HarmlessSquirrel said:
keep in mind that it doesn't mean 9 of 10 Americans own a gun. That certainly comes in part from the fact that some people own several.
Out of curiosity, since so many here own or want to own a gun, have many of you been the victims of violent crime? Perhaps an experience like that would affect my feelings about this.
multiple times. aside from the average teenage fights, which i count, but not everyone does lemme throw the list out there. im also not including getting jumped when i was a bouncer.
first section covering from early childhood until jr high: 3 knife attacks, resulting in one true stabbing (icepick, not fun) the other two i ran fast enough i didnt get cut. had one gun pulled on me but not pointed. attacked with a ball bat and beaten once, one other time where i got it away from the chick. sticks and rocks? more times than i can count, but only 3 resulting in injury more than a bruise or a scrape. empty hand attacks? jeez around the 15-20 range as best as i can remember. no i wasnt a gang member, just a real real rough neighborhood.
the jr high and high school era wasnt as bad in my hood, the cops cracked down hard so it got quiet. inside of school however, weapons didnt happen as much, but empty hand attacks? a lot. single person attacks, where it wasnt just a shove or a single punch, probly 5 times, depending on how you want to rate a violent attack. times when i got jumped by 2-20 people... 6 times. though the 20 person one was a single event. every other time it was smaller groups of 2-6. jr high was the greatest number. by high school people had gotten less likely to fight, more likely to posture to look good.
after high school. hmmm weaponless attacks. 3 crack heads or other types of druggie trying to rob me. 1 more where the guy was just so messed up he raged and i was the guy in the way at the time. 2 guns pointed at me, no shots fired. sticks/bats or other blunt weapon, twice more. one time being by a group with multiple weapons. if i hadnt had my gun id have been dead.
knife attacks. one switchblade, one hunting knife, two old fashioned folding knives. one guy that had a frakkin small sword that was probably sold as a knife, but damn it was big. crocodile dundee big. one dude with a box cutter too, but he was so damn crazy i dont think he was really attacking me. he was screaming stuff about the demons while he was slicing the air and i was just there.
last time for any of it was oh, about 5 or 6 years ago? since then ive been on the disabled list so i dont get out as much. if ya stay home 90 percent of the time its hard to get attacked lol.
since any time ive ever discussed the subject either someone says im making it up, or asks what the hell did you do for a living? let me get that out of the way. i was a nurse's assistant who did home health. since i was a big guy that wasnt scared i was the one they sent to the bad places that the smaller ladies refused. a big hairy dude drives down the road of some places here in the south you are likely to get jumped by someone. as an adult, the vast majority of the situations were just from that. wrong place, wrong time, trying to do my job. the rest? well you drive all over hell and back you gotta stop for gas, or a phone, or a piss, and not every convenience store is safe. hell, add in the two of those that ere road rage induced and im just glad i never had to kill anyone to get out lol. like i said b4 tho, im too old to be scared, too fat to run and too crippled to fight now. ill just have to shoot em and be done with it if it ever happens again