Quote:
Originally Posted by muns
I can see why you feel the way that you do, and I think your premise has merit up until a certain point. Where I think it starts to fail is the assumption that people are either playing by the rules, or want to play by the rules.
In our community, our neighborhood association is doing some wonderful things and there is a will to address issues that are issues both within our community and Baltimore in general. However, not everybody shares that will, and there is also a sub sect of our community that could care less about rules, lives, and people in general. The mighty dollar and their worth/place takes precedence over everything/ anything else.
I don’t know how to combat that, and neither does Baltimore as we are once again, according to USA today, “America’s most dangerous city”.
To go back to what CU Tiger was saying, in order to level the playing field for people that are playing by the rules, they feel the need to arm themselves so that they are protected from the people that think/ do whatever the heck they want. I am the head of the household, so I feel the need to be the protector.
From my perspective, people ask me all the time why don’t you move. I wish it was as easy to say “sure I will just pick up (and her) and get out of dodge”, but it’s never that simple. So the easiest solution is to get a gun and deal with the shit as best as we can. I hope I never have to use the gun, and that nobody tries to come in (our 100lb dog is a giant help with that) but knowing that it is there makes living in the difficult situation bearable because I know I would have a fighting shot if something did go down based on the circumstances that we are in.
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As I tried to say, can totally understand the rationale for feeling the need to have a gun now, as things are around you, and my post wasn’t questioning that, or criticising you or any individual person for that - sorry if it came across that way.
It’s more at government level where changes need to be made that could maybe eventually mean things get to a position where that feeling of needing a firearm as protection goes away. Undoubtedly there will be people who don’t want to be helped, but some sections of that society will take up opportunities. Even if you lift up 5%, even a couple of %, it’ll have an impact, may set an example and make a few more people more receptive.
Agree it needs all sides to want to change things, not just gun-owners and non-owners, but also all levels of governance, all levels of society - it’s not a simple fix by any measure.
What is puzzling and frustrating to an outsider looking in is that there doesn’t seem to be any real desire from the people who could facilitate change to even try, leaving good folks (for want of a better description) with little choice. I can see that.