7 ms·

I lived in NYC for 10+ years and I’m so glad I left. You’re trapped. No personal space. If the city closes bridges and tunnels you have no ability to egress unl

I lived in NYC for 10+ years and I’m so glad I left. You’re trapped. No personal space. If the city closes bridges and tunnels you have no ability to egress unless you want to break the law or rent a helicopter. Now that I live in a rural area I can be self sufficient for a few weeks, I’m armed, and my local neighborhood watches out for each other. I feel completely safe where I’m at and I couldn’t imagine going back to dense/city life.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
You clearly don't feel completely safe because you are armed and need a neighborhood watch.
- mailbag 6y ago
  I interpret it as being armed and the neighborhood watch are reasons for GPs feeling of safety.
  - xiphias2 6y ago
    In the E.U. in any developed country if you are not in a bad neighbourhood, the chances of dying in homicide is so low, that people are considered crazy if they have a gun for ,,protecting themselves''. I just went through a cancer blood test panel, which somewhat decreases my chances of dying, but I never thought of buying a gun.
    - m0zg 6y ago
      > if you are not in a bad neighbourhood Same in the US. But if you _are_ in a bad neighborhood, it's probably safer to be in Kabul.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
      The US isn't the EU. In rural US, police response times can be very long. Where I grew up, it would take police 30 minutes to respond to an emergency call. More rural areas can take longer. This combined with our distrust in federal government and individualistic society means many of us are willing and prepared to defend ourselves.
      - bigbugbag 6y ago
        The US seems to fare better. In rural EU there is simply no police to answer an emergency outside office hours. Your call is routed to a station distant of over a hundred kilometers, if they sent you their response team not only would it arrive too late but then they'd have no one to send to local emergencies. You're told to take pictures and to report to the closest station during opening hours the next day. Heck we even had art stealers removing a several tons statue that was literally in front of that police station in the middle of the night, this town bank ATMs where blasted so many times that the banks just stopped replacing them. It's been decades that everyone has stopped thinking that the governement cares or would send help if anything happened. But despite the local context being worse than in the US for much longer, still there is no neighbourhood watch and the only people who have guns are hunters and the idea of needing guns to defend ourselves is quite uncommon.
  - dkdk8283 6y ago
    That’s correct. I’m not worried about homicide as I am property crimes. If a second virus wave hits and basic supplies are unavailable people may resort to crime. Weapons are intended to be a deterrent. I sincerely never want to use one.
- spaceisballer 6y ago
  I live in a rural area and I’m unarmed and have no neighborhood watch. I grew up in areas with high crime where kids would get shot for their Nikes. I have zero need/desire for a gun. I used to be very pro-gun but could never really articulate why except that’s how I grew up. My belief now is that people who buy guns really have a desire to use them. And guns aren’t used to save lives they are for taking a life.
beamatronic 6y ago
What about an emergency folding kayak?
- harambae 6y ago
  With the right wetsuit and a moderate level of physical fitness you could swim the Hudson River. I tend to keep a motorcycle nearby for cutting through traffic if everything is jammed up after some unfortunate event. When you're making a decent software engineering salary it makes sense to begin being prepared for bad things IMHO. I don't go full prepper weirdo just a touch.
biolurker1 6y ago
As a European I find it crazy to even think about owing a gun to protect myself.
- donw 6y ago
  (I) Context: I lived in Germany for somewhere around a year and a half, and have lived in Japan for the better part of a decade. Gun ownership is effectively banned in Japan, and the Japanese have an amazingly competent, well-trained, and effective police force. Seriously -- they do policing right in so many ways. Germany, too. I share this so you really understand where I am coming from when I say that I think every citizen that so desires should be armed. Moreover, I find the attitude of "nobody needs a gun" to be hopelessly privileged and naïve. To give you some sense of why: (II) A friend of mine had an issue with an ex-boyfriend, here in Japan. He kept banging on her front door in the middle of the night, threatening her, the whole bit. He was an amateur athlete, and although I can handle myself in a fight, he would probably beat me into a pulp. She wouldn't stand a chance. The cops put out a restraining order, and kept bringing him into the police station every time he violated it, but legally, they could do nothing until he actually hurt her. Moreover, he was Japanese, and she was not, which meant that the police were... less incentivized to help her. This kind of thing happens everywhere. That's life as a minority for you. She had no other option than to flee the country. No joke. (III) One day, I woke up to a massive banging sound. It was a bad neighborhood, and it sounded like people trying to kick their way through the outer mesh security door. My apartment was on the ground floor, in the back of my building I called the police, but nobody would be able to show up for about half an hour. That's reality in a lot of the US. So I grabbed my Remington, walked to the door, and chambered a round -- the sound of a pump-action is very distinctive. All of the sudden, the kicking stopped, and I saw through the side window what looked like about five people sprinting away from my porch. I was pretty shaken, honestly, and the cops never showed up. The apartment owner had to replace the security mesh. Maybe another five minutes and they would have gotten through. Don't know what they wanted, but I do know that they'd get whatever it was, because no way I could take on three people, let alone five. I upgraded to a semi-auto after that. (IV) A gun is like a fire extinguisher. You don't buy one hoping you have to use it. But if you need it, you need it, and nothing else will do.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

