Quote:
Originally posted by Whit
My point? Don't think a gun will make you safe. It just means the other guy will come at you that much harder.
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Not safe. But measurably safer. The "other guy" may come at you harder, or choose another victim, or simply run away. Concealed carry keeps the uncertainty in your favor.
As your stories point out, there are some attacks aganst which there is no defense. And martial arts training is a good--but not perfect--protection too, be it tai kwon do or aikido (in which I have some training) or whatever else floats your boat. All good martial arts training teaches an awareness of your environment, and carrying a firearm is not an excuse to not pay attention to whats going on around you. Quite the opposite.
But that a defense is not 100% effective is not an argument against using it--otherwise you might as well leave your keys in your car, since any car can be broken into and hotwired.
As for poor Jag, who I didn't realize was in Austrailia, my sympathies. Not only do your lawmakers have no respect for freedom of speech down there (judging by the internet laws they keep passing) but my understanding is that in the first year after your gun bans went into effect there was a 44% increase in armed robberies and the steady decrease in armed-robbery-with-firearms that occurred during the previous 25 years turned around and became an increase.
Not exactly a success story.
Being prepared to defend yourself doesn't "raise the stakes"--the stakes are exactly the same: your life. It may, however, raise the risk for your attacker, and that's the idea.