Guitarhacker


Well, what a morning I had....

It started off kinda slow.... slept in till 8.... needed to get moving and get to the job site and do some work..... stopped in a convenient mart...coffee and sugar for breakfast..... then I remembered, I had forgotten my deodorant and I really probably needed to get some and apply it before starting work..... so I plugged in the closest drug store on my Garmin.

In the drug store I overhear the manager tell some slime ball in the next aisle, to put back what he just put in his pocket.... the punk was caught red handed shoplifting..... how dumb can you get.... well in his case.....

So I head toward the front to pay for my purchase figuring the manager has the situation under control..... but it turns out he didin't have it under control..... obvious from the language the punk was using.... any way, we all kinda met in the front aisle..... since there was no one else there with the manager, I stopped, turned around to face them both, and stood ready to respond if the punk decided to get "froggy" and jump the manager, or pull a weapon...( I had my 9mm on me concealed at the time....and since he did not represent a dangerous threat or display a weapon, I restrained myself and kept it concealed, but ready).... after listening to this punks verbal filth and abuse.... the manager was telling him to leave the store...... I decided to come to the manager's aid. I told the punk I had heard enough and it was time for him to leave..... well he turns his verbal attack to me.... like I said... he wasn't very smart. He did start heading towards the door seeing that he was out numbered now that I was involved too. He headed out the door still spewing verbal filth. I stepped out the door to get his tag number but the manager asked me to let him go..... I asked did he want a tag number...he said no...let him go..... so I did.....

After this event I thought of a number of ways I could have responded better...(dialing 911 on my cell on speaker...using the cell camera to take his pic..... but I'm thinking those responses might have accelerated the conflict to a violent level) but... in the end it wasn't my battle.......no body was injured and I didn't have to pull my weapon and shoot the punk..... so I consider that a good morning.

What do you think..... what would you have done?

Maybe your description of events is missing something, or hasn't properly described the severity of the situation, but this is what I get out of it:
 
Kid is at a drug store stealing a candy bar and swearing. You are satisfied with yourself for the "restraint" you used in not pulling a gun on him and shooting him.
 
Huh?

keith

AndyW

No problem...sorry I over-reacted....*frustrated* is the right word with this software!(watch, this will end up insude your quote somehow...  How can nested quotes be so hard?  And for heaven's sake don't click "preview" without copying your text to the clipboard or you may lose it forever...arrggh...

I previewed a post once....
 
once... 

So did I ....
 
 
.... never again!
 
 
Its like changing your ASIO buffer settings during playback - it seems a good idea at the time ...

I'd expect NRA members and passionate 2nd amendment advocates to spend way more time and energy gathering facts and evidence to support their case than me, so I see no point in pushing this any further.

I still can't understand the notion that people with guns are more responsible and have better impulse control than unarmed people, though.


Sven

On the Switzerland issue..... most school classes are taught from books written by anti-gun liberals who would give and teach any reason other than the fact that Switzerland had LAWS on the books at the time that required ALL adult citizens to keep in working condition, a firearm and a certain required amount of ammunition for that firearm in their house for the purpose of defense. I can just imagine Adolph thinking about all these firearms being used by Swiss citizens against his troops as they come rolling down the streets making for easy target practice. I believe that is the reason......... Peace by superior firepower that Switzerland remained untouched as Germany invaded the countries all around it.

OMG!

That is exactly the argument the Nazi's used in order to indoctrinate its youth, very effective it was too when the kids all became old enough to carry arms an estimated 40,000,000 perished during that conflict.

Had Hitler wanted to invade Switzerland the tactic he used at the time was called Blitzkrieg, where tactical air power and close support artillery cleared the way and tanks and troops quickly filled the spaces made (the tactic is still effective today as employed by our good nations in initially overthrowing the regime in Iraq, the A10 aircraft today serving exactly the same 'close support' purpose as JU87's did then), soldiers didn't march down the street being shot at by the locals, landlocked with no air power, it could have been taken in a few hours if required had the Reich not needed a credible World bank to retain the highest value from the treasures it had already acquired by 'liberating' (stealing) much of the wealth accumulated by the Jewish population of Germany.

Some of us don't get taught from books but by researching with our own senses the places that still bear the scars.  I used to fish bomb craters as a kid and collect ammo from downed planes just 20 years after the event!

There are plenty of good reasons for owning a gun and I ain't such an airy liberal that I can't see that, but fairy-tales dissipate any weight your argument may have. Stick to the good stuff, there are some good reasons for owning a firearm I am just grateful the issue still isn't polarized to the point here as it is to the extent that you have to confront everyday but I get the feeling it is headed that way.

I'm not arguing your reasons and I empathised with your actions I just wanna filter out a bit of the BS, otherwise you end up looking similarly as cranky as the good Pastor that passed by recently.

Okay, I think this is a question of philosophy. You obviously believe some people are born law-abiding citizens, while other people are born criminals.

I, on the other hand, believe that one can easily become the other, for example by firing a legal handgun in the face of another law abiding citizen who happened to be trying to steal your girlfriend on a drunken night out.

Sven

SvenArne


Okay, I think this is a question of philosophy. You obviously believe some people are born law-abiding citizens, while other people are born criminals.

I, on the other hand, believe that one can easily become the other, for example by firing a legal handgun in the face of another law abiding citizen who happened to be trying to steal your girlfriend on a drunken night out.

