background: staying in a roadside motel in the US. Man and Woman in the next room are screaming at each other. 1:30 in the morning. Not my problem.
But I did get voyeuristic and plant my ear on the wall. Most I could comprehend was “your daughter, but what about MY daughter?” from the woman. That’s what I thought I heard.
I was like, if I am certain I can tell that someone is beating on someone, and trying to kill them, or you know just violence is happening, then I’ll call 911. but I was far from certain. all i could discern was crying and screaming.
Hour later, someone is pounding on my door. is it someone in distress? I am in the least accessible and least desirable room in the place. It’s probably one of those two neighbors, but which one?
Anyways, I’m in the US, so I have one or more guns, but I don’t keep them loaded or accessible. by the time I had something ready, I think the neighbors were about to pass out. they currently are quiet after hours of screaming.
So I’m not a fan of cops, but not entirely against them. Situations in which I did call the cops:
-Neighbors were screaming at each other, 3 a.m.; their 6-year-old girl was out in the street crying.
-I heard broken glass and looked out the window, and saw a pair of big man’s boots going into what I thought was a single woman’s apartment.
Heads up, you’ve just found a huge flaw in your security. You should have something loaded and accessible, especially somewhere like a strange roadside motel in the US. If you have kids that presents an extra challenge, because of course you have to keep it away from them, and that means on your person (not off body carry, on body, good holster preferably concealed, or with active retention) or in a quick access safe (which is fairly unrealistic in a motel).
If you needed it in that moment (and thankfully you ended up not needing it of course), you did not have it in that moment. You admittedly didn’t “have” it until the moment passed, which had there been a deadly threat or threat of great bodily injury (the definition of “need gun”), you would have been unprepared for it and perhaps fallen victim, or been unable to help protect the victim.
If you want specific advice relating to the topic of carrying/self defense I’d be happy to answer any questions I can. I’m not an expert, but I’m not a novice either, if you’re familiar with Elder Scrolls skill levels let’s call me a Journeyman lol. I just want people to stay safe and be prepared, god forbid you ever need it but if you do you want to be ready (and safe, of course).
Slow down there - you’re making some rather large assumptions about why they have guns. Sure, some people have guns for “self defense” (some for valid reasons, others because racism). Others have them for hunting. Sometimes they’re inherited and have sentimental value.
Edit: Also, kids aren’t the only reason not to keep them loaded. Keeping guns and ammo separately secured introduces enough of a delay to reduce the risk of suicide, for example.
yeah as a profligate alcoholic and terminally depressed person, i’m not hanging out with loaded guns. i’ve been trained to use them, been familiar with them for decades. also i’m just clumsy. i don’t have a military background, I know i can hit a target at a couple hundred yards with an M4, but that ancient Old Reliable .38 with no safety scares me.
i’m just not interested in killing anybody. i’m well-versed in crazy experiences, from inner city New Orleans to Sonora Desert meth heads or the average lunatic in Louisville. I am better off for not being prepared with a loaded gun many many times, because I definitely would have shot many different people.
Well, if that was your response I’m inclined to agree. “Safely” was a big part of what I said earlier and tbh you don’t sound super safe if you’d have “shot many different people.”
i’m a grownass middleaged dude who’s never shot anyone, just been very cautious and seen a lot of weird shit while enduring some mental health shit throughout. and i have a lifelong exposure to guns. I think I’ve been quite safe. if you don’t think i’m safe, then you absolutely should not be encouraging more firearm access.
I mean yeah, I don’t really think you should have a gun at all if you’re saying the main thing stopping you from misusing it is that the ammo is stored separately, tbh. That doesn’t scream “safety” to me really, it seems more like a ticking time bomb. Not much I can do about that, but at any rate as I said I am now in agreeance with your chosen method of carry so long as it means you’re less likely to misuse it on an innocent person, even if that unfortunately comes at the expense of your safety. I was encouraging more firearms access before you divulged this information, and with the new information my opinion on the matter has shifted. Again, what I said was really under the assumption that you still wouldn’t shoot people you don’t have to, not because the ammo is stored separately, but because it is “wrong to do.”
and that’s what your 2A right earns you. people with even less self-awareness or judgment than me are just walking around everywhere you go with guns in their pockets.
Still I’d rather I have one and you/they do too than neither of us have one and you/they have a knife instead. Unless you also keep your blades stored separately from the handle I guess. At least if I need mine to protect me from you, I’ll have it ready when need be.
can’t disagree but it’s literally a stone age problem. the same logic has led to nuclear proliferation and doctrines of mutual assured destruction. that sounds much more terrifying in german but I can’t find the correct translation atm. not to mention capitalism and the proliferation of killing machines for profit.
in short, i think taking the bullets out of your stupid little gun is the right way to go. try it. you won’t die.
No that’s the correct translation, at least that’s how it is always said in English (if you mean a more direct German translation using a literal translation of the parts of one giant compound word, idk about that lol). And you are indeed right about that, but this is the world we live in, and these are the hands we’re given, gotta play the cards you’re dealt.
However I must disagree with your summary. For instance you think you needed it when they were banging on your door but you didn’t (thankfully, tbh), as evidenced by you not having it and still being alive. When you “need” a gun is when the other option is “an immanent threat of death or great bodily injury.” For instance the one time I’ve “needed” mine so far in life, a guy pulled a knife on me and I had it out before he had a chance to stab me, had I needed to fiddle with loading it he would have been able to stab me and take it, now I’m dead and I’ve armed him. I very much so could have literally died, in no figurative sense, and if I ever “need” it again it’ll be comparable because I’m not just going to pull out a loaded gun all willy nilly like some people would, had they had it loaded.