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In reply to the discussion: Man shopping for coffee creamer at Walmart attacked by vigilante for carrying gun he was legally per [View all]AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)How many times have those detectors saved your life? Never? Do you still keep them up to date, change them out, replace batteries, test them, etc?
Does the rarity of a fire in *your* home make those countermeasures 'baseless fear' driven?
Taking a moment to honestly answer your question, because I fully respect you as a participating member of DU, and I've always enjoyed your style, even if we might disagree on this one issue.
I carry a firearm because I value human life. In some situations, a firearm is the ONLY tool that can be employed to protect human life. Maybe not always 100% successfully. Maybe not without threatening or ending the life of someone who put whatever life I am protecting, in jeopardy. (Though personally, I am more likely to encounter dangerous wildlife than predatory humans, for the sake of convenience I do not return home to store my firearm when I move between rural woods, and urban areas.)
I carry for the same reason *most* police officers carry a gun. To protect human life. Their own, and that of others.
I carry other tools and skills as well. I maintain an advanced CPR/First Aid cert. Search and Rescue. CERT training. I keep all sorts of rescue gear at work, in my vehicles, at home. Radios locked to the town's emergency frequencies. Etc.
It's a lot of stuff. It's a lot of investment, in time and money. Human life (and to any degree that I can protect it, animal life in general) is that important to me. When shit goes bad, I help. (Probably why I work in IT/Support for a living. )
To help, I have tools, and skills. Some of those tools, and some of those skills are dual-purpose. They could be employed to do great harm.
But not in my hands.