Originally Posted By: musiclover
Funny how each country is different Billy, over here in Ireland (though we have had our share of trouble mainly in the past) no one except the criminal fraternity feels the need to carry a gun or would feel comfortable doing so, in UK it would be the same.

But then if its the thing to do to protect yourself where you live, its hard to have any other option.


If the criminal fraternity didn't have those guns, would they still be criminals? I think if someone has it in their heart to be evil they will do it with a gun, a sword, a knife or a shovel.

However, if the rest of the people refuse to be victims and carry defensive weapons, who are they going to rob? Laws vary in different countries. However, no matter what the law is, just having a law in place does not ensure people will obey it. The gun control nuts here have zero idea of what current gun law is, and if they would seek education about it they would see that the laws in place are strong. What you can't legislate in any circumstance is behavior and making people follow those laws. It's against the law for a felon to own a gun. But how do you legislate against that felon's neighbor buying a gun and letting that felon "steal" it (and coincidentally "drop" $1000 where the gun used to be)? If that neighbor is will to commit that "straw purchase" felony for $1000, no law is going to prevent that. I own a rifle and 4 handguns. I bought every one of them legally, at sporting stores, filling out the proper paperwork. I have no police record at all so I had no problem. DUI, domestic violence, having had in patient mental health care in your life, being a fugitive from justice, being in the country illegally... all of those things are disqualifying conditions. The anti gun people have no idea what the legal process is to buy a gun. They will immediately point to private sales not being subject to background checks, and they are correct. But is that not the government putting their nose into a citizen's desire to sell a piece of his property? That is a dangerous precedent. What's next? If I want to sell my car I have to rub a background check, at MY initiation and expense, to see if the buyer has a driver's license, insurance and no DUI in his past? I say that is too much government control. Wasn't there a long running war in Ireland about government control of that nature?

So yes. Parts of the USA are relatively safe, but there are a lot of cities where carrying a protective weapon is a very good idea. I have one with me at all times.

Apply this to music. You are leaving a gig. Some criminal knows you just got paid for your gig and you have a car full of gear worth a fair amount of money. You are a target. I refuse to be a target.

The standard thing here goes like this. The punks watch a guy load his car. As he gets close to the end, one of them approaches the guy and starts telling him how great he is and offers to buy him a beer. They go inside to get that beer, and the other punks break into the car and clean it out. As a result, it has become practice (at least where I live) that everybody loads their car at the same time, and the cars are never left alone. When I was "running point" watching the other guys load, I moved my gun from the inside waistband holster to where it was in clear sight. If somebody wants to test me to try and steal a guitar or a snare drum, well...

Different practices in different places.