Text 14894, 78 rader
Skriven 2008-05-07 19:23:54 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 14882 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Martial arts
====================
Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Tuesday May 06 2008 at 17:43:

RB>>>> You ask whether I think you might shoot someone with your legal
RB>>>> guns and the answer is "it depends on the situation". The
RB>>>> possibility certainly exists.

RW>>> Yes, it certainly does, however 'that' isn't the problem.

RB>> No? Seems to me you brush this aside a little too quickly.

RW> Seems to me, you have no grounds to judge, since you're not interested
RW> in the statistics and reports that show you're wrong. A situation
RW> where I'm confronted with an armed robbery or burgler certainly
RW> warrants that I protect myself and family. Heated arguements on the
RW> streets or roads in the USA can lead to confrontations, but the
RW> licensed firearm carrier is not going to be the first to draw a
RW> weapon.

Why should _anyone_ draw a weapon? Unless, of course, everyone has access to
one or even carries a gun. And your trust of people with "legal" firearms is
touching, but not convincing. As I say, none of us are machines. I'm absolutely
convinced you - and I - could be incited to murder under the appropriate
conditions. And if you - or I - had a gun in our hand, that would happen rather
sooner than later. It's so easy to pull a trigger.

RW> In California and Texas, such confrontations can lead to charges of
RW> "Road Rage" with the mere brandishing of a fist.

You might be interested to know that such things as "road rage" simply don't
exist in Germany. Nor do people carry guns to "protect" themselves. Nor are
people shot by hoodlems trying to rob them. Nor do violent "gangs" exist to
shoot up the cities. The worst problems we have are drugs, same as in the
States. But violence is generally with fists or at worst with a knife.

I suspect you in rural Texas also have no problems with such things, but from
what the media report, things in larger cities are pretty hairy. I can remember
my sister coming home one day (Cincinnati) and telling how some crazy had shot
three people at an office not far from where she worked. That was in 2003.

RB>> That particularly applies in this case, since I - in contrast to most
RB>> of the others writing here - definitely _do_ have a knowledge of both
RB>> the States and Europe,

RW> I find that hard to believe. Your 'States' has changed many fold over
RW> the 40 years since you've been gone.

Roy, the last time I was in the States was 2003. Have things changed so
radically since then, except of course the absolute paranoia toward foreigners?

RB>> and not merely a superficial knowledge based on a vacation or brief
RB>> stay. I don't write on the basis of heresay, nor on the basis of
RB>> something I read in the Internet, but on the basis of personal
RB>> experience.

RW> Which was 40 years ago. A lot of water has gone over the damn since
RW> 1968...

On the one hand true. In the 50s and 60s, people weren't obsessed with
"security" and didn't buy firearms to "protect" themselves, but to hunt.

When I went to school in the 50s, there were bullies - sure - but they beat you
up with fists, and left "four eyes" like me (glasses) alone. Even among them
there was a certain code of honor. We read about things like zip guns in the
papers, but never saw one. And we all had pocket knives, but it wouldn't have
occurred to us to stab anyone with them. We threw them to try to hit tops on
the schoolground.

Times have meanwhile changed, and not for the better.

On the other hand, as I say, my experience runs right up to 2003. Don't assume
I have no knowledge of the States just because I haven't actually lived there
for many years. In fact, I suspect my knowledge of the States is a good deal
better than yours of Europe... tell me, how many years did you live here?

Cheers, Bob

--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-0613
 * Origin: Jabberwocky System - 02363-56073 ISDN/V34 (2:2448/44)