Commuting - Do you carry a gun?

I have it setup as a poll so you don't have to actually say if you do or don't. I'm just curious as to who carries a gun while commuting. If you WOULD, but DON'T explain WHY if you want to :D thanks.

Why on EARTH would you carry a gun on your commute? You're probably not any safer in a car - do you pack heat when you're caged, too? (Generic 'you,' not specific).

Honestly, I think that part of what makes guns dangerous is that, if you've got one, your inclination is going to be more towards using, rather than just getting the hell out of a bad situation. Guns make you feel ten feet tall and covered with hair, and as a result you might just neglect to go with the safer option, which is to get out of Dodge.

Of course, this is coming from the guy who wouldn't even bother with pepper spray... anyway, this all just my opinion, and I have no interest in getting into a debate over it. Obviously, your mileage may vary with regard to carrying a weapon, but that's how I feel about it.

everyone is entitled to their opinion...I'm sure atleast 1 person on here will admit they carry one.

Why on EARTH would you carry a gun on your commute? You're probably not any safer in a car - do you pack heat when you're caged, too? (Generic 'you,' not specific).

Honestly, I think that part of what makes guns dangerous is that, if you've got one, your inclination is going to be more towards using, rather than just getting the hell out of a bad situation. Guns make you feel ten feet tall and covered with hair, and as a result you might just neglect to go with the safer option, which is to get out of Dodge.

Of course, this is coming from the guy who wouldn't even bother with pepper spray... anyway, this all just my opinion, and I have no interest in getting into a debate over it. Obviously, your mileage may vary with regard to carrying a weapon, but that's how I feel about it.
Ditto!

Not only do guns escalate situations beyond what would've normally happened... THEY'RE FRIGGIN' HEAVY! I'm not a weight-wennie, but I wouldn't bother carrying even a small gun. A weapon is dead weight.

Though some situations might call for it, the odds of you needing a gun in 99.99995% of most situations are slim to nil.
If you live in a neighborhood where you need a gun to defend yourself, chances are it's easier for the assialiants to run you over in their car than to aim the gun.
A gun is a HUGE responsibility. I vote no.

I'm glad I don't carry on the bike. I believe I would be in prison now if I did. For three years I lived in a neighborhood (I know, stupid, but I have a good, if windy explanation) where I was the object of regular attacks, having bottles thrown at me, a few robbery attempts, being shaken down by gangs, one time trying violently (but unsuccessfully) to get my bike. But these guys didn't have firearms... I don't think and I know myself... I studied marksmanship from a very young age, but I never studied police techniques or Massad Ayoob's theories about making the firearm a reflex action in the RIGHT situations, but avoiding it if the threat is not appropriate. So, knowing hothead and very reliable marksman me, I'd be languishing in the big house. And I do have a .380 and a Sig-Sauer P226 with the extended magazine, the latter is definitely too heavy for biking... In another world I'd like to have the PPK.

PS I mostly agree with Grolby except about the hair.

I have it setup as a poll so you don't have to actually say if you do or don't. I'm just curious as to who carries a gun while commuting. If you WOULD, but DON'T explain WHY if you want to :D thanks.
This has been discussed MANY times and NEVER ends well. It's almost as bad as a helmet thread

What's going to happen, a showdown with a Hummer? Shoot out the tires? Or just threaten the soccer mom who's having a bad day?

Guns are escalationist. Carry one, increase your chances of getting shot.
And, I deal with guns every day, BTW.

Only if I wanted to end up on charges! Up here I couldn't own a pistol if I wanted to. About the only thing I could legally own/register would be a hunting rifle or .22 - and I think a long-barrel Winchester shotgun would look a little conspicuous on the morning commute. Besides, the only thing I have to worry about are protestors as I go onto campus...

Aside from that, years of data show that persons most likely to get shot in robbery, home invasion, etc, are those who try to respond with a firearm. About the only people who get away with it, statistically, are those trained well in firearm use - police officers, for instance....

