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- I have already posted evidence that I owned some smaller-caliber target guns anyway, but I don’t plan on buying any more. These are not real suitable for self-defense, but (in an “urban fallout” situation) I’d be willing to take my chances with what I already have.
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Also while pondering emergency arms and other peparedness, it bears noting that the best thing you can do to avoid being caught in a similar situation is to not live in an urban area. In the immediate aftermath of a major catastrophe, your main risk is from competing with others for whatever limited resources are available.
…And also note: the people in this latest incident had roughly 5 days of warnings that something big was coming. Some could not evacuate simply for financial reasons–they had no transportation available–but many types of natural disasters occur in a matter of minutes, not days. Tornados, earthquakes, landslides, volcano eruptions all happen with little warning. Wildfires give varying amounts of time. A hurricane is about the only thing you can see literally days away.
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I don’t know how many guns I have. Some of them are Scary Black Guns, and some of them are handguns. None of them are for defense. (Nor offence, for that matter.) I have them because I appreciate them as machines, the history behind their designs, possible use as movie props, etc. None are loaded. Even when I lived in L.A. I didn’t feel the need to keep a loaded firearm, either on my person or in my apartment.
However I’m a very good shot.
I am no more moved to get a firearm for self-defense in the wake of the disaster in and around NO, than I was in the wake of the riots after the first Rodney King trial.
This isn’t to say that I object to personal ownership of firearms, nor that I have any particular objection to owning one, myself. I think, that in many circumstances it can be both useful, and fun. The few times I’ve done shooting I’ve enjoyed it. And I’m anal enough to like cleaning weapons, too.
I just don’t have the resources now, to own one, and am still a bit too depressed for it to seem a smart idea for me, personally.
I have no objection to private gun ownership in principle, but…
I have a 2 year old son in my house, a very inquisitive little guy, a very good and fearless climber, who manages to get into all kinds of places I thought were pretty well baby-proofed.
I have to ask myself, which is more likely: that I’d have an opportunity to use a gun to protect my family from dangerous burglars or marauders… or that my little guy would somehow get hold of it and hurt himself or somebody else.
The latter seems WAY more likely. For that reason alone, I’d never keep a gun in the house.
Absolutely. My girlfriend and I had decided before Katrina that we were going to get handguns and become proficient with them, but now it seems that having a shotgun (and plenty of ammo) would be a good idea as well.
Even the last remnants of food and water that can keep you alive a few more days?
I know very little about firearms, but… can’t you still fire the weapon right-handed but sight with your left eye?
I am with astorian. I have a little fella who is way, way more likely to shoot me, himself and/or his playmate than I would be to get a chance to play Mad Max, no matter what “security” precautions I took.
I believe in the 2nd amendment – anyone who can legally have a gun should have one. Safety training for all is a good idea, possibly even in Public School in high gun ownership areas, yada yada.
So that is where I am coming from. Having said that in regard to the OP :
A. Certainly the overwhelming lesson in NO re guns is that in chaotic situations the bad guys will have guns and use them indiscriminatingly and it would certainly be comforting for a good guy to have a gun … but ultimately having to use it or it making any difference whatsoever seems very unlikely.
B. (honestly asking) Has having a firearm helped any private citizens in NO? I know some shop keepers sat out front with shotguns. I also know the evacuees were searched for weapons in the Superdome before they could enter … I don’t recall any stories about folks warning off marauders from their beautiful wife or who had to shoot as a Hollywood inter-racial gangTM were trying for the last snickers bar or bottle of water … Does anyone have such a story?
C. The Lesson of Katrina to me on this thread is that in fact it was the people that listened to and trusted their government and evacuated that escaped the worst of the situation, NOT the people with an instinctual distrust of government who armed up and stayed put.
What about people who trusted their government to provide access to public transportation for evacuation, transport that never materialized?
What about people living day to day who had to face the realization that they simply could not afford to leave?
This is still mostly a case of the “haves” versus the “have nots”, though I admit distrusting the government may have been a bigger motivator to arm up than I’ll care to admit to.
If a levee broke here I’m pretty sure that gunshots aren’t going to delay aid from reaching those that need it.
If everyone spent their money on fighting poverty rather than purchasing guns (and making them available at wall-mart in such times), I’m pretty sure that will help a lot more.
Guns too mankind are like floods to a hurricane.
'nuff said.
For all the blather you hear about the complications of firearms, it’s actually not hard to learn to use guns. I’m clumsy and I picked it up so quickly it was as if I’d been shooting my whole life.
