I suspect I rode unsecured as a tike. I just don’t remember. I only remember always being seat-belted.
Interesting assessment, as I have never considered myself - nor (to the best of my knowledge) have ever been suspected - of being irrational. Quite the opposite, really.
Perhaps not irrational but disproportional. As mentioned, the risk of a car wreck is significantly higher than the risk of a situation in which your firearm would do you any good.
Well, it’s not fair to take this one thing that you’re irrational about and declare that Crafter_Man is an irrational person, because you’re a human, and humans are known to irrational things all the time. Being rational takes effort. So you can generally be a rational person (say, compared to your peers), and for all I know you are, but you can still do some things that are irrational. I know I do.
It’s not the odds, it’s the stakes.
In day to day life, legally carrying a handgun is trivially easy. If you don’t need it, all you are out is the effort to put it on and take it off. If you do really need it, your life is hanging in the balance.
The stakes are equally high driving on the highway, and the odds are that it’s more dangerous. Do you also feel that your life is hanging in the balance when cruising I-80?
eta: The issue isn’t how easy or difficult it is to carry a weapon, the issue is the feeling of* terror *that’s associated with not carrying it. That’s not normal.
I said that if you really need the gun, your life is hanging in the balance. That means, in this context, that you are involved in a confrontation with another person where a reasonable expectation of getting killed exists. Such situations are rare, but legally carrying a gun in case one’s luck runs bad is, as I said, trivially easy.
What was your problem with it?
I don’t think it’s really a matter of rational/irrational. It’s one more example of the simple fact that humans are VERY bad at assessing risk in their day-to-day activities. Combine that with a political/media climate that promotes worry and such and you find humans - I’m not singling you out, Crafter_Man - feeling an excessive need for overwhelming protection.
There is an element that profits from excessive worry about crime, even though crime numbers - and particularly the numbers for violent and aggressive crime - are way WAY down from the 1970s and 1980s. A bit of media know-how and ownership and right-to-carry of a firearm becomes one of those us-vs-them kind of issues that admits for little middle ground.
The odds of being the victim of a violent crime - the sort that could justify the use of deadly force in response - in the United States in 2013 were 1,163,146out of 318,000,000 (of those about 14,000 were murders).
That means the odds of being victim of a violent crime were 0.365% of approximately 1 in 300 for any form of violent crime. I’d wager, but can’t be bothered to research, that certain demographics - being a white male, middle class and higher, more educated - lower that risk considerably.
But there are plenty of things with a 1 in 300 chance of occuring that people don’t prepare for at all. Hell, everyone’s gonna die someday but most don’t have life insurance to protect against bad things happening if they’re suddenly off the stage.
Things with a higher risk that could be easily prevented/prepared for:
Heart Disease: 1-6
Land Vehicle Accidents: 1-85
Accidental Fall: 1-184
Car accident: 1-272
Gunshot wound comes in right at 1-300 on that chart. Still, do what you will, as I said, I have no bones in this fight at all. I’m merely sick of it. But to prepare for risk in one way, yet ignore others is, as I said, not an accurate measurement of risk.
After. Threats have always happened from time to time. Since recent events we are getting almost daily warnings about local, credible threats. Some are anonymous, some don’t quite cross the line into illegality and some have lead to arrests. Very little has hit the press.
I did not grow up with a gun culture. It is supposedly legal to get a CCW in NJ but it is so rare I have literally never met anyone with one that wasn’t law enforcement or retired law enforcement. I did not touch a real gun until I joined the Army at 20. For someone who never grew up with guns around I can understand how foreign it seems to walk around with one. But after 16 years of having one on my hip daily and 10 years before that of Army weapons training it no longer feels foreign. The hardest part is picking clothes to keep it concealed. So it’s really no hardship. It is not a big deal if you are used to it.
As for it being an irrational fear, odds are great as long as they always fall your way. I may never need my weapon while off duty. If so, great. It’s not really a problem carrying it. No more than making sure I have my wallet and ID. But if I need it I’m going to really need it. And I know what I’m doing. But I am probably the least paranoid person you will meet. I’m not at work thinking I’m going to get shot. But I still wear my vest.
I very highly doubt that a lot of people have thought about swimming with a gun, including the advantage of being able to simply shake the water off of it and start blasting.
