@sneakypete
Oddly enough... That very thing occurred right here when BLM and Antifa showed up. They were faced with a very armed local citizenry. One in three with a rifle of some sort and everybody packing a pistol... Standing right there among the sheriff deputies and city cops.
Yes, I can. Because where I am represents the American Constitution's second amendment in its natural state - your statement ignored that.
Me too - Not anywhere near like you - But I have heard that wasp zipping by on a couple occasions. I know what that is... Alone... Far away from any help.
Still the end remains: curtailing armed protests inherently curtails defense and liberty.
IF I am out of the house and don't have a revolver or pistol in my pocket or under my belt,it is a rare day and a rare oversight.
When CCW permits were up for debate here,I discovered the local sheriff,whom I had known for decades,was debating if he should sign off on it or not. The governor had made a public announcement that if the majority of the sheriffs were for it,he would sign the bill.
So I walked into the sheriff's office to talk with him about this. He and I had known each other since before he was even a deputy in another county,and asked him WTF his problem was. When he mentioned the "officer safety" Bullbush,I reminded him of at least two of his deputies that had came to my house late at night on weekends and asked me if I would grab my 1911A1 and come along with them as a backup because they had an "out of control" party going on in a farmer's field and were by themselves,and that he knew about this.
I also told him,"Hell,I have my 45 inside my waistband right now. Want to see it? Are you going to honestly try to tell me you are afraid of me being in your office with a loaded handgun?"
That was when he told me that I had convinced him and that he was going to tell the governor he was for CCW.
He also told me that he was going to call me at home the day before the very first day such things became legal,and he expected me to show up early the first day so he could personally fingerprint me and sign off on my CCW permit.
He also told his secretary,who was married to a local highway patrolman that I was friendly with,and told her "Give him a permit to buy anything he wants,including machine guns any time he asks for one without bothering me with it."
She replaced him as sheriff when he retired.
NOBODY in or out of law enforcement that knows me is afraid of me carrying a loaded weapon. I have literally been in bar fights with a concealed handgun on me,and the guy I was beating the snot out of never knew it.
Of course,those were in the "days of long ago",and these days I have a hard time even closing either hand into a fist,so I am going to do whatever it is I HAVE to do to protect myself if attacked.
I wrote the above sentence because I can not remember ONE single time in my whole life that I was the one that threw the first punch. Not even once.
Granted,there has been few times when I felt it was necessary to warn someone that they needed to STFU and set down unless they wanted to be hauled off on a gurney, but I didn't even start those arguments.
Like many people,I grew up in a rural area where there was no such thing as "woofin" going on. If you started talking smack to someone or making threats in some other way,you WERE going to end up in a fight,and just like in ever other avenue of life,there are NO guarantees. You just MIGHT be having THE worse day of your life that day,and the "wuss" you are facing off with just MIGHT be having THE best damn day of his life,and guess what happens when the terrified wuss discovers he is winning.
That's right. He is going to make up for all the times he has been beaten or humiliated by going "full berserker" on your dumb ass.
The best way to win a fight is to not get IN a fight.
