Feeling Safe in the United States

[Platypus540]

It's all area dependent. For example, in the parts of the south/southwest in particular many people carry a gun because it's just part of the local culture. Many people living in bad parts of cities carry because it provides a measure of protection, and the same with people in areas near the border. Most people have them "just in case", not because they actually feel like they're in any danger (with the exception of the inner-city and on-the-border people I just mentioned). Also, in most of the northern states they're a lot less common than the southern ones.

 

[Platypus540]

Guns absolutely terrify me, one of my biggest fears. When I went to DC, I found myself standing waaaay back from every cop I saw, with those massive pistols slung on their belts.

That's kind of funny, because in the US the fact that police have guns often makes people feel safer. I feel like some Americans would be freaked out that British cops aren't armed, haha.

 

[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.

I guess today just isn't my day, I keep confusing places. Again, apologies.
Limerick ain't my town man...my town is Tralee, Limerick is a city.

 

[MrFalconfly]

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.

I'm guessing it's because of the context of the situation.

In Sudan he was basically in an active warzone and the guy with the Kalashnikov was a soldier or a member of a militia while in the US it was peace-time and the guy in possession of the gun was a civilian.

 

[JMeganSnow]

It's not like everyone in the US is ready to start a firefight on the spot. If that's the case, more of the criminal shootings I hear about in the news would be two-sided.

That, and there's a good chance the guy was part of plainclothes mall security or an off-duty cop or similar. Or, maybe he just bought it and was carrying it openly because he doesn't yet have a concealed-carry permit. Or, there's a shooting range nearby. Oh, and it's actually more common to see people with guns in nice neighborhoods--they're expensive, and law-abiding citizens often don't care whether you see they're armed or not.

Some people like guns. If you want to freak yourself out for no purpose, get angsty over people's cars, car accidents kill tens of thousands of people a year (and those effing things are EVERYWHERE.

And if you want some perspective--I grew up on a military base where pretty much EVERY male between the ages of 18 and 60 was carrying, at minimum, a service-issue sidearm at all times. And you never know when that cute chick you run across is carrying one of these [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8r6CY5UZyw]. So get over yourself already.

 

[manaman]

Where the hell did you go? I've lived in America all my life and I'm currently living in arguably the most gun-supportive state in America(Texas) and I have yet to walk down the street and see people carrying a gun. That being said, I have never felt safer than when I'm walking down the streets in Texas. The idea of a bunch of people owning guns is one of preventative measures. If everyone has a gun, no one will want to fire the first shot for fear of their life.

Texas actually has some more restrictive laws. Washington state on the other hand has almost no laws covering open carry, and only a few restrictions to conceled carry. Reputation isn't everything.

I however have walked down the streat and seen someone carrying a gun, and had no problem. It has to do with exposure. But seeing how people that haven't had any kind of exposure aside from movies and video games still seem to think guns are magical devices that jump into people's hand and turn them into mindless killing machines there is not going to be any kind of real discourse on this subject. You either get it or you don't and both sides think the other is wrong.

 

[Roroshi14]

It's all about where you go. Seattle is an extremely safe city (I live like an hour south of there). But the closes major city to Seattle which is Tacoma is really REALLY shady. For the most part a lot of the west coast is very liberal which assumes but doesn't necessarily mean that there will be far less guns (damn near non) around. Unfortunately you just went to a bad part of town. Sorry from all us in the states and especially in the Pacific North West.

 

[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.

I'm guessing it's because of the context of the situation.

In Sudan he was basically in an active warzone and the guy with the Kalashnikov was a soldier or a member of a militia while in the US it was peace-time and the guy in possession of the gun was a civilian.

I get that, but I would still be more scared of an assault rifle than a pistol. Don't get me wrong, both are dangerous, but I would assume that a pistol pails in comparison to a assault rifle.

Today certainly isn't your lucky day, you messed up quoting me!

haha, yep. Better be sure to not place any bets today.

 

[renegade7]

Because it's a presidential election year. Everyone feels the need to act like the champion of their cause, because Obama's gonna take our guns away and Muslim invasion or something stupid.

Then there's the whole gun culture, which I really just don't understand.

And also it really depends on where you are. If you're in a more conservative state or a state where hunting is a common sport, expect guns. Same with low income ares in big cities.

 

[dyre]

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?

Some of the towns here are pretty crappy

I keep my gun at home though, because I feel I'm more likely to accidentally shoot someone over a misunderstanding/illusory threat than actually get to play the hero.

 

[Smagmuck_]

when one of the armed militia came into the store. He was a big guy, in a flowing desert robe and with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder. Within a few minutes, we'd all introduced ourselves and a few of the American kids were getting their pictures taken with him. Very friendly chap. The point of that story is that in a time and place, I can handle being around guns.

Oh God, you ran into one of those gun owners...

