I'd have to agree with this as well. Not to go far off topic, there's also a thin line between protecting your family and getting your family shot at home if you feel your 45 is going to save you.

I am far from anti-gun, but even I wouldn't carry a gun with me on my bike, for many reasons... Going back to the OP - I was glad to see a heavier police presence on the SART this past weekend. SART is used by many people everyday - and I think that the local govts have an interest in keeping it safe. As a Velo community we need to demand that bike trails are maintained and kept safe, use good judgment on when and where to ride - and watch out for each other.

hilarity ensues at the firearm hand-wringing above^

a firearm is not a security blanket, especially in untrained hands

in the trained hands of a person who is alert, it is devastating to cretins like the ones who attacked the op

the worst neighborhoods on the santa ana river bike trail are in a very wide-open section of the trail and any group gathering on foot there is suspect

I'll have to agree. The only good defense against 5 or 6 thugs is a firearm. After your first shot; they'll be too busy running for their lives to cause you any more harm.

As off-topic as the "don't keep firearms at home" topic is; I'm getting suckered into responding. If someone's breaking into my house in the middle of the night when my family is home - I'm sure they're not going to treat my wife and kids with care and respect. I've got more confidence that I won't shoot my kids than I do that "they" won't.

In the OP's scenario, a gun would have been worse than useless. He was tackled by surprise. A trained professional on foot with a gun in hand wouldn't stand much of a chance. On a bicycle, your odds are worse. No way to carry a gun on a bike that guarantees ready accessibility.

A gun's place in the home is way outside the scope of this thread. A short barreled pump shotgun has a place in my home. I know what it can and cannot do.

I'm not the type that could let something like that go. I'd go Rambo on their asses!:D

FAIL^

again, those little creeps would not have stood a chance against an alert and properly trained person riding a bicycle and carrying a sidearm

apparently you missed the part about it being a bunch of little wannabe thug kids

little wannabe thug kids would never stand a chance against the right people

you need to do some reading, friend

http://www.combatreform.org/atb.htm

Interesting but absolutely of no bearing to the original post. Don't care if the six little thugs were a rogue pack of Jerry's Kid's, they got the OP by surprise- and there was SIX of them. OP is a bike commuter. Carrying a gun on a bike in way that guarrtees it's instantly accessible and not prone to be taken away is practically impossible. What does one do with a firearm at work? No employer in their right mind will allow an employee to bring a gun on premise.

Maybe you have reason to consider yourself one of the "right people". Are you willing to stake your life on this unsupported assumption? A lot of police officers lose their guns struggling with criminals. These are trained professionals.

I admire your optimism in regards to a handgun's capabilities. However, your overconfidence can get you in serious trouble. I still believe that a gun is an inanimate lump of metal that has no ability to judge a situation or come when called. They can put a hole in anything in front of them, whether it is a bad guy or the owner.

For $28.95, those who ride with straight bars can purchase this - not sure whether it will fit though since it's made for motorcycles.

Perfect - so when someone blindsides you, as you're falling off the bike at 20mph you can pull a Jackie Chan and get the strap off that holster, get the gun out, get the safety off, and squeeze a few rounds off before you hit the ground.

Again, in this situation, you're just giving the gun to the criminals. Might as well advertise.

Don't be silly. Most perps will give you a 30 second notice before making a move.:p

6 perps, 30 seconds each, that give you 3 minutes to react.:D

this thread just gets funnier by the post

the firearms naysayers are oh so very clueless

If you carry a weapon, then, you better feel comfortable with your decisions to use them. I hope I wouldn't shoot someone unless they left me no choice.

that's how it works

Expert gun handler CritEastwood (AKA Trinity)..:roflmao2:

Just a recap of the legal issues. (INAL)
 

Carrying a concealed handgun without a LTC (license to Carry) is a misdemeanor in Ca. Orange county issues with good cause but it is difficult to meet the threshold.
LA county does not issue (219 LTCs in LA vs 900 in OC)
Open carry of a handgun if loaded is not legal in incorporated areas (Nat Forest, BLM OK)
Open Carry of an unloaded handgun is legal until Jan 1st. But you have to stay 1000 ft from a school zone.
Getting stopped with a concealed handgun can result in 2 misdemeanors (concealed gun and loaded gun).
Carrying an unloaded longarm is still OK. Ca school zone restriction does not apply but Fed law does.

Had a friend stop a crime in his business with a by pulling a handgun. Another buddy lost his in a gas station robbery. Having a 9mm put to the back of your head means you have lost. Not a naysayer, just a coldly logical dude who stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago.

lulz, "logical"

http://www.paulandstorm.com/tournament/images/spock.jpg

"There's nothing more useless than an unloaded gun." -Tony Soprano

I guess the answer to this whole concealed weapon conundrum is that I'll have to mount a clamp on my bars to hold my .44 magnum to ward off all those SART punks who might feel lucky.

On point, I've noticed quite a few Santa Ana PD patrol cars cruising the trail the last fe weeks.

I still commute on SART everyday. Most nights I enter the trail at 17th, but some nights I enter down at McArther. I keep my pepper spray in my hand ready and I have invested in a stun gun. There cheap around 50 bucks. Pepper spray can take out more than one person if you spray fast enough. The stun gun is for when there on the ground and are blind.

Keeping in the theme of bad grammer, aint stun guns good for one time use? What do you do wit the other 5 guys?

I just carry a grenade in my jersey pocket.

Update: Yesterday I spoke with the detective handling the case, he said "there have been a couple other similar robberies in the riverbed."

In just over a month at least two more robberies on SART...be careful out there.

I would imagine that a lone rider would be their target. If you rode with 5 guys, they would leave the pack alone.