[einbert]

[ QUOTE ]

Thanks. I'm glad the desire to protect myself make me less respectable.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well I apparently misunderstood your post. For some reason I read it as "well I'm gonna get a gun so I can go around and solve these problems myself instead of having to call the cops!" like you were going to become some kind of crimefighter or something.

But even you said you were joking, so I can't see how you can fault me for responding with disgust to your original statement. Of course I didn't know it was a joke when I first read it.


In any case, I think you handled the situation on the street really well. Even if you were carrying a gun, do you really think it would have been a great idea to wave it around and tell the guy to stop? Sure, most of the time that will resolve the situation immediately. But what about the times he pulls out his own gun, or does something else unpredictable? A decent percentage of the time (even if it's as low as 5% it's still so important) someone is going to get seriously hurt in this kind of situation. I guess you could say you took a bullet for the girl, but as others have suggested chances are that she has been beaten by this guy before and she is subjecting herself to this kind of repeat abuse.

I can see situations where it would be helpful to own a gun. But in my opinion, carrying a gun will bring up far more negative situations than it will turn bad situations into good situations. And using a gun to become a crimefighter, IE breaking up this and other similar situations by waving your gun around, is bound to result in really really bad things sooner rather than later. I think it would have been pretty stupid to brandish your gun in this situation, all things considered.