I believe what the others are saying is that the overall risk (that is, odds multiplied by consequences) of being the victim of a homicide are still quite favorable to, say, significant eye injury. According to the CDC, two thousand Americans each day seek medical attention for some type of eye injury, with about a third of that number requiring a trip to the ER. About 50,000 Americans lose vision each year because of an eye injury (having nothing to do with disease or whatnot).
In comparison, it seems that most of the responses from CCW holders indicate a concern about being threatened by a stranger, which leads them to feel more comfortable carrying a weapon while generally in public. In reality, the number of homicides by strangers is generally the same as the number of homicides by family members – each roughly about 3,500 a year.
And yet, nobody would ever pose either of these questions: “Do you feel uncomfortable if you are not carrying a concealed weapon at home around your family members?” Or, “Do you feel uncomfortable if you are not wearing protective eyewear at all waking hours?”
So when you say that it isn’t the odds, it is the stakes, I totally get what you mean. But if you compare odds and stakes, the point is that there are a lot of precautions that we could take with a lot less interference in our daily lives that would grant us reasonable levels of protection from bad things. For example, nobody is ever going to be unwelcome in a store for wearing clear plastic glasses, but some stores do not want armed patrons.
Some of those things can’t be easily prevented or prepared for, though. Exercising 3 or 4 times a week, losing weight, eating better, and quitting smoking should all be relatively simple, and yet reality suggests that these sorts of lifestyle changes are some of the hardest things people can do. In contrast, getting a concealed carry permit and a gun takes a tiny amount of time, maybe $500, and… done. Maybe some range time, but most people enjoy that so it’s not even work. So I think that’s part of it.
The other part, and this is big, is the feeling of helplessness. People aren’t as scared while driving a car because they feel in control. I think some people fear violent crime (or, say, spree killers) because there’s the sense that if you don’t have a gun, all you’re doing is sitting around hoping you don’t die. That lack of control plays a big part in people’s decision to carry.
Thing is, you can tell someone all of this – that violent crime isn’t as common as they think it is (especially for their demographic), that guns aren’t as effective as they think they are, that their desire to arm themselves is possibly borne out of poor risk assessment and/or some desire to control their own destiny – and they’ll still decide to carry, because our primitive ape brains aren’t really very rational after all.
I totally get that some people are uncomfortable going around unarmed, but wearing a gun to the beach - concealed under a bathing suit! - is crossing the line into nutbar territory. I mean, at that point you might as well keep your gun on while fucking.
This is my rifle, this is my gun, this is for fun, this is also for fun.
It also depends on what sort of swimwear you’re talking about. A Speedo means you’ll have to carry a very compact piece.
“No, dear, I am NOT checking out those sunbathing college co-eds. There IS a gun in my swim trunks, remember?”
you’re ignorant. Handguns are combat weapons and are made to fire in various elements. Simply being wet isn’t going to keep it from firing. My comment about wiping it off had to do with corrosion prevention.
I’m reminded of the “bathroom gun” debate: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10724493#post10724493 
I had repressed all memories of that thread. Tonight I will have bad dreams about teacup rotweilers, prison kittens, and veldt clowns and it will be your fault.
I don’t have that feeling of terror unarmed but ---------- on 80? Or any road for that matter? I do feel my life is at risk. Which is why I practice defensive driving and don’t take the act of driving casually. The times I do carry, think of it as defensive living.
Well said, and I agree. Are you willing to bet your life on your being saved or rescued by others (first responders) if your home is broken into by anyone who can overpower and kill you?
There are some similarities with our stories and views. I didn’t touch a real gun, let alone see one until I was 19 and in boot camp. Like Loach, for someone who never grew up with guns around I too can understand how foreign it seems to walk around with one. But after serving 13 years in the Marines and sleeping, eating, crapping, and working with my weapon in the field (artillery fire direction control) you get used to it and you don’t leave it around unaccounted for. You don’t forget it. It becomes a part of you.
After getting out, I’m not in law enforcement but am in hi-tech in the civilian world and I never owned a gun until more than ten years after getting out. But I’m comfortable with my gun around and I’m very respectful (and healthily afraid) of it and the harm it can cause.
And I also fully realize that I’m not trained like law enforcement is to deal with possible deadly force tactical situations every day, regularly, and so that adds to the care and caution that I consider when I am armed. I’m not scared, but rather I’m understanding and respecting my limitations. And everybody, bar none, has their limitations.
I don’t walk around paranoid at all, and I’m comfortable and reassured knowing I have my gun if needed. And I also pray to God I’ll never need it.