I use to ride with a friend who carried a small gun in his fanny pack.. He never showed it to anyone but most of his friends new he had it.. It never really bothered anyone in our group of riders but there was a group ride we did where a confrontation emerged and just him showing his badge made the offending driver back off.. This situation made us think that it was a good thing that he had a gun but the situation never escalated to the point of him actually brandishing the weapon..

Out in the country. I carry Guard Alaska Bearspray, I live where it could be a couple of hours(even more) for help to arrive.

I would love to have the 308 or the 12 gauge with me. I would use it on a pack of coy dogs. On a person no way!

If you come onto my property looking for trouble and I asked you to leave then you don't?

Look out! Maybe the first warning shot will get your attention!

Oh boy I sound like a redneck. :eek:

I live in a safe, stable democracy where even after 50 years of Soviet occupation people aren't paranoid enough to carry guns. Sure, there is crime, but is does property crime give reason and cause to carry firearms?

Why would one carry a gun? I love my bikes, but I'm not going to kill anyone over them. If you have a confriation with an idiot be an adult and ride away. I've had people try and steal my bike while riding in the States. Do I still have my bike? Yes. Did I need a gun? No. Grow up, you don't live in a war zone.

This has been discussed MANY times and NEVER ends well. It's almost as bad as a helmet thread
Maybe we should have yet another poll.


Which is more dangerous:

Riding without a gun?
Riding without a helmet?

Then, for good measure, we could ask people to apply Vechicular Cycling techniques to the question.

NO, I live in a safe country/city/community (Canada/Ottawa/Manor Park). For example, when I moved here this past summer the crime report for my little area listed three bicycles as stolen and only one was locked! Murder rate for Ottawa 2004 was 6 so guns are not needed nor are they allowed - and I like it that way. People with guns kill people. Just say no to guns!

There is one person who said yes. I cant figure out who it is :D

People who own/carry hand guns should be shot, many of them are as well as their children.

I usually don’t go into the political thing on a bike commuter board, but this is so stupid I can’t take it.

Dayton Daily News 2/12/2005

Boy, 4, shot, killed at home


Dayton homicide detectives are investigating the shooting death that apparently occurred in the basement of the home. The full name of the deceased was not released.
Lt. Mike Wilhelm said the boy was among several children playing in the house.
He said it was not clear who fired the semiautomatic handgun shortly after 4 p.m. He also said two adults were in the house.
Wilhelm said the boy was carried upstairs to the porch and children ran to neighbors to call 911.
"There were lots of kids yelling lots of things," he said. "We are not sure who had the gun in hand. ? We had a lot of confused children and no straight story."
Neighbor Kesha Kirk said several children ran to her house to report the shooting and to ask for help.
"They were yelling, 'Little Donny's dead, little Donny's dead,' " said Kirk, who lives at 745 Taylor St.
Kirk said the family's oldest son "had blood on his shirt," from carrying the child to the porch.
Friend of the family Denise Harris Wood said medics attempted to work on the child.
"They couldn't bring him back," she said. "An innocent baby, laying here dead."
She said the children told her the boy's 12-year-old brother was playing with the gun and put it on a shelf.
Some of the children said the 4-year-old picked up the gun, while others said the 12-year-old accidently shot the boy.
Wood said the boy was "so cute. So adorable. He was no stranger to nobody."
The child's death was the second Wood has been involved with since September, when she was at a party where Dayton Daily News reporter Derek Ali was killed.
"I stayed at his side," outside the community center on Lakeridge Park in Arlington Courts until medics and police arrived.
"I'm in shock," she said. "Another death by gun. Jesus, another one."

Grow up, you don't live in a war zone.

:lol:

Beautiful, just beautiful! Thank you. :D

Guns are a tool which must be used and applied with great care. Choosing to possess a gun carries a tremendous amount of responsibility, including safe use, safe storage and knowing when you can use it legally.

If you chose to carry a gun, all of that responsibility is yours and yours alone. Screw up and the consequences can be severe and permanent.

If you don't think you want any part of a gun, then that is your choice. If you decide a gun is for you and you are willing to accept the responsibility for it, then that too is your choice.

I carry one every day at work. Frankly, however, I could never see myself carrying one when I'm riding.

People with guns kill people. Just say no to guns!


