Dear TwoTired (I don´t know your real name),
My name is in the Signature file below. Has been there for well over a year, and shows up in every post I make.
I'm sorry if I have offended you in any way.
I'll assume this is genuine.
By the way, can you tell me please what has to do the sentence "In the fields of observation, chance favors only the mind that is prepared" with the use of guns in your country?.
Ok, I'll try. I'm still not convinced you actually want to understand, as I have already explained it in a previous post.
that being prepared for the worst case scenario, favors a beneficial outcome for the prepared
To expand:
It's a common theme in all the quotes I posted (The purpose of which was an attempt to bring some levity to the thread... which failed miserably on some readers.)
If you are prepared to survive under horrific circumstances, your chances of actually surviving the circumstance are far better if you have prepared for that in advance.
Example:
When a band of thugs has broken down the door to your home and is advancing on your bedroom in the dead of night announcing their intent to kill you, rape your wife and children, ... is this the best time to decide that having a gun for protection, and some training and practice in the use of those tools against these intruders might have been a good idea?
I'll make an assumption that you own an umbrella. Why? Can't you avoid going out in the rain? Can't you move to a locale where it doesn't rain?
Even if you can't/won't, what harm is a bit of water touching your skin? It won't kill you. There are even people who enjoy rain water gently pelting on their skin? What wrong with you that makes an umbrella an allowable item in your inventory? I can sit here and say that you simply don't need an umbrella, and simply shouldn't have one, Further, you should insist they be banned in your entire country? Why? Because a person is more likely to beat or spear pedestrians, than to use it for the frivolous purpose of keeping rain off your person. Just think of all those poor bystanders who might be run through with that umbrella's pointy tip. Oh the inhumanity of it all! Surely, that device is too evil, too powerful to be under your control, even if there is the off chance it might keep you dry in some unimportant (to me) way.
I'll bet you have kitchen knives, too! Why? Can't you buy food that doesn't need to be cut? Certainly a knife can be used to inflict grievous damage to other citizens. How can we possibly trust you with such a powerful tool. You might even throw it a someone casually walking by your home, (without an umbrella, I might add.)
I expect you may find some of the above just plain silly. (Hopefully, anyway)
The point is, you may have purchased an umbrella on a perfectly nice, non- rainy day. Because it was reasonable to believe that not all days in the future would be rainless. And, a tool to keep rain off you in the future my come in handy.
Did you bring home meat or vegetables, then realize you didn't have anything to cut them with, and then go back out to acquire a knife? More likely bought your kitchen knife well in advance of whatever material you wished to have separated into smaller, bite sized pieces.
In short, you didn't trust to chance that your food would be in bite sized pieces when it came time to eat. And, you didn't trust to chance the rain would would fall all around you but not on you when you acquired your umbrella.
You probably prepared in advance, mentally and physically, for an event that had not yet occurred, but you had reason to believe that it would or might occur at an unspecified time.
Likewise, if you have a gun in your home, or carry a gun with you. You are more prepared to survive an assault on your home (in the prior case), or your very person while traveling about your locale.
Further, gun ownership is a crime deterrent. If a criminal knows all persons are unable to defend themselves, and he possesses a superior power, be it big fists, big club, big knife, or big gun, he can pick and chose his victims at will, to do with according to his whim. He can easily flee the scene before law enforcement officials arrive on scene. However, if he choses the frail 98 lb. 70 year old to rob of her pension money and break her legs, and that woman happens to be packing a small revolver, he is either terminated on the spot, thereby vastly improving the quality of life for the entire neighbor hood, or he flees to consider other victims, or he finds other locales to ply his trade, where there is more assurance that his potential victims aren't as powerful as he is.
You may not wish to believe there are people in the world who think less of your life than they do the possessions you've acquired, but they do exist, nevertheless. If chance puts you in a personal encounter with these persons, are you willing to also rely on chance that you and yours will survive the encounter? I have chosen to be prepared to survive such an encounter as I believe it will increase the odds of my or my family's survival of said an encounter.
In addition, there are people who cannot fathom doing harm to another person and also feel they are no different than anybody else, and therefore all persons should have the same regard/reverence for human life, as they do. This is a fallacy and a dangerous one to survival.
There ARE people who can kill on whim with absolutely NO remorse. In fact, they can internally justify it. They exist throughout the world, not just the US. The fact that you have yet to encounter one, does not invalidate their existence. I pray I do not ever encounter one of these individuals. But, if I don't prepare for that possibility ahead of time, my chances of prevailing in the encounter are diminished.
You say you would rather be robbed, than kill someone. And, I agree to a point.
During the event, you cannot know the outcome of such an event.
A person who robs you, may indeed only covet/collect your property. However, they may also be doing it to dominate you. If that becomes too easy for them, their dominance goals aren't met and the encounter can escalate, perhaps even to personal violence. And yes, there are people who think this way, too. Seek out a criminologist or someone experienced in criminology. Prepare yourself for a shock!
To enter my home you need an invitation or you have to break in. I don't invite people in who I think are a personal threat. If they ask for food at the door, I'm likely to give it to them. Not so likely to invite them in if I think it may be a ruse to gain entry. I certainly won't invite them in if there is ANY suspicion that I'll need to use my firearm against them. If someone breaks in, they have already demonstrated a disregard for my possessions, as well as my desire to keep uninvited people out. What evidence is there that suggests they have ANY regard for my will, well being, or my family's? If they advance upon my or my family's person uninvited, is it not a reasonable assumption that harm may come to us? How much harm? Will they leave witnesses to their acts? Will they sit down at a table and discuss their intentions beforehand? At what point does the intruder deserve as many rounds as my gun holds? Do I frighten them off and then worry about them returning later, perhaps with accomplices, better prepared to prevail the encounter? I have planned and prepared for such a scenario. If the intruder does not follow the STOP! DROP TO FLOOR! PUT HANDS ON HEAD! commands, and then remain there while authorities arrive. I will donate bullets to his person until he complies with commands. (I will no doubt suffer lots of mental anguish after such an event, which I would most certainly prefer to avoid.) But, it is a price I am willing to make, in order to help society be a safer place.
I think I have arranged my environment (location and domicile presentation to outside passersby) in order to avoid a shooting event, hopefully for the rest of my life. But, there are no guarantees. I think I am prepared for a chance encounter, should it occur.
For someone else, who is totally unaware of my or everyone else's living situation, to further insist it is unreasonable, or unfathomable for me to be prepared to prevail in a horrific situation, is NO humanitarian. And certainly NOT in favor of my best interests. And, suggests that their own interests, whatever that may be, are far more valuable and important than mine. What justifies such superiority?
I would ask why you would wish that I die in such an encounter with a sadistic killer, rather than survive and remove a sadistic killer from the common social pool? How does my family's death, benefit you?
Regards,
