Wildalaska
Moderator
Then you dont beleive in the immutable laws of the universe
WildhubrisAlaska
Gun in the shower paranoid?
- Thread starter JohnKSa
- Start date
Then you dont beleive in the immutable laws of the universe
WildhubrisAlaska
Wildalaska
Moderator
Trite quotes from a two bit philosopher dont change the laws of nature or physics.
WildchaosAlaska
WildAlaska said:
Some people enjoy spending all their time doing that, though, which is cool in my book. Being tactical can be an excellent source of entertainment for oneself. I mean, if people hated doing it, they wouldn't... would they? There has to be some appeal in it.
I think it's possible to live, have other hobbies, train to draw and shoot well, and carry without having to worry about it. For me, being tactical does not necessitate walking around in stage 3 body armor, it's more of a daily process of making judgment calls that are safe and smart, and this is reinforced until it becomes second nature. The quality of my life has not suffered from this. There's no questioning that we're all gonna go someday, and that we only have a certain measure of control over our own fate, which diminishes continually with the passage of time. That said, I think that if people want to indulge themselves in the most tactical behavior possible, then go for it. It has the bonus of being much more than a mere indulgence in terms of practicality, which is more than can be said for many popular past-times.
tuckerdog1
New member
Paranoid? Not at all.
Sgtdemeo, I think JohnKSa summed it up pretty well. Being prepared is not necessarily the same as being paranoid. Life's little experiences help one set their own limits about how being prepared is defined. I've always lived in what I'd call middle to maybe slightly upper middle class neighborhoods. My parents have had their home broken into 4 times. When my brother was younger, he worked at an 24 hr gas station. He was paraded around the place with a gun to his head, continually threatened with murder, while the place & he were robbed. I worked at another store, and was robbed at gunpoint. Was forced to lie face down behind the counter after the $$ was turned over. I just knew it was execution time. You can't imagine the relief when I heard the door open & the POS depart. At 0300 in the AM, I once had a pounding at my front door. I was angry that it might be a friend of mine, who is an alcoholic. It turned out to be a rape victim. She had been going door to door trying to get help. Nobody would answer their door to a stranger at that hour. I was willing because I had a gun in my pocket. A friend that lived 2 blocks away couldn't back her car out of the driveway to go to work one morning, because there was a murder victim in her driveway. Now these kind of things don't happen all the time. This was over a 30 year period. But crime does reach out & touch. And after getting a 2nd chance, after not being headshot during the store robbery, I promised myself I wouldn't be so easily put in that situation again.
I don't keep a gun in every room, like my co-worker. But I have 4 around the house, and one of those 4 is in the bathroom.
I also keep a fire extinguisher in each car, two in the kitchen, one in the garage & two in my shop.
I sleep like a baby.
Tuckerdog1
Sgtdemeo, I think JohnKSa summed it up pretty well. Being prepared is not necessarily the same as being paranoid. Life's little experiences help one set their own limits about how being prepared is defined. I've always lived in what I'd call middle to maybe slightly upper middle class neighborhoods. My parents have had their home broken into 4 times. When my brother was younger, he worked at an 24 hr gas station. He was paraded around the place with a gun to his head, continually threatened with murder, while the place & he were robbed. I worked at another store, and was robbed at gunpoint. Was forced to lie face down behind the counter after the $$ was turned over. I just knew it was execution time. You can't imagine the relief when I heard the door open & the POS depart. At 0300 in the AM, I once had a pounding at my front door. I was angry that it might be a friend of mine, who is an alcoholic. It turned out to be a rape victim. She had been going door to door trying to get help. Nobody would answer their door to a stranger at that hour. I was willing because I had a gun in my pocket. A friend that lived 2 blocks away couldn't back her car out of the driveway to go to work one morning, because there was a murder victim in her driveway. Now these kind of things don't happen all the time. This was over a 30 year period. But crime does reach out & touch. And after getting a 2nd chance, after not being headshot during the store robbery, I promised myself I wouldn't be so easily put in that situation again.
I don't keep a gun in every room, like my co-worker. But I have 4 around the house, and one of those 4 is in the bathroom.
I also keep a fire extinguisher in each car, two in the kitchen, one in the garage & two in my shop.
I sleep like a baby.
Tuckerdog1
Last edited:
You said it best!
Tucker, I applaud your logic and your ability to put into words thoughts that make sense. I think the original question had something to do with taking a gun with you into the shower. Seems the answer is some do and some don't. After that I got a little confused. What difference does it make to anyone else when and where I or anyone else choose to have a gun? As long as we are not breaking a law, why should anyone else make remarks about our mental health? In short, who cares?
