Women full timers - is it safe?

[woodartist]

Yeah Phil, I don't know why it pulls folks apart. City minds I guess. I have relatives that think guns are evil and some that carry. The smart ones were in New Orleans and protected themselves during and after the hurricane. Others died................

 

[Pat]

Any discussion that pulls people apart is unfortunate.  I don't object to any form of self-defense.  I was just curious if the need to carry guns was unique to the RV lifestyle. 

--pat

 

[John From Detroit]

Re: Guns and the RV lifestyle

I think there is a cause and effect relation but I think you have it backwards.

People adopt the RV lifestyle for several reasons, sometimes once they are "mobile" their reason changes but I'm looking at why they STARTED.

Some folks, just want to get away from it all, vacation among TREES instead of condos

Some folks don't want to be rock bound (Radio term, means stuck in one place)

Some folks (IE ME) want to "See the USA in their Chevrolet" (And yes, my rig is mostly Chevy)

Some folks like to go hunting and want a portable hunting lodge they can park at different places different seasons or perhaps different years.... These folks often have GUNS (Others use bow and arrow but GUNS is the primary hunting item)

Some folks have just had it with city life, After spending 20-30 years as a police officer patrolling the streets (or as a dispatcher telling the cops where to go) (though my department did not issue guns to dispatchers)

And there is the odd survivalist who feels that a moving target is harder to hit.

These last 3 groups often bring guns with them in the RV.

But the guns are not the result of the RV lifestyle, rather the RV lifestyle is the result of why they have the guns, so it's not really causes/effect  it's cause effect1, effect2.  And when you are  unfortunate enough to break in and do harm to these last 3 groups there is effect 3 to consider... You won't much like effect 3. But I can bet your last thoughts will be OH S!!! He's got a gun! or something related to that.

Was recalling a scene from a TV show (Nash Bridges) Where assassin was hooking a bomb to Nash's car.  After making a wrong connection his said "OH S!!!, and retired from the assassination business... Suddenly, and with prejudice (extreme in fact)

 

[woodartist]

Nice summary John. In the West I think folks carry guns because they have since they could walk, for hunting and other reasons. Would think about not having one........................Seems a lot of Urban people shy away from weapons, except the criminals and gangs.

 

[John From Detroit]

Though what you say about urban folks is true, I'm a country boy at heart, raised on a dairy farm.  And though I've fired guns, am a very good shot with a carbine, and I can take them apart and put them back together, I can even put them back together after someone ELSE takes them apart (Even though he could not)

I still do not wish to carry one

That said, I may have to, some day, buy a gun,  Why,(Because our governmental leaders thing the 2nd amendment is something to run through a shredder that's why)

 

[woodartist]

Ditto John....do we still have a 2nd ammendent Last I'll say about that or that will start a new debate here

 

[Shayne]

Agree ddwith you John.  Been around too many times when innocent individuals where hurt and killed by nice people handleing guns that fweren't loaded.  Made it a policy to avoid those situations anymore.  I had a Boss once that pulled a gun and was acting up, Wound up, he was shot in the leg and I wound up in court over it.  Was cleared, caused the judged asked me if I threatened him.  Asked the judge if  a ifference between a threat and a promise.  He told me yes and I then told him I didn't threaten, but promised, if he ever pulled it again I'd kill the SOB.  Judge didn't like him either and case dismissed. With a warning to me, naturally  Don't like guns, had too much of them in service.

 

[John From Detroit]

Ditto John....do we still have a 2nd ammendent Last I'll say about that or that will start a new debate here

Well, with me you won't likely get much argument.

And Shayne... How come you wound up in  court if he shot HIMSELF in the leg? (Don't bother answering , I know far too many cases where things worked out much that way.... They too were cleared)

Now, as a police dispatcher I've worked with folks who carry guns most of my life,  I just would rather let THEM have the responsibility.

And yes, some of the troopers I've worked with had a few stories about unloaded guns too... Some of them were just funny (Shot between the feet (that means it went harmlessely into the floor) or shot in the file cabnet (I saw that one, helped teach the idiot his lesson too) (One of the sgts decorated his office rather well... Problem is he did not know where to find the needed decroation... Dispatchers know where resources are located, it's our job after all)

Some of them... Were not so funny.

