Re: riding and weapons

[Lynne Glazer <lglazer@cyberg8t.com>]

Interesting discussion.

Here in California, I've never felt the need to have a weapon in
ridecamp.  I've occasionally packed one while traveling by truck,
particularly during the LA riots. :)  When I used to hike alone in the
San Gabriel mountains, I carried a .357 2 1/2" barrel in a plainly
visible belt holster, and I still own that one.

On horseback, I've never carried anything but a knife and cell phone,
though I've wondered about the need to put a horse down in extremis.  It
happened to a friend last year, after a fall of several  hundred feet
when a trail collapsed out from under the mare.

I tend to agree with the person who wants to think the best of people
than the worst.  I've learned to make eye contact and conversation with
people whom formerly I would have taken great pains to avoid, and have
learned a lot from that. It's been an evolutionary thing, from owning
and carrying guns for years to this stage.

Some of my conditioning takes place where there is a fair amount of
transients and poor people partying.  Like Dave Bennett said, the key is
knowing how not to be a victim, be aware of your surroundings, etc.  

I regularly drive alone through very bad areas of LA, and know that I
project an attitude that says don't mess with me.  Maybe that sounds
contradictory to making eye contact, etc., but it's worked for me in 10
years of self-employment.  I'm also sure that driving the one-ton truck
and the visible Spyderco knife doesn't hurt.  All that time in the
military made me quite comfortable with weapons, but I don't want to
depend on being able to deploy one in a timely enough manner and risk
having it taken away from me, nor do I want to dwell on the negative,
defensive sort of way it makes me feel.  

If I lived and trained where family trees didn't fork, I might have a
different attitude.  I'm not untouched by crime--car burglary twice,
home burglary twice.  Awareness of surroundings is everything, IMNSHO.

Lynne
and Rem-member Me