How many of you carry a gun as part of your cycling equipment?

szbert

Sadly, in America, most Republicans are libs, most Democrats are leftists. We need a Jeffersonian Party.

szbert

Of all the customs I've seen, I think Bill Wilson best focuses on function and usabilty over style. Then, when you see the quality of his work, you see the artistry of fine craftsmanship. Even now, since he become a real manufacturer, I haven't seen the quality suffer. . . . . wish I had the money to buy another one, but I'm saving my pennies for Colnago Track frame and Dura Ace comps.

BTW, I don't carry when racing at the velodrome, but my wife is packing in the infield! Either a Les Baer customized Colt Mustang, or a Glock 26. Gotta love a woman who's beautiful, can take care of you and the kids, and can shoot.

Don't be a victim. The cops can't be everywhere.

Hazmat

Austin, TX is a fairly safe city, but there are definitely parts where you can get FUBAR'd or shot for being the wrong ethnicity



yes, that is unlikely, but if they see you coming and don't like the way you look/think you shouldn't be in their hood, or may simply be chemically influenced, they may be more than happy to meet you by the time you reach them



not if it is concealed as has been the point almost throughout the entire thread. This is all about preparation for the unknown, and being ready for potential reactionary measures. No one (that I remember reading) was taking a proactive stance suggesting that just cause you happen to see something you don't like you start waving your weapon around (nor was the that the point in about the AZ laws).



I don't think anyone is suggesting it should be


any proper class will tell you that as well, repeatedly


Well, lets see, they might be dead, or severely mutilated, or worse. I don't know about you, but if I am attacked, if my girlfriend were attacked, or my mom, or my brother (no, wait, he's a quicker draw than I) I would have absolutely zero compunction (sp?) about stopping him/her/them with lethal force. Again, I don't know about you, but I refuse to allow some scumbag to dictate the course of my life, to decide if I am worthy of his "mercy, if my life has merit. No.

__________________
Can I put a turbo on my bike?

pomod

The war in Iraq was indeed illegal and in a perfect world Bush and co. would be brought before the Hague. America can't hold up one UN resolution to justify their war and then circumvent another to initiate it -- that's called hypocrisy. Is the UN a giant slow moving behemoth of a bureaucracy? You got it, but it is also the closest thing to an international democratic authority that exists. The WMD line was always a sham from the get go and there are plenty of other petty dictators out there as well if it was just about being altruistic; the current administration had designs on Iraq before they even took office. Wolfowitz, Pearl, Cheney and Rumsfield all have there names on documents dating from '97 that outlined they're plans for the Middle East and Iraq in particular. Its called the Project for a New American Century, look it up. The only thing being fought for in Iraq is US Hegemony in the middle east, and likely oil.

By the way, nice thread you right wing nuts, and nice culture you got going there. Concealed weapons on our bike rides = OK,
Janet Jackson’s nipple = Scandalous

Hazmat

you're absolutely right, the people of Iraq are far worse off now. Genocide is far preferable to this.



HATRA, Iraq (AFP) - Forensic experts digging for evidence against ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) have carried out their first full exhumation of a mass grave filled with the skeletons of scores of women and children, many shot in the back of the head.




"This is all women and children. We have taken in excess of 120 bodies out of there," US investigator Greg Kehoe said Wednesday as he stood over one of nine trenches piled with bones and scraps of clothes and jewelry near the northern Iraqi town of Hatra.



Among the dead are pregnant women, even a young boy still clutching his ball, whose bodies were ploughed into their earthen tombs by bulldozers.



"This is something in the time Ive been doing mass graves Ive never seen done before," said Kehoe, a lawyer who has also worked in the Balkans.



The bodies are believed to be those of hundreds of Kurds killed by Saddam's feared regime in a deadly campaign in 1987 and 1988, for which the toppled Iraqi leader is facing trial on charges of crimes against humanity.



"These bodies were just pushed in. It was all women and children. No men. All these people were executed with small arms fire... (It) includes pregnant woman," said Kehoe.



There are about 40 known mass graves in Iraq (news - web sites) containing possibly tens thousands of bodies dumped by Saddam's regime.



But exhumation has in many cases been a free-for-all, with relatives searching for loved ones in the early days after the fall of Baghdad accidentally destroying or tampering with evidence that could be used against Saddam.



Kehoe and a team of US, British and Iraqi forensic experts are now conducting full scientific exhumations to preserve hard evidence, uncovering the ghastly horrors of the old regime.



Saddam, who first appeared before a court in July, faces seven charges including the 1987-88 offensive that saw Kurdish villages razed in northern Iraq and the gassing of the village of Halabja, which left 5,000 people dead.



Kehoe said the Hatra grave was the first to be exhumed according to international standards since his appointment last December, but said his team hopes to work on another 10 sites.



"Were trying to meet international standards that have been accepted by courts throughout the world," Kehoe said.



"One woman when she was executed was carrying her two-year old child, shot in the back of the head. She was shot in the face," he said.



The former US prosecutor's voice cracked as he showed slides of some of the victims.



"This is a young boy with a ball, still holding onto the ball when we uncovered him... This is the little ball he was holding onto, you see his little arm right here, this little ball, this little arm, this little boy."



