Feeling Safe in the United States

[Thatguyky]

I've never really felt afraid of guns in the U.S, and I've lived here all 19 years of my life
I don't have any sort of fear of guns or anything like that. What you have to fear is the person holding the gun, and seeing as how most people are not homicidal psychopaths I've never really been afraid of someone with a gun either. The only time I'd ever be worried is if it was pointed at me, otherwise it's no big deal. It's just a gun.

I don't feel scared enough to carry a gun around with me at all times. Its never been necessary, and I get the feeling it probably never will.

 

[Something Amyss]

I live in Vermont and I don't fear for my life.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Someone from Australia, land of everything that's out to kill you, being afraid of guns? Given the creatures over there I'm surprised every Australian doesn't keep a huge gun collection.

Besides guns are nothing to be afriad of, three of my neighbors have guns. Two have shotguns, the other has an AR-15 and I plan to get a mauser K98. Nothing to be afraid of.

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

Guns aren't bad. I know its a tad silly seeing how we have Mexico to the south, and Canada to the north so what are they going to do? Even thro I live within 5 min near a police station I still pack a pistol because 5 min is may not be enough.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I travel. A lot. I live in Australia, but approximately one year in every four of my life thus far has been spent overseas. I've travelled by plane, by car, and as a child my family spent three years circumnavigating the world on a yacht. At present, I have been to every continent bar Antarctica, and a total of 45 countries. Most of these countries have been third world, poor, developing, or war-torn, and as a consequence I am not exactly unfamiliar with situations that could, potentially, be very dangerous. And yet recently, as I said above, I went to the United States for the first time not too long ago and the experience seriously shook me.

I just want to say this before I comment further, I truly envy you and your family. I hope one day I can say I have traveled as much as you have.


Now then....
I'm confused on how you could be more afraid of the US than of Sudan, especially when the country was in the middle of a civil war.

Being Irish, we have little gun crimes, the streets are relatively safe (If you stay out of the way of chavs)

Is the boarder with North Ireland safe or do you guys still have that giant wall that separates you two?

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

...At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I would think people in Australia have more than their share of stuff to put up with that are scarier than guns.

On a less jovial note, it's not really something that bothers me, as a citizen of the United States, and compared to the average citizen, I'm actually quite exposed; I take public transportation, I'm most active at night, and I'm not armed myself with any more than my body and an especially heavy backpack full of the stuff I make use of throughout the day.

I've heard what are probably shootings on rare occasions, and there are some rough parts of town here in Arizona (gang activity is pretty damn nasty in some parts of the greater Phoenix area, if you can believe that), but I've never felt endangered or at risk in my time anywhere in this country. Arizona is admittedly pretty tame - I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a place like Philadelphia or New York City, no disrespect to people who do live there - but that does bring light to the fact that you're including an entire country into your assessment, and a massive one at that, full of dozens of demographics and cultures, solely because someone somewhere might have a gun. It seems extreme.

 

[keideki]

I live in (and grew up in) Arizona which has pretty lax gun laws. I've been around them my whole life and have done plenty of training on how to use them and store them properly, so when I see someone with a gun holstered I don't generally feel scared. I do however get worried when I see someone waving one around like a moron. I have seen it from time to time, people who buy guns but don't bother to learn how to use them or how to respect them. THAT is scary. But just to see someone with a handgun? Not really.

 

[neverarine]

lucky you didnt walk into my state.... guns are everywhere (Maine) you can even hear guns shooting during alot of the year, whether its hunters or people doing shooting practice in their yards nobody even cares when you hear rifle fire in the background, and i dont exactly live in the woods part either...

ive hiked in some area's where all the residents have guns on them in case of bears...

 

[MysticToast]

lucky you didnt walk into my state.... guns are everywhere (Maine) you can even hear guns shooting during alot of the year, whether its hunters or people doing shooting practice in their yards nobody even cares when you hear rifle fire in the background, and i dont exactly live in the woods part either...

ive hiked in some area's where all the residents have guns on them in case of bears...

I am so moving to Maine now

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

You know, it's kind of odd. I consider the place where I live to be, to put it nicely, the asshole of the redneck universe (Northwestern Pennsylvania), but I've yet to see anyone but a police officer carrying a gun in public, much less showing it off like that. Exactly what part of the U.S. were you in when you saw this guy?

 

[Lunar Templar]

-.-

since he didn't aim it at you, I'm gonna have to say 'man up and get over it' a lot of people in my country have the permit to carry concealed. doesn't really make us any less safe then places that have banned firearms for civilian use.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I live in the very bottom of Ireland, never been too far to the north, pretty sure there is no wall there. We aren't savages (not anymore anyway) We don't have wars over religion on the streets (dark times)

Apologies, I mixed up Ireland and North Ireland. Its North Ireland that has the walls [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_barrier#Northern_Ireland].