I feel I should explain. Most gun owners here are very sensible people, and when they do carry they do in a discreet and safe manner, usually concealed carry. But, there's a small sect that goes way over the top. They openly carry firearms of all kinds and a camera, so when they're eventually stopped by the friendly neighborhood cop they can get all flustered and scream "MUH FREEDUMS"[footnote]Can be interchanged with "FASCISTS!", "IT'S MUH RIGHT!" or "STOP TRYIN' TO UHPRESS MEH!"[/footnote] while the officer calmly states that their disturbing the peace, and then they go upload that video to youtube with sensationalist titles like "FASCIST COP STOPS ME AND TRIES TO TAKE MY FREEDOMS.".

Now, in some rural places you'll find people who Open Carry rifles, like ranchers or pest controllers. But they usually carry nothing larger than a .223 rifle. Unless it's Alaska, in Alaska, expect to see people OC'ing rifles while mowing their lawns because Bears.

 

[piinyouri]

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

If you lived in some of the cities here you would as well.

OT: Yeah we're all fucking crazy over here.
I'm hoping to move to Canada at some point in the distant future.

 

[Teshi]

I don't see anything particularly scary about legal concealed carry. It's not as though if someone wanted to do something nefarious with a handgun they'd be like, "oh, concealed carry is illegal, so I guess I won't hide this pistol under my jacket." The people who are doing it in accordance with the law aren't the danger.

I'm strongly in favor of gun control, because what's dangerous about guns in the US is how many there are floating around God knows where. I guarantee if I wanted to obtain a handgun that couldn't be linked to me through documentation I could get one in an hour or two. They're everywhere. But I don't see a big problem with someone carrying a gun registered to them - my view is that if a gun is registered to a person, they can generally be held responsible for what is done with it, and so are more likely to make better choices (like keeping it secure so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands).

 

[ohnoitsabear]

It's always entertaining to read threads like these with no fewer than six guns in a gun safe ten feet away from me (only two of them are mine, and the main purpose of all of them is hunting).

Anyway, the first thing you should try to understand about American gun culture is that, unless you have lived a majority of your life with it, you can never hope to really understand it. Hell, I don't even understand it in areas that don't have a large hunting population. In fact, the extent of the gun culture in America varies greatly depending on where you are in America.

The thing is, most of these people that do carry around guns have spent most of their lives around guns, so a gun in itself isn't terribly threatening. To somebody that hasn't spent a lot of time around guns, I can assume that they would seem much, much more dangerous than most gun owners here perceive them as.

That's not to say that most gun owners don't know how to use a gun safely, or don't know the dangers of a gun. Most of them do know how to use a gun safely, and thus are less afraid of guns.

Finally, very, very few people have ever used their guns for anything other than target practice or hunting. The odds that a random person in the street is going to shoot you is very, very low.

The point is, you don't have to like or understand the gun culture in America, but your fear was probably a little irrational.

 

[o_O]

Eh, I think it has more to do with it being one of those things you will never need, but if on the chance you do, you'll REALLY wish you had the damn thing.

So, are they paranoid? Yes. But I can't really blame them. No one thinks they'd ever get hit by lightning until they are.

 

[Ieyke]

For those of you that won't bother reading further than this, I went to the United States for the first time recently and, basically, have never felt more scared in my life. 'cos of the guns. Yeah, it's going to be that kind of topic.

Moving on, if any of you want a bit more information than that, then I'll start with some quick background about me. 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.

The experience in question wasn't exactly anything major. We were stopping over in some town, I forget the name (we were only there for the night before driving on to Seattle), and I, the geek that I am, decided to go check out a local videogame store. While I was there, browsing the shelves, a guy walked in with a gun. Not to rob the store, in fact, I didn't realise he had it until I heard him talking to the guy at the counter, who I figure must've been some friend of his. He must've only bought it recently, or something, because he took it out and showed it off and then put it away again. And that was it. But it seriously, seriously scared me, and I spent a lot of the rest of the trip rather on edge.

Now, I've seen guns before, and they don't necessarily scare me. Yeah, I'm a pretty big pacifist and hope that I never come into a situation where violence is the only answer. Thus far, it hasn't happened yet. I don't like guns, and I rather wish the things didn't exist. At the same time, I can deal with them, given the appropriate time and place. One of my favourite travel stories goes back to eating at a local restaurant in the Sudan during their civil war (this would've been around 2002-3, I think). We were with some American tourists we'd become friends with, eating our meals, when one of the armed militia came into the store. He was a big guy, in a flowing desert robe and with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder. Within a few minutes, we'd all introduced ourselves and a few of the American kids were getting their pictures taken with him. Very friendly chap. The point of that story is that in a time and place, I can handle being around guns. A civil war in a third world country where terrorism is rife, that is a time and a place I can see a gun being acceptable to cart around in everyday life.

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. Now, I don't live there, but is the reality of the United States really such that people feel the need to behave the same way as someone in the middle of a civil war? It just seems truly bizarre. When I'm not travelling, here in Australia, I never see a gun. Ever. Even farmers I know don't keep guns, and Australian wildlife being what it is, I can kind of see how a gun could help fend off the inevitable attack by the local super spider.

