Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexB
I have been to Baltimore, about 20 years ago now so I’m sure its changed, but I was basically forced by the hotel to take a taxi from my hotel to the Memorial Stadium rather than walk, which was my plan. Best advice I think I ever had!
In situations like this I can 100% see the need for a weapon as protection. However, and this is not a criticism of you, it’s another example of more guns to counter violence and gun issues.
There appears to be no strategy, or even will, to address the bigger issues and at least try to change society so that you don’t feel the need to arm yourself to protect your family.
That surely has to be a better aim for everybody - improve the lives and prospects of the poorest and improve the safety of the community in doing so.
As alluded to above, guns are not the only problem, but they are a symptom and part of the issues, and it seems to me that this cannot or will not be accepted by many even as a possibility
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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.