Random Thought Thread

Lorien said:
unfortunately, things rarely work out that way. If it were the case, there'd be way less gun violence in less restrictive places, but according to the numbers the opposite seems to be the way it is
I'm not planting a flag here, it's just the way I see it
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When you're focused on looking at things from a perspective of 'gun violence', it's easy to oversimplify, and think, "fewer guns = less 'gun violence'".

The problem is that violent people/criminals, are violent. They will use whatever is at hand, to commit violent acts, whether it's knives, as in this recent tragedy, or a large truck as was used in Nice, France, in one of the worst mass casualty incidents in recent history.

That's the trap the UK has fallen into. "Hey, we've banned ownership of firearms for the majority of civilians. Now, we have a 'knife violence' problem. We're trying to ban knives. Huh, the bad guys are stabbing people with screwdrivers. Let's ban screwdrivers. What? We can't ban those? OK, how about we ban carrying those? Oh, they're slashing people with boxcutters instead of stabbing them? Ban carrying those too. So, the bad guys are still carrying knives, even though we've banned them? Hey, can we look into banning the sale of ANY knives with pointy tips? Look 'ere, someone designed an anti-stab kitchen knife. See? It can still be used as a kitchen knife, but you can't stab someone with it. Think we can pass more laws so all knives sold, must have tips like these? Whaddya mean violent criminals who don't obey laws, are going to continue being violent criminals who don't obey laws?".
 
RaiderJameson said:
Although it is questionable to whether a criminal would stop activity if a carrier was noticed, areas where concealed and open carry are allowed and people open carry, theft is a much lower rate. The risk for a criminal is much higher if there are other firearms around with people who know how to use them. for instance, if you attempt to rob a gas station in a local town and there is a carrier you have greater chance of getting fatal lead poisoning than in a large mall where nobody knows eachother. It definitely has to do with the area but where guns are allowed, there is less crime. Proven fact
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There was a town in TX(?) where at one point, (quite a few years back) the Sheriff mandated that ALL adults who weren't prohibited were required to be armed.

It was merely a statement. There was never any prosecution or persecution for people who didn't bother complying. Over the next few years, though, not only violent crimes of any kind, but even property crimes (simple theft, vs armed robbery which IS a violent crime, and burglary/breaking and entering, vs home invasion) dropped drastically.

The criminals decided that if everyone else was potentially going to be armed, their chances of being shot were too high.
 
Murphjd25 said:
FB and social media was the beginning of the demise of us all.
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Blues said:

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That's the biggest issue with OC (and for some reason, it seems like a lot of folks who OC, do so with absolutely zero retention, and zero situational awareness).

To the original question about OC wrt deterring crime, my view is that it's a Catch-22. It could potentially deter crime in general if a LOT of people are open carrying AND concealed carrying.

Criminals aren't fond of higher odds of getting their asses shot off when doing criminal stuff, and if they realize that 3 out of every 4 people around them are armed (and with people carrying both openly AND concealed, not even knowing WHO is armed), they're likely to go somewhere else with lower odds of getting shot.

The Catch-22 part, is that for OC to become that common, it has to start somewhere, and until it IS that common in a particular locale, a person doing so is going to become a potential target.

There are a LOT of videos like these above, of OC'ers having their firearm taken from them (including more than a few where it wasn't just an opportunistic snatch 'n' grab with an inattentive OC'er).

There are videos of OC'ers having a gun shoved in their face (or guns, with a person who was open carrying finding themselves facing multiple armed robbers), because armed criminals decided that they'd like another free gun.
 
bellyfulls said:
Learn ping pong
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I still find it hilarious, how many people I've personally met who think that footage was real.

The first time I saw it, I had the same reaction as everyone else, i.e. "Wow...", but having actually played (and competed) in ping pong/table tennis in middle school, AND trained with nunchucks as part of all the martial arts I did, it only took a few seconds for reality to kick in and go, "Waaaaiiiit a second..."
1) the precision required to hit a round ball, with a round nunchuck handle, in order to consistently direct it where you want? Yeah... we tried that with rubber racquetball balls, and tennis balls (simply for timing to hit a small, lobbed/moving object).
2) having played a LOT of ping pong, I know how resilient/fragile the balls are. Smacking it repeatedly with the kind of nunchuck whips in that video? Nope. That ball wouldn't be bouncing properly after a single hit.

When I learned that the footage was created for a Nokia ad, using a Bruce Lee lookalike and a CGI ball, then it made sense.
 
B bluemax_1 I agree with you. I have watched many videos of OC individuals being targeted. You also hit the nail on the head with the catch 22.
Video of criminals observing OC doing nothing vs a criminal targeting an OC is "survivor bias". Obviously, we can only know of things when they take place and not of those that did not.

If one is to OC, then a level 3 holster should be a minimum requirement.
 
benchrest308 said:
B bluemax_1 I agree with you. I have watched many videos of OC individuals being targeted. You also hit the nail on the head with the catch 22.
Video of criminals observing OC doing nothing vs a criminal targeting an OC is "survivor bias". Obviously, we can only know of things when they take place and not of those that did not.

If one is to OC, then a level 3 holster should be a minimum requirement.
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On the subway years ago I was heading home from the federal building in NYC and I saw a perp sizing up a couple of passengers for either a chain or purse snatch...or a full on mugging. I waited until I caught his eye and then nodded at him and pulled my sport coat back a bit. (I don't think I had my badge on my belt, so he wouldn't have seen it.) He got off the next stop and situation averted.

Of course, who knows what poor soul would run afoul of him once he left the train.
 
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