You clearly don't feel completely safe because you are armed and need a neighborhood watch.

mailbag 6y ago
I interpret it as being armed and the neighborhood watch are reasons for GPs feeling of safety.
- xiphias2 6y ago
  In the E.U. in any developed country if you are not in a bad neighbourhood, the chances of dying in homicide is so low, that people are considered crazy if they have a gun for ,,protecting themselves''. I just went through a cancer blood test panel, which somewhat decreases my chances of dying, but I never thought of buying a gun.
  - m0zg 6y ago
    > if you are not in a bad neighbourhood Same in the US. But if you _are_ in a bad neighborhood, it's probably safer to be in Kabul.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
    The US isn't the EU. In rural US, police response times can be very long. Where I grew up, it would take police 30 minutes to respond to an emergency call. More rural areas can take longer. This combined with our distrust in federal government and individualistic society means many of us are willing and prepared to defend ourselves.
    - bigbugbag 6y ago
      The US seems to fare better. In rural EU there is simply no police to answer an emergency outside office hours. Your call is routed to a station distant of over a hundred kilometers, if they sent you their response team not only would it arrive too late but then they'd have no one to send to local emergencies. You're told to take pictures and to report to the closest station during opening hours the next day. Heck we even had art stealers removing a several tons statue that was literally in front of that police station in the middle of the night, this town bank ATMs where blasted so many times that the banks just stopped replacing them. It's been decades that everyone has stopped thinking that the governement cares or would send help if anything happened. But despite the local context being worse than in the US for much longer, still there is no neighbourhood watch and the only people who have guns are hunters and the idea of needing guns to defend ourselves is quite uncommon.
- dkdk8283 6y ago
  That’s correct. I’m not worried about homicide as I am property crimes. If a second virus wave hits and basic supplies are unavailable people may resort to crime. Weapons are intended to be a deterrent. I sincerely never want to use one.
spaceisballer 6y ago
I live in a rural area and I’m unarmed and have no neighborhood watch. I grew up in areas with high crime where kids would get shot for their Nikes. I have zero need/desire for a gun. I used to be very pro-gun but could never really articulate why except that’s how I grew up. My belief now is that people who buy guns really have a desire to use them. And guns aren’t used to save lives they are for taking a life.

beamatronic 6y ago

What about an emergency folding kayak?

harambae 6y ago
With the right wetsuit and a moderate level of physical fitness you could swim the Hudson River. I tend to keep a motorcycle nearby for cutting through traffic if everything is jammed up after some unfortunate event. When you're making a decent software engineering salary it makes sense to begin being prepared for bad things IMHO. I don't go full prepper weirdo just a touch.

biolurker1 6y ago

As a European I find it crazy to even think about owing a gun to protect myself.

donw 6y ago
(I) Context: I lived in Germany for somewhere around a year and a half, and have lived in Japan for the better part of a decade. Gun ownership is effectively banned in Japan, and the Japanese have an amazingly competent, well-trained, and effective police force. Seriously -- they do policing right in so many ways. Germany, too. I share this so you really understand where I am coming from when I say that I think every citizen that so desires should be armed. Moreover, I find the attitude of "nobody needs a gun" to be hopelessly privileged and naïve. To give you some sense of why: (II) A friend of mine had an issue with an ex-boyfriend, here in Japan. He kept banging on her front door in the middle of the night, threatening her, the whole bit. He was an amateur athlete, and although I can handle myself in a fight, he would probably beat me into a pulp. She wouldn't stand a chance. The cops put out a restraining order, and kept bringing him into the police station every time he violated it, but legally, they could do nothing until he actually hurt her. Moreover, he was Japanese, and she was not, which meant that the police were... less incentivized to help her. This kind of thing happens everywhere. That's life as a minority for you. She had no other option than to flee the country. No joke. (III) One day, I woke up to a massive banging sound. It was a bad neighborhood, and it sounded like people trying to kick their way through the outer mesh security door. My apartment was on the ground floor, in the back of my building I called the police, but nobody would be able to show up for about half an hour. That's reality in a lot of the US. So I grabbed my Remington, walked to the door, and chambered a round -- the sound of a pump-action is very distinctive. All of the sudden, the kicking stopped, and I saw through the side window what looked like about five people sprinting away from my porch. I was pretty shaken, honestly, and the cops never showed up. The apartment owner had to replace the security mesh. Maybe another five minutes and they would have gotten through. Don't know what they wanted, but I do know that they'd get whatever it was, because no way I could take on three people, let alone five. I upgraded to a semi-auto after that. (IV) A gun is like a fire extinguisher. You don't buy one hoping you have to use it. But if you need it, you need it, and nothing else will do.