Firearms cultural differences

[amprecon]

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away

 

[Deanimator]

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away

Back in the '90s, a friend of mine was driving through the Cleveland Metroparks and heard a woman screaming.

He called the Berea, Ohio Police Department from an elderly woman's apartment in my building. Each time they said they'd send somebody. Nobody came.

He called several times from my apartment, again with no on scene response.

We finally drove to the police station to find out what was going on.

It turns out that, even in Berea, the park was the Metroparks Rangers' responsibility and they were forwarding the calls to them.

A couple of Berea cops coming off shift volunteered to walk the river bank with us. We found nothing, not surprising given that with all of the useless delay, a kidnapper could have been well on his way to Detroit or Pittsburgh.

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away" - Given that I don't think the Rangers EVER showed up, it could literally be DECADES. Of course they have no liability in any case, regardless of WHAT happens to the victim.

Protect YOURSELF or just don't get protected AT ALL.

 

[Demi-human]

I sometimes wish I would have stayed and became a US citizen.

Michigan would still love to have you. And we don't have infractions for badmouthing the "King". Especially when they fully deserve it.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

Much of this country is still rural on a level the UK hasn't had in centuries. We grow up self-reliant and guns are like every other tool that helps us achieve and defend our livelihood. Ten years ago in college a professor of mine was explaining the unique challenges Pres Bush's then recently signed "No Child Left Behind" posed in a large state like MT, 3/4 of which was still considered "rural" or "frontier" by the federal gov. Then there is that hopefully eternally burning rebellion that still burns in many of us. I don't have any victim mentality in me nor do I like being told what to do. Having independence won from a military super power primarily through the use of militias and privately owned arms embeds a certain amount of piss and vinegar into your DNA. Taxation without representation might have been the battle cry, but no one fired a shot until the Redcoats came to confiscate arms. It is not just a musket, an amalgamation of wood and steel. It is a physical representation of a man's (or woman's) natural right to defend himself and determine his own destiny. This we will defend.

 

[cuervo]

An interesting read regarding how gradually laws accumulate and take effect:
http://www.guncite.com/journals/okslip.html

 

[Slotback]

I think the OP might find a good answer in David Kopel's book The Samurai, The Mountie and The Cowboy. He makes some interesting points that have in fact already been touched on here.

 

[Reeferman]

Michigan would still love to have you. And we don't have infractions for badmouthing the "King". Especially when they fully deserve it.

Ha ha I'm getting to the age that Arizona climate is more to my liking. Our prime minister Selfie the Clown and his wife Queen Sophie might not like that and they most certainly deserve it.

 

[Archie]

All interesting, thank you.

At what point do you think that the the 'bring it on' sense of motivation came along?

It has been here all along, Squire. It isn't mentioned as such, but the United States has always appealed to those who were restless and uncomfortable in the status of 'the old country'. (All the 'old countries', doesn't matter which.) Some wanted a less restricted life, some wanted a chance to prosper, some wanted to be free of 'class' restraints and some wanted to be free of near neighbors - "near" ranging from feet to miles, depending on the individual.

So the idea of personal freedom and 'leave me alone' has always been part of the American Spirit. As a group, we are not those who huddle together and hope something evil doesn't get us. We are independent individually. Something or someone may kill us, but nothing nor no one will enslave us.

Until after the Second World War. Since then the U. S. has had a minority - growing all the time - who are 'militant thumb-suckers'. That is the basis of most of our political and societal discord.

Yes, there are other factors and it is complex. But that 'outlook' differential is deeply rooted.