Potential Threat at Work

[johnwilliamson062]

I believe that only general information can be sought from the hiring company and provided by the former company,

Although good policy, I believe it is born out of fear of civil liability, not criminal. Anything stated by a previous employer which can not be proved in court is grounds for defamation. Want to make a few bucks? Have someone call previous employers ask to speak to any manager you didn't get along with, ask questions about you, and record their responses. They say anything stupid and the company will hand you a heavy purse if their counsel is smart.

You either abide by those you agreed to upon hiring or you leave and find a job elsewhere or start your own business.

In US contract law a person can not sign away a right as part of an employment agreement. Almost every policy manual and employment contract I have signed, from either side of the table, has had clauses that were almost certainly not enforceable. Not that concealed carry is a right everywhere according to US laws.

I do a lot of work on short term contract basis. It isn't worth my time to get into these things personally, and it isn't for most others either, but if you want to make a mes there are lots of opportunities.

In most workplaces you are dealing with very short ranges. It takes more training, but a knife can be just as effective as a gun at close range in the hands of a healthy adult of medium build. In my area 10-15% of guys carry some sort of knife, usually a folder. The box openers with replaceable blades are especially innocuous. They limit your options to less than what I am comfortable with, but they will get the job done if needed. Also great at accomplishing all sorts of mundane office tasks. Like cutting the plastic bindings on new boxes of paper. Guns aren't magic.

If you are carrying at work against policy and you are using deep enough concealment to really limit chances of dropping the firearm or an ND, the company is probably better off without you.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I would have thought there are lots of jobs in America where it would be illegal to carry a firearm, am i wrong. ?

Yes, you are wrong. There is a difference between "illegal" (against the klaw) and simply being prohibited by company policy. And many American companies have no policy at all on the issue.

Is it worth losing your job because your fear of crime stops you going to work without carrying a firearm.

IMHO, yes, it is. Absolutely.

You are how old, 18? 19? I'm sorry, I don't remember.

I suspect that you have never been the subject of direct, credible threats against your life. I have. The constant feeling of unease, tension, just plain old fear is something that can't be explained. It just eats away at you -- it was far worse than anything I felt during my all expenses paid vacation in sunny southeast Asia (i.e Vietnam). It's there ALL the time. When you come home to find anonymous notes stuck in your screen door warning you not to testify, it tends to get your attention. You start hiding from windows and keeping the lights turned down (or off) in the house. You take a different route to work every day. You check your car for indications of tampering before you start the engine. You constantly scan the rear view mirror. Is it worth the possibility of losing your job to feel that you have some means of defending yourself? Yes, you bet it is.

In my case (twice -- I have bad luck) I didn't have a carry permit at the time. I didn't have to worry about losing my job (although neither employer had a no guns policy), I quit the jobs to relieve myself of the unwanted stress factor in my life.

 

[Pond James Pond]

I suspect that you have never been the subject of direct, credible threats against your life.

Not sure that is a fair judgement.

I don't know how old Manta49 is but suspect that he is old enough to remember the violence of Northern Ireland. I suspect nowhere on the US territories saw that much violence and fear over such an extended period. I don't mean singular acts of violence like a single terrorist attack, but I mean frequent and repeated: bombings, killings, abductions.

The scenario you describe is indeed one that would be very upsetting, but is it something many would experience? As opposed to the somewhat disturbed emails in the OP?

I say this simply because I read Manta49's point to simply mean that crime exists and yes people do not want to be victims of it, but that knowledge and fear doesn't not stop them going to work without a gun. A singular, targeted threat as you describe is quite different and would be handled differently, IMO.

If I misunderstood Manta's point, I'm sure he'll correct me.

 

[briandg]

A person once told me that Pakistan was a modern, safe, civilized country. this was barely a heartbeat after discussing an armed kidnapping (which he described as a common occurrence) that involve men with automatic weapons, and several died.

Okay, there are areas of pakistan that are literal war zones. There are weapons all around that country that aren't even remotely accessible to civilians here in the states. Believing that having malls and McDonalds restaurants shows that it is a safe and civilized country was fatuous.

Our country is dangerous. I believe that pakistan is far worse. at the very least, we don't have drones occasionally dropping "collateral damage" in the civilians.

 

[manta49]

I suspect that you have never been the subject of direct, credible threats against your life

Not sure that is a fair judgement.

I don't know how old Manta49 is but suspect that he is old enough to remember the violence of Northern Ireland. I suspect nowhere on the US territories saw that much violence and fear over such an extended period. I don't mean singular acts of violence like a single terrorist attack, but I mean frequent and repeated: bombings, killings, abductions.

You make a fair point, i grew up trough the terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland and have had a direct and credible threat against my life because of my job. Enough that part of my routine before going to work was to check under my car for explosive devices, a favorite weapon of the IRA. I also had to check under my wife's car because here job as a psychiatric nurse took her into prisons as part of a health care team that made her a target too. So as far as violence and the fear of violence i do speak from experience more than, as you say most Americans will thankfully ever have to experience. A photo bellow of the police station in the small village i live in after a visit from the IRA and a 400 lbs car bomb. And i manage to function in work and at home without carrying a firearm.

