It does suck that we have to even discuss this. I have noticed an increase in muggings and robbery in my home town since the economy has been bad. It has only gotten worse as the recession drags on. I have never had a problem where I live until recently. As I said earlier my friend got mugged, and the bakery where I work was robbed a gun point about a month ago. Personally, I had a crazy guy try to fight me in the alley while walking to the coffee shop I go to at nights to study. Luckily, I was able to deescalate the situation. He was much bigger than I and probably could have given me a good beating had I not been able to talk my way out of the situation. I dunno, maybe I am just a scared little man but, I will continue to carry my baton just in case. I would like to at least have a chance if I can't avoid or talk my way out a bad situation.

Ideally the economy will improve and folks won't be so desperate/crazy if they can get jobs. Looks like for the time being, jobs will continue to be scarce.

I have had the same experience. I live in Detroit and I have ridden in some of the worse neighborhood. I have had more problems in riding in the suburbs than in the city.

+1, I have been harassed more often out in the rural parts of town. I had one young guy yell at me from his truck to get on the sidewalk.... and there was no sidewalk! I pointed that out to him and he changed his mind "then ride in the f---ing grass"

I find that a phaser and a light saber are usually enough. Occassionally I'll take the photon cannon. Having the Death Star track my ride is overkill.

In some states including Florida and I think Texas, deadly force can be used upon YOUR fear for your life. The concept is that you have a right to protect yourself and threatening behavior, if YOU feel you are threatened to the point you must defend yourself they should not have placed you in that position. The burden is then to prove otherwise upon the law.

However, I rode all over Houston and never had one single problem for 10 years, but, sooner or later we are going to have to take our cities back from the hoodlums if we are serious about living car free. In fact, I have never realy had a problem ever other than an odd encounter recently in Pompano on a fishing peer that was making me nervous, but, I either misunderstood him or he decided I was not a very good target.

Careful; this is an incorrect statement of the law. Your fear of bodily harm must be both genuine and reasonable -- that is that you genuinely believed it necessary to use the level of force used, and that a reasonable person in similar circumstances would act the same.

Bingo...which means you're trusting 12 people to judge your decision. In Philadelphia the jury is going to be a lot more likely to nail you than in the burbs. The kid's parents are going to be on the stand explaining how he was a good kid who went to choir practise and basketball try outs...he was only out at 2am to get his ailing sister much needed penicillin and was only carrying a knife to protect him from roaming packs of dingoes.

Holy crap, I can't honestly believe that it is really all that bad out there. But wait, I get it. I'm convinced that if you walk around thinking about an incident, or worse yet somehow prepared to defend yourself, you're asking for trouble. Something about a person's mannerisms, body language, or maybe just aura if you will, is different when they are expecting trouble. If you’re having that much trouble you’re probably bringing some of it on yourself.

Seriously, try waving or popping a little wheely as you pass the Bmxer’s. If somebody yelled at me, I might yell something back. But if I was smiling when I did it then I think there’s a good chance the whole interaction would diffuse into a game. Even if someone throws something at you, you can stop and in a very disappointed, unaggressive way be like, “Aw come on man, I’m just trying to get home from work.”

Now maybe, just maybe there are places where it is so bad that you have to be prepared (though I doubt it). Perhaps someone could try feeling a little disappointed in that fact instead of getting a sense of self importance over the matter. I think that being quietly sad that you have to carry a weapon can go a long way towards never having to use it.

But then again, with drama there is something to talk about. So you can be ready to defend yourself against a hostile world and have lots of cool stuff to talk about on BF. Go ahead and play the Us vs. Them game if you want. It is exciting.

That last part of that is sarcasm right?

Sarcastic towards the standard "he's a good boy" schpiel...yes. I spent enough time in courts and schools watching thugs get described by delusional parents as mommy's little angel.

I'm not being sarcastic about the message I'm trying to get across. I hear people say "I'm allowed to defend myself" all of the time, and they have no idea what they're talking about. Lambo is exactly right...the law is intentionally ambiguous and it's designed to let reasonable people decide if your actions were justified. The problem there is that not all juries are reasonable and not all police and/or prosecutors are reasonable. Also, the standard of what is a reasonable action can change depending on the neighborhood you're in. In the suburb that my dad is in, predominantly white and middle/upper class, a typical jury is going to be more sympathetic to a self defense claim. In Philadelphia...you're more likely to get a less well off person more sympathetic to the person who was injured.

That's what I figured.

Last time I got mugged and robbed it was by a businessman and politician. I'm not being metaphorical. I'm still $12,000.00 poorer for it and without legal recourse. The poor crooks often get caught and pay the price. The rich crooks often have the laws on their side.

JoeyBike, what parts of NOLA do you ride? I don't think there's any such thing as an UNARMED robbery in New Orleans... everyone has a gun. But thats just robbery, and your only option is to just give up whatever they want. Most young "punks" are jumping/threatening just for the ego/reputation without remorse of the law. Its been a while since I've been confronted by punks.

Dang dude, 12k?