In the end, he hopes to be able to identify the bodies and return them to families.



"Everybody said never again after the Holocaust. The world wasnt listening. Thats how it happened again and again and again."







He said he thinks often about the piles of children's bones he has seen lying in the dirt. "Sometimes, you go in there, you see soldiers, and it's not to justify it, but my God, little babies, women, with their children shot in the back of the head.. Why," he asked in a whisper.

__________________
Can I put a turbo on my bike?

pomod

If by genocide you're referring to the often cited gassing of the Kurds in the late 80's, the US were more than happy to look the other way as long as Saddam was fighting with Iran. The US was supplying him with weapons at that time; he was an ally.

To answer your question, I would say that yes, the Iraqi people are definitely worse off now. The US has created an anarchic disaster there that more diplomatic perseverance and the support of the international community would have avoided. All that's been accomplished is to take any suspicions the Middle East may have had of the US and galvanize it into hatred. Your creating more terrorists than you're destroying and destabilizing the entire region.

leslierc8853

We do what we feel we must under the circumstances. You have taken my thoughts and opinions out of context for reasons unknown. All I was/am saying is that I have known people who have killed and have felt deep regret for their actions. My hope is that I am never placed in a situation where I am compelled to take the life of another human being; perhaps not so much because I wouldn't do what I must do, but because I would have compunction (the sting of conscience) regarding what I did.

fixit

In switzerland everybody can buy a handgun or rifle from a privat person without any license. You just need ID and you have to keep the receipt for ten years. That is it. If want to buy a gun in a shop, you need a license which is very, very easy to get. You can have as many guns as you like. For single shot guns like double barreld shotguns you don`t need a license at all, if the caliber is not bigger than .50 BMG. Same thing with ammo. Fully automatic guns require a special license. You can even buy tanks, artillery guns, mortars, heavy machine guns and fighter jetplanes, not a problem at all. The swiss army organizes auctions, where you can buy all this.
A license to carry a gun is almost impossible to get, exept for like juweliers and securityguards, which is good. Guncontrol is almost not existing. Most people get shot with military rifles, which you have to keep at home together with high velocity, armour piercing ammo called GP90 or GP11.
In switzerland we have an average of 19 guns per capita (7.3 million people), and nothing ever happens. About 8 people get shot every year, most of them by stray police bullets.

Don't missunderstand me, I'm FOR guncontrol and AGAINST the right to carry a weapon of any kind.
I own 26 guns, handguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and shotguns, from .22 to .50 BMG.
Gunownership requires a social and responsible attitude towards other people. You also need a culture of solving problems, which goes beyond getting your personal rights. America is lightyears away from all this.

American soil is bloodsoaked, what goes around comes around, as long as you think it is was right what the spanish, portugies, brits and later all the european immigrants did, you will have major problems. American culture is is based on personal rights, ego rights, most americans don't give a shit about other people, countries or ways of life. This is universally known as fashism.

If you want to life in peace, give back 'your' great country to the people it belongs to. God has not forgotten all of this injustice and maybe all your social problems are Gods payback.

Good luck

Joe West

Awesome collection of weapons! While I'm not sure why you'd own so many weapons but be for gun control and against the right to carry (I'm assuming you mean open or concealed carry), you clearly have some sort of appreciation for weapons.

I wouldn't agree that most Americans don't care about the rest of the world... certainly some do not.

We are indeed a country based on individual freedoms (as opposed to giving up individual freedoms for the benefit of "society" or "security"). I think being raised in a culture based on fundamental individual rights is what makes this country the only remaining superpower in the world. For all the negative things you might think about how overrated individual rights are, one thing is for sure; it clearly makes for a very strong country.

I honestly believe that a great deal of the world has had the desire for personal freedom bred out of them, which is why they can't understand America... they can't understand something which has long ago ceased to be a part of their culture.

Kind Regards,

Joe West

snaxman

The most offensive weapon carried in our parts would be a conker.

__________________
www.snaxindustries.com

dhk

Thanks for answering my questions about Switzerland gun laws clearly. Appreciate that you responded in English as well.

I can understand your view of America, but believe you are only looking at one segment of our diverse culture. There are many kind and compassionate people here with a social conscience, just like in your country.

str8shooter

Should I carry a gun while riding? Well guys and girls whereever your from, thats my decision as a law abiding American Citizen.

Some twenty five years ago I applied for my NY State pistol permit. I went through all the backround checks and so on and so forth required to obtain my carry permit. I was granted my permit 31/2 months later. With all the new gun control legislation initiated over the recent years. I have been subjected to a backround check evertime I purchased a new gun. Did this bother me no!!! because I knew I'd be walking out of the gunshop with my new gun. Why? I knew my status a law abiding citzen is still intact, and I still have the priviledges and rights to gun ownership.

Odds are you'll never see me carrying a gun on my rides, but should I choose to I think the lifestyle I've led for the past 52 years earned me the priviledge to.

Freedom of choice is whats great about America.

Lets hope it stays like that for ever.

__________________
'03 Trek 7200
'04 Trek 5000

Joe West

Do I hear an AMEN brothers and sisters?


AMEN!

Weisse Luft

AMEN my AZ brother! Amen.