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Originally Posted by Hulamau
Not to mention that regardless, when packing a piece outside the home, the basic odds that you might one day accidently (or deliberately during a momentary mind fart) blow yourself or someone else away are considerably higher than if you aren't packing down on main street in the first palce.
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There is no support for your proposition in the real world. The crime rate, the inappropriate use of guns rate, and the accident rate of folks with CCW permits throughout the country is astonishingly low. Of course, if your argument is "anything, no matter how improbable, could happen", you are of course right. It's just that statements like that should not be guiding public policy.
By way of contrast, an astonishing proportion (I forget the number but I was shocked when I learned it) of women will be raped in their lives, forceably. In this situation, a woman carrying a gun is MUCH more likely to survive and not be raped than one who is not.
The women on this thread who think they will even the odds with fancy kicks or whatever are nuts. If someone decides to rape them, they will be facing a larger and much stronger opponent (no pc here--men's upper body strength is much greater than women's) who will just tackle them (95% of fights between men end up on the ground and a rapist wants things on the ground). It's very hard for a kicker or gouger type to prevent someone from tackling them. And then, on the ground, it is over unless the woman knows some groundfighting techniques. Even with groundfighting knowledge, the strength differential makes it very difficult for the woman.
Even Mace is a pretty thin deterrent. Testing mace has shown that it rarely prevents a determined opponent from tackling the person who maced them and once there, they are really mad. Once on the ground, the Mace is as likely to get the woman as the rapist. It will deter some bad guys; but far from all of them.
Personally, I think the case for a woman carrying is very strong. I think it's optional for men. Normally, bad guys just want our wallets and I would not personally be prepared to kill for my wallet. But it would be a better, safer society if 25% of men were armed and willing to kill for their wallets. A lot fewer wallets would get stolen--so the 75% who don't carry would be a lot safer because of their prepared brethren.