A Complete Waste of Space

Barfly wrote:

callmeslick wrote:

Barfly wrote:What a silly comment... so surprise attacks always succeed? Your defensive capability doesn't matter in a surprise attack? The history of different levels of conflict, including personal, does not support that. It is an advantage... in your example, a big advantage to a murderer that surprise attacks someone who trusts him....

because we aren't talking about a 'conflict' situation. We are talking about individual citizens in a surprise situation. If you are just sitting on your front porch waiting for some heavy attack on your home or loved ones, you either are paranoid, or engaged in gang activity. In either case, no, I don't want you owning so much as a BB gun.

You still seem to be selling the idea that under a surprise situation, you cannot help yourself with a weapon. That there is no 'conflict' because the situation is over at the beginning, and there is nothing you can do... is that what you're saying?

I'm saying you are at a heavy, heavy disadvantage(and no, Pud, I'm not talking about active law enforcement, it is their job to be on alert). That is why none of you can find examples of a situation where a high-velocity, high capacity weapon was key to self-defense of a private citizen. And, hell, I've been asking for such examples for nigh onto a month, now.

callmeslick wrote:

Buzz wrote:You don't have to be involved in gang activity to be in the middle of it. Ever been to Watts?

No, but I've been to Reading, Newark and NYC......still, no one in those neighborhoods other than active gang members is sitting around at the alert-level readiness to offset the element of surprise.

Ever talk to the people that live there, or did you just drive through?

I had a few construction jobs in Watts when I was trucking, and it sounded like a war zone. I talked to some of the people living there, and they were all packing and ready for anything. I was also in the LA riots. That was war. Being white automatically made me the enemy.

Buzz wrote:Ever talk to the people that live there, or did you just drive through?

I lived in Reading, and in a pretty tough section of Philly. The other places I am just passing through, although in my 'bad-old-days' I certainly was on speaking terms with folks in the Bronx and Lower East Side in NYC. So, to you, and your brief encounters, yes, places like that will 'seem like a war zone', but you would have found that a surprisingly large number of law abiding folks try to make a life there(economics forces them from leaving). And, unless actively involved in the drug trade or other gang activity, one can 'pack' and be 'ready' and never be really ready. You simply cannot live your life in a state of high alert, you'll never be able to go to work, take your kids to school, whatever. Just doesn't work that way....you have to be prepared for the worst, have your wits about you and hope for the best. Oh, and being white doesn't 'automatically' make you the enemy. Suspicious, perhaps, but not an enemy any more than anyone else who isn't from that immediate turf. Without spelling out details, that's how gangs operate.

what did you do in the LA riots? Loot, shoot or just vandalize?

Brief encounters?? I lived in LA for 40 years.

Buzz wrote:Brief encounters?? I lived in LA for 40 years.

in Watts? in Compton? Where, exactly, because you didn't exactly make it sound like you resided, nor even spent much 'quality' time in tough neighborhoods? Not judging, Buzz, just trying to read your words.

Without posting personal parts of my life on a public forum.

Trust me. I was there a lot, along with the Latino gang areas.

I'd bet my life way more than you.

I accept your story.....and, regarding mine, many of those 'encounters' had to do with the purchase and transport of drugs. I was in the thick of the action, and I still couldn't operate on complete high-alert mode, as I had a lot of stuff to think about simultaneously.

callmeslick wrote:

Buzz wrote:Ever talk to the people that live there, or did you just drive through?

I lived in Reading, and in a pretty tough section of Philly. The other places I am just passing through, although in my 'bad-old-days' I certainly was on speaking terms with folks in the Bronx and Lower East Side in NYC. So, to you, and your brief encounters, yes, places like that will 'seem like a war zone', but you would have found that a surprisingly large number of law abiding folks try to make a life there(economics forces them from leaving). And, unless actively involved in the drug trade or other gang activity, one can 'pack' and be 'ready' and never be really ready. You simply cannot live your life in a state of high alert, you'll never be able to go to work, take your kids to school, whatever. Just doesn't work that way....you have to be prepared for the worst, have your wits about you and hope for the best. Oh, and being white doesn't 'automatically' make you the enemy. Suspicious, perhaps, but not an enemy any more than anyone else who isn't from that immediate turf. Without spelling out details, that's how gangs operate.

what did you do in the LA riots? Loot, shoot or just vandalize?

How the hell would you personally know?
How the hell would I?

Do you think you're unique?

callmeslick wrote:I accept your story.....and, regarding mine, many of those 'encounters' had to do with the purchase and transport of drugs. I was in the thick of the action, and I still couldn't operate on complete high-alert mode, as I had a lot of stuff to think about simultaneously.

Define thick of the action?
You could have never been in law enforcement at that "level"...cuz, there's
ten times that amount to think and react to. It's called the "law" and everyone
else. Your deal was selfish and only considered yourself and your product.