JohnnyK thanks for filling in the neighbor has been carrying a phone a lot longer than me. It answers his accessibility and habit pattern, it doesn't answer whether - or not - he felt the need to dial 911.
I'd rather hear the story from him. We can then direct our questions and get first hand information. That is why I consider it sensationalist to repeat stories that did not occur first hand.
As for having a holier than thou attitude about living where I do - it is exactly because I was stuck in a deteriorating neighborhood. The property values were declining insofar as the normal appreciation that should have happened, there were murders within blocks of the home, vandals were tagging the alley fences, and young thugs were beginning to appear strolling down the streets refusing to stay on the sidewalks. If they blocked traffic, to bad, make a scene, dude, we know where you live. You park your car on the street, right?
Within the first year of living there the guy across the street had the wheels stolen off his 68 Camaro, and my wife lost the battery from her car. I've have air conditioners stolen from the bed of my truck, and one kid broke into the house instead of mowing the lawn. My concept of living in a "nice" neighborhood is tempered by the shooting by KC hit men of a young man and his girlfriend (who my wife knew from high school in another town 20 miles away.) That was retribution for stealing the dealers stash and selling it locally.
It wasn't getting any better, the son of a former mayor wired the duplex next door for video (in the '80s) and while is was never proven, we definitely suspected drugs for all the traffic on Friday and Saturday night past 2 AM. Later a "single mom" seemed to have the same schedule of visitors.
Having four children, the house paid for, and an opportunity, we moved. Is it better, yes. Are there difficulties in the neighborhood, not nearly so. About the worst to go on is that snow sleds are considered community property in the winter, kids steal bikes, and you currently don't leave a gas can out for all the scooters needing a fill up or lawns to be mowed - on your nickel.
Nice place to live after getting off deployment for a rotation to GTMO. Now, tell me about how hard you have it, and why you put up with it. If you have to carry a gun daily and consider people in your neighborhood a threat to your lifespan, then you need to do something about it. Not whine about how bad it is.
Most of that is internet bravado to begin with. And most Americans are NOT carrying a firearm daily to protect them from the abundant lethal threats that seem to be everywhere! if you read some forums.
Total violent crime amount to about 386 per 100,000, or about .38%. The rate of CCW is ten time higher, which is exactly the curve we have seen - the more that carry, the less crime we see happening.
97% of the public DOES NOT CARRY. They expect the cops to do their job preventing crime, which we all know doesn't happen.
So, do I cruise Walgreen parking lots after midnite to see who's bullying who in the local drug market? No. Do I wander alleys downtown near bars or cruise the local strip joints drinking and looking for fights, no. Do I steal the stash of the local drug dealer, offer his gf a place to stay, and put ads on craigslist selling his dope? Nope. I'm not the dope.
And I don't go around repeating coulda woulda shoulda stories second hand to make a point about why I do or do not carry. That sort of speculative internet bravado means nothing, and is no different than TEOTWAKI or zombie talk.
I could tell you about the overweight bubba thugs who come in to forcibly get a warranty on something they can't prove they bought, and threaten to beat me, but I don't need to embellish on the normal business practices I have to live with daily. I also don't need to mention NOBODY gets to carry weapons in retail, or that I'm quite aware exactly where the 1/2 drive breaker bar, jack handles, or my Benchmade Risk is clipped.
I just don't need an ego pump from the internet to have a life, thats all.
Do you carry every day, no matter what? How nice. Most of us can't, workplace rules forbid it, and loss of your job is the reward. Do I fly, many do, with guns, I only did when I could take a full auto M16. Otherwise I avoid it like the plague.
We each have our standards, if you like to live in fear of an impending lethal threat, it's your choice. I don't. I live in a neighborhood where I can leave the car unlocked at night (I don't,) drive to work without a firearm and pretty much worry that my worst risk is simply speaking truth.
Which seems to be ignored in the rush of denial: we really do have it pretty good in the US. Exactly why immigrants are flooding in.