Where do you go?

[Greg Newton]

Currently I don't own a handgun. It is not that I don't believe in gun ownership, it is just that at this point in time I don't see the need. After all, I don't carry large sums of money, and I don't purposely go places where there could be danger. Too, I am physically fit and alert enough to carry myself in a way that would discourage most predators. A predator wants an easy victim.

But, besides that, I am careful where I go. I don't drink alcohol or go to bars for one thing. Gichin Funakoshi the great Okinawan Karate master said that if you had ten friends and those ten friends drank alcohol, you had no friends. There is truth in that. Alcohol is the drug most associated with violent behavior. That is a statistical fact.

In reading John McSweeney's biography BattleAxe, it was interesting to me as a former law enforcement officer that in almost every confrontation McSweeney had ever been involved in, alcohol was part of what triggered the challenge or fight. McSweeney himself enjoyed drinking, but he wasn't a brawler. However, just being in that environment seemed to bring out the worst in people and someone was always wanting to challenge McSweeney, especially if it were known he was a karate expert.

Too, I am not a crowd person. I don't like losing my identity in the mass emotions that can come about during a sporting event. I worked many college football games and rock concerts over the years. I've seen first hand how being swept away by the emotions of a crowd can cause people to do things they'd never think of or dare to do at any other time.

I'll never forget working an incident after a Clemson University football game as a rookie policeman. Many people were tailgating. A middle-aged man was driving his family through a parking area. He started to have a stroke and began driving through the crowd of tailgaters. A man who had been drinking grabbed a large shade umbrella and stabbed it through the the car's windshield to stop the driver, almost impaling him. The man driving then had a heart attack on top of the stroke. The excuse for driving the umbrella through the window was to stop the car. To this day I still don't know what that guy was thinking other than alcohol clouded his judgement and he was still adrenalized from a close football game.

But it is not just special events. I tend to avoid crowded places such as malls, businesses, or outdoor recreation areas during holidays. Why? People get caught up in a frenzy and become very aggressive. Why put yourself deliberately in the path of an aggressive motorist or an angry shopper? A few years ago during a Thanksgiving weekend I was accosted by three different motorists, shaking their fists and wanting to fight over stupid stuff such as me driving the speed limit. I just smile and wave. One guy followed me to work, but froze up and wouldn't look at me when I got out of my little car. He was a skinny, geeky redneck driving a large diesel truck and I guess that gave him a false sense of power.

Last, I'm careful. Certain places you just don't go. Every community has them. It is where the drugs are sold, people are unemployed, and folks are living on the edge of society. Why take chances if you don't have to? I live in a neighborhood like that. You mind your own business and certain parts of the neighborhood you don't go strolling down late at night.

This isn't fear. This is living with eyes wide open. You recognize potential threats and you detour. It is all about the places you go.

Greg Newton

[sixmillionman]

agree a 100%..................

[zorrocowboy]

Greg,

You make some excellent points. I adhere to very similar principles of avoidance as well (due in no small part to my Dad's philosophy and influence!). Prevention is 99% of the cure!
But on the other hand, prevention is not everything. For example, I use the same philosophy while driving my truck. In my mind, if you follow all traffic laws to the letter and be observant, your chances of getting into an accident are greatly reduced (most car accidents are self inflicted). However, that does NOT account for other drivers---you can be the safest driver in the world, but if some yahoo T-bones you at an intersection there is nothing you can do to prevent it. As such, I ALWAYS wear a seat belt. It is not because I think I will ever need it (I've never even been pulled over), or expect to get in an accident on any given drive, but I know that if I do I will be very glad I wore it, and that it could easily mean the difference between life and death.
Similarly, whenever I'm in public I always try to be as low-key, polite and friendly as possible. I avoid troublesome areas, people, crowds, etc, and avoid behaving in a way that is going to set somebody off or provoke them. However, that does not guarantee your safety (road rage over driving the speed limit is a great example). There is always the possibility of a potentially violent situation arising with no way to avoid it. As such, I always carry a handgun. I do so with the belief and hope that I will never have to use it, but if I ever need it, I am going to be very glad I have it! It could mean the difference between life and death for me, or more importantly, for that of a loved one. Like a seat belt, it takes very little effort to take the precaution of carrying a gun. When the cost/benefit ratio is so low, I can't justify not carrying. . . .
I also assume that if ever I have to draw my weapon (even if I don't fire it), my life will change. Cops will show up, I'll get handcuffed, taken to the station, etc. I think the key thing is to behave as you always do, avoiding potential situations whenever possible. Where the gun comes in is if your life is threatened and it is the only choice left. I think that if I ever had to kill someone it would haunt me for the rest of my life. But I also believe that if I had to watch my sister (or any other loved one) die at the hands of some criminal when I could have stopped it if I had only had my gun . . . THAT would be infinitely worse. . . .
I do understand what you're saying, Greg (your mindset reminds me a lot of my Dad's), but I guess I felt compelled to share my rationale for carrying. . . .