Anyone who thinks that "when you go you go" and lets that concept rule their lives should take a job painting the line down the middle of the Interstate - during rush hour!
History tells us that you can indeed delay your meeting of our Creator.
When Richard Speck was asked about his murder of eight nurses in their apartment his answer was, "It just was not their day". (and yes, that is a quote - read the case if you doubt it).
When I carry and where I carry is a calculated decision to attempt to extend my life. I may go, but I don't plan to go easily.
John
Charlotte, NC
Tucker, I applaud your logic and your ability to put into words thoughts that make sense. I think the original question had something to do with taking a gun with you into the shower. Seems the answer is some do and some don't. After that I got a little confused. What difference does it make to anyone else when and where I or anyone else choose to have a gun? As long as we are not breaking a law, why should anyone else make remarks about our mental health? In short, who cares?
Anyone who thinks that "when you go you go" and lets that concept rule their lives should take a job painting the line down the middle of the Interstate - during rush hour!
History tells us that you can indeed delay your meeting of our Creator.
When Richard Speck was asked about his murder of eight nurses in their apartment his answer was, "It just was not their day". (and yes, that is a quote - read the case if you doubt it).
When I carry and where I carry is a calculated decision to attempt to extend my life. I may go, but I don't plan to go easily.
John
Charlotte, NC
I personally think a gun in the shower is a bit on the carried away side,making sure your doors are locked,windows are locked are normal security measures unless you actually are expecting an intruder like an angry neighbor or something.The next thing you know people will be saying thats not my ^&*# THATS MY GUN BARREL, while in bed making whoopie. My thoughts are that many imaginations are hyped by the gun stories they hear ,thats not to say that there all fake.I have had 2 gun incidance's myself....just my thoughts on the subject. That doesn't mean to say that i think your all paranoid.You have to put things in there right perspective however ,someone in a small town setting has a smaller percentage of an attack by someone then somebody who lives in a larger city.Now if i lived in downtown L.A ,DETROIT,CHICAGO,BOSTON or somewhere like that i might be joining you with the idea of a gun in the shower.
Wildalaska
Moderator
From Schopenauer to Richard Speck
WildthegreatphilosophersAlaska
Dead-Nuts-Zero
New member
I looked in on this post when it was just getting started and I often drop back to see what others are saying. However, I have not read every post, but as I read a few today, I started thinking back to the days when I first started out with a hand gun. I was brought up on guns and hunting and the country life was so much different than the big city. When I was starting to CCW, I had to strap that 6 gun on everytime I went to the city (or to the gas station just down the road) to have dinner or do some mall shopping with the girlfriend etc. I was new at CCW and it was new to me and maybe a little overwhelming. I remember it was kinda kool because I had a gun and nobody but me knew about it. I felt almost invincible when I was packin thoes first few years.
Now that I have several years of CCW and many trips going into the big city, I seldom think of packin my gun these days. I guess the point I am trying to make is that I think we all go through a period where we are over confident (not sure that's the right word for my thoughts but lets go with it for now) and we think it's really kool to pack and believe we are invincible. It does wear off after awhile with many of us. Then there are plenty of us who just never get over it. I can't really say one way is any better than the other. Everyone has to do whatever they are comfortable with.
I find the many post interesting. If your a city guy you may have better reason to CCW than us country bumpkins. And if yr from the woods, you feel better with CCW when you go to the city. If yr in the shower, you do what ever you think you need to do. We all decide for ourselves. No one is really right or wrong IMO, it whatever blows yr skirt up that counts. I got over it and most of us will too in time.
Now that I have several years of CCW and many trips going into the big city, I seldom think of packin my gun these days. I guess the point I am trying to make is that I think we all go through a period where we are over confident (not sure that's the right word for my thoughts but lets go with it for now) and we think it's really kool to pack and believe we are invincible. It does wear off after awhile with many of us. Then there are plenty of us who just never get over it. I can't really say one way is any better than the other. Everyone has to do whatever they are comfortable with.
I find the many post interesting. If your a city guy you may have better reason to CCW than us country bumpkins. And if yr from the woods, you feel better with CCW when you go to the city. If yr in the shower, you do what ever you think you need to do. We all decide for ourselves. No one is really right or wrong IMO, it whatever blows yr skirt up that counts. I got over it and most of us will too in time.
tuckerdog1
New member
To each their own
Zzirg, your correct, everybody's situation varies, and as long as they're comfortable with that situation, okay. Hope it works out for them.
