[TexasSeaRay]

Pax, JohnKSa,

I guess it's a matter of perception. Pax asks "am I going somewhere dangerous today?'

For some of us, that was a big "yes" every day. That was our job.

And when you see, experience and actually deal with real danger, you learn pretty quick what the difference is between real danger and perceived danger.

Something else that has been missing from this and so many discussions like it--and that is, a gun does not make you one bit safer.

Instead, a gun simply allows you to improve your odds of surviving a hostile encounter.

Again, I carried a gun for a living for too long. It never made me feel safer. Hell, the reason we carried guns was because we WENT to where the bad people/enemy was--we didn't wait for them to come to us.

Yet, back on the ship or back at the base or back at our quarters, we didn't carry guns with us. I only knew a handful of undercover agents that carried at home--and those were either the new guys or agents who'd just received the usual threats regarding them and/or their family. That is what I'd classify as real danger.

But Joe the accountant feeling a need to strap and pack around the house? Whatever. Free country and it's definitely your right. But if you think carrying a gun makes you safe, you could not be more wrong.

It makes you prepared and helps improve your odds.

THAT is part of the mindset of preparedness, along with understanding and accepting the difference between real danger and perceived danger and responding accordingly to each.

Jeff