The great secret of rifles, especially, is that they’re designed to be easy to shoot accurately. You would be shocked at how quickly you’d learn it.
I don’t want a gun personally, but if you’re worried about them cause you think you wouldn’t be able to use one, that’s silly. Anyone can learn to use one.
In reference to guns, shopowners and looters - I remember the Rodney King riots in LA. As the TV cameras panned down the streets, you’d see: burned out building, burned out building, Koreans with guns, burned out building, burned out building, Koreans with guns, etc.
It isn’t paranoia when they really are out to get you! 
Aside from that not being what the 2nd amendment says, it’s an incredibly foolish position. There are several people in this thread who’ve said they don’t think they could pull the trigger on someone, and hence don’t want a gun. They are quite right to think they shouldn’t have a gun. When you point a gun at someone, you’re threatening their life, even if you psychologically aren’t capable of shooting them. If they themselves are armed, you’re now more likely to be shot. It’s utter foolishness for someone like that to own a gun, as it actually increases the risk to them, rather than decreasing it. They’ll be better off with some other means of personal security.
I am not more likely to own a firearm, but that disaster box sounds like a good idea. Don’t forget to put copies (or even originals) of your vital documents in there, too.
Well, no, not even that. If it ever comes down to only having enough supplies to last a couple more days, and no hope of help, I’m using the gun on myself, so the question is moot in that sense.
I’ll just say this: another seventy-two hours of life is not so precious that I’d kill someone to have it.
I assume you mean the folks in the Convention Center and Superdome. I am not judging – it certainly their fault a Hurricane suddenly came upon them and shattered their lives. Regarding the place where we have been led on this topic on this thread though, New Orleans was under a Mandatory evacuation order. As the New Orleans police Chief said before the storm “Mandatory evacuation means evacuate, not ‘go to a shelter’.” The in-City Shelters were to be used as Shelters of last resort for those too sick or infirm to evacuate.
So in fact and in short they ended up being filled with folks who were there because they ignored the Government mandatory evacuation order for one reason or another (most for entirely legit reasons as you point out below)
I agree that these reasons – and not some survivalist mentality or complete paranoid delusion about government - were the overwhelming factor in why the vast majority of folks stayed. Re this thread, having a gun and trusting or not trusting governmental authority really didn’t enter in for most folks.
LOL Gorsnak : Agree basically with everything you said. My first sentence was to protect me from an anticipated attack from the right and I was not really thinking how it might come across unless I phrased it carefully. More clearly what I SHOULD have said:
I believe in the 2nd amendment – I think that anyone who can legally have a gun – and wants to have one and feels they can handle one— should have one. *
I know you may disagree - but that more accurately was reflects where I was coming from than what I actually wrote.
Well, I’m not MORE likely to own a gun, mostly because A) the lease on my house forbids it, B) This doesn’t strike me as the kind of town where I’d need it, and most importantly C) Them things are EXPENSIVE. Do I want to drop $600 on a Berreta, or on a Pentax *istDS Digital SLR camera?
On the subject of kids around guns, I think that if you teach the kids how the guns work, and make it abundantly clear to them that those things can hurt people, they’ll be less likley to do somethign stupid with them. Also, a Gun safe would probably work for keeping the kids away if you memorized the combination and didn’t leave it written anywhere the kid might look it up.
That said, it’s your kids, your house, and if you don’t want a gun, then dropping all that money on one is probably a bad idea from the get-go.
Now, if ZOMBIES attack, they’re gonna have to face the wrath of my OFF BRAND SWISS ARMY KNIFE! FEAR THE CORKSCREW!
In all honesty, that sentiment simply baffles me.
Regardless, I’ve already got a pistol, so I wouldn’t need to get another, really. If I were in a place where disaster were a reasonable possibility, then I might be inclined to buy a rifle. Basically, a rifle is a low item on my general want list, so the news of New Orleans would simply move it up the list.
I am, in all honesty, surprised that the gunfire broke out so early.
Total nonsense, by the way. If everybody on the planet gave all they had to the poor, then all we would have is a planet full of poor people. You have to make everybody rich, not impoverish those who have. (Sorry. Off-topic rant.)
I think I’ll go buy a new shotgun this week, just to help the poor people who work at Mossberg.
I said use those funds to fight poverty. You’re assuming that I don’t know that fighting hunger is simply fixed by giving food to the poor. That’s just pouring light into a black hole. Structural solutions are needed. And more guns are not the answer.