People with guns kill people. People with cars kill people. People with medical degrees kill more people per year than the first two combined. We only do anything about the first two of these.

Here's one example of just one of the problems from carrying a gun.

I knew a guy who carried one on the bike on his regular route without a permit to carry. His route went by a location where a crime had taken place. He's a little suspicious looking, so the cops stopped him and questioned him. He spent a few days in jail, and now has a record.

Bullets kill people not guns.

Cars kill people, so I think we should outlaw them too. While we are at it, why not ban acrylic fingernails since they can be a weapon too! Large acrylic nail, sensitive man parts, I think you get the picture.

Guns are not the issue. Stupid people are the issue. Thousands of children grow up in households with guns without incident. A nice gun safe isn't that expensive.

Because of you damn liberals I can't even take a gun safety class in my county. I think that if gun safety classes were more easily available everyone would be better off. One day I am going to inherit a bunch of shotguns and rifles (some of them are my great grandfather's, so they are very special family heirlooms) and I want to be prepared. But liberals limit access to gun knowledge, increasing the chances of an accident. Not good!

No I don't carry, guns are too heavy! :D

I prefer to chop people up with machete`s- it is far more satisfying seeing the blood really spurting and hearing their cries of terror.

Only joking I hate these gun threads.

Cars kill people, so I think we should outlaw them too. While we are at it, why not ban acrylic fingernails since they can be a weapon too! Large acrylic nail, sensitive man parts, I think you get the picture.

Guns are not the issue. Stupid people are the issue. Thousands of children grow up in households with guns without incident. A nice gun safe isn't that expensive.

Because of you damn liberals I can't even take a gun safety class in my county. I think that if gun safety classes were more easily available everyone would be better off. One day I am going to inherit a bunch of shotguns and rifles (some of them are my great grandfather's, so they are very special family heirlooms) and I want to be prepared. But liberals limit access to gun knowledge, increasing the chances of an accident. Not good!

Eh, this liberal doesn't feel that way. I could not in good conscience call for elimination of gun safety classes or gun ownership. I can certainly urge people to be reasonable, though. Thousands of children have grown up safely in a household with guns. However, a lot MORE children have been killed by one of the guns in the house than by a home invader who could have been stopped with a gun. Further, someone who hears an intruder and goes to get the gun is a lot more likely to be hurt or killed than someone who hears an intruder, says "Oh ****," and sneaks out of the house and calls the police from somewhere safe.

People are free, in the US at least, to own guns. We have a whole amendment for that. So I just ask people if they REALLY need it. If you own a gun for range shooting, or hunting, why not take some basic safety precautions like leaving it unloaded with the ammunition in a locked drawer? That could make a much greater difference between life and death than having it ready to fire in the event of an intrusion.

And of course, on your commute, oy. There are no words. Unless you're a police officer, of course, that's kind of a no-brainer :).

**EDIT** I don't mean more children have been killed by guns than the thousands who have grown up safe, I mean more children have been killed by the guns meant to protect against intruders than have been killed from intruders who could have been stopped with guns.**/EDIT**

Cars kill people, so I think we should outlaw them too. While we are at it, why not ban acrylic fingernails since they can be a weapon too! Large acrylic nail, sensitive man parts, I think you get the picture.

Guns are not the issue. Stupid people are the issue. Thousands of children grow up in households with guns without incident. A nice gun safe isn't that expensive.

Because of you damn liberals I can't even take a gun safety class in my county. I think that if gun safety classes were more easily available everyone would be better off. One day I am going to inherit a bunch of shotguns and rifles (some of them are my great grandfather's, so they are very special family heirlooms) and I want to be prepared. But liberals limit access to gun knowledge, increasing the chances of an accident. Not good!

Lauren,
I think you have the right idea. Let's outlaw stupid people. Get those SOBs off the road.
I once read of an unarmed guy who was about to be robbed at knife-point, who felt he had no other option but to use his head. He began to sing a song by Metallica, while dancing an Irish jig he had learned while studying as a foreign-exchange student in Dublin. When he was done, for good measure, he scratched his hind end and moved his head like a curious monkey in a zoo. The knife-wielding (sp?) robber laughted so loudly, he walked off saying, "Crazy Homie, I should be giving you money," and left. In an interview, the unarmed dancer-singer-zoo monkey said that he couldn't tell what it was: perhaps the song he recognized, the dance he enjoyed, or the imitation of the monkey. Luck-that's all it was.

