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Anonymous wrote:My wife is armed. If you are running the trails and see a 5'2" woman with trail jogging water bottles on her belt, don't worry about her. She can take care of herself.
It’s to the point that I’m having my daughter trained and armed at all times.
Can’t depend on police to protect the public anymore. Time to defend yourself.
How does she feel about you forcing her to carry a gun everywhere?
Not all “arms” are firearms.
And nobody implied anyone was being forced as opposed to facilitated.
Dp. I don't carry any sort of weapon because I've been told over and over that it could be used against me by an attacker. I rarely walk, hike or run alone and always in a populated place. The fact is, this type of attack is rare and women are at more risk with someone known to us. It stinks however you look at it.
It does stink. What else stinks is the patronizing, mansplaining, anti-feminist canard that women shouldn’t arm themselves according to their desire and training because they’re not big strong men who can keep ahold of their weapons. Are all the female military personnel and law enforcement officers unarmed? Of course not!
Weapons aren’t for everyone. They require training. But “don’t carry one because you’re weak and incompetent”? Please!
DP. Guns can also be, and are, used against men, by attackers.
Again, this is a question of training and mindset.
But it is far less common for men to be warned that their weapon will be taken away than women.
Yes, that's sexism. Everyone, regardless of gender, should be warned that it's likely their weapon will be taken away and used against them.
Nonsense.
A person who chooses to arm themself and become trained takes the chance that their weapon might be used against them, balanced against the likelihood that their weapon and training will combine to become an equalizer that will turn the tables on an attacker. Training also makes an attack less likely to succeed by instilling a greater sense of situational awareness.
A person who chooses not to arm themself (and people have the right to do that) is making the decision to leave themself to the tender mercies of an attacker.
People forego weapons for all sorts of reasons. They may not believe in self defense. They may not want to put the time, effort and money into training. They may not be able to form the requisite mindset. They may sincerely believe that they are not capable of maintaining control of a weapon and, if necessary using it.
But people should make these choices rationally, for themselves. When the fear of weapons becomes so pathological that it compels a person to try to deprive others of the efficacious means of self defense, that’s a problem.
Yes, I think we all understand that people acquire guns because guns make them feel powerful and safe. The reality is that the guns will actually make them less safe, and everyone else too. But data are ineffective against feelings.
First of all, as previously noted, firearms are not the only self-defense weapons available.
“Feelings,” specifically emotional, non-logical fear of inanimate objects or of a person’s own internal rage and violence, are what motivate some people to try to control others’ choices when it comes to self defense and many other things.
Carried to its logical end, the assertion that weapons universally and uniformly make every person who has one “less safe, and everyone else too” would militate against arming soldiers, police, bodyguards and the like. That would be absurd.
Weapons do not make a properly trained person “less safe and everyone else;” they put the weak on the same footing as the strong, and their very presence frequently stops an attack before it starts.
“Feeling” powerful and safe is not the goal of an intelligently disposed person who chooses to arm themself. BEING more powerful by becoming properly trained and competent doesn’t make a person “feel” safer — they are safer, because they can repel violence that otherwise would overcome them.
Except they're actually not safer. They're at greater risk of dying by homicide and dying by suicide, and so is everyone who lives with them, and so is everyone who lives in the US.
This ancient canard, in addition to being utterly disproven by the enormous number of defensive firearm uses each year (not to mention other defensive weapon uses), is wholly inapposite when discussing armed people who are trained and competent with their weapons, as compared with the entire population who might own some kind of a weapon.
The irrational fear of weapons and the inability to comprehend or acknowledge the advantage they provide a prepared user defending against unlawful attack, bespeaks a mental disorder.
Being irrational is thinking that living under the constant tension and threat of imminent interpersonal violence is the only or best way to live amongst others in a civilized society.
I don’t want shootouts by untrained paranoiacs taking place all around me. Untrained and likely unskilled (don’t you see how people drive around here? you want those same people to have guns?) citizens should not be engaging with criminals or the mentally ill when there is any risk to innocent bystanders. I don’t want someone shooting in a panic at some man on the NW Branch trail because I could be driving my car or riding my bike nearby when stray bullets start flying.
I have a spare tire in my trunk. I don’t live under the constant threat and tension of an imminent flat tire.
I have a fire extinguisher in my kitchen. I don’t live under the constant threat and tension of an imminent conflagration.
I have locks on my doors. I don’t live under a constraint threat and tension of an imminent home invasion.
Preparation against potential risks is a rational, prudent action that gives peace of mind. It is precisely the opposite of a paranoiac mindset of constant threat and tension over a perceived risk with no sense of being able to effectively respond to that danger.
If you look back over prior postings, you will see that they consistently refer to people being properly trained, including in weapon retention, and having the correct mindset, including situational awareness.
The spectre you seek to conjure of “someone shooting in panic” and “stray bullets flying” is wholly belied by the thousands and thousands of lawfully armed people going about their daily business in the greater DC area with no “panic” and no “stray bullets.” Even before recent legal changes there have always been a large number of lawfully armed people in this area, either with so-called “need based” carry permits or because of the many federal and other law enforcement agencies. Certainly, if the disaster you fear was going to occur it would have been common and constant in the past and currently. It was not and is not.
Finally, the instantaneous and exclusive interpretation of the term weapon as meaning a firearm ignores the many other options available, from defensive sprays and electronic weapons to bladed and impact weapons, none of which produce any “stray bullets.”
The admonition that “citizens should not be engaging with criminals or the mentally ill when there is any risk to innocent bystanders” sounds great — except that criminals or the mentally ill, not their intended victims, typically choose the time and place of their assault.
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