Some situations need diffusing, some need to be ended in a split second. In either case though, inanimate objects neither diffuse nor react impulsively.
I'll make every attempt possible to diffuse a situation, but the tool I carry for defense will not be a part of that process.
And then there are encounters which are not "situations" at all; there's no argument, no name calling. Instead, you are about to become a victim, pure and simple.
I am trying to answer this in a way so as NOT to have the thread shut down, so mods feel free to delete this post or "smack my hand"....
first: I grew up using rifles in marksmanship exercises and competitions, so I am not totally anti gun....BUT,
this is part of my point...using a gun allows a person to react impulsively; using a gun allows the act to be impersonal - hell, you don't even need to see the victim eye to eye to kill them; using a gun allows the person to not even think twice about killing; using a gun means you don't have to experience the victims death...you don't have to see the fear in the victims eyes, feel and/or smell the blood as it leaves the body; there is no other weapon..er..."tool"...that allows you to be that distant/impartial and impulsive. Even bows and arrows, spears, bolas', slings, crossbows have a shorter range, and you have to actually think before you use it as far as hitting the target. Those weapons only limit you to one or 2 shots to kill...not 100's.
I think in America, we have been conditioned to not really see the severity in the power of killing. In all forms of it. It is a heavy, heavy thing. There is a lot of chest beating and false bravado that happens behind a gun, and i think that it allows for a denigration of the value of life in all forms. We don't respect life. We respect "
MY"life, but not truly everybody's...
It also allows us to get less cautious about reading situations because we think we are invincible, and then we end up in situations we could have/should have avoided. I have never, and will never own a gun b/c I have never really felt like I needed one. While I don't generally go out seeking situations where there will be trouble for fun, I do willingly participate in an activity that puts me in some shady places. In the 40 years I have been doing this, I have only been in the (above mentioned) 2 situations where I needed a "tool" to diffuse a situation. All the other situations have been avoided or diffused by being hyper aware of the total surroundings, and reading the crowd. I have had 3 situations in my life where I came upon people in my car, and all 3 times they bolted as I walked up, only because I got loud. I did not feel threatened....pissed off casue t hey tool my stuff? sure!!
But I never felt like I was going to die in those situations....
My dad- who is an ex Marine drill sergeant from Vietnam...hardcore Parris Island Grunt - had a saying that has always rang true for me: "give man a gun, and they will turn into a scared asshole."
when all is said and done, I am not condemning gun owners. I just don't get the state of living in so much fear that you feel the need to be armed like a solldier 24/7, when you are just a civilian...that would suck