I have some very good friends down the street. They've lived in this neighborhood 24 years. They don't, like or own guns. Their choice, and I don't push my pro gun views on them. They have never, and still don't, lock their doors. Even when they leave on a vacation, doors unlocked. And this is one of the nicer homes in the neighborhood. 4000+ sq ft, 1.5 acre lot, pool. Screams " NICE STUFF IN HERE!" I usually take care of their pets & plants when they take trips. It creeps me out everytime, when I 1st go down there to feed & water and the door just opens. I alway lock the place up when I'm caring for it. Their comfort level is a LOT more lax than mine.
Tuckerdog1
Zzirg, your correct, everybody's situation varies, and as long as they're comfortable with that situation, okay. Hope it works out for them.
I have some very good friends down the street. They've lived in this neighborhood 24 years. They don't, like or own guns. Their choice, and I don't push my pro gun views on them. They have never, and still don't, lock their doors. Even when they leave on a vacation, doors unlocked. And this is one of the nicer homes in the neighborhood. 4000+ sq ft, 1.5 acre lot, pool. Screams " NICE STUFF IN HERE!" I usually take care of their pets & plants when they take trips. It creeps me out everytime, when I 1st go down there to feed & water and the door just opens. I alway lock the place up when I'm caring for it. Their comfort level is a LOT more lax than mine.
Tuckerdog1
wildalaska said:
I think there is a lot of fallacy to this "your number is up when your number is up" philosophy.
For one thing, if you are saying that nothing we do to protect ourselves from harm can do anything to save us if "our number is up" on a given day at a given activity, then is the converse true, that we can cross streets without looking, pack our parachutes carelessly, eat food past its expiration date, all because "fate" plans that we will die in a boating accident on some specific day?
If someone is too busy dialing his cellular phone as he crosses the street, and he gets hit by a bus, are you saying that he was fated to get hit by that bus, or maybe even fated to dial the cellular phone at that moment so that he would get hit by that bus?... I just don't get it.
But mainly I think that if you believe that every death is predestined, that should mean that everything else can't kill you. Of course, if you don't have some way of knowing what exactly will be the thing that will kill you, you might just try to be careful and safe at everything. Then, when you finally lapse in your cautiousness, at some given activity, and you die, you kind of "fated" yourself to die at that.
The whole notion of fate is hogwash to me, though.
Here's another quote about it, Pax. It's by the rock group Rush:
"Fate is just the weight of circumstances."
Meaning, fate is nothing more than the sum accumulation of actual working factors. If a pulley on a crane is worn, and some guy who was supposed to inspect it was working off a hangover and missed the damage, and then I happen to have to drive by the spot where the crane is because a car accident on my normal route blocks off the road, and the pulley breaks and the crane's load falls from the cable and smooshes me, you could say that was "fate," but it really comes down to the fact that the surrounding factors led to me being in the so-called "wrong place at the wrong time."
If a person dies in a house fire because he never got himself a smoke detector, does it mean that he was "fated" to die that way?
Was he not supposed to even bother to attempt to interfere in "fate" by getting one?
What about the same guy, in an alternate reality, who did install a smoke detector, and the same fire doesn't kill him? Was he meddling? Does the fact that he staved off death by fire mean that he overrode fate, or just that there is no fate but what we make (to coin a phrase)?
-blackmind
dead-nuts-zero said:
I don't carry a gun because I am over-confident, or think I am invincible. The exact opposite of the latter part: I know I am not invincible. The gun is a tool to help me be the equal (or better) than someone who may confront me with criminal harm in mind. Like many people, I keep my humility about me; I don't go into "trouble spots" and I avoid them deliberately, because I know my gun does not make me bullet-proof, and it is not an excuse to force myself into a situation where I have to use it.
Contrary to what you say, it hasn't "worn off" me after 12 years of carrying. Now, carrying is a matter of course, and I would be likely to feel "naked" without a gun (like I do when on vacation where I can't bring the gun). It's an uncomfortable feeling of exposure, to realize that the gun you carry daily because it may come into play to save your life is not available to you. You suddenly have to think about what else you would have to do if a criminal attacked. Suddenly you are not quite the guy who could stand and fight; now you have to think about escape, appeasement of the aggressor, etc., and you are very much at a disadvantage because one of your major means of making things come out your way is gone.
You simply have fewer options to pick from to get out of a bad situation if you have disavailed yourself of a gun.