Almost 2 percent of the population of Northern Ireland have been killed or injured as a result of political violence since 1969. The equivalent ratio of victims to population in Great Britain during the same period would have been over 100,000 killed, and in the USA over 500,000, about ten times the number of Americans killed during the Vietnam war.

3,725 people were killed as a result of the conflict.
• Approximately 47,541 people were injured.
• There were 36,923 shootings.
• 16,209 bombings were conducted.

 

[kgpcr]

Lots of paranoid people that think danger lurks around every corner. I choose not to spend my life being paranoid and at condition 10 orange level 6 yada yada. I was not that way in the Marines overseas so why should I be here I use common sense and stay out of the bad areas. If a problem arises I will deal with it.

 

[manta49]

I was not that way in the Marines overseas so why should I be here I use common sense and stay out of the bad areas. If a problem arises I will deal with it.

I agree take commonsense precautions, and get on with your life. To be on full alert all the time and change your lifestyle because of fear of attack etc, just hands a victory to the criminals and terrorists.

 

[BlueTrain]

While the level of possible danger one might face is an arguable point, it is not possible to be on "full alert" all the time. You might be close most of the time but not all the time.

 

[stagpanther]

Set conditions for 1SQ.

 

[TailGator]

I don't see it as paranoia to get a bad feeling about a situation. The human mind has evolved some unconscious, or at least difficult to verbally express, recognition of danger. To ignore the recognition of a threat is foolish.

Paranoia is a mental illness, one aspect of which is the perception of unreal threats. To presume to make such a diagnosis without qualifications, or be qualified and to make such a diagnosis without adequately examining a patient, is malpractice. The tendency on gun boards to pronounce any who are armed in situations in which the writer is content to be unarmed as being "paranoid" is completely self-centered and reminiscent of the kind of thinking of those who think that no one anywhere should be armed; to wit, "Anyone who disagrees with my assessment of threat and response is mentally ill."

 

[seeker_two]

Best thing I learned about situational awareness is to stop looking for POSSIBLE threats and look for PROBABLE threats. That alone helped me reduce my stress level and enjoy the world around me while still paying attention.

 

[FITASC]

I don't see it as paranoia to get a bad feeling about a situation.

True, until you get to the point that you stash a gun in every room in your house AND on your person and won't even go to the bathroom because you fear a home invasion when you turn that light on.
If your neighborhood is truly as I described, then move - get away from the paranoia and stress as that will kill you faster than armed robber and the odds are greater as well.

Common sense is one thing; OCD paranoia is another

 

[Aguila Blanca]

If a problem arises I will deal with it.

But ... you're a Marine. Remember:

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."

 

[Double Naught Spy]

To be on full alert all the time and change your lifestyle because of fear of attack etc, just hands a victory to the criminals and terrorists.

We really need to abandon this absolutely and absurdly claimed consequence that if we do something to counter bad people, that we have somehow given them a victory.

First and foremost, nobody is on full alert 24/7 despite what they claim. I have had fun standing behind SD instructors who have made such claims, as I go through the motions of a mock stabbing or pulling a gun and shooting them and having them never notice my actions. It is a bunch of chest-beating bravado.

And even if we do have to make changes, it does not mean the bad guys or terrorists have won. It it totally illogical to believe that our culture specifically, and human society in general is somehow supposed to remain unchanged. They are in a continued state of change. We may not like it, but that is the way that it is. Just because the situation around you changes and you don't want to change to deal with it does not mean that you have "won" anything. Failing to change or adapt may actually be very detrimental to your preservation. As noted in biology, which your environment changes, you must adapt, mutate, migrate, or you will die. There is no "win" or "lose."

 

[Aguila Blanca]

True, until you get to the point that you stash a gun in every room in your house AND on your person and won't even go to the bathroom because you fear a home invasion when you turn that light on.
If your neighborhood is truly as I described, then move - get away from the paranoia and stress as that will kill you faster than armed robber and the odds are greater as well.

There are no safe neighborhoods any more. Ask Dr, Petit. (Hint: You can't ask his wife or his daughters, because they were murdered.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire,_Connecticut,_home_invasion_murders

Cheshire, Connecticut, is a very up-scale bedroom community. The kind of place where things like that "don't happen."

 

[BlueTrain]

I don't think paranoia is necessarily a mental illness. It is a natural human reaction to be afraid of certain things or certain places. You may still do things in spite of your fear, which is to say you overcome your fear but are still afraid anyway.

One might say that paranoia is a form of vanity in which you are afraid that someone or some thing is out to get you in particular.

 

[Pond James Pond]

At best Paranoia is defined as an irrationally harsh view of given situation.

At worst it is a mental illness.

 

[FITASC]

There are no safe neighborhoods any more.

Yes, there are; but some aren't as safe anymore as they once were, while others are just fine.

 

[OldMarksman]

We are well into four pages and have drifted back and forth across a small lake.