 

[Right Hook]

What shocked me about going to America was that I saw guns being carried as if people were expecting to be caught in a firefight just walking down the streets.

Kinda this, our culture here in the states is kinda bred by this immature sense of heroism. Our country is still pretty young all things considered and it has been bred by this cowboy-action fantasy in many ways. People feel like they need to be able to defend themselves, when in reality nothing is going to happen and even if it did, your gun probably isn't going to save you. As an american, I've become desensitized to it, anything short of the gun being pointed at me in anger doesn't scare me, in fact a guy once brandished a pistol at a party and I had a nice conversation with him about it and then he gave me a hug because I was so polite, haha.

Personally I like guns, I want to own one someday, I think they are really cool and quite interesting in design, I 100% believe I've developed this way because I was raised on action movies. However I don't want to shoot somebody and I don't ever want to be put into a situation where I feel it could happen, I'd probably never even carry the thing.

I also don't think you were in any danger whatsoever, maybe it was because you were caught so off guard but this guy isn't going to shoot you if you've done absolutely nothing to him, plenty of things can kill you, plenty of them in much easier ways than guns and in greater quantities. In a perfect society we'd have no violent use for guns, we'd probably still have them for various shooting sports but the idea that you could use it to hurt someone would be unimportant and considered morbid.

 

[The White Hunter]

I understand what you mean and it's just one of those things I'll never really understand about the States.

I can understand why some Americans have guns in their home for self defence purposes, but to walk around a city with a firearm on your person?

How crappy is your town if you feel the need to walk around with a gun?

Well I live in the UK and feel the impulse to carry around a handaxe with me, an impulse I manage to resist but that's the kind of place I live in!

 

[Something Amyss]

lucky you didnt walk into my state.... guns are everywhere (Maine) you can even hear guns shooting during alot of the year, whether its hunters or people doing shooting practice in their yards nobody even cares when you hear rifle fire in the background, and i dont exactly live in the woods part either...

ive hiked in some area's where all the residents have guns on them in case of bears...

My entire family is from Maine and this is news to me.

 

[Something Amyss]

How crappy is your town if you feel the need to walk around with a gun?

We are the best Goddamn country in the world! Seeing danger everywhere is a small price to pay for FREEEEEEEDOM!

 

[Aaron Foltz]

30 minutes from Detroit and have to say downtown has cleaned up. Even back in '00 and '01 when they had DEMF in the plaza. Was never worried BUT if you travel 10 minutes in any direction you best be packin' hahaha I keeed, I keeed

http://www.troll.me/images/another-boromir-meme/mordor-*****-please-have-you-seen-detroit.jpg

 

[crimson sickle2]

I live in America and I'm not really afraid of guns, it's the crazy behind the gun to be worried about. From my view, anything can be used as a weapon or a multi-use tool given the circumstances; so it doesn't really bother me until a person points a gun and turns off the safety.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I live in the very bottom of Ireland, never been too far to the north, pretty sure there is no wall there. We aren't savages (not anymore anyway) We don't have wars over religion on the streets (dark times)

Apologies, I mixed up Ireland and North Ireland. Its North Ireland that has the walls [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_barrier#Northern_Ireland].

That thing is still up? Geez, though they would have torn those down already.

I haven't any clue what goes on in the north, although it used to be brutal, smuggled guns, explosives...all over what belief is better. Like it is nowadays.

Here, our police officers (Garda) have no guns on patrol (our special forces do, for heavy stuff) and gun crime is non-existent here (At least in my town) In Limerick, it's been renamed "Stab" city, because of all the knife crimes.

I want to comment on the irony that knives have replaced guns in your town......but I'm going to try to avoid derailing this into a gun control debate.

 

[Dangit2019]

I've never been afraid of people with small concealed handguns here. Mainly because I've never been or heard of a situation where someone pulled out their personal handgun after being appropriately trained that ended in tragedy.

Now, I'll admit, AK47s and SMGs will put me on edge, but I've never seen them carried in public (mainly because I live in the more civilized part of Texas). For me at least, the people who DON'T carry in public and decide to hole themselves in their house with a shotgun at their side while watching FOX News all day are the ones who you should truly be afraid of. They're the ones who are going to freak out and have a trigger finger for some kid who's just walking past without a care in the world. Not some guy who's simply showing off to his buddy in a (presumably) safe manner.