So this, odds are, will likely devolve into a gun control debate. That's not really what I want to talk about, though. I'm more interested into whether people in the United States are really so scared that they feel the need to carry a lethal weapon on their body at all times in order to feel secure. Because to me, knowing that everyone around me could be concealing a gun does not make me feel remotely secure. It makes me feel like I'd prefer to be back in the Sudan, where at least they tended to carry the guns out in the open.

Also, the captcha is "know your rights", which given the subject matter is pretty funny.

I'm sorry, but I'm just laughing at you so hard right now....
No, people in the US aren't scared of where they live to the point where they feel the need to carry guns to feel secure.
I'm a Texan, so I live in gun central, and people don't carry guns "as if people were expecting to be caught in a firefight just walking down the streets".

There's no telling how many people around you at any given time have a concealed handgun license and have a pistol on them somewhere, but it's pretty much never that people just walk around with a rifle or something.

People have guns for the same reason that they wear shoes or have little flashlights on their keychains - not because they're afraid of stepping on something sharp or afraid of the dark, but simply so that they're equipped to handle sharp objects on the ground or needing to see in dark spaces.
Wild animals, shady part of town, or "just in case"? Carry a gun. Could be useful.




As for your hilarious experience, are you sure you didn't spend the night in Compton or something?
XD

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

While it's true a small percentage of us do, my good ol' patriotic intuition tells me that's not the case with this guy. Like you said, he came in to the store and showed it off to his buddy. Perhaps that's all there is to it. Believe me when I say you can't really go around overthinking and overanalyzing small town Americans.

He has a gun, he's legally allowed to carry it around on his person, so he does. It's not so much that he expects to use it on a moment's notice at every turn (though he probably could), it's just there. Perhaps it's for possible emergencies, or it could just be the fact he likes his awesome new firearm. If you really want to know the "why", maybe you should have spoken to him when you had the chance.

It's not like everyone in the US is ready to start a firefight on the spot. If that's the case, more of the criminal shootings I hear about in the news would be two-sided.

Well, a gun is a weapon. The vast majority of my prior experience with the things has been in places where people intend to use them as a weapon. Perhaps it is a tad irrational to go around assuming that everyone that has a gun intends to use it, but unfortunately that's kinda where my mind goes when I see a weapon.

To those asking, I'm not sure why it matters where I live in Australia. You can probably gather from my post that I clearly don't live somewhere where I would be accustomed to seeing guns in a first world setting, leading to my culture shock at their prevalence when in the States. It can be safely construed from that, I think, that wherever I live I don't feel it's nasty enough to warrant the use of guns.

And yeah GeneralTwinkle, I get the point that guns are sometimes, for want of a better word, desirable. That was sort of the point of mentioning all that travel experience. I've seen the parts of the world where, in order to stop the guys just across the border from trotting across and butchering your family, you might want to carry a gun around. Living in Australia, even the crappy, crime-filled parts of it, are not that bad. That's not an opinion, that's just a straight fact.

That's kind of the thing though, in the US guns aren't always a weapon. The US has a large competitive shooting community, probably the largest in the world, so a lot of the time guns are viewed in the same light as sporting equipment. You'll never know why the guy was carrying the gun, it may be that he was coming back from a shooting range, or was on his way there, or he could just be carrying it because he damn well can and for no other reason. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't necessarily expect to have to use the gun to defend himself every moment of every day, and I'm sure he isn't just itching to shoot someone, he just has a gun, and he has the right to carry it, so he does, and that's all there is to it.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I always find it interesting when people who don't live here in the states say they feel terrified coming here.

Maybe it's just a culture thing, but I find that notion kind of ridiculous actually.

EDIT: This is a country where you can drive a car at fifteen and a half years old (depending on the state). I'm much more terrified of those idiot drivers than any amount of guns.

Ditto this. There are lots of guns in the US. A large portion of them are used for hunting and aren't carried except during hunting. handguns are sometimes carried around (depends where you are), but even so, I don't think anyone expects to use them.

 

[the doom cannon]

Well I suppose I could drop my 2 cents here. I'm 21, I'm pro-guns, I love guns. I don't carry tho, mainly because college campuses don't allow any sort of weapon on the premises. I go to school in Cleveland, OH. I ALWAYS am watching my back when I walk around, broad daylight or 1 in the morning. This city has some very unfriendly inhabitants, maybe not as bad as say Chicago or Detroit, but it's not a walk in the park. There have been 10 incidents on my campus this year that have involved people being robbed at gunpoint or been mugged. I sometimes wonder about carrying, but then I realize that if somebody has a gun pointed at me, there is no way in hell I'm drawing, loading, cocking, and shooting before he moves his finger a half inch. Better to just carry a cheap wallet with 10 bucks in it along with your real one, just so you can throw it and run.

Back home in the suburbs of LA, I couldn't feel any safer. I can walk around at 2 in the morning without a care in the world. It really just depends on where you are.

 

[Launcelot111]

Between living in rural Virginia and some of the larger and more notorious cities in America, I can count on one hand the number of people I've seen walking around with guns.

Sure, my family has plenty of hunting weapons and many people I know have guns of all sorts, but I've never met anyone with the mentality about guns that foreigners always seem to fret about. Sure, that's only personal experience, but still, the issue seems overhyped