Some of our esteemed members are not able to whip the snot of of someone, who is trying to steal their expensive equipment or rob them etc, with their shovels. Especially in the prime detecting areas of older cities. Where the old stuff is found. Or in the woods, possibly alone or with older friends and encounter the odd whack job who believe the earth belongs to them. Or the Camp Robber". No not the bird kind. The thief who steals your gear from your camping site, or vehicle while you are away. Anyone ever have that happen?
Why shouldn't I be allowed to carry a gun in dangerous situations? What about random acts of violence or purse snatching by a creep on a bike? Any decent detector and coil sell pretty quick on CraigsList. They are valuable, easy to sell and easier to steal from the older detectorist.
One friend had to scare a would-be-gangster on a bike with his digging knife. My gold panning pals have called the Sheriff multiple times for whackos with adjoining claims. The world is full of Bullies. Bullies are usually cowards who are bigger than us or outnumber us.
That's why this is an issue even on T-Net. Yes even us, the finest group of hobbyist in the world deserve our 2nd amendment rights to defend ourselves. That's why.
BB[/QUOTE
BB,What you say about bullies is SO dead on!Stand up to them,they scurry like cockroaches when the light goes on. My own personal belief is every good American should carry a side arm amen.
How would David have fared against Goliath with out his sling? The Assault Rifle of his day, or is it considered a Personal Defense Weapon? Either way, since the beginning of time, violence is the only weapon that has beaten back tyranny time and time again. A man too timid to fight will suffer under it, and that is the same as supporting it. All it takes for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing. "Bullies" are nothing but little tyrants without the support network shared by their larger counterparts. The one thing that I cannot understand, and it disgusts me, is how these people so easily condemn their countrymen and side with politicians. How they turn against their neighbors so quickly and viciously and throw their support behind a group who has NONE of their interests in mind. There is a book called "The Wave", and I highly suggest that people either read that book, watch the movie or at the very least read the synopsis. People make the mistake in thinking that they couldn't be indoctrinated into a group of that would eventually give birth to a dictatorship. It doesn't take a man to be a dictator, it takes a GROUP of people who share the belief that they know what is best for all, throwing their support behind a man that will spread their message.
"Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it's evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. ("I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.") Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." - Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, January 30, 1787[1]