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One can talk about low probability but if the situation does happen to "you", that really is the pits!
One of the interesting things on the side of this discussion is that if a game warden comes across poachers, he's in a world of hurt because the odds are vastly against him. More of them, better armed, they know how to use their guns very well, backup is an hour away, and there are no witnesses. (although the leading cause of death of wardens is drowning)
So can we say there is no reason to be wary?
As things go, my daily trips to and from home and work is about to change in a very big way. Thirty to forty minutes of driving in the country (Around here, the transition from country to city is like night and day. One second you are in the country, the next you are in the city). It is a trip that I am going to be armed every day on. Would "you" drive through the country unarmed?
In the rural areas around here in east Tennessee, there is a significant drug problem. If someone is acting in a suspicious manner, they are likely on drugs or looking to commit a crime that is somehow drug related.
Rural areas have more of a gun culture than a suburb. That is obvious. We live in a small rural town too after moving from the burbs, gun shots are heard often, NRA stickers prevail, gun rakes and hunters are everywhere. So with that gun culture it is only logical that "guns for self protection" feeling would be more prevalent in rural areas. Not a criticism, just an observation.
In the rural area where I was raised, people are so non-paranoid, they rarely even lock doors.
why do you think locking your doors is a sign of being "paranoid" ?
Before I retired I lived on a farm in rural Minnesota along a state highway.
Now and then , in winter, someone would run in the ditch and come up to the house at night seeking assistance.
I didn't like the idea of an inebriated stranger walking into my kitchen at 2 AM hollering...." is anyone home " ?
( happened once"
As you stated, I guess that makes me "paranoid " ?
The truth is that a lot of these "dinky little towns" as you put it are economically depressed. There is drug abuse and addicts have to finance their habit somehow.
I believe the OP deliberately used the words " dinky little town" and "paranoid" just to get his insults in.
I hope it made him feel more superior.
Nope, as I said I'm living in the sticks and I grew up in the sticks. It's just that I also spent 10 years in a large city, and having lived that life as well, I have some extra background to base my observations on. Believe me, for the most part I love rural life, and the ones who aren't so high-strung and gung-ho ready to shoot at the first sound of the leaves rustling, I'm totally cool with them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by trinity1111
Ever hear of "Crystal Meth"? Little towns are infamous for meth labs.
Of course I have, but I still think that for the most part all the paranoia is much ado about nothing. Even with that factored in, compared to a large city, by and large I still say the little towns are relatively speaking a paradise in being much more free of crime.
My main point is that such paranoia in and of itself to the point of simply being annoying or silly, so be it, but when it causes you to freak out over your own wife walking in your own house, you're being overzealous. Never mind the change in shift, even still, when a woman coming home to her own home NO MATTER the change in time and NO MATTER the middle of the night hours is shot because of someone not even bothering to check things out in a half-decent manner, that's irresponsible and dangerous.
Too many people think the solution to "all of the violence out there" (as if it's really THAT bad, please) is to get a gun and shoot at the first sound of anything. That's reckless, and to my knowledge even the NRA says so. My uncle who is a hard-core gun lover who probably all but owns stock in Taurus, Smith and Wesson and Ruger, and in his retired life works in a gun store, even HE will get on ANYBODY who is too "gung ho" about pointing their gun at everything. He "plinks" a lot (see, I know the term) and when he does he is VERY CAREFUL about how he goes about with his target practicing. He takes very seriously being safe and responsible with how you use and store your guns, every bit as seriously as he does the right to own one and every bit as much as he criticizes gun control advocates.
When I got that .22 rifle a few years ago, I listened to all the talk about how I better have it by the side of my bed because of "all the crazies out there" even though we are in fact a place where people do leave their doors unlocked, and I thought about the 2 children we have who were at that time 1 and 3 years old. Which is more likely, I said, that I will want this weapon to be in a "ready to fire" stance due to burglars or that my kids could get a hold of it and shoot themselves? I thought about that, especially given how quiet and such it is here, how this place is as crime-free as it gets (again no place is 100%), and I decided that having it "at the ready" was actually more risky. thus, I keep it in a spare closet locked away, and with it uncocked and a spent shell casing in the chamber so that before using it you'd have to remove the spent shell and load the first round (that's AFTER you unlock the closet door) before being able to use it.
That's what I'm talking about, being responsible and not being so "on edge" to the point of doing something like this. When you go to shooting your OWN WIFE coming into her OWN HOUSE (again NO MATTER that it was in the middle of the night and she was coming home early), you're being reckless and irresponsible.
I've actually read a number of such things happening, and then it occurred to me--especially in recent years, I have noticed that rural people (not sure if this was "rural" or not) seem to be really paranoid and "trigger happy" about the prospect of a burglar breaking into their house. They seem to have a really inflated sense of the supposed "high crime rate" of their dinky little town.
I grew up in the rural areas myself, but I spent 10 years in the city before returning to the "sticks" and really noticing this phenomenon. Let me tell you, obviously no place is 100% crime-free, but these people in the sticks acting like their dinky little area is some hot-bed of criminal activity, are you kidding me? Try living in a place where murders appear on page B13 of your newspaper and THEN get back to me about the "crime wave" in your area. They have no clue (and again, I grew up in the sticks and am living there again, so this is not some "city slicker talking down to people in the sticks" as much as it appears, I'm more someone who IS a person in the sticks but who also spent time in the city so I have exposure to both).
I say this because, well, to me, besides just being ignorant in and of itself, to me this mentality is what leads to tragedies such as this, people having a very exaggerated sense of crime in rural areas and being too "trigger happy" as well. If I understand correctly, even the NRA, an organization I like by the way, teaches and stresses gun SAFETY and RESPONSIBILITY, they don't just support the 2nd amendment (by the way I support it too), they also stress responsibility.
Paranoia isn't just irritating, it's also deadly it seems, at least on some occasions. Have these people never heard of yelling out "hello" first or the like? THINK before you pull that trigger, THINK.
I agree with you; however, I don't like the tone of your post or your implication that people who choose to "live in the sticks" are ignorant country bumpkins. There are many wonderful things about living in a rural area.
My BIL is an attorney in Arkansas. I said something similar to him about guns a couple years ago. He and his family live deep in the woods. He said that most people who live in rural areas have guns not only for hunting, but to protect their home and property. If something happens in a city, the police can be there in a few minutes. If something happens in a rural area, it can take 20-30 minutes for the Sheriff's office to find you. Rural people have to be their own police in some situations. I don't know about all states, but in Arkansas, it is legal for you to shoot someone if they break into your home. I still hate guns, but his answer made sense.
Half-hour police response times are the average in rural areas in my state; there are "towns" upstate where an hour is normal. Our rural areas are safe (lower crime rate than Canada) in part because everybody knows residents can and will defend their home and curtilage, and the law will back them up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shyguylh
That's what I'm talking about, being responsible and not being so "on edge" to the point of doing something like this. When you go to shooting your OWN WIFE coming into her OWN HOUSE (again NO MATTER that it was in the middle of the night and she was coming home early), you're being reckless and irresponsible.
It's a rare event, that's why it's news.
IIRC, we haven't had a tragic case like that in my state in decades, but we average one high profile suburban/rural home invasion case every year, each of which gets extensive media coverage and puts residents even more "on edge".
So if you're going to blame anybody, blame the media for creating the perception of danger.
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It's a rare event, that's why it's news.
