Mr gryphon: millions of people do NOT defend themselves each year, and it would be impossible to say if most of them are elderly. That is a melodramatic argument that has no basis in reality. An NRA friend of mine researched the FBI statistics, and what he came up with is 60-70,000 possible incidents a year where someone defended themselves with a firearm. The numbers are hard to pin down because no law enforcement agency, including the FBI, tracks crime numbers with an eye towards firearm defense.
But the "millions" number is a complete lie. It is a number perpetrated by various gun lobbyist groups based on a flawed study done back in the early 90s by Kleck and Getz. The study and its methodology has been thoroughly discounted by numerous sources. As I said to mr ultra, let's all bring facts to the discussion.
Mr auto surgeon: while the right to public safety was not written into the bill of rights, it does exist in every civilized society. Maslow's hierarchy of basic human needs list safety just above physiological needs. In other words, after we satisfy the needs of food, water, air, heat or cooling, and disease prevention, safety comes next. We need to feel safe in our surroundings, safe from attack, safe to pursue that happiness that is written into the Declaration of Independence. Safe to walk our streets, attend our schools and churches, safe to go out of our house without having to pack heat wherever we go. That's the point of being civilized. That we can rise above a barbarian state and offer ourselves safety and comfort.
Despite mr ultra's contention, I am not deluded enough to think the world is all peace, love, and customized vans. Far from it. The world is a nasty place. In FFDO school we talked about the psychology of survival. The world is made up of three groups; sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. The sheep are the general populace; keep your head down and hope nothing bad happens. The wolves are the thugs, the criminals, the crazies who wish to do us harm. The sheepdogs are those people who decide to step up and protect the sheep. They figure prominently in the military and law enforcement. They rise to the challenge of keeping their fellow citizens safe. They learn, they train, they practice, they adapt.
So, you want to be that sheepdog who protects the flock? Step up to the challenge. It isn't enough to go to a store, buy a gun, strap it to your hip and proclaim yourself the guardian of Liberty. That's not enough. If that's all you do, you will fail. If you want to be that good guy with a gun, then you need to raise that bar. Train yourself and others. Learn to shoot in a tactical situation, not just plink at paper targets. Work to change gun regulations so that guns don't make it into the hands of infants, criminals, idiots, or the insane. Be part of the solution.
Because if you just sit on your hands and say no to everything, you are just part of the problem.