 

[motojavaphil]

I have to laugh as the poor woman asked if it was safe to RV alone.  The thread started out OK but sure got into the politics of guns, government and the Constitution.  That's OK I guess but the bottom line on her end of it is she safe? :-\.  I say she is as long as she is careful especially in an RV.  Cedar City is rare.  I refuse to be ruled by fear and not because I am a male but more because I want to be out there and see things.  I have been across country on motorcycles, cars and trucks without ever having a problem.  Its all in the attitude and projection of confidence.  If someone kills or hurts you then at least you have lived life and not remained in your stick house to await the reaper while fearing the world. 

You spoke of the Constitution, we are so out of wack that the Founding Father's would be amazed at how much we have tweaked it.  Each day that goes by our Freedom goes with that passing day.  That is why the RV Lifestyle is so important.  It represents a freedom most Americans do not have, guns or not

 

[woodartist]

Yeah, it is amazing how people can digress. Guess it is like a regular conversation where you start out on one topic and wind up with a totally different subject. Seems some common threads do get woven in though. I think a lot of it, is people trying to project their views into a topic...even if skewed.

I like history and genealogy research. Going back in time really makes one wonder what the heck happened to us and the country. So, I agree about the RV lifestyle you mention and we keep trying to find the "good" spots. Try to keep ahead of the curve. I found it interesting that Wyatt Earp had a wagon and lived a rather nomadic existence as he got older. He and his wife camping in the wagon along the Colorado River.....romantic life style back then   Talk about digressing :

 

[Shayne]

He flashed it at my direction and I told him to put it down and if he didn't I was going to to have to put it down for him.  Well, he still had a hold of it when it went off. Needless to say I was no longer emplyed by him.  Some people never learn.  Later he was hunting and shot himself.  Died about 4 weeks after that.

 

[John From Detroit]

Sounds like he was a great shot, Hit himself twice.  Wow.  Some folks are, as one of my coworkers used to say "Too stupid to live"

 

[Pat]

Sorry to have gotten everybody off subject, but I found the resulting tangents informative and useful (hope that's not too redundant). 

My company had a mobile guard who, on his rounds one night, stopped at the gas station across the street and was admiring himself in the men's room mirror spinning his gun around his finger like an old time cowboy.  Gas station attendant opened the door at the unfortunate moment the gun went off...

Well, as a woman RVing alone, I feel quite safe - a lot due to attitude and precautions.  I do tend to stay in parks for several months at a time, so I end up among a lot of retirees following good weather.  However, with all the road and pipeline construction going on, and the farm migrant workers, at least in the northwest here, the longer-term clientele is becoming a lot more diverse and transient.  Parks are beginning to migrate from RV parks to mobile home parks.  The place I just left had quite a few residents who happened to own trailers and couldn't afford to stay anywhere else.  Some of the backgrounds and attitudes were pretty harsh.  We even had one homeless person in a tent.  I actually enjoyed meeting and getting to know them, but I'm more comfortable in this tightly run park where there's a bit more stability.

--pat

 

[John From Detroit]

My company had a mobile guard who, on his rounds one night, stopped at the gas station across the street and was admiring himself in the men's room mirror spinning his gun around his finger like an old time cowboy.  Gas station attendant opened the door at the unfortunate moment the gun went off...

We had a neighbor "kid" my dad hired as a hired hand on the farm when I was too young to stack hay in the hay loft (You know, as much as I don't like HEAT today, that was the hottest job on the farm)  When he graduated high school he enlisted in the army (I do not know if drafted or enlisted) and one day they had to stand there for something like 2 hours getting a lecture on Gun Safety.

Well, as the Sgt. dismissed them one of his "Buddies" (And that term is used somewhat freely) did one of those western twrils

Put 7 members of the platoon in the base hospital.


Somehow I think that poor private likely spent the next two days (or two weeks) getting the advanced gun safety lecture

WHILE STANDING AT ATTENTION, non stop from rotating sgts and Marine Corps trained ones at that!

(For those who don't know,, this would make DEATH look inviting)