Originally posted by billygoat
You err, my friend. You think because I choose to use common sense by arming myself, I am afraid. I carry a gun because it makes sense.
fear n.. a feeling of anxiety and agitation caused by the presence or nearness of danger, evil, pain, etc.
You've acknowledged the danger, evil, pain, etc. part. Since it sounds like you'll never be without your handy portable security device, I guess we may never know if your perception of the nearness of evildoers causes you any anxiety or agitation. It's funny, though, that you won't even acknowledge the possibility that your gun relieves your sense and agitation caused by the presence or nearness of danger, evil, pain, etc.
Originally posted by billygoat
If I had to get rid of my gun??? I don't know how that would ever happen. Like the old saying says...I'll give up my gun when they pry it out of my cold, dead hand...or something like that.
Yeah, that sounds like cool, rational, emotionless common sense talking! You can't even consider the hypothetical possibility.
Originally posted by billygoat
It's not about fear, though. It simply makes sense to take reasonable precautions, don't ya think? Maybe you are afraid....of guns...which would be an irrational fear, in my opinion.
Well here's the ironic thing, billygoat. I was robbed by a couple drunk teenagers and ended up with a 30.06 bullet in my skull for my troubles. I have a bit more direct knowledge about those "sick, depraved creeps" AND about the dangers of a gun than you, and I don't think you could really call any fear of guns I might have had irrational. But having overcome this particular incident has given me a pretty solid perspective on both the creeps and the lengths one should go to protect yourself against them. I'm not afraid of guns, it's how they distort the reality of people on both sides of the law that use them that bothers me. But I don't lose any sleep over it. Irrational fear is what causes you to limit your life on the one-in-a-million chance that you run into such a creep, and to adopt extreme measures that could cause you to do the thing you least want others to do to you! The gun gives you the sense that you have more control over your life than you really do. That may make you feel better, but it's not common sense, it's an attempt to deal with fear.
Whatever. I once had a girlfriend who did the whole forehead vein popping outta my cold dead hands thing when anyone said anything not positive about guns. She also said she realized that that there were all kinds of situations in which having the gun would not help here, that someone might accidentally get shot by that gun, or that it might get stolen and used in crimes, but that the sense of security it gave her was worth the risks. And it was her God-given right! Not a lot of room for introspection here...
