[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by Dowly

That's how it goes in the perfect world.

Say, someone wants to threathen someone with a knife, he probably closes
to 1.5-2m before showin his intentions. Try to pull a gun out from your holster/pocket
and you MIGHT get a shot out, but evenso, that knife will very likely be stuck
in some part of your body, in worst case, lethally.

Many in this thread seem to think that criminals are stupid, dont know why.
But if someone wants to rob you and they see the gun, they wont't be
coming at you from the front. Baseball bat/other hard object, or in worst case
a bullet to the back of the head is what they do.

EDIT: Of course, I dont live in the US, but to me this just means more guns for the bad guys who really need them (gangs and such).

Dowly,

I see where your coming from. The thing is - more civilians on the street with guns actually assumes that criminals are smart. You see - its not the guy they choose to rob necessarily. Its about all the other people that might be around when they stab or shoot a victim -because if MORE people are armed - and they start stabbing or shooting someone - they are not likely to live long enough to enjoy the "fruits" of their nefarious actions. You see - its one thing to say "I can pop the guy in the back of the head and steall his stuff" - its another to have to worry about getting capped from 5 different directions if you try......

Most criminals don't want to die. So the issue of an armed citizenry - willint to protect itself - every man protecting himself and his neighbor - is the worst fear of the "physical" criminal.