yennus said:
Unfortunately many lefties do feel entitled to impose their ideals and beliefs on others.
Yennus,
I do not view or consider people and their beliefs or opinions as 'Left' or 'Right', but different. I respect Big A. D.'s opinion and beliefs and ask him to do the same for me. If he believes and chooses to not participate in 'active' self-defence', this is his privilege and right just as it is my right and privilege to participate in 'active' self-defence.
Flipping all this on its head, if I stated that I believe everyone by law should be required to carry a firearm for self-defence, no exceptions, no excuses, is not different from Big A. D. to believe that no one by law should be allowed to carry a firearm for self-defence, no exceptions, no excuses. Both is imposing unwanted legal consequences on the other with no recourse. Big A. D. should have the right to his beliefs and choose to not carry a firearm to defend himself just as I should have the right to my beliefs and choose to carry a firearm to defend myself and others. This is called liberty and equal rights when combined with mutual respect means that if Big A. D. expresses concern about possible negative consequences of my choice to carry a firearm, I listen as he may valid concerns, such as storage, my skills and etc. and make adjustments as needed, just I may have concerns about him choosing to not carry a firearm, such as when working in high risk areas, etc, he listens and make adjustments as needed. But neither of us demand that the other conform to our personal beliefs and choices.
Sadly what I described requires both of us to maintain and use a high degree of personal responsibility and accountability, which is very lacking in today's society. And 7 or 8 pages of this thread as posted by Newtosilver is a very vivid exhibit of people not taking responsibility for their choices and as result themselves and others suffer tragic consequences. I also do not believe in saving people from themselves, so while I take note of all the incidents of accidental firearms deaths, I see as genetic cleansing or winning the Darwin award. If you are stupid enough to leave a loaded firearm unattended and your child shoots you, its siblings, or itself, well, you deserve it. You may well say, the child does not deserve it, well, if the parent is that stupid, then child mostly is a carrier of the stupid gene as well. I make no apology for my lack of empathy for someone not taking personal responsibility. It was not a tragic accident, it was the result of bad choices and actions.
I do not believe that everyone should own a firearm or carry a firearm for self-defence. It is a very personal decision with plenty data and studies to support the numbers that approx. only 10% of population will choose to arm themselves in self-defence and only about 2% will make the choice to deploy that armed defence. And, yes, Big A. D., I know you are going to want sources - On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Crossman - full text is available here -
https://archive.org/stream/On_Killing/On_Killing_djvu.txt - references a large number of studies with supporting data. Also my number maybe off slightly as I am going from memory. The point I am making is that self-defence is right and a choice, each person needs to be respected for the choice.
Nothing of the above changes my personal choice to be prepared to defend myself and those in my orbit. I believe it is my civic and moral duty and personal responsibility to protect and defend myself and those around me from harm and danger. Nothing will change my belief and conviction.
Summary - I have met Big A.D. personally, like and respect him. He may not remember me, that is fine. The next we meet I will happily buy him a drink and consider him a friend even though I know we are diametrically opposed on many things politically and socially. And if perchance during that meeting we are put in position where we need to defend ourselves, I will very happily and without thought put myself in harms way to protect and defend him from any threats or dangers.
That is just the kind of person I am.
Thanks,