Sven

It just so happens that in most jurisdictions in the US (Texas included)  it is illegal to carry while you are intoxicated. so we are back to that law-abiding vs. criminal thing again.
 

Guns tempt people to act beyond their ability to rationalize.

 
If you would carefuly read the OP and read some of my earlier posts, you would see that is patently false.

Guns tempt people to act beyond their ability to rationalize.

If you would carefuly read the OP and read some of my earlier posts, you would see that is patently false.

I read those and like Mike I consider Herb as a friend.

But irrationality takes over when all else fails it seems on the 'pro' corner and stupidity takes over like blanket calling the US educational system as being a liberal propaganda machine. So why wouldn't it pull the trigger when somebody says something against it's (the pro corner's) views

Mind you I can quite believe US history teachers wince a bit around WWII when they we're so reluctant to take up arms against the machinations of the Axis powers, preferring to preserve a good balance of payments going until they got woken up by bombs falling on Hawaii.

By this time the British had countered it's own threat of invasion from the German war machine with the help of the spirit of its unarmed people, a few gallant pilots (including a handful of US volunteers) and a 20 mile strip of water as well as a large measure of incompetence founded in the then Germanic ego-mania, in order that John Wayne could base his entire Air Force, Army and Navy there for a single-handed assault on Europe later on, but lets overlook that detail...

Just don't mention the war!

After '42, the Japanese navy being equipped of course during peace-time....we're all capitalists, we share that much...

And I said let's not mention the war...I didn't bring it up!...

My Grandpa got captured at Dunkirk in 1940 when his US built rifle jammed, the truth is stranger than fiction...

Here he is wintering somewhere north of Poland 1941 in POW camp.

Yeah, I really miss him he eventually died back in the 80's never knowing that Grandma had saved all his army pay while he was a guest of the Reich for the best part of 5 years, from which she went on and notably bought my first bicycle and the PA system that started me on a musical career.

Ironically, it was his release that nearly killed him as all the guards had fled the Russians so they had to fend for themselves dodging the advancing Red army already weakened by captivity he made it quite a way south trying to get to Holland before the Red Army 'liberated' him marching him pretty much back to the Baltic for re-repatriation many of his buddies died on that march back having survived the war.

Much of my warped sense of humour I'm pretty sure I inherited from him, we used to laugh so much it hurt, but he always remained troubled deep down.

But yes there were uncles I never knew who died in the swamps of Burma fighting the Japanese, one who disappeared after working for the secret service, Dad missed any action but was in Berlin clearing up the mess from '46 on and had left the Army before Korea went up.

I deeply honour all those that fought alongside each other, even with all the sometimes less than brotherly infighting that went on between incumbents of allied nations, and will always seek true remembrance for them even though it seems unfashionable these days and the memories start to blur into myth.

Lest we forget! 

When I first moved to Tallahassee I would visit a small town to the south of us known as St. Marks which had a old timey oyster bar. Heading down to the coast used to be (and still is) a time travel sort of experience. To make a long story short it was the last place in rural Florida where I saw a watering hole that made everyone check their gun at the door. The result was pile of guns sitting on the porch at the entrance to the bar. It all operated on the honor system and the practice seemed to be observed by everyone. When you were  ready to go home you had to dig thru the pile to get your gun.

Crazy, true, fond memories.

Yeah, my father had a Ruger .22 automatic pistol which we would use for target practice in a secluded location. I'm certainly happy he kept it firmly under lock and key during my troubled teens.

Sven

My next door neighbor shoots his big stuff right next door... much to my chagrin.

The buildings on our respective properties are just far enough apart that he has the legal right to do this.

He doesn't know that I think he shoots girlyman guns... he just thinks I'm some sort of liberal sissy when I call the sheriff on him. It usually ends up in a great big shouting match with all the best expletives being used. The sheriff calms him down and reminds me that he has the right to shoot onto my land... but at least I got him on the record on more time.

I actually live on the road to the only public shooting range in the region. It's 4 miles away. I feel he should shoot there with the rest of us that are trying to share the planet.

Hunting season is about to start. so I'm starting to see the early birds and poachers out in the woods while I bike and hike... they actually threaten us verbally with suggestions that we might get shot.

Gun nuts are there own worst enemy.

best,
mike

Gun nuts are there own worst enemy.

Mike are you implying that they may be shooting themselves in the foot so to speak?

OK... Punk wasn't  a "kid stealing a candy bar"  punk was a young man... mid twentys.... give or take... and when I walked past him earlier ...looking for deodorant, I noticed he was looking at the over the counter stuff they use for  making meth... the antihistimine  stuff..... and I thought that very thing.... looking for meth ingredients... based on physical appearance, and a few other visible things.....

Punk also acted like he was going to jump...cold cock...sucker punch the old man manager..... and probably would have if I had not been there. Once punk saw he was outnumbered with me standing up for the manager, he started towards the door.....

The book mentioned earlier....The Gift Of Fear...... what a fantastic book.... it is a must read for all people, especially the ones you love. I have read that book, and it made me aware of things I dismissed in life before..... those nagging feelings... such as the feeling this guy gave me when I walked past him..... something about him wasn't right..... the manager saw it too and was watching him....

Trust your gut.....