# Do you feel the need to be armed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068 "2005-05-09T15:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/61 "2005-05-16T11:57:34Z")
I have an Ithica 12 guage shotgun by the bed. It is loaded with 00 buck, sometimes people come down the road that have no business being here and it would take a half hour for the sheriff’s department to respond. I have a Remington 22 by the shotgun. I have seen animals that act rabid, shoot first. Sometimes dogs will get together in a pack and act threatening. I have a tire bat in my truck. It’s legal. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/62 "2005-05-16T12:08:45Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Do you guys realise just how _weird_ this sounds to a Brit? Ditto to a Swede. Only sport shootists and hunters (and possibly the odd collector) own guns legally here, so no, I don’t have any. I don’t feel the need for it either. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > If JBT’s are breaking down our door I’ll grab the FAL. What’s a JBT? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/63 "2005-05-16T12:36:57Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > What’s a JBT? **J** ack **B** ooted **T** hug. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/64 "2005-05-16T12:40:20Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > **J** ack **B** ooted **T** hug. Is that a big problem over there? ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/65 "2005-05-16T12:53:12Z")
Quick question for those of you who do own handguns – do you keep them unloaded and locked up, or loaded and handy nearby? I ask because I’m considering obtaining a handgun [mostly for home, but I’m also mulling over a CCW] and all of the information I read strongly stresses the point that the gun should always be kept unloaded. Doesn’t this defeat the point, or is this just for homes with small children? Also, for those of you with CCWs, how do you carry it? Glove compartment? Purse, for the women [and some men, too!]? Thanks for any help! ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/66 "2005-05-16T12:58:52Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Is that a big problem over there? A big problem? Not really. We’ve had some questionable use of lethal force in a couple of high profile situations. Google “Ruby Ridge” and “David Koresh” to find out more. Also, from time to time, one hears about police serving no-knock warrants on the wrong people with fatal results. The thing is that I’ve never heard of anybody using firearms to successfully defend themselves in a situation like that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/67 "2005-05-16T13:23:27Z")
> [@chatelaine](#): > > Quick question for those of you who do own handguns – do you keep them unloaded and locked up, or loaded and handy nearby? I do not keep mine loaded. As I said, I don’t feel the need to ‘be armed’. I’m what **Priceguy** calls a ‘shootist’ (which, in the Old West, was the word they used for a gunfighter) – i.e., I only shoot at inanimate targets – and a collector. > [@Scumpup](#): > > Also, from time to time, one hears about police serving no-knock warrants on the wrong people with fatal results. There was a case in Malibu where the sheriff ‘got a tip’ that someone was growing marijuana on his property. Incidentally, the property was worth a lot of money, and the County really wanted to seize it and add a few million dollars to their coffers. They burst into the man’s house. He was drunk (hey, it was his own home; he can do that if he wants) and didn’t hear them announce themselves. All he saw was a bunch of armed men rushing in. He grabbed his own gun and was shot dead. No marijuana was ever found on the property; neither growing there, or in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/68 "2005-05-16T13:26:43Z")
Thank you for replying! I realized after I hit submit that I should have stated “people who own handguns for protection” but we unfortunately can’t edit posts. I’ve got a itchy posting finger, I guess. Heh. Sorry about that, and sorry for semi-hijacking your thread! To clarify for everyone else – my question was aimed at those who own them for protection. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/69 "2005-05-16T13:32:30Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I’m what **Priceguy** calls a ‘shootist’ (which, in the Old West, was the word they used for a gunfighter) – i.e., I only shoot at inanimate targets – and a collector. To be fair, I did say _sport_ shootist. What is the proper word? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/70 "2005-05-16T13:52:22Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > To be fair, I did say _sport_ shootist. What is the proper word? I hope you didn’t think I was picking on you. I was just inserting a bit of Old West trivia. I think ‘shootist’ is a perfectly good word for someone who shoots. I don’t know if we have a common term for someone sho engages in sport shooting. A hunter is called a hunter. Someone who shoots at targets is called a target shooter. Someone who, like me, shoots non-competitively…? I don’t know. It seems like there may not be a word for a casual shooter. ‘Casual shooter’? ‘Plinker’ (since .22s are often used, and they ‘plink’ when a tin can is hit)? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/71 "2005-05-16T22:18:17Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > My pet peeve on internet message boards is unsolicited advice, especially when the person has in all likelyhood already considered the advice. So I apologize in advance for breaking my own golden rule. > > About 6 months ago, there was a man at home with his daughter. She came to him and said there was a stranger at the door. When the father answered the door, he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray. They faught and the father made it back to his bedroom where he retrieved his handgun, a semi-automatic of some sort, shot the intruder and the gun jammed. The father had left the magazine fully loaded and the spring was fatigued to the point it would not load the next round. He was “lucky” that the one shot was enough. > > Moral of the story, keeping spring loaded firearms loaded all the time is a Bad Thing. Springs should be changed once a month in handguns, and probably a similar time frame in shotguns to assure that they will work as advertised. > > **HPL** is probably well aware of this, just wanted to raise the point. > > Took the time to find the story, although they don’t go into the detail I did: > > [http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/3851469/detail.html](http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/3851469/detail.html) Funny. This has always worried me too, although I’ve never found any reliable info about springs fatiguing. I still rotate my rounds (on a 6-month cycle) thru different clips (allowing one to be “resting” at all times). Maybe I can stop now. As to the OP. Of course I do (look at my location). I don’t carry in daily life though . Most daily travel includes workplace, which regards weapons (even locked in your car) as a firing offense. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/72 "2005-05-16T22:21:12Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > And you live in the PRK, right? Which means you’re prohibited from buying one. :mad: What’s the PRK? People’s Republic of King county is the best guess I can come up with… (I think JLA is in the Pacific NW, right?) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068/73 "2005-05-16T22:55:54Z")
I do carry my gun in my trunk at the moment. I own an empty rental that has been broken into repeatedly in the last few months. I go in to check on work that contractors have been doing lately and or to pick up junk mail, etc. Since folks have been forcing entry into the place I go in armed in case I find anyone camping out there that wants to be “uncooperative”. Where I live now I have little worry about burglary, when I lived in the house that is now my rental it was always a worry (gang heavy neigborhood, lots of drug dealing and prostitution on the street, homeless folks coming up into the yards to look for recycleables, etc). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-the-need-to-be-armed/303068.md?page=3)