USExplorer said:
Many gun toters are afraid that they will be unable to deal with the coarser elements of society without having a gun on their person. Fear seems to be the driving factor, with many even admitting that they feel naked and powerless without a firearm within reach. This bunker mentality is unfit for a van dwelling lifestyle, IMO.
I'll bite.
First of all--you can bet your boots I'm concerned about being "unable to deal with the courser elements of society" without a gun. Few other things would cease the attack of a rapist. I've done a LOT of take-down scenes for fun, and am well aware of the significant limitations on what my personal options would be to fight back. Having a gun is a great equalizer for those at a significant physical disadvantage.
Thus, it makes perfect sense--and is a positive, legitimate thing IMO for a person to feel naked and powerless without it. If I'm unarmed and you want to do something to me, unless by some miracle I manage to use some techniques I've learned, you get to do whatever it is you want. Anything at all. There are sickos in our society that get off on that kind of nonconsentual power trip, and will go to great lengths to prove to their victim just how much power they have. Guns are a sure way of saying "actually, you don't get to do that" in a manner that enforces it.
My mom had a friend once whose vehicle broke down when she was moving cross-country and had everything she owned in her car. Two men stopped to help her, and insisted on doing so. While giving her a ride elsewhere, they openly debated in front of her whether they should rape or, or let her go and just steal all her stuff. She sat there, powerless in the backseat. In the end they decided to steal her stuff instead. She considers herself lucky.
A gun is an equalizer.
"Fear seems to be the driving factor"? No more than a fear of accidents is the driving factor to wearing a seatbelt. There is legitimate concern--and accident is a violent, unexpected thing that is far worse if you don't happen to be wearing one at the time--thus, you implement the habit of putting on your seatbelt every time you get in a vehicle. Once the habit is implemented, there is no more need for the emotion of fear to play any role in the equation. It's there in case you need it, and that's all.
In fact, many who carry on their person feel this actually results in experiencing far
less fear in potentially dangerous situations, because they know if things start going south they have a powerful self-defense option at their fingertips.
You see it as a bunker mentality; I see it as a realistic one.
One night a friend carried me a couple blocks to my van, where I had parked in the only spot I could find with my nose to a fence, just off the road. It was dark out. A vehicle blasting rap music with windows down passed slowly just as we arrived at my van and my friend set me down and I got in. My friend, oblivious to the situation, jogged off into the night. The car turned around and passed by slowly a couple more times, before simply stopping in the middle of the road, blocking me from leaving. My van was completely boxed in front and back. You can bet I was terrified as I sat there with the keys in the ignition, holding my breath. After a tense minute or so he then pulled over to park right beside me. Driver's door open, music still blasting and engine still on, he was on the phone with someone as he stared at me. I turned the key and gunned it outta there so fast, and have never returned to that area since.
If he hadn't moved his car I wouldn't have been able to pull my van out. Running on foot wasn't an option. It was an old van with no alarm system. The perpetrator's behavior showed I was being targeted; the loud blasting of rap music with windows down (at ~11pm) indicates at best someone on a power trip, at worst someone involved in a gang. The phone call suggests the latter is more likely.
I could share so many more stories, but if you don't have similar stories of your own or if loved ones haven't told you of similar situations I doubt it'd change anyone's mind. Maybe this doesn't happen in your area, or doesn't happen to you, and if so that's awesome! It does to me, and thus colors my view on the subject considerably differently than yours.