God bless,

Gary

[Greg Newton]

Hey Gary,

I understand completely. There is an old saying, "Where you are not supposed to go armed, you better go armed." Eventually I plan on getting a concealed carry permit and a suitable revolver. This is also going to sound brutal, but I almost always carry a very stiff, steel ballpoint pen to use as a yawara and a lock blade knife. Not exactly a handgun, but possibly an equalizer in a desperate situation.

A couple of years ago my wife and I were taking a winter's eve stroll down a secluded beach, which wasn't the smartest thing to do. Three young men were walking towards us and something didn't seem right. They spread out. I pulled the knife out close to my body and turned the blade to flash it, so they would know I was armed. They closed ranks and went around the other side. My wife never saw what I did or knew what was going on.

Greg

[MikeNY]

Yeah the best self defense is be alert, keep your eyes open, listen and be aware of where you are. Avoid places where crimes occur, be smart and be ready, women need to lock thier doors, roll up the window, and be ready to drive away, have a cellphone and dial 911 if trouble happens and do not be alone and brave. Your best weapon for self defense is your brain.

[Greg Newton]

Your best weapon for self defense is your brain.



Mike,

You summed it up right there.

Greg

[MikeNY]

Greg and you are Ex-Law Enforcement and understand how vital it is to listen to that inner voice, intuition! Most people turn it off, be alert, look, listen and process and if your brain is telling you bug out, that is the time, the subconcious mind can not communicate in language and uses emotions, the inner voice. The Subconcious is a computer and sees and hears things the concious mind does not detect, listen to those feeling, cops are trained to listen and that can save your life, some call it situational awareness, and risk management.

[tom]

Most people's idea of self-defense has to do with dueling. whether it's a bluster battle in a bar, an insult on the street, or an accidental stumble against a person. Dueling is dueling when it is possible to walk away, run away, walk around, apologize away, or buy a beer away.

The more important self-defense is against the ambush, and the awareness and all the cautions Greg mentions in the beginning are the best protection.

An inexperienced but thought/learned/studied a lot about opinion,
Tom

[zorrocowboy]

Mike,

That's interesting about the subconscious. I read somewhere (I can't remember the source just now) that if your dog doesn't like someone, their behaviour is often in response to their owner's unconscious behaviour. That made a lot of sense to me, because I know from experience you can meet people where you might have an uneasy feeling about them, but are often compelled by social circumstances. preconceived notions, etc, to ignore those instincts. It's telling how often those feelings are proven true. . . .

[Greg Newton]

Wow,

Mike and Gary, you guys have hit on something critical. I highly recommend Gavin De Becker's book "The Gift of Fear." He talks a lot about how we've social conditioned ourselves to ignore our instincts that tell us that something is not right about an individual. In our conscious mind we want to be nice and make excuses where our subconscious mind is screaming danger because of subtle clues observed that tell you that something is wrong. Great observation.

Greg

[Jamestexas]

Great posts guys.I went to a auto repair joint back in the 80s,that was run by a dad and his sons.The old man walked around with a snubnose 38 tucked in his pants.I recently went back and found out from his son that the old guy had passed on.During our conversation I told him of my memory of his dad always packing.He told me back in the 60s his dad owned a garage in Cleveland,and he was robbed by a couple of guys,and as they were leaving they shot him in the head.He recovered and always had that pistol with him since.Can't blame him.

[Greg Newton]

JC,

I am sorry for your friend's loss. I think Tom's comments about dueling are very applicable here. Mutual combat in or out of a bar has little to do with self-defense.

Greg

[tom]

Since it is extremely rare that a person is a psychopath or sociopath, the perpetrator is probably in shock, grief, and remorse. Two lives lost for nothing . . . .

Very sad.

[Greg Newton]

I've studied the history of violence in the Southeast. In the 1850's for example, SC enacted laws about mayhem and dueling. Mayhem is the permanent disfiguring or maiming of an individual. As it turns out, in the rough and ready backwoods communities, it wasn't uncommon for over half the male population to have had an eye gouged out from "scrapping."

But, historically and in the context of human nature, the Biblical injunction about "an eye for an eye," makes more sense when we look at it in that way, that the loss of an eye was due to a physical confrontation.

Greg