So I just had an argument with an anti-gun type and...

[gb_in_ga]

About the bathroom thing:

Well, yes, I carry a gun with me when I go to the bathroom, even in my own home. And everywhere else I go. Since I've got it right there, IWB, well, where I go, it goes. Just like my wallet, Leatherman, pocket knife, cell phone, car keys, glasses and my watch. It becomes more of an article of attire than anything else. Why would I take it off, go to the bathroom, and then put it back on? Besides that, isn't it more secure when it is on my person than not?

It isn't being paranoid -- it is just another tool I have on my person.

[gb_in_ga]

Wayne: I agree with your line of reasoning.

"Bee kit? I have a buddy who keeps one in every car he drives or rides in, even though he hasn't been stung in 30 years. He's allergic, and a bee sting could kill him. I'm not allergic, so inconceivable I would die from a bee sting."

As you say, unless you are allergic to bee stings, you don't need the kit. If you are, you sure better have one with you at all times. My wife is violently allergic to seafood -- even traces of it will cause her windpipe to swell, it is life-threatening -- and has to carry a Epi-Pen. Same thing, in other words.

"Snake venom kit? Are you talking about those kits with the little suction thing? I was told they're ineffective. If you are talking about something that is effective and not cost-prohibitive, let me know. I spend a lot of time in snake country. I saw 2 yesterday. My son stepped on a snake in my front yard yesterday, too. I never saw that one."

For the most part, snake bites are overrated, as long as you can get to an ER. You are better off not using those snakebite kits, they do more harm than good. If you are in snake country -- like if you are hunting in the brush country back home in Tx -- you are better served by wearing leather boots with snake leggings, and by carrying a snubby loaded with snake shot. Oh, and the snake leggings help with the cactus thorns, too! Anyway, the point here is that if you recognize that you are going into a high snake threat area, it isn't being paranoid or weird or anything if you take precautions against them. Now, if I were to take those sorts of snake precautions when I was just heading out to check the mail here in suburbia, well, that's another matter. And I think that's the point you are getting at.

[Trip20]

pax hit the nail on the head with post #26 on this thread, with regards to those who carry everywhere, those who carry occasionally, and those who think carrying at all makes you a whacko paranoid gun-obsessed mongrel.

pax’s post made good sense to me. It contrasts the different types of carry-persons we find debating on this and other similar threads.

I think it points out how someone who carries everywhere – yes, even the lavatory, - doesn’t necessarily mean they’re Gollum-like (LOTR), and their pistol is their “precious”… it’s more like their watch, wallet…etc. It’s all about your default setting. More than likely, your default setting is different from the guy next to you… but it doesn’t mean he’s a nut.

Originally Posted by pax

PythonGuy ~

Good post. Let me try to find some common ground.

I know what you mean about some posts being funny. You're amused by folks who carry everywhere. I'm bemused when I see threads with titles like, "Do you carry to a friend's house?" "Do you carry at home?" "Do you carry to work?" "Do you carry at church?" etc ad infinitum.

The reason those threads amuse me is because, well, I carry. And I go places and do things. I don't carry "to a friend's house," or "to church" or "at home" -- I simply carry, wherever I might be. My default setting is to carry and if I'm not carrying it is because I made a deliberate decision not to do so right then. The reason I carry is never because I think whatever I'm doing is particularly dangerous; if I think something is particularly dangerous, I simply don't do it (or at least I find a way to do it more safely -- such as during the day instead of at night, or with a friend instead of alone). So all the angst about whether carry is appropriate in a particular venue just leaves me bemused.

A lot of people do the exact opposite. They go places and do things, but their default setting is to leave the gun locked up at home. If they carry at all, it's because they made a conscious decision to carry that day -- generally because they thought they were doing something particularly dangerous. I don't do it that way simply because my crystal ball has never been very good and I've noticed that bad things generally happen to me when I'm not expecting it. If other folks have noticed that bad things happen to them only when they are expecting it and prepared for it, who am I to argue? It's their lives.

I just wish they could refrain from insulting me for my choices, in the same way I refrain from insulting them for their choices.

pax

[sreising]

+1



Shan

[wayneinFL]

Now, if I were to take those sorts of snake precautions when I was just heading out to check the mail here in suburbia, well, that's another matter.

O.T., but I did tell my son to put his shoes on and that if he'd mow the danged yard when I tell him to, we wouldn't have so many snakes here in suburbia.

[pax]

From 'way back on the first page:

Originally Posted by jsp98m3 (Jim)

And I guess if I was a woman that was going to go to a beach so deserted that I could actually be raped there then I could see carrying a gun.

Jim,

This isn't for you, but for any women out there who might need to know: the most likely place for a rape isn't a deserted area, but rather a "fringe" area, a secluded spot not too far from lots of other people.

Think about it: the rapist has to have a victim. In order to find a victim, he's going to go where there are people.

But he also needs privacy to do his thing.

So the most dangerous area, rape-wise, is a relatively quiet spot where you are 30 seconds or more from the crowd and where your voice either won't carry far enough or won't sound out of place. At a party, it's a back room (as all too many college girls have discovered to their sorrow). At the shopping mall, it's that long, deserted hallway on the way to the bathrooms. At the county fair, it's back behind the carnival rides or at the back of the sheep barn.

And at a beach? It's not an empty beach that's a danger; it's the beach with lots of people, but which has sand dunes (so you're out of sight and out of hearing) or the parking lot full of cars but empty of other people.

Too many people think they are safe from assault simply because other people are not far away. But the presence of other people is what makes an attack possible in the first place, so the areas you have to be most alert in are the fringe areas near, but not in, a crowd.

Edited to add: I learned this first from Marc MacYoung, but have heard it since from many other reputable trainers as well.

pax

[Les Auten]

pax
+1
My wife is always asking if I am armed when we go for walks in the woods,but never asks me when we go shopping ,out for dinner etc. I have tried to tell her that predators go where there is a large number of possible victims, not where one MIGHT show up once a month or less. But she still feels uneasy in more secluded areas.She uses the arguement that the police find a large number of victims in secluded areas, not realizing the they were usually abducted from more populated areas and then dumped in the boonies.