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

Originally Posted by southwind

I was recently shot 7 times with an automatic paintball rifle at close range by a motorist while on a ride. The paint balls did not break as they were frozen. Had I been carrying a gun on that ride I probably would have used it, which would have been excessive force considering my attacker's weapon. I'll take the hits while on a ride without using a weapon and remain a free man to enjoy many more rides.

Originally Posted by EoinC

I've worked and lived in quite a few Countries, spreading from the Pacific, through Asia, Africa and, for a short time, Europe. The only 2 places I have been in where carrying a weapon (with the primary purpose being protection against attack from other human beings) was considered normal were the Tribal Regions of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.
I work for a US-based company, with many US personnel. I have not been to the United States of America and so my information on life there is, at best, secondhand. I do find this view that packing a piece equates to normality, rather disturbing. It is reflected in those I work with, whose greatest pride is to produce a license allowing them to carry a concealed weapon.
Why is it that the law-abiding people of the United States of America have a greater need for self-protection within their own society than the people of most other Nations? I am not trying to be facetious here, but it seems to me that there is something wrong and it is being treated as being normal. Looking from the outside, I'm not sure that having everyone walking around packin' heat is the way to correct the problem.

Originally Posted by rsheard

Southwind, I'm just curious if you were riding alone when you were attacked? I wonder if the frequency of attacks goes down when riders are in pairs or groups.

Originally Posted by roadhog

...I just want to point out that it is certainly NOT the "wild-west" everywhere over here.

Originally Posted by southwind

I was recently shot 7 times with an automatic paintball rifle at close range by a motorist while on a ride. The paint balls did not break as they were frozen. Had I been carrying a gun on that ride I probably would have used it, which would have been excessive force considering my attacker's weapon. I'll take the hits while on a ride without using a weapon and remain a free man to enjoy many more rides.

Originally Posted by rsheard

Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say I would have shot a weapon even had I been carrying one. I said I would now consider carrying a weapon after seeing first hand the extent to which assholes will harass cyclists.

It wasn't an empty can. And at the speed he was going when he launched it, had it hit me a few inches higher or to the left I might be in the hospital rather than just bruised. What he did is a felony offense--aggravated assault.

Who's to say what the next asshole will attempt?

I hazard to guess if someone hit you in the back of the head with the impact equivalent to a baseball bat, you might consider carrying a weapon, too. If not, you're either a far more tolerant person than I am or you can't really imagine what it was like to be hit like that.

Originally Posted by EoinC

snip... I just find the concept of considering carrying a weapon when cycling a disturbingly alien one.

Originally Posted by cbjesseeNH

From the NRA: "Australia saw its violent crime rates soar after its 1996 gun control measures banned most firearms. Violent crime rates averaged 32% higher in the six years after the law was passed than they did the year before the law went into effect. Murder and manslaughter rates remained unchanged, but armed robbery rates increased 74%, aggravated assaults by 32%. Australia's violent crime rate is also now double America's."

From Australia: "Although Dr. Adam Graycar, director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, calls the NRA's figures misleading, he admitted in an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday that assaults in his country had indeed climbed but added that "most attacks did not involve guns." Graycar also said homicides had decreased and rarely involved firearms."

I guess being stabbed, budgeoned or beaten is preferred to being shot by a gun down-under. I'm not partial to any such treatment.

Originally Posted by Catabolic_Jones

I plan to mount a guided missile system on my aerobars. Such a deterrent will make me impossible to harrass and will comfort my soul. If only everyone would do it, the world would be so much safer.

Originally Posted by cbjesseeNH

...From Australia: "Although Dr. Adam Graycar, director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, calls the NRA's figures misleading, he admitted in an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday that assaults in his country had indeed climbed but added that "most attacks did not involve guns." Graycar also said homicides had decreased and rarely involved firearms."...