Question to Gun owners

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No matter what country, it's a general question and not so much about politics.

Does it make you feel more self confident when you carry a piece?

Seriously, I wonder. Almost a month ago I was nearly stabbed by a drunk thug during a bus ride. He chose to sit right next to me, and outright started to bully. He blatantly invaded my personal space, and when I politely told him and he told me to look the other way in a demeaning way. So it was a hour long drive with no stops. Nowhere to change places. I was tucked to a window and I tried to secretly film the guy. He caught it and It was a scene. He started grunting and making nasty threats - the other passengers surely were afraid of him - no, they were horrified with panicked with their eyes. He reached for my phone which I resisted. My "scene" trick worked although it resulted him in assaulting me. A soldier sat behind me later told me he would pop his head if it were to escalate. Well by then I could have been stabbed. The thug told me he would follow me after I exit the bus.

No.
I just know I have a better chance to defend myself the. If I don’t have a gun, without a gun my chances are near zero.

I’m the same if I carry or not besides knowing if someone attacks me on days I work(can’t carry), I’m screwed. Not carrying does make me more afraid though. I’m defenseless and left to the pity of those stronger or armed. I imagine women who carry feel the same way. If I lost my guns I’d probably never leave mY house and live in constant fear at home. If something happens at home I know I can try to get my gun and it’ll give me a fighting chance. Which is better then no chance.

I’m weak, never been in a fight in my life and am non violent. So against a strong man armed with a knife or bat I stand I chance.

I wouldn’t feel safer if I had a gun.

I’m no Arnold Schwarzenegger, trust me....

I don't carry a gun at all times, but do most days... Mostly because at times I carry a large amount of cash and meet with people I never met before. I don't necessarily feel more confident or safer, but I do feel a greater sense of responsibility when I decide to carry. While a gun can be a great tool for defense, sometimes I prefer a purpose built pen (seriously). Ultimately your best defense is situational awareness and having an exit route in mind. What ever tool you choose to use when things get bad, you need to practice, practice, and practice some more in various situations while under stress.



The pen I carry, including on airplanes and in government buildings.

I guess the pen really is mightier than the sword.

In most situations it's a good alternative vs shooting someone. In some, it maybe your only option when in a gun free zone assuming you are choosing to abide the law. This is also assuming, you can't walk away or don't feel safe to turn your back... Having a pen out is less intimidating and perfectly acceptable just about everywhere. But still very dangerous if you know how to use it and not using something cheap that will easily break.

I often twirl my pen when siting somewhere, it's a bit of a stim for me.



Or it maybe just an Asian thing... Just about all my fellow Asians do it or so it seems.

To tell the truth I've never publicly carried. You need a CCW (concealed carry weapon) permit in the US, that has side effects I haven't wanted to deal with or at least the benefit hasn't outweighed the annoyance yet. I might take my handgun hiking in a holster in a month or so if we go hiking in open wilderness as we're planning to albeit that's more intended for scaring off black bears than anything else.

What I've always heard with my martial arts training is that if you're dealing with a thug or a mugger of some type the distance of the attacker as a known target has to be greater than 21 feet otherwise the gun will never be ready and unsafetied in time, and some people have argued now that it needs to be 31 feet. What bother me is we have really strange laws on the books with concealed weapons, ie. you can have a hidden gun (with permit) but there's no such permit for a fixed blade or a folding blade longer than four finger-widths.

Myself I'd much rather carry a retractable baton, if I could, because it's quite difficult for anyone to argue that it's a mugging weapon, if someone has a knife and you know how to target rock beats scissors, and also the downfall of using a knife in self defense is similar to using a gun in self-defense - ie. no matter how authorized said self-defense was they'll be counting the numbers of slashes vs. stabs you administered and every stab takes you closer and closer to some variant of manslaughter rather than self-defense whereas you can incapacitate a person with a baton and not have the issue of them bleeding out or dying come to the forefront unless you were clubbing them over the head with it. The baton is also appealing to me as a kali practitioner and having a pretty good variety of aramas ready at the drop of a hat.

I’m not trained in hand to hand nor do I wish to be. I appall physical violence. I have no wish to fight with someone anymore then I desire To work out at the gym constantly to be super strong.
batons can easily kill someone and thus are banned in my state.

What’s the negative side effects to having a ccw? I’ve not noticed any.

I’m not you, and you’re not me. I’m not asking that you carry or own guns just thst I continue to be left alone and allow to carry and own guns to defend myself with.
Anti gun people seem to think there’s only two realities one where no one has guns or one where everyone has to have a gun. No pro gun person wants people who don’t want to own a gun to have a gun none of them, we just don’t want to be told we can’t.

Well said, unfortunately opposing opinions is considered trolling by a few members.

I was telling the OP my preferred route, not necessarily dictating from on high what all people must do.


I'll take this in keeping with your abhorrence of physical violence. My general take is that while I hate it I realize that there are all kinds of people who see it as a wonderful dominance strategy and have few moral qualms and often little to lose with respect to using it on others. By their logic if a person can't handle it they deserve what's coming. To be fair I tend to be somewhat less worried over what someone else could do to me and more worried about what I'd do to myself in the aftermath.

I think my main point was that you can incapacitate someone without bleeding them out. Sure, they could have a hematoma and die from that embolizing. Hitting someone in the head obviously would have certain results while stabbing someone in far more instances and places on the body could be fatal. It's not something you want to do for the joy of doing, you'd do it if someone had a knife and seemed quite intent on using it or if you found yourself in some particularly dire situation - not a standard night out at the pub.


It's just stuff I personally wouldn't want to deal with since I don't really shoot often anymore nor particularly often have the desire to carry a gun. The primary example is needing to debrief the police on your ccw status any time you may be pulled over, whether or not you have a weapon and where, and have your hands on the dash. That's probably the only one I can think of off the top of my head but overall the added complexity in my life probably wouldn't be worth the one or two times where I'd want to have a gun on me but would have a little bit more physical comfort with it in a pocket rather than holstered.