Do you carry

[Bradley Guire]

But think, on a slow news day you can make a little news with some gunplay.

 

[JackReacher]

Every place I worked had a policy against firearms on company property. I don't own a gun, never have, never will.

Meh. You're probably not even allowed to carry one anyway. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

You guys are slipping:

In all seriousness though, I've had a couple of close calls. A local pol got angry and threatened me over the phone. I called the paper's publisher, and he promptly called the pol and ripped him a new one. Never heard a peep from the pol again.

And I told this one story on here before. Walking out into the parking lot late at night, a guy comes up to me with some sob story. I just wanted to get rid of the guy, so I opened up my wallet. I figured I'd give him $5 and that'd be it. But all I had was a $20, but I ended up giving it to him so he would go away. Felt ****ty about it, but figured it was a small price to pay.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Every place I worked had a policy against firearms on company property. I don't own a gun, never have, never will.

Meh. You're probably not even allowed to carry one anyway. I wouldn't sweat it.

You just made my morning!

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Our office security is a joke.
Anyone can walk in during office hours, unchecked. We have a locked door and buzzer system with a camera for after hours but they let in anyone who buzzes - without checking the camera.

Last four papers I worked at had similar "security" situations.

At one stop, there was a rash of break-ins in our employee parking lot. Stereos, unsecured electronics, gifts/shopping bags were all stolen from employees' cars. Then one night, our "security guard", a kindly old Asian man, came running through the newsroom and hid in the bathroom because he thought some idiot on the street was about to pull a gun on him. If anyone was out there or if he was just spooked by the dark, I'll never know. He quit the next day, and they didn't replace him (even after the ME finally took our complaints to the publisher). Ridiculous.

So one of our deskers, a crazy character who had once moonlighted as a security guard, found his old shirt and badge and started walking patrols around the building about once an hour on nights he worked, just to give the appearance that someone was paying attention. The break-ins eventually stopped, and while they were probably just random in the first place, I'll gladly give my co-worker the credit for his presence.

What helps more than a gun, I find, is just a freshening up of the ol' resume.

Honestly,
I'm getting to that point ... There is an opening for a Information Specialist across the street from us that pays $10K-$13K more than I make now. I've been in this business for 15 years and make less than $31K...
I don't do it for the money. But I am starting to wonder if the headaches are worth it.


And again,
this is more than a local threatening to kick my ass. Hell, I've been threatened about a dozen times... But I never feared death in any of those cases.

 

[Stitch]

The notion that many journalists I know would carry is far more frightening than actually getting threatened by someone over a story I wrote.

 

[KJIM]

My younger sister is not in journalism, but she is never without some form of gun.

When we recently inherited several pistols, we gave them to her. She was completely surprised that no one else in the family didn't keep at least one gun available at all times.

She simply cannot believe that neither I, my IT brother, nor my parents (both of whom are retired) have no interest in packing. (My rocket scientist sister has one, but she does not carry it. She got it in college.)

I did, however, take the sawed-off shotgun, just because it's an antique and cool. I left her the entire arsenal.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

My younger sister is not in journalism, but she is never without some form of gun.

When we recently inherited several pistols, we gave them to her. She was completely surprised that no one else in the family didn't keep at least one gun available at all times.

She simply cannot believe that neither I, my IT brother, nor my parents (both of whom are retired) have no interest in packing. (My rocket scientist sister has one, but she does not carry it. She got it in college.)

I did, however, take the sawed-off shotgun, just because it's an antique and cool. I left her the entire arsenal.

Does your sister live in Georgia?

 

[JackS]

Has anybody here--particularly those of you like me who will never carry--thought up things you might say to defuse a confrontation?

Because I have. I haven't had to test any of them, thank God, but I think it's a better strategy than just praying nothing happens and otherwise being put in a panic situation if something does.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Has anybody here--particularly those of you like me who will never carry--thought up things you might say to defuse a confrontation?

Because I have. I haven't had to test any of them, thank God, but I think it's a better strategy than just praying nothing happens and otherwise being put in a panic situation if something does.

Here it is mostly gang stuff.

 

[bigpern23]

I've been in several situations in my life that required some words to avoid violence. Defusing is usually the best option, but there have been a couple of times I found that acting completely ****ing bat**** insane was a better option. Seriously. People don't like to mess with the criminally insane.

 

[MCbamr]

Has anybody here--particularly those of you like me who will never carry--thought up things you might say to defuse a confrontation?

Because I have. I haven't had to test any of them, thank God, but I think it's a better strategy than just praying nothing happens and otherwise being put in a panic situation if something does.