Cheers

Is this really a problem? Gun wielding bike commuters shooting people?
If people want to carry and it's legal, how is it any of my business?

Guns aren't just for home invasion. They are also for killing dangerous wildlife. I felt safer as a kid after my father shot a rattlesnake that showed up in the front yard. If I rode out in the middle of nowhere I might carry one for that purpose.

I personally wouldn't carry one on a bike. If I felt my safety was that threatened I would choose a different route or get a car. I don't have anything against someone that wants to get a concealed carry permit because of lack of other options though. I just don't have the experience at this point to pull it off.

Sadly, people want to outlaw training dogs for personal protection as well. Most of the training revolves around teaching the dog the out and when not to bite. Biting a threat is very natural, and the training makes the dog safer. Plus it is tons of fun for the dog when done right. But few yuppie politicians realize that. Because of the added liability due to uninformed politicians, there are not enough people that will raise working dog prospects in the US. The vast majority of police dogs are imported from Europe. Even much of the equipment to train the dogs is imported from Europe.

I don't carry a gun now, I carry pepper spray, but I used to carry one. When I've lived in REALLY bad neighborhoods, I carried one wherever I went, not just for the safety factor, but because the likelihood of getting it stolen from my apartment was also high. As far as making comments about not living in a "war zon", that is negligable. We've got a "war on crime" and a "war on drugs" that makes some neighborhoods look amazingly similar to Beirut.Ever been to Miami? I find that most of the anti-gun people grow up in middle-class suburbia, transfer straight to college, and then back to suburbia/penthouse. There's nothing wrong with that, but thinking the rest of the world should follow this "coffeehouse etiquette" is more than naive, it's hiding one's head in the sand.
I live in a pretty good neighborhood right now, but I ride my bike all over town, avoiding the worst. I carry pepper spray, because of biting dogs and cagers that want to get physical because I have to take a lane for a bit,(it has happened to me a couple of times.) But I'll be damned if someone sitting in a gated community in Chicago or a high-rise in NYC is going to decide I don't need a gun. This is reality. If I'm some kind of troglodyte for wanting to protect myself, fine, but don't show your botoxed face in my neighborhood, either.

I carry a mini-pump. Does that count? :)

As far as making comments about not living in a "war zon", that is negligable. We've got a "war on crime" and a "war on drugs" that makes some neighborhoods look amazingly similar to Beirut.Ever been to Miami? I find that most of the anti-gun people grow up in middle-class suburbia, transfer straight to college, and then back to suburbia/penthouse. There's nothing wrong with that, but thinking the rest of the world should follow this "coffeehouse etiquette" is more than naive, it's hiding one's head in the sand.
I live in a pretty good neighborhood right now, but I ride my bike all over town, avoiding the worst. I carry pepper spray, because of biting dogs and cagers that want to get physical because I have to take a lane for a bit,(it has happened to me a couple of times.) But I'll be damned if someone sitting in a gated community in Chicago or a high-rise in NYC is going to decide I don't need a gun. This is reality. If I'm some kind of troglodyte for wanting to protect myself, fine, but don't show your botoxed face in my neighborhood, either.
I've lived in some really rough neighborhoods, ie the Irish channel of New Orleans in the early ninties. I've lived in places where friends have been shot and killed. I've had guns pulled on me, I don't live in suburbia. The idea that people who don't believe in carrying guns are suberbianites or living in gated communities is quite the falsehood. How is this a class issue? Do all poor people like guns? Do all rich people hate them?

I've lived in some really rough neighborhoods, ie the Irish channel of New Orleans in the early ninties. I've lived in places where friends have been shot and killed. I've had guns pulled on me, I don't live in suburbia. The idea that people who don't believe in carrying guns are suberbianites or living in gated communities is quite the falsehood. How is this a class issue? Do all poor people like guns? Do all rich people hate them?

