Feeling Safe in the United States

[Paradoxrifts]

Gun ownership in Australia is back on the rise [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-12/gun-ownership-on-the-rise/3662504], but I very much doubt that I will ever live to see the day where people over here carry them around in public in the same manner and spirit as some Americans are reported as doing.

 

[direkiller]

Really depends on where you go in the US. I mean, go to Texas, expect some guns. (Though, I've never seen someone just carrying) I don't carry a gun because, well, chances are if someone holds me up and I reach for a gun, my ass is gettin' shot.

Texas oddly dose not have an open carry law

alot of states it's CWP or if they do have open carry laws it is two actions from firing(so safety on and holstered)

 

[BlackStar42]

Guns absolutely terrify me, one of my biggest fears. When I went to DC, I found myself standing waaaay back from every cop I saw, with those massive pistols slung on their belts.

I know that guns are like America's thing, but I hope to God they never become Britain's thing.

I heard every officer in the UK has too carry a firearm now because of the increase in gun violence.

Nope. We do have firearms units, but unless you're in Northern Ireland, your average police officer just has cuffs and a truncheon, maybe a taser as well.

 

[barbzilla]

I understand what you mean and it's just one of those things I'll never really understand about the States.

I can understand why some Americans have guns in their home for self defence purposes, but to walk around a city with a firearm on your person?

How crappy is your town if you feel the need to walk around with a gun?

It depends on the situation. I was a correctional officer, meaning I kept people in prison (prison guard). Well these people do get released and often live in the town you live in. I don't personally carry a firearm outside of work as I was well received by the inmates, but other officers often did. I don't begrudge them their defense nor do I feel threatened by the presence of guns on the streets.

Sometimes it is a needed piece of equipment, it just depends on the situation.

Captcha: I'm batman: No I'm not captcha, but thanks for noticing I don't use firearms when not required.

 

[Robot Number V]

OK, I've lived in America my whole life, that would scare the shit out of me, too. I hope you won't let that color your judgement of the whole country, because that is NOT normal...At least not where I live. And from the rest of this thread, it sounds like it's not normal ANYWHERE.

Seriously, if that happened to me, I would be just as scared as you were.

 

[Fiad]

It isn't so much that they are expecting to get into a firefight, it is that the law allows them to, so they do. Simple as that. Some states/towns have open carry laws that let people carry a firearm so long as that it is clearly visible. And actually these places have the lowest amount of gun violence.

They do it because they can. I am neither for nor against guns, I own two. But only because one was my dad's(Currently doesn't even work) and one was my grandpa's(locked away in a closet).

 

[Arsen]

I am sorry OP, but I find your fears to be both ridiculous and irrational. The people with the guns aren't the threats, it's those who shouldn't own them.

You won't see the second of the two. Those are the people you have to watch out for. Other than that, since you're raised in a culture that doesn't have these kind of things I can perfectly well see why it would alarm you to see something such as that. There are people who do purchase permits to carry guns, concealed and open carry, but still... those aren't the ones you have to look out for, once again.

Even then, I find the debates about our laws to be blown out of proportion, considering how greatly everyone exaggerates them in terms of "how it seems" versus the reality of it.

 

[Risingblade]

I understand what you mean and it's just one of those things I'll never really understand about the States.

I can understand why some Americans have guns in their home for self defence purposes, but to walk around a city with a firearm on your person?

How crappy is your town if you feel the need to walk around with a gun?

It's not the town it's the neighborhood you have to watch out for. Unless it's Detroit stay the fuck away from detroit

 

[Thatguyky]

I've never really felt afraid of guns in the U.S, and I've lived here all 19 years of my life
I don't have any sort of fear of guns or anything like that. What you have to fear is the person holding the gun, and seeing as how most people are not homicidal psychopaths I've never really been afraid of someone with a gun either. The only time I'd ever be worried is if it was pointed at me, otherwise it's no big deal. It's just a gun.

I don't feel scared enough to carry a gun around with me at all times. Its never been necessary, and I get the feeling it probably never will.

