Feeling Safe in the United States

[Helmholtz Watson]

I live in the very bottom of Ireland, never been too far to the north, pretty sure there is no wall there. We aren't savages (not anymore anyway) We don't have wars over religion on the streets (dark times)

Apologies, I mixed up Ireland and North Ireland. Its North Ireland that has the walls [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_barrier#Northern_Ireland].

 

[Right Hook]

What shocked me about going to America was that I saw guns being carried as if people were expecting to be caught in a firefight just walking down the streets.

Kinda this, our culture here in the states is kinda bred by this immature sense of heroism. Our country is still pretty young all things considered and it has been bred by this cowboy-action fantasy in many ways. People feel like they need to be able to defend themselves, when in reality nothing is going to happen and even if it did, your gun probably isn't going to save you. As an american, I've become desensitized to it, anything short of the gun being pointed at me in anger doesn't scare me, in fact a guy once brandished a pistol at a party and I had a nice conversation with him about it and then he gave me a hug because I was so polite, haha.

Personally I like guns, I want to own one someday, I think they are really cool and quite interesting in design, I 100% believe I've developed this way because I was raised on action movies. However I don't want to shoot somebody and I don't ever want to be put into a situation where I feel it could happen, I'd probably never even carry the thing.

I also don't think you were in any danger whatsoever, maybe it was because you were caught so off guard but this guy isn't going to shoot you if you've done absolutely nothing to him, plenty of things can kill you, plenty of them in much easier ways than guns and in greater quantities. In a perfect society we'd have no violent use for guns, we'd probably still have them for various shooting sports but the idea that you could use it to hurt someone would be unimportant and considered morbid.

 

[The White Hunter]

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?

Well I live in the UK and feel the impulse to carry around a handaxe with me, an impulse I manage to resist but that's the kind of place I live in!

 

[Something Amyss]

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...

My entire family is from Maine and this is news to me.

 

[Something Amyss]

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

We are the best Goddamn country in the world! Seeing danger everywhere is a small price to pay for FREEEEEEEDOM!

 

[Aaron Foltz]

30 minutes from Detroit and have to say downtown has cleaned up. Even back in '00 and '01 when they had DEMF in the plaza. Was never worried BUT if you travel 10 minutes in any direction you best be packin' hahaha I keeed, I keeed

http://www.troll.me/images/another-boromir-meme/mordor-*****-please-have-you-seen-detroit.jpg

 

[crimson sickle2]

I live in America and I'm not really afraid of guns, it's the crazy behind the gun to be worried about. From my view, anything can be used as a weapon or a multi-use tool given the circumstances; so it doesn't really bother me until a person points a gun and turns off the safety.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I live in the very bottom of Ireland, never been too far to the north, pretty sure there is no wall there. We aren't savages (not anymore anyway) We don't have wars over religion on the streets (dark times)

Apologies, I mixed up Ireland and North Ireland. Its North Ireland that has the walls [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_barrier#Northern_Ireland].

That thing is still up? Geez, though they would have torn those down already.

I haven't any clue what goes on in the north, although it used to be brutal, smuggled guns, explosives...all over what belief is better. Like it is nowadays.

Here, our police officers (Garda) have no guns on patrol (our special forces do, for heavy stuff) and gun crime is non-existent here (At least in my town) In Limerick, it's been renamed "Stab" city, because of all the knife crimes.

I want to comment on the irony that knives have replaced guns in your town......but I'm going to try to avoid derailing this into a gun control debate.

 

[Dangit2019]

I've never been afraid of people with small concealed handguns here. Mainly because I've never been or heard of a situation where someone pulled out their personal handgun after being appropriately trained that ended in tragedy.

Now, I'll admit, AK47s and SMGs will put me on edge, but I've never seen them carried in public (mainly because I live in the more civilized part of Texas). For me at least, the people who DON'T carry in public and decide to hole themselves in their house with a shotgun at their side while watching FOX News all day are the ones who you should truly be afraid of. They're the ones who are going to freak out and have a trigger finger for some kid who's just walking past without a care in the world. Not some guy who's simply showing off to his buddy in a (presumably) safe manner.