Re read the post. Who's more likely to need a gun for protection, someone in a gated community in a rich neighborhood, or someone poor in a dangerous neighborhood?

I carry a gub :lol:

Re read the post. Who's more likely to need a gun for protection, someone in a gated community in a rich neighborhood, or someone poor in a dangerous neighborhood?
The only time I've ever felt the need to have a gun on my person is when I was working around a lot of valuable, movable objects. Not when I lived in really bad neighborhoods. BTW I own three guns. A PPK/S, a Bretta Tomcat .32 and an old Spanish POS .38 that was my Grandfathers. I was raised around guns. I was shooting a .357 when I was eight years old. I'm not afraid of guns. I like plunking. I just don't feel the need to carry them with me. I don't like to keep them in my house. I'd rather use my brain than my gun.

I live across the street from the projects, my next door neighbors are drug dealers, people get shot or stabbed around here at times. I wouldn't say it's ghetto, but it's far from the environment krispistoferson alleges I live in. I still think the idea of carrying a gun is pretty ridiculous.

I'm not anti-gun, per se, I grew up with guns and hunted for a time (ultimately it just wasn't my thing, I guess...but I was a pretty damn good shot). Against an animal a gun can be a useful last line of defense. Against a person it's generally a pretty terrible idea, particularly on a bicycle. Any situation involving another person that you can't avoid or outride is one that's not going to be made any better by pulling a gun.

The only time I've ever felt the need to have a gun on my person is when I was working around a lot of valuable, movable objects. Not when I lived in really bad neighborhoods. BTW I own three guns. A PPK/S, a Bretta Tomcat .32 and an old Spanish POS .38 that was my Grandfathers. I was raised around guns. I was shooting a .357 when I was eight years old. I'm not afraid of guns. I like plunking. I just don't feel the need to carry them with me. I don't like to keep them in my house. I'd rather use my brain than my gun.


Okay...well guns don't shoot themselves. You can't even secure them somewhere in your own home?
Where do you keep, them a safe deposit box?
The fact of the matter it is not illegal to carry one. The chances are that a reasonable person will never need it.
What's the problem? No one is saying YOU need to carry one.

Against a person it's generally a pretty terrible idea, particularly on a bicycle.

More than likely a person is not going to be pulling a gun WHILE riding..LOL

[QUOTE=FXjohnWhat's the problem? No one is saying YOU need to carry one.[/QUOTE]

I don't want some hot head yahoo shooting at me. That's the problem.

What's the problem? No one is saying YOU need to carry one.
I don't want some hot head yahoo shooting at me. That's the problem.

What are you doing to people that would instigate them shooting at you?

I'm just wondering: what kind of life do you live if you feel it might be necessary to kill someone while you're going to or coming from work? What kind of life do you live if you actually feel unsafe unless you have the power to kill someone at a distance? In what world do you live, and why is it so substantially different from mine?

I, for example, rarely feel the need to kill people. It's just not a high priority for me, being able to kill someone. I don't feel it's necessary. I suppose my life is decadent and bourgeois. I'm weak that way, in that I don't need to be able to kill someone to feel safe.

(Keep in mind, the kind of gun you'll be able to carry while bicycling is a handgun. A handgun is a special-purpose tool with only one use: to kill humans. It is not good for hunting, it is not good as a general-purpose tool, it is meant only to kill humans. That is its only purpose. A handgun is not meant to injure humans - as anyone is taught at the range, you're not pulling your gun to hurt someone. You aim for the heart or the head. As such, I have no idea why the manufacture of handguns is permitted at all.)

Guns, bikes, and the "riders high" don't mix.

What are you doing to people that would instigate them shooting at you?
The only times I've had problems with hot head drivers on my bike were in America, land of the gun. To answer your question, riding in a zone ment for cars only I guess.

I'm just wondering: what kind of life do you live if you feel it might be necessary to kill someone while you're going to or coming from work? What kind of life do you live if you actually feel unsafe unless you have the power to kill someone at a distance? In what world do you live, and why is it so substantially different from mine?