-blackmind
Wildalaska
Moderator
What a bummer.... you were actually thinking before you made that statement. On the other hand, your comment ;
"Meaning, fate is nothing more than the sum accumulation of actual working factors" is almost correct, add the word "random" where it belongs. Your own example of the drive by crane crash demonstrates this
If you are more interested in the bases of my post, study up on Chaos theory and The Theory of Randomness. a little exploration about Evolutionary Biology and paleantology together with a good dose of Hawking and Aleatory Theory will liven it up.
WilditsallplayAlaska
spacemanspiff
New member
whatever you had for lunch today, were NOT having it tomorrow!!!
i'll bring you a nice crispy creamy arteryclogging donut to set your day off right tomorrow. enough of this vegan diet you've been on!
fate - we will all die deaths more horrible than we wished for.
i'll bring you a nice crispy creamy arteryclogging donut to set your day off right tomorrow. enough of this vegan diet you've been on!
fate - we will all die deaths more horrible than we wished for.
prudent, not paranoid
A friend of the family was in the shower and thought he heard a noise in the house. He had his (brought home from Korea) 1911 on the counter by the sink, so he put on a towel picked it up and went to go see who was out there.
He found a guy in his late 20's poking around his bedroom.
In that condo community in Florida, the exterminators come around once every 3 months or so, just to keep the buggies out. They are supposed to knock and make sure anyone in the condo knows they are there, and if anyone is home, they must get permission to enter. He had his front door locked, and never heard a knock, announcement or anything. He did hear someone open his bedroom door and start walking around.
Yes the guy used to have a key (he had it taken away at gunpoint shortly after he was discovered in there), and the talk with his supervisor went something like: "That punk kid you got workin for you just about got his dumb a$$ shot. I took my key back, and if you have any other copies, give them back now. I can kill ants just fine on my own"
Paranoid? no
Prudent? perhaps
Whats the point of having a gun for defence if its not with you?
Ben
A friend of the family was in the shower and thought he heard a noise in the house. He had his (brought home from Korea) 1911 on the counter by the sink, so he put on a towel picked it up and went to go see who was out there.
He found a guy in his late 20's poking around his bedroom.
In that condo community in Florida, the exterminators come around once every 3 months or so, just to keep the buggies out. They are supposed to knock and make sure anyone in the condo knows they are there, and if anyone is home, they must get permission to enter. He had his front door locked, and never heard a knock, announcement or anything. He did hear someone open his bedroom door and start walking around.
Yes the guy used to have a key (he had it taken away at gunpoint shortly after he was discovered in there), and the talk with his supervisor went something like: "That punk kid you got workin for you just about got his dumb a$$ shot. I took my key back, and if you have any other copies, give them back now. I can kill ants just fine on my own"
Paranoid? no
Prudent? perhaps
Whats the point of having a gun for defence if its not with you?
Ben
There's no arguing this, but it is worth qualifying.
Some take this to the extreme--they don't lock their doors at night nor look both ways when crossing the street because: "When it's your time you'll go."
Others go to the other extreme and think that they can "stay up past their bedtime" if they take all the right precautions.
Both are wrong.
Look both ways when crossing the street. Take reasonable precautions against crime, against fire, against injury in auto accidents. Because while you may not be able to extend your life, you can surely shorten it!
Don't let fear keep you from crossing the street. Don't let reasonable precautions turn into obsessions. Because not everything is under your control, and trying to make it so will make you crazy.
But most of all (and this is what this thread was supposed to be about) be aware of what goes on in the world and of its possible impact on your life. Because until you realize the possibilities, it's impossible to determine what a "reasonable precaution" really is.
johnnymenudo
New member
I never said anything about exclusive neighborhoods, so don't put words in my mouth. Anyone can be a victim of crime, but if your house is insecure or if you live in a high crime area, you are more likely to be a victim than someone who has good locks, solid doors, and a secure home design. Sure you can get robbed anywhere but statistically speaking some places are safer than others. If you want to spend every minute of your life clutching your firearm and looking over your shoulder, have at it. I would prefer to be live my life with a healthy sense of caution and preparedness, but not be a slave to fear.
JM
If it's so easy to just yank yourself and/or your family right out of the low-income, high-crime areas right into the bucolic suburbs where crime is near zero, I guess I just can't figure out why everyone living in the inner cities hasn't done it already!
Maybe it's not as simple as "moving to a better area." Maybe that takes more money and resources than some people have. So IF they are "stuck" there -- even if just for a time -- they should not keep a gun near them in the home because it's "paranoid"?
-blackmind
Maybe it's not as simple as "moving to a better area." Maybe that takes more money and resources than some people have. So IF they are "stuck" there -- even if just for a time -- they should not keep a gun near them in the home because it's "paranoid"?
-blackmind