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i disagree. OC spray, stun guns, sword canes, knives, clubs, flashlights, etc can all be used to varying degrees of success. some or most are legal in most locals.
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Well, if this is so true, then why do you carry a gun? Why don't you instead carry a "less than lethal" device? I suppose it can be argued that you really DO wish to kill someone, instead of just neutralize the threat?
Obviously the answer is that a firearm is the most effective device for personal protection. If you want to take your chances with "varying degrees of success", you go right on ahead. Let's see you trade your gun for OC spray or a baton!
Since so many people here are so vehemently pro 2A and anti big govt., you must admit that the RKBA is not a right bestowed upon us by the govt. I would hope that most of the people here would argue that every human being has a right to life. With that right to life comes the right to defend onesself from whatever harm another may wish to bestow upon that individual. Without the right to self-defense, the right to life is negated. To infringe upon this right is wholly immoral, unethical, illogical, and the last time I checked the BOR, any laws infringing upon the RKBA are entirely illegal as well.
I fully understand the concern that a person who carries without a permit does nothing to help the RKBA movement, however I'm also not going to tell that individual that he has no means of defending himself while away from his home. Do you want to say that to that person?
There have been concerns expressed here about the US becoming a police state, and how prone we are to authoritarianism and so on. Why, suddenly, are some people jumping on the side of the "police state?" That one should do exactly as the govt. says? Remember that thread about "Mommy Govt.???" That was a good read!
There are strong things to be said, IMO, about willful disobedience. I see Ghandi quoted here a fair amount. Did you suddenly forget him?
Also the very fact that there ARE people on this forum who carry w/o permits speaks volumes about them as individuals; they obviously understand fully the responsibilities and consequences of carrying a weapon, "legally or illegally" and the fact that they are here on this forum learning about firearms, carrying, laws, and so forth gives me way more comfort than some guy who happened to pass the background check and has a govt.-issued card.
Some here say that "Owning a gun does not make one a marksman anymore than owning a piano makes one a musician." Well, I think it can also be said that just because someone has a permit does not at all mean that they are a person who most of us here would really want carrying a gun.
I take more comfort in a TFL member carrying than I do some average joe who got his permit, tucked it and his gun away, and left it at that. People who are actively trying to learn and further their skills are safer "better" gun-owners and carriers, IMO.
For all you know, those here who do carry w/o a permit just might be able to outshoot most of you WITH permits!
There's also the timeless; "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6."
Drjones