To our foreign riders that question why there are so many firearms in private hands need to look no further than this:

After the Japanese decimated our fleet in Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941,

they could have sent their troop ships and carriers directly to California

to finish what they started.

*

The prediction from our Chief of Staff was we would not be able to stop a

massive invasion until they reached the Mississippi River .

*

Remember, we had a 2 million man army and war ships…... all fighting the Germans.

*

So, why did they not invade?

*

After the war, the remaining Japanese generals and admirals were asked that question.

*

Their answer…... they know that almost every home had guns and the Americans knew how to use them..

*

The world's largest army.... America 's hunters!

*

I had never thought about this....

*

A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and

Arrived at a striking conclusion:

*

*

There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin ..

Allow me to restate that number. Over the last several months,

Wisconsin 's hunters became the eighth largest army in the world.

*

More men under arms than in Iran ..

*

More than in France and Germany combined.

*

These men deployed to the woods of a single American state to hunt

With firearms, and no one was killed.

*

That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of*Pennsylvania and Michigan 's 700,000 hunters All of whom have now returned home.

*

Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally

establishes the fact that the hunters of those*four states*alone

Would comprise the largest army in the world.

*

The point?

*

America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower.

*

Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer.*It's a matter of national security.

*

That's why all enemies, foreign and domestic,*want to see us disarmed.

*

Food for thought when next we consider gun control.

*

 

I would rather be able to rack the slide in a split second than not to have my weapon. Like I stated...it's not common practice but it's what I choose to do. I know the XD models are proven safe but have they ever been tested during a crash on a motorcycle. Doubtful. The only time I carry without a round in the chamber is while I am on the bike. All other times it's locked and loaded.

 

Pulling along beside someone that acting like an idiot is not a good (if you have other options).
Reaching for a gun when someone's already got the drop on you (and is acting crazy) is not a good idea if you have other options.
Escalation (in general) is not a good idea if you have other options.

Some folks, when they have a gun readily at hand will be more likely to escalate (when otherwise they would not - maybe the guy in the pickup is a good example).

BTW: Listen to the lyrics of songs 'Saturday night special' and 'Give me 3 steps Mr' by CCR, It sounds like the writer of those songs had some experience.

 

...I’m not sure what you Europeans think you know about US citizens and our gun culture but you are almost always wrong. [/QUOTE]

That's why I'm asking an actual armed American.

Well, at least it's peer-reviewed and widely accepted as a reliable source. Admittedly you can't quote it in a Thesis, but as internet-based sources go it's better than the two sources quoted originally, isn't it?

Crikey - I didn't know there were that many hunters! That is indeed a heckuva lot of guns. America should certainly be quite safe from invasion.

However, I think the likelihood of America ever being threatened with an invasion along WW2-type lines is so remote as to be easily discountable, isn't it? Unless either Canada or Mexico are secretly plotting something drastic.

And (fascinating as the numbers above are), the question remains - Why isn't America the safest place on Earth? Leaving aside hunting and focusing on home/personal defence - why the feeling that all this firepower is necessary? No other country feels the same way.

Surely the more people that have guns, the higher the risk of getting shot? Perhaps the idea is that if there is a higher risk of getting shot, you need even more guns to defend yourself? But that can only lead to an even higher risk of getting shot doesn't it? The issue become an ever-decreasing circle.

To illustrate what I mean - in the UK, no one has guns. And no one gets shot (at least statistically speaking. There are approximately 62 million people living in Britain and in 2008 for example, 42 people got killed with firearms - 0.000007% of the population). No one needs a concealed firearm. No one worries about getting shot. No one gets shot.

Someone here said that "an armed society is a polite society". I would be polite to someone who was armed too. But not out of a genuine regard for that person, but because I'd be afraid of them...

 

A person armed with a knife within 21 feet of you has the advantage, even if your gun is loaded and in an outside the waistband holster with no clothing covering it. If they charge you, it is unlikely that you can draw and get a shot on target. Impossible if you have to rack the slide first. I'm sure you don't believe me, but ask any firearm instructor or Police Officer.
I'm not telling you not to carry loaded, I'm just saying that you really don't have time to rack the slide in most life and death situations.