I, for example, rarely feel the need to kill people. It's just not a high priority for me, being able to kill someone. I don't feel it's necessary. I suppose my life is decadent and bourgeois. I'm weak that way, in that I don't need to be able to kill someone to feel safe.

(Keep in mind, the kind of gun you'll be able to carry while bicycling is a handgun. A handgun is a special-purpose tool with only one use: to kill humans. It is not good for hunting, it is not good as a general-purpose tool, it is meant only to kill humans. That is its only purpose. A handgun is not meant to injure humans - as anyone is taught at the range, you're not pulling your gun to hurt someone. You aim for the heart or the head. As such, I have no idea why the manufacture of handguns is permitted at all.)


Why do you automatically assume if you have to produce a gun for defense, it will be fired??

When you have a 100+ lb mountain cat charging at you, the best thing to do would be to fire off a shot and hope you scare it away.
When you're in the middle of an intersection with a cager having a confrontation, in the heat of the moment, tempers through the roof, the last thing you'd want to do is escalate the situation by pulling out a gun.
But when you're riding alone and a bunch of drunk teenagers decide to run your blinking light off the road and they turn around and come back and decide it'll be fun to beat the crap out of this blinking light, at this point, I'd consider these cagers to have just about as much reasoning ability as the mountain lion who's charging at you.
Guns are an absolute last resort when you think the situation has come to a point where no amount of reasoning or walking away will keep you from harm. A gun's kind of like a penis. When you're biking around town, keep it inside and don't expect to use your penis on every car that passes by you a little too close. But if you do get pulled over on a lonely road by some hot tall blond drunk cheerleader and you whip it out, be prepared to use it and suffer the consequences (STD's, crabs, etc...).
In most cases, be the better man (or woman) and just walk (ride) away. Nothing in the world (usually) is worth the consequences but if it comes down to it, aim for the legs and call it self defense.

The only times I've had problems with hot head drivers on my bike were in America, land of the gun. To answer your question, riding in a zone ment for cars only I guess.


In that case, the gun carrying bike rider is out of the equation.
No worries from them for you.

When you have a 100+ lb mountain cat charging at you, the best thing to do would be to fire off a shot and hope you scare it away.
When you're in the middle of an intersection with a cager having a confrontation, in the heat of the moment, tempers through the roof, the last thing you'd want to do is escalate the situation by pulling out a gun.
But when you're riding alone and a bunch of drunk teenagers decide to run your blinking light off the road and they turn around and come back and decide it'll be fun to beat the crap out of this blinking light, at this point, I'd consider these cagers to have just about as much reasoning ability as the mountain lion who's charging at you.


yep, when they decide to "screw with that ****** in lycra" just the mere prescence of the gun should persuade them to move on.

Why do you automatically assume if you have to produce a gun for defense, it will be fired??

I will reply with a quote from Outkast:

"Don't pull that thing out unless you plan to bang. Don't bang unless you plan to hit something."

One does not pull a gun unless one is a) prepared to use it or b) a fool.

When you have a 100+ lb mountain cat charging at you, the best thing to do would be to fire off a shot and hope you scare it away.

Granted, I live in Boston, but that's a pretty different commute than most cyclocommuters have, I suspect.


But when you're riding alone and a bunch of drunk teenagers decide to run your blinking light off the road and they turn around and come back and decide it'll be fun to beat the crap out of this blinking light, at this point, I'd consider these cagers to have just about as much reasoning ability as the mountain lion who's charging at you.

Yes, but the mountain lion wasn't behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle and probably isn't packing heat itself. It's unfortunate, but the best thing you can do is get the hell out of the way as quickly as possible. Will these drunk teens see your gun? Will they care? Will they instead decide they need to truly squash this thing for good? Will they have their own pieces to wave around like some big dumb club? If they don't respond, are you prepared to shoot them? Are you prepared for the fact that even if you do shoot them you may not stop them or their vehicle and you may still get run over?

Doesn't seem like a well thought out plan.

I will reply with a quote from Outkast:

"Don't pull that thing out unless you plan to bang. Don't bang unless you plan to hit something."

One does not pull a gun unless one is a) prepared to use it or b) a fool.


Nope.

If a gun is produced, there is no rule that says it MUST be fired.