 

[Something Amyss]

I live in Vermont and I don't fear for my life.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Someone from Australia, land of everything that's out to kill you, being afraid of guns? Given the creatures over there I'm surprised every Australian doesn't keep a huge gun collection.

Besides guns are nothing to be afriad of, three of my neighbors have guns. Two have shotguns, the other has an AR-15 and I plan to get a mauser K98. Nothing to be afraid of.

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

Guns aren't bad. I know its a tad silly seeing how we have Mexico to the south, and Canada to the north so what are they going to do? Even thro I live within 5 min near a police station I still pack a pistol because 5 min is may not be enough.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I travel. A lot. I live in Australia, but approximately one year in every four of my life thus far has been spent overseas. I've travelled by plane, by car, and as a child my family spent three years circumnavigating the world on a yacht. At present, I have been to every continent bar Antarctica, and a total of 45 countries. Most of these countries have been third world, poor, developing, or war-torn, and as a consequence I am not exactly unfamiliar with situations that could, potentially, be very dangerous. And yet recently, as I said above, I went to the United States for the first time not too long ago and the experience seriously shook me.

I just want to say this before I comment further, I truly envy you and your family. I hope one day I can say I have traveled as much as you have.


Now then....
I'm confused on how you could be more afraid of the US than of Sudan, especially when the country was in the middle of a civil war.

Being Irish, we have little gun crimes, the streets are relatively safe (If you stay out of the way of chavs)

Is the boarder with North Ireland safe or do you guys still have that giant wall that separates you two?

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

...At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I would think people in Australia have more than their share of stuff to put up with that are scarier than guns.

On a less jovial note, it's not really something that bothers me, as a citizen of the United States, and compared to the average citizen, I'm actually quite exposed; I take public transportation, I'm most active at night, and I'm not armed myself with any more than my body and an especially heavy backpack full of the stuff I make use of throughout the day.

I've heard what are probably shootings on rare occasions, and there are some rough parts of town here in Arizona (gang activity is pretty damn nasty in some parts of the greater Phoenix area, if you can believe that), but I've never felt endangered or at risk in my time anywhere in this country. Arizona is admittedly pretty tame - I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a place like Philadelphia or New York City, no disrespect to people who do live there - but that does bring light to the fact that you're including an entire country into your assessment, and a massive one at that, full of dozens of demographics and cultures, solely because someone somewhere might have a gun. It seems extreme.

 

[keideki]

I live in (and grew up in) Arizona which has pretty lax gun laws. I've been around them my whole life and have done plenty of training on how to use them and store them properly, so when I see someone with a gun holstered I don't generally feel scared. I do however get worried when I see someone waving one around like a moron. I have seen it from time to time, people who buy guns but don't bother to learn how to use them or how to respect them. THAT is scary. But just to see someone with a handgun? Not really.

 

[neverarine]

lucky you didnt walk into my state.... guns are everywhere (Maine) you can even hear guns shooting during alot of the year, whether its hunters or people doing shooting practice in their yards nobody even cares when you hear rifle fire in the background, and i dont exactly live in the woods part either...

ive hiked in some area's where all the residents have guns on them in case of bears...

 

[MysticToast]

lucky you didnt walk into my state.... guns are everywhere (Maine) you can even hear guns shooting during alot of the year, whether its hunters or people doing shooting practice in their yards nobody even cares when you hear rifle fire in the background, and i dont exactly live in the woods part either...

ive hiked in some area's where all the residents have guns on them in case of bears...

I am so moving to Maine now

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

You know, it's kind of odd. I consider the place where I live to be, to put it nicely, the asshole of the redneck universe (Northwestern Pennsylvania), but I've yet to see anyone but a police officer carrying a gun in public, much less showing it off like that. Exactly what part of the U.S. were you in when you saw this guy?

 

[Lunar Templar]

-.-

since he didn't aim it at you, I'm gonna have to say 'man up and get over it' a lot of people in my country have the permit to carry concealed. doesn't really make us any less safe then places that have banned firearms for civilian use.