around them even ever knew they were taking this precautions.
Now, lets look at the typical personality and background of the average police officer:
Many of them have nothing more than a high school education. Many of them are rednecks. Many of them are on a serious ego trip. Many of them got into law enforcement for the "thrill seeking" and ability to push people around. Many of them DO FANCY THEMSELVES AS VIGILANTIES. Many of them are corrupt, lying, and criminalistic, manipulative, power hungry people. Research shows that the same personality type that goes for the life of crime...is EXACTLY THE SAME PERSONALITY TYPE THAT CHOOSES LAW ENFORCEMENT.
Now, multiple times in multiple threads I have seen people say things like "the law will protect me", "only the police should have guns", "thats what the cops are for" etc etc.
For many local PD, sheriff, etc whatever. The hiring qualifications are not that strict, the back ground checks not that detailed, the training not that good, etc etc.
So for those people who made the "police only" point....well I may be a bit rude here but you may want to pull you head out of your ass and re- think your whole rationale on that.
Who do you want next to you? A power-hungry, uneducated hot head with very little skill and experience, or the lawyer or physician with a very calm head, great skill, and expert understanding?
Id choose Dr Brown over Barney Fife any day of the week!
we aren't allowed to own anything other than pistols, and even then theres restrictions on model, rate of fire, etc.
