That's your opinion.

That doesn't make it right, it just makes it yours.

But let me see if I understand your position:

If I approach you and one of your kids, and I snort back a nice juicy one, and then let it fly into your kids' face, you would do what; yell at me? What if I launched one into your wife's face? Would your reaction be to yell at me or to run away?

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

It's hard to say, since I've never been in the situation.

However, based on other similar experiences, my first reaction would be to tackle and restrain you while my wife called the police. I've had to restrain any number of wildly out of control people who intended to do me harm; we weren't allowed to leave marks or strike, so I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. I'd then file assault charges.

I don't know for certain what my reaction would be, though. I hope I never have to find out.

I do know that an ultraviolent reaction is not ideal, nor is claiming one on the Internet a sign of courage.

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Was that in your time as a rescuer?

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

Exactly.

There was a running joke that saline bags (IV bags) didn't leave marks, but it just wasn't my style.

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

In the gravest extreme, there was solid oxygen therapy, but you'd better have VERY significant justification.....

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

In answer to the original question posed in the thread:

I own a firearm, but I only carry it while on going hunting or to the shooting range. Otherwise, it's locked down in the house. I don't even have ammo for it here. Some may feel that is stupid, but I do it out of respect for my roommates. They don't really like it in the house, so this was a compromise.

I have no problem with people owning guns, but at the same time hope that people don't carry them all the time. Some people are either just too stupid or don't have a cool head to have that kind of responsibility. And a gun tends to escalate a situation when dealing with some folks who fall into either category. Just an opinion based on my experience thus far.

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He who learns but does not think is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. --Confucius

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
--Sun Tzu

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
--African proverb

So you suspect that your reaction might be physical; and one might say even a violent, one. Tackling someone could easily be considered a violent act, especially if the person falls wrong and breaks a bone or bites some pavement...

Who's suggesting an "ultraviolent" reaction?

I'm certainly not.

An "ultraviolent reaction" would be if the guy looked at my daughter in a way I didn't care for, and then I blew his head off. I haven't come close to suggesting anything like that...

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

If you dont have it already, then you ought to buy it for yourself as a Christmas present.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

Anything pertinent to add to the conversation?

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

I can only guess that he wants you to read this (it's on page 30 of the latest copy I could find):

__________________
He who learns but does not think is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. --Confucius

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
--Sun Tzu

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
--African proverb

Well you are not concerned enough to be able to swallow you pride and walk away from what is in reality a minor if unpleasant situation. You put your pride and perceived bravery above their ultimate safety not to mention the psychological impact of watching the old man go postal.

You have an odd view of reality which appears distorted by your obsession with how others perceive your masculinity.

If you could have contained your anger and sense of pride you would avoid all of that with no loss other than to your precious self esteem.

You seem to be bolstered by its presence to act aggressively in trivial situations with a mind that you will use it once you have escalated a situation to a point that you will need it.

As with the baseless subjective blather that pours from you, you still cannot produce a single line that says I am scared of guns.

Despite your opinions being based on prejudice and an immature obsession with the importance of testosterone levels that is far less an insult that you wanted it to be.
As I said until I started trading posts with you I thought I had self esteem issues.

“While one may feel the desire to beat another’s head in for spitting on ones child”
“There is no doubt it would be hard to walk away from that situation”None of this got through then?

Technically yes. I would probably say he has initiated it. But why waste words on you? You either don’t read them or endow them with your own meaning anyway.
As I said it will be up to the party with the higher level of intelligence to decide what is the most rational and reasonable course of actions. If neither party is blessed with such intelligence then allow insanity to prevail!

If someone has initiated such an act like spitting on a child unprovoked, it would be a reasonable assumption that when provoked they may at least match it if not escalate it.

Oh no. I have not awarded the gong to either party. As I said it is up to the one who has the higher capacity (mental not cock size) to decide what course the confrontation will take. The one who has the cerebral advantage can decide how to react. If he chooses to react irrationally to the provocation then the gulf between the two levels of intelligence is somewhat narrow. The person who initiated the situation has already clearly demonstrated their level. It is the other party who has the choice.

I am defending my family by removing them from such a situation. Far more than you could ever understand.
I am not covering myself in gladiatorial glory but that is my problem and one I can live with. I may have saved them from further harm both physically and mentally though.

I think it is you who is now deviating somewhat from the initial premise. But emotional exaggeration is your preferred method of debate huh??

That’s great however the issue remains you believe that escalating a relatively minor situation to save your pride is the sensible course of action. It seems that your machismo and the perception of it your family has is more important that the actual safety it can avail them.

There are cases where I would concur. Just not necessarily this one. And it is the ability to be able to discern between what represents an actual threat and what is merely a prick of ones ego and self esteem.

You have nothing to base that desired belief on. I however have your admission that you would beat a person senseless because he spat on your daughter once and that your first avenue to even the most trivial situation would be to address it with extreme violence. That plus the fact you carry a gun supports my notion that widespread gun proliferation present s a danger to society where even ostensibly law abiding citizens can be easily provoked to violence and therefore find themselves involved in an exchange of bullets over little more than an few millilitres of saliva.

I am capable of rationalising a situation and acting based upon the level of seriousness it presents. That I don’t deal violently with every affront to my self esteem does not mean I would run away from everything.

Really? Who?

That’s funny.

I hope whatever decision they make are made with their heads and not their balls. In the case of my daughter she will obviously not be encumbered by proving her masculinity and in fact would be probably looked down on as derisively for getting into a fist fight as you would do my son for acting rationally and avoiding one.



True. But if you can put your own self esteem and ego aside for a second you can get plenty of messages from your kids about how they think of you that doesn’t have to involve how brave and tough they think daddy is. I won’t go into my relationship to far with my kids as that is precious to me and not to be wasted on you.

You talk the talk.

Really? But you seem to be obsessed with how cowardly my children must view me and how they must be talking about me behind my back . I can only assume dishing out public beatings to random spitters is your way of preventing such attacks on your masculinity.

No I am sure that sort of thing comes from really insignificant reasons such as pride and ego and an obsession as to how others perceive us.

You often draw bewildering conclusions.

No. And we know I never said that. I assume that you will embark on a course of escalation of that situation right up to the point that you will be prepared to. This assumption is based upon your own actual words-

“Because, frankly, I'd hammer the guy in the chops as hard as I could...”

“Now, here's the thing: if I do, and if it the confrontation escalates to the point where I "need" to draw my gun, I'd damn well better have it with me.”

The assumptions you make of me are usually based on deliberate misconception and spin.

That’s because it’s what you want believe Steve. And no one can help that but you.

Tough situations? Here’s me getting this idea you are some kind of brave hero and you think someone spitting is a tough situation.
That’s another one in the "get guns out of the hands of the general public" column then.

Nooooo, beating a person for spitting and being prepared to go to guns if the situation gets that far is not looking for trouble.

Can I put it this way? You certainly leave it up to the other guy to have the iintelligence to make the call huh?

Well that there is two different things Steve.
One is deciding how to react if someone spits on your kid. And the other is quite plainly deciding what to do if they're surrounded by people who intend them harm.
I can actually see a difference there. How bout you?

You seem to have an uncanny knack of being able to reach a conclusion using nothing but limited knowledge and complete ignorance. Go you!

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An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.