Hello Jeff.
26 Jul 17 23:58, you wrote to me:
>> Do you have any stories to share (or know someone) about a situation
>> where owning a gun saved you or your family?
JS> Yes, I have a friend who has several long guns as well as several handguns.
JS> He was home when at about 11:00 pm a couple guys broke into
JS> his house. In the house were him, his wife, and their two kids.
JS> Hearing noises he got up and went to investigate carrying his 9m. He
JS> confronted the intruders aiming his gun at them. He said that they
JS> broke several things in trying to leave the house. He also told me
JS> that he would have only fired if it was the only option left to
JS> protect himself or his family.
That's a good reason.
JS> I remember being in my car driving with my girlfriend some years ago
JS> in Minneapolis, MN. A 20ish year old guy asked if he could get a
JS> ride. I decided to give him a lift against the opinion of my
JS> girlfriend (Based on the look she gave me). <g> About 5-10 minutes
JS> later he pulled a knife and stuck it to my neck. He was sitting in
JS> the back seat behind me. He asked for my money. I at the time was not
JS> carrying any weapon. I can't tell you how helpless I felt. Needless to
JS> say I gave him the $45 that I had on me.
But, at the time, if you had a gun with you, how could you defend
yourself? He had your back, with a knife stuck to your neck.
JS> Would I have felt different if he had had a gun? Not really. IMHO, if
JS> people have a criminal intent to rob or attack. They will acquire and
JS> use what ever they think they need. Be it a knife, club, or gun. They
JS> are not likely to care if having, carrying, or using a gun is
JS> illegal. Again IMHO gun laws preventing people from owning or carrying
JS> a gun does little if anything to keep the gun out of the hands of the
JS> criminals.
I couldn't agree with you more. I live in Brazil, and here, to own a
gun, you need to undergo a Kafkianesque bureaucracy that would raise a few
eyebrows of communist-time Russians. Nevertheless, the drug dealers and all
sorts of bad guys have access to the state of the art on weaponry.
JS> I realize that some from other countries might say that "We don't have that
JS> problem here". And that might be somewhat true. But then again we
JS> are not talking about life in other countries. I am not inferring
JS> that we here do things better or worse than elsewhere. Guns here have
JS> been major part of US history. A large percentage of gun owners here
JS> grew up in homes that had guns. Many homes that have guns have
JS> multiple guns in the home. In talking to gun owners over the years.
JS> They say that the primary reason for having a gun is protection of
JS> their home and family with hunting and sport shooting being
JS> considerably less important. Many have stated that they couldn't see
JS> themselves without owning or carrying a gun.
But I tell you... We do have this problem here. I can remember of two
recent school shootings: One was on 2013, when a crazy guy bought a .38 Special
handgun from a friend for 20 USD and went to his old high school. He killed
around 10 people before a police officer shot him.
The other was about one month ago. The 16-year old was the son of a
police officer and managed to grab the mother's pistol without her knowledge
and took it to the school vowing for revenge from bullies. 8 dead.
On the other hand, we have HUGE violence numbers here, despite all the
gun control laws we have. Chances of a person to die by weapons fire in Brazil
are higher than in Syria or Iraq.
My father is a shooting sportsman and I've grown with weapons all
around, I learned the responsability that carrying a gun brings with you.
And also I can tell you that, in the city of Rio alone, from January
until today, 121 police officers were killed here. Of these, around 20% were in
the line of duty, but the other 80% died while they weren't working, trying to
defend themselves while being robbed or so.
Here the biggest problem is not house break-ins, but armed robbery,
carjacking, kidnapping... Into all of these felonies the bad guy has the
surprise factor on its favor.
>> I am asking this because I live in Brazil, and here the laws
>> concerning the possession of firearms are extremely restrictive, to
>> the extent that is almost impossible to the average person to own a
>> gun, and it's 100% impossible to carry a gun outside the home
>> without being a police officer.
JS> Do the gun ownership restrictions there keep someone from getting a
JS> gun if they decide to use one?
There's the right for self-defense, but it will be a long court battle.
Recently a very famous model/actress was surprised by a fan in a hotel
room with a gun. The guy was crazy and wanted to kill her like that guy that
killed John Lennon. Her brother was at the room and struggle with the attacker,
managed to take his handgun and shot him three times.
Now he is facing murder charges. Of course he is appealing for
self-defense, but years will take until this is settled.
Even if I have a gun at home to protect my family, if someone breaks
into my house and I eventually shoot and kill the guy, I'll be in deep trouble.
>> Nevertheless, the crime rate has reached an all-time high here. It's
>> so high that if you leave your home for a walk in the block the
>> chances of someon robbing you at gunpoint are like 3 into 10.
JS> I guess you have just answered my last question. My attitude is that
JS> if gun laws prevent private ownership and/or possession of guns. Then
JS> the only people that will carry guns are the criminals. With the
JS> exception of the police of course. Am I in favor of stricter gun laws?
JS> Yes I am. I think that people should have the right to own and carry a gun.
JS> Provided that they are mentally capable of being properly
JS> responsible for it's safe operation and use. Also known criminals
JS> should be prevented from ownership or possession. But that is really
JS> an unenforceable restriction. I also think that gun ownership and
JS> possession should require proper and verified gun safety training. I
JS> help provide gun safety training at several local locations. Training
JS> that the state currently requires. The majority of the students are
JS> children ranging in ages from 9 to 20 years old. It is important that
JS> a society that has, and owns gun knows how to safely use, store, and
JS> operate a firearm. And to properly respect it.
You are absolutely right. My problem is that my society haven't evolved
to such a level, and I believe that, if the gun laws here would be softer, we
would be back into the Old West times. But that's a Brazilian issue.
>> That being said, what would be the value of having a gun in such an
>> environment? The attacker has always the element of surprise, and if
>> they find > out that you have a gun, you won't come back home alive
>> to tell a story...
JS> Hypothetically, if you were intent on burglarizing a home. And if you
JS> were reasonably certain that that household had a gun inside. Would
JS> you be less inclined to approach that home?
Logic dictates that the offender would choose a house that did not have
a gun inside, but here the bad guys are so well-armed that they simply won't
care. Can a 9mm be a match for 5-6 guys with AK-47s, military training and
surprise factor?
Flavio
... "Self-estima" - Reptile Shaman
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