What if everyone carried?

[HoosierLife]

Years ago, long before I got into guns, and around the time school/mass shootings started becoming more prevalent, I thought I had come up with a fool proof solution: have everybody carry a firearm.

My thinking was, what criminal in his right mind would walk into a bank, gas station, school or movie theater with the intent of killing folks, if he KNEW everyone in there was armed. These criminals are the epitome of cowards. And I was just sure that this would solve the problem.

But anytime I brought this up with a group of people, they thought I was nuts. Many said it would be like the Old West. They thought every argument would end in a bloodbath. But I countered that it would be similar to Mutually Assured Destruction. Who's gonna pull their gun out in an argument, when they KNOW everyone else is armed.

I have even read of some small towns that make gun ownership mandatory and the data suggests that violent crime is kept low because of it.

Am I out there with this kind of thinking? What are your thoughts?

 

[jgreiner]

The world would be a far more POLITE place.

 

[fallenangel1]

Or you could end up with a lot more cocky, arrogant, brash, rude and flat out crazy people that know if anyone confronts them they could pull their gun 1st.

I kind of lean towards the wild west analogy, because not only would good natured people have weapons but so would the stupid, immature, bad and crazy people. Those people who do not respect everyone else around them wouldn't think twice about drawing first to end a confrontation and you could end up with just as much if not more violence. You could also have really calm nice crime free towns as well.

Just remember it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the whole batch.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

The "Wild West" wasn't that wild but rather mild.

The horse operas of the 1950s made it "wild".

http://books.google.com/books/about/Gunfighters_Highwaymen_and_Vigilantes.html?id=afPkCbU7QsQC

 

[swilk]

The idiots would get weeded out pretty quickly ... either by the law or each other. After that painful phase things would likely be better than they are today in many of the urban areas.

Little change in the suburban/rural areas.

 

[fallenangel1]

I like to think of the dime store novels as a good interpretation of how the west was!

As you may be right about it mostly being "mild" .. Im sure that's partly because the total population of the US was a mere fraction of what it is today. Many people lived alone with their families, with only an occasional trip to the town store and few if any visitors.

With the way our cities are crammed with people and too many Americans with the "Im better than everyone else" or "The world owes me something" kind of mentality. I could see this causing more problems than we have with a slightly disarmed society.

If we just had a way to ensure that everyone would act responsibly and follow the golden rule throughout their lives. I think it would be a great idea!

 

[BogWalker]

It would kind of suck having to put on fake shows of kindness. Instead of giving somebody the cussing they deserve you'd just let them on their way for fear of getting shot.

Cities would pretty much burn themselves down. Like others have said we are just too jammed pack for universal armament to work.

 

[cbseniour]

If everyone carried the Darwin rule would apply to some small extent, but on the other hand people would learn from necessity to settle differences in a peaceful manor or die. How much more civilized could it be.

Additionally the "Wild West" wasn't that wild, more people were killed with shotguns than in the famous but almost non existant gun fight.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Simply arming people doesn't do much good if they don't have the belief in carrying a weapon, the mind set to use it, and the skill to put it into affect. Look at the thread for the dummy from Brady carrying to show how scary it is.

I get what you're trying to say, but you can't force people to take that sort of responsibility. Let those that are interested do so, let those that aren't stay on the side lines.

 

[Hajisc]

I think swilk hit it on the head, The bad guys and idiots would be eliminated rather quickly either by each other or by good guys defending themselves. most historians agree that the WILD WEST was rather tame in the regards of daily showdowns at dawn and gunfights. That's all just hollywood .
Has anyone seen the new movie "PURGE" ? I wonder how that scenario fits in this conversation.

 

[cobber]

The "Wild West" wasn't that wild but rather mild.

The horse operas of the 1950s made it "wild".

http://books.google.com/books/about/Gunfighters_Highwaymen_and_Vigilantes.html?id=afPkCbU7QsQC

The 1950s? What about Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Shows? Probably from the days of Frederick Jackson Turner forward there has been a lot of myth-making about the West, with romantic notions of gunslingers and shoot-'em-ups in the local watering hole.

My understanding is that the 'wild west' was full of Civil War vets who had seen combat and knew their way around a gun, and that the rifle was the preferred weapon for most jobs requiring shooting. Scenarios like "High Noon" would have been pretty implausible, unless you were living in a town populated by Quakers.

 

[brotherbill3]

I would say ... while Agreeing with BehindBlueI's ... if there is no interest/desire/motivation then a gun is the WRONG tool for a person to have for their safety ...

that the OP is trying to get to the the same place / conclusion as Marko Kloos:

Why the Gun is Civilization:
why the gun is civilization. | the munchkin wrangler.

 

[kliebert]

I would have to second the Darwinian theory, but no matter what the thought process, forcing people to be either unarmed or armed never is a good idea. Ultimately it has to be an individuals choice, it just so happens that I figure I would rather have the choice of to fire or not to fire rather than to run or not to run and cry.

 

[MikeDVB]

Look at the thread for the dummy from Brady carrying to show how scary it is.

Link?

 

[Mark 1911]

The world would be a far more POLITE place.

^^^^^
This!

 

[Redhorse]

While the theory of "an armed society is a polite society" (Thomas Jefferson) stands true, it's only to an extent. There's too many irresponsible individuals who don't know how to handle themselves while being armed with a firearm. In addition to this, there's also a large portion of society who are terrified of a chuck metal that shoots flames so they couldn't be armed either. It's best just to keep it like it is and let those who are willing to be responsible with a firearm be armed.

 

[cook4army]

If everyone carried, the great ammo shortage of 2013 would never end.

 

[Mark 1911]

If everyone carried, the great ammo shortage of 2013 would never end.

Assuming, that is, that everyone who carries also practices shooting once in a while.

 

[TopDog]

"An armed society is a polite society".

I think initially there would be a lot of conflicts until the idiots were weeded out. Once the gene pool got clean enough it would become far more peaceful than it is now.

 

[cosermann]

...http://books.google.com/books/about/Gunfighters_Highwaymen_and_Vigilantes.html?id=afPkCbU7QsQC

Excerpt from the preface of the book referenced above by Kirk:

"It is popularly assumed that the frontier was full of . . . brave, strong, and reckless men who often resorted to violence -- and that these men helped make the frontier a violent and lawless place. ... This view of the frontier is projected by motion pictures, television, popular literature, and most scholarly histories. But was the frontier really all that violent? ...

This book attempts to answer these questions and others about violence and lawlessness on the frontier and to do so in a new way. Whereas most authors have drawn their conclusions about frontier violence from the exploits of a few notorious badmen and outlaws and from some of the more famous incidents and conflicts, I have chosen to focus on two towns that I think were typical of the frontier . . . and to investigate all forms of violence and lawlessness that occurred in and around those towns. ...

Emerging from my investigation ... is a much fuller picture (possibly the first really representative view) of frontier violence. ... The results say much about America's frontier heritage and offer some real surprises - several long-cherished notions about frontier violence are thoroughly repudiated while other widely held believes, long suspected of being mythical, are demonstrated to be well founded in fact."

If you want to know the details check out the book.

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL3164952M/Gunfighters_highwaymen_vigilantes