I was surrounded by the Van Buren Boys once. Luckily I knew the handshake.

 

[Ace]

Based on news stories, having a gun around for protection is more likely to result in a kid playing with it and shooting a neighbor; a person shooting himself in the head in a "cleaning accident;" a spouse getting shot at 4 a.m. after being mistaken for a burglar; a 16-year-old using it to discipline his brother after an argument over Halo; or going to jail after shooting a neighbor over a beef.

I'd say the odds of it being successfully used as intended for most folks are about one in a thousand.

 

[BDC99]

Based on news stories, having a gun around for protection is more likely to result in a kid playing with it and shooting a neighbor; a person shooting himself in the head in a "cleaning accident;" a spouse getting shot at 4 a.m. after being mistaken for a burglar; a 16-year-old using it to discipline his brother after an argument over Halo; or going to jail after shooting a neighbor over a beef.

I'd say the odds of it being successfully used as intended for most folks are about one in a thousand.

Totally agree with this line of thinking. I don't trust myself enough to have a gun in my home. Not that I think anything would happen, but I don't want to take that chance.

 

[BillyT]

Based on news stories, having a gun around for protection is more likely to result in a kid playing with it and shooting a neighbor; a person shooting himself in the head in a "cleaning accident;" a spouse getting shot at 4 a.m. after being mistaken for a burglar; a 16-year-old using it to discipline his brother after an argument over Halo; or going to jail after shooting a neighbor over a beef.

I'd say the odds of it being successfully used as intended for most folks are about one in a thousand.

Ace: You nailed it.

The local paper is having that debate right now. Two 13-year-olds get home from a sports award night, start fooling around with an "unloaded" shot gun, and now one is dead.

Second incident in the greater region in less than a year.

People are saying, "Lock up the guns," and others are coming back with the "You cannot get it to defend yourself" baloney.

If you're gonna be able to defend yourself -- as unlikely as that is -- you're gonna have to keep it accessible and loaded.

Bad idea.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Based on news stories, having a gun around for protection is more likely to result in a kid playing with it and shooting a neighbor; a person shooting himself in the head in a "cleaning accident;" a spouse getting shot at 4 a.m. after being mistaken for a burglar; a 16-year-old using it to discipline his brother after an argument over Halo; or going to jail after shooting a neighbor over a beef.

I'd say the odds of it being successfully used as intended for most folks are about one in a thousand.

Ace: You nailed it.

The local paper is having that debate right now. Two 13-year-olds get home from a sports award night, start fooling around with an "unloaded" shot gun, and now one is dead.

Second incident in the greater region in less than a year.

People are saying, "Lock up the guns," and others are coming back with the "You cannot get it to defend yourself" baloney.

If you're gonna be able to defend yourself -- as unlikely as that is -- you're gonna have to keep it accessible and loaded.

Bad idea.

Or you teach your children not to play with guns.

 

[outofplace]

Based on news stories, having a gun around for protection is more likely to result in a kid playing with it and shooting a neighbor; a person shooting himself in the head in a "cleaning accident;" a spouse getting shot at 4 a.m. after being mistaken for a burglar; a 16-year-old using it to discipline his brother after an argument over Halo; or going to jail after shooting a neighbor over a beef.

I'd say the odds of it being successfully used as intended for most folks are about one in a thousand.

Ace: You nailed it.

The local paper is having that debate right now. Two 13-year-olds get home from a sports award night, start fooling around with an "unloaded" shot gun, and now one is dead.

Second incident in the greater region in less than a year.

People are saying, "Lock up the guns," and others are coming back with the "You cannot get it to defend yourself" baloney.

If you're gonna be able to defend yourself -- as unlikely as that is -- you're gonna have to keep it accessible and loaded.

Bad idea.

Or you teach your children not to play with guns.

Because kids NEVER **** up and do something they were taught not to do.

 

[outofplace]

I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable carrying a gun or using it.

My father carried one when he worked for a while. He sold improvements. I always found it odd, thinking that people who had enough money to pay a contractor for home improvement work probably didn't live in the really dangerous neighborhoods.

Then a former business partner of his went to a customer's home to discuss a problem with the work that was done. The customer opened the door with a gun drawn and fired one shot before slamming it shut. He ended up losing his spleen, but otherwise ended up making a complete recovery. Not carrying a gun would have helped him even in that situation, when he did need to defend himself.

 

[Stitch]

Unless it's a cop, a good number of people who carry likely couldn't pass a police department psychological exam.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Ultimately, the reality of the world are that guns are out there, not going away, too many to be confiscated, and sometimes **** happens. You can't protect everyone, even from themselves, at all times. So why worry about it?