A part of the issue with the US is the desire to keep our freedoms and privacy. It is considered a right over here. We do not want cameras on every corner and a cop at every door. Some of us would feel we were being watched and oppressed, and may not trust the organization in charge of the cameras and cops anyway. There are other aspects of freedom that come into play that we do not want to compromise for the 'safety'. To some, this sort of 'safety' is confining and restricting, and freedoms have more value. We should not have to compromise freedom for safety, that is how too many countries start down the road to losing all freedom.

I know - if you are not doing anything wrong, then the cameras shouldn't matter.. but its a 'feeling' we would have to adjust to living with. Besides, the 'bad guys' have already figured out how to disable the cameras when they need to, so its a false security.

Crime in this country is more developed and violent than in many places. When gangs get into an area things become much more dicey as there is no respect for others, only members. While working in construction in Chicago I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with a few 'ex- gang-bangers' that worked construction at the time. I learned a lot about how they view society. You would think that it would be easy to round these guys up, since they will stand on corners and flash signs announcing their gang membership, but alas we have laws about it not being a crime to belong to an organization..
These ex-gang guys told me that if there is a gun or a big dog in the house, the house will probably be left alone... they don't want to get injured they just want to steal and abuse..

I also had a situation in Chicago, just before I moved out to the woods here, where my home and family were protected by just the sound of my 12 gauge being pumped as a group of 'young men' snuck up on my front porch. They left quickly and never returned. It was not their first time visiting that day. They had thrown a smoke bomb into my living room, narrowly missing my 3 day old child about an hour before. (BTW the police never showed up that night after we called).
I was told (by those same co-workers) this was done to check my reaction and get a feel for how I would respond... and the fact that I had gone out alone to see who had done it let them know I was the only male there. The coworkers told me these guys would likely return so I put the large well trained dog in the back yard and the shotgun near the front door. I guess they got a pretty good idea of how I would respond when they did return. Never heard from them again.
So I would say firearms are a pretty good deterrant, even when not used.


What we need is to keep the criminals off the street once they are caught, that is where we most often fail. And if people would be more responsible when they do see crime, instead of turning away... many turn away out of fear, but that cycle needs to be broken. The fear would lessen if more people stood up to stop the crimes in the first place.
Don't want vigilantes, just citizens with a conscience.. the fear is that if someone said 'Joe broke into the pharmacy' that word would get back to Joe before it got to the police... and that is a genuine fear these days.

I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!