 

It never pays to engage with idiots. You gain nothing, and bystanders often can't tell the difference...

 

It would be hard to rack the slide if one of your hands are injured. As for the XD pistols being mc crash tested. LOL the XDs were tested under combat conditions. Paratroopers can jump with them without them going off. They have been dropped from heights without going off.

You stated that the only time you don't have a round in the chamber is when you're on the mc. Then you're left in a compromising position when you fill up or run into a convenience store for those brief moments.

Again, I'm glad you're carrying and it's your choice how you wish to carry it. I'm just pointing out the flaws, but what do I know.

 

That's why I'm asking an actual armed American.



Well, at least it's peer-reviewed and widely accepted as a reliable source. Admittedly you can't quote it in a Thesis, but as internet-based sources go it's better than the two sources quoted originally, isn't it?



Crikey - I didn't know there were that many hunters! That is indeed a heckuva lot of guns. America should certainly be quite safe from invasion.

However, I think the likelihood of America ever being threatened with an invasion along WW2-type lines is so remote as to be easily discountable, isn't it? Unless either Canada or Mexico are secretly plotting something drastic.

And (fascinating as the numbers above are), the question remains - Why isn't America the safest place on Earth? Leaving aside hunting and focusing on home/personal defence - why the feeling that all this firepower is necessary? No other country feels the same way.

Surely the more people that have guns, the higher the risk of getting shot? Perhaps the idea is that if there is a higher risk of getting shot, you need even more guns to defend yourself? But that can only lead to an even higher risk of getting shot doesn't it? The issue become an ever-decreasing circle.

To illustrate what I mean - in the UK, no one has guns. And no one gets shot (at least statistically speaking. There are approximately 62 million people living in Britain and in 2008 for example, 42 people got killed with firearms - 0.000007% of the population). No one needs a concealed firearm. No one worries about getting shot. No one gets shot.

Someone here said that "an armed society is a polite society". I would be polite to someone who was armed too. But not out of a genuine regard for that person, but because I'd be afraid of them...[/quote]

Yes outlawing guns in the UK stopped gun crime, yeah right!

http://reason.com/archives/2002/11/0...ome/singlepage

Do you know a knife wound is more deadly than a gun shot wound (according to the FBI). I read that the UK wanted to put controls on knives also. I guess they want your kitchen knives on chains bolted to your cabinet. lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_legislation

I guess you guys haven't figured it out either!

 

Here is a copy and paste article about the wild west and guns. It seems when everyone carried a gun there was far less killings than we have today. The US government is trying to outlaw guns in some manner all the time. The true fact is; if everyone has a gun there is less killings...at least in the old wild west. Here's the article;
================================================== ====


In his book, Frontier Violence: Another Look, author W. Eugene Hollon, provides us with these astonishing facts:

In Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell, for the years from 1870 to 1885, there were only 45 total homicides. This equates to a rate of approximately 1 murder per 100,000 residents per year.
In Abilene, supposedly one of the wildest of the cow towns, not a single person was killed in 1869 or 1870.

Zooming forward over a century to 2007, a quick look at Uniform Crime Report statistics shows us the following regarding the aforementioned gun control “paradise” cities of the east:



DC – 183 Murders (31 per 100,000 residents)
New York – 494 Murders (6 per 100,000 residents)
Baltimore – 281 Murders (45 per 100,000 residents)
Newark – 104 Murders (37 per 100,000 residents)


It doesn’t take an advanced degree in statistics to see that a return to “wild west” levels of violent crime would be a huge improvement for the residents of these cities.
The truth of the matter is that the “wild west” wasn’t wild at all … not compared to a Saturday night in Newark.



Continue reading on Examiner.com Dispelling the myth of 'The Wild West' - Minneapolis gun rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...#ixzz1awCsiG45

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...-the-wild-west

 

reading stories like this makes me scared to go back to the states. I feel safer deployed overseas..