 

[Platypus540]

It's all area dependent. For example, in the parts of the south/southwest in particular many people carry a gun because it's just part of the local culture. Many people living in bad parts of cities carry because it provides a measure of protection, and the same with people in areas near the border. Most people have them "just in case", not because they actually feel like they're in any danger (with the exception of the inner-city and on-the-border people I just mentioned). Also, in most of the northern states they're a lot less common than the southern ones.

 

[Platypus540]

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.

That's kind of funny, because in the US the fact that police have guns often makes people feel safer. I feel like some Americans would be freaked out that British cops aren't armed, haha.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I live in the very bottom of Ireland, never been too far to the north, pretty sure there is no wall there. We aren't savages (not anymore anyway) We don't have wars over religion on the streets (dark times)

Apologies, I mixed up Ireland and North Ireland. Its North Ireland that has the walls [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_barrier#Northern_Ireland].

That thing is still up? Geez, though they would have torn those down already.

I haven't any clue what goes on in the north, although it used to be brutal, smuggled guns, explosives...all over what belief is better. Like it is nowadays.

Here, our police officers (Garda) have no guns on patrol (our special forces do, for heavy stuff) and gun crime is non-existent here (At least in my town) In Limerick, it's been renamed "Stab" city, because of all the knife crimes.

I want to comment on the irony that knives have replaced guns in your town......but I'm going to try to avoid derailing this into a gun control debate.

I guess today just isn't my day, I keep confusing places. Again, apologies.
Limerick ain't my town man...my town is Tralee, Limerick is a city.

 

[MrFalconfly]

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.

I'm guessing it's because of the context of the situation.

In Sudan he was basically in an active warzone and the guy with the Kalashnikov was a soldier or a member of a militia while in the US it was peace-time and the guy in possession of the gun was a civilian.

 

[JMeganSnow]

It's not like everyone in the US is ready to start a firefight on the spot. If that's the case, more of the criminal shootings I hear about in the news would be two-sided.

That, and there's a good chance the guy was part of plainclothes mall security or an off-duty cop or similar. Or, maybe he just bought it and was carrying it openly because he doesn't yet have a concealed-carry permit. Or, there's a shooting range nearby. Oh, and it's actually more common to see people with guns in nice neighborhoods--they're expensive, and law-abiding citizens often don't care whether you see they're armed or not.

Some people like guns. If you want to freak yourself out for no purpose, get angsty over people's cars, car accidents kill tens of thousands of people a year (and those effing things are EVERYWHERE.

And if you want some perspective--I grew up on a military base where pretty much EVERY male between the ages of 18 and 60 was carrying, at minimum, a service-issue sidearm at all times. And you never know when that cute chick you run across is carrying one of these [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8r6CY5UZyw]. So get over yourself already.

 

[manaman]

Where the hell did you go? I've lived in America all my life and I'm currently living in arguably the most gun-supportive state in America(Texas) and I have yet to walk down the street and see people carrying a gun. That being said, I have never felt safer than when I'm walking down the streets in Texas. The idea of a bunch of people owning guns is one of preventative measures. If everyone has a gun, no one will want to fire the first shot for fear of their life.

Texas actually has some more restrictive laws. Washington state on the other hand has almost no laws covering open carry, and only a few restrictions to conceled carry. Reputation isn't everything.

I however have walked down the streat and seen someone carrying a gun, and had no problem. It has to do with exposure. But seeing how people that haven't had any kind of exposure aside from movies and video games still seem to think guns are magical devices that jump into people's hand and turn them into mindless killing machines there is not going to be any kind of real discourse on this subject. You either get it or you don't and both sides think the other is wrong.

 

[Roroshi14]

It's all about where you go. Seattle is an extremely safe city (I live like an hour south of there). But the closes major city to Seattle which is Tacoma is really REALLY shady. For the most part a lot of the west coast is very liberal which assumes but doesn't necessarily mean that there will be far less guns (damn near non) around. Unfortunately you just went to a bad part of town. Sorry from all us in the states and especially in the Pacific North West.