Today, over two million Americans will ride a bike to work or school and NOT be shot. That story will NOT be on the news.

Even on a BAD days, the odds of being shot riding while riding a bike are millions to one. Compare that to going to a bar full of single people age 25 to 45...about 5% of them carry HIV...if you "get lucky" at that bar, you have a one in twenty chance of getting exposed to HIV.

Lots of things in life are dangerous. Riding a bike to work is not one of them.

prediction:

thread will balloon to 8 pages with comments for and against gun carrying a gun. tempers will flare, people will be called names and then the thread will be locked.

It may not have had anything to do with him cycling.

Seriously. From reading the article, it looked like a case of wrong-place, wrong-time. The only reason we're discussing this is because he got shot on his bike instead of through his windshield while at the stop sign. Shame either way.

TimJ, in the post from Surveyor, you may be misinterpreting his statement. I took it to mean that he may have been somewhere or in some situation where he would have felt more confident with carrying the gun. Not that he wished he could have used it or shot someone. IOW, maybe he was at a gas station late at night and there were shady folks hanging around and perhaps looking for opportunities. The fact that nothing happened and he is "OK" doesn't dispense with the regret one feels for not being prepared if things went bad. If you find yourself in a predicament that is none of your doing, and it is an unsafe environment, but nothing bad happens, wouldn't it still a good idea to have the means to defend yourself if called upon to do so?

how do you sort out the idiots from the aholes?

having the means to defend yourself is great, but the chance for error is increased as well. how bad would you feel if you started shooting and it struck some kid in the head across the street at the playground. think this doesn't happen? unintended shooting victims are on the news all the time.

To me owning, maintaining, and carrying a gun also comes with a certain amount of risk. Sure, there's a lot that can be done to minimize the risk but it is still there. It's also a certain amount of hassle.

Owning a gun doesn't guarantee that I'd be able to defend myself in all situations. Not owning a gun is a guarantee that no gun of mine will ever be stolen or harm myself or anyone else either intentionally or accidentally.

Timmhaan, your point is certainly valid, but if I am defending myself, i.e. trying to stay alive, by shooting at a thug trying to kill me, then the possibility of my bullets hitting someone else are a secondary consideration. In that situation, I am an innocent victim, and so would the tragic victim of my errant bullet. But, who brought it on? Should I refrain from shooting to defend myself on the (extremely remote) chance that others might be hit? I am all for sacrificing a little for my fellow man, but submitting to an execution at the hands of a criminal is more than I'm willing to give. In other words, I'll take the risk and shoot.

I see an opportunity here, Campy titanium 9mm and Kevlar hi-vis vests.

Not necessarily, I don't intend to start a flame war either but you might have missed my point. My opinion relies on the message you posted which is well resumed from the last sentence:
Which is that you carry a gun for your safety but at the same time regret not having your gun in some instances which to me is worrysome. Maybe you have been shot before, in which case I am deeply sorry for what happened to you. If your intent in the cases you didn't have a gun was that if you'd had the gun you would have won an argument then this isn't right. I don't see why you'd regret not having a gun otherwise. Or maybe you were robbed? What would you have done with the gun? Kill someone? Maybe scare him, but then he might be packing too no?

Of course it doesn't change people's personality, you won't go kill someone like that. But having the means to kill increases it's likelihood.

I pretty much said the same thing.

Of course, me neither but that's not the point.

As for the Canadian "guns are evil" attitude well as a community we're not comfortable carring firearms and we choose not to carry any and that's our right. As a result well we are safer :P but that's another issue.

Opt-out -- I'm not continuing this further. It's a way too sensitive subject and this isn't the place to discuss owning firearms and the vision of the US founding fathers vs canadian hippies. I said what I had to say.

Sorry for starting this.

Campy?

I want something Flight Deck compatible. You know, - an extra little button on one of the hoods. Nothing fancy, semi-automatic will do. Would suck if I just wanted to check my cadence and hit the wrong button though.

Can we just save the disk space and get this one locked now?

No, I get it.

And if indeed he regretted not packing because he would have "felt more confident" because there were "shady folks hanging around" then I think that calls into question the notion packing a gun is about safety and responsibility. Sounds more like fear, to me.

If Agent 007 rode a bike...

Gun control laws work only on law abiding citizens. I don't have my CCW yet, but am planning on getting one ( I just hope that it's not a day too late.) The police cannot be everywhere at once, and unless you live next to a police station, well, you take your chances.

Maybe the guy who shot the cyclist is the resposible, safety-conscious person here. Maybe the shooter thought he had to shoot the cyclist otherwise he was submitting himself to execution at the hands of a criminal.

Perhaps this is an example of how carrying a gun worked.

What a shame! What's wrong with some people???

Oh, it is most certainly about fear, as well as safety and responsibility. I can't see how those concepts are mutually exclusive; they are highly related and rightly so. You make it sound like a bad thing. Read "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin DeBecker. It's an excellent book about how fear helps us to protect ourselves and avoid (when we can) violent confrontations, i.e. situational awareness. Can't you imagine being in an unexpectedly bad situation, and being fearful, yet confident because you know you have the means to protect yourself if (God forbid) you were forced to?

I'd really like to see some discussion on why our society allows unsafe areas like this man was murdered in to exist at all.

There appears to be slightly more to the story than the first article states: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs...WS03/807160409

Shoot them all first and let God sort it out.. :lol::rolleyes::innocent::D

Sad story, and hope justice is served on the perpetrators. Although the story suggests cycling is a risk for being shot, if you watch The Godfather you'd think driving would be a risk for being assassinated. You have to evaluate your commuter route and make a decision for yourself. I don't think I'd go down a street with a lot of drunks and homeless folks, but my route feels pretty safe to me. I'd feel more in danger if I carried a firearm, because with going over railroad tracks, potholes, etc. I wouldn't be sure it would NOT go off accidentally.

That's hilarious.