I got robbed at gunpoint today....

[jntesteves]

Can you think of any other country that legalizes civilian gun ownership?

[TL;DR] You can skip to the bottom line [TL;DR]

I'm sorry for what happened to you, but at least it was only 15 bucks and you are safe. 15 bucks is way less than any time it happened to me. These guys have probably already taken a few thousands from me.

I live in Sao Paulo, Brazil and get robbed at gunpoint every 6 months or so. Some things people said in this thread, like not hanging out on the streets at certain times, learning self-defence, etc. just doesn't apply here. I'm thinking about getting a gun myself for a long time now but, guess what, it's impossible for me to get it by legal means, which mean, I'm seriously thinking about going to the other side of the law myself. I'm just a computer programmer. I study, I work five days a week, I watch movies, I play video-games, I use Linux. I'm a (almost) normal guy. I just want to live my life safely but I don't have this option unless I:

a) Get rich and buy a nice, very safe apartment, bullet-proof car and all kinds of expensive security stuff. (A lot of people do that here, many adapted bullet-proof cars on the streets, seriously!)
b) Start walking around with a gun and become a criminal too for doing so. The badder the safer is the rule.

Mobilizing the population, protesting against the government, anything like that can get you in jail quickly. Shooting people around will hardly ever get you behind bars. That's my city.

Sorry, this is getting too long. The bottom line is:
I never got robbed in a year I lived in America. I just got robbed at gunpoint again in less than two weeks I'm back to Brazil. Guns are not allowed here.

[zeealpal]

Sorry

Yeah, I'm responsible for all of that.
I hurt that i386reapers/openSLOWARIS/LINUXANALSBSD guy's ego and now he feels that the appropriate response is to try and imitate me and drag my name through the mud.

I kind of feel honoured that someone cares so much about me though.

Sorry, my apologies I did not notice the name difference

[liam]

It's their job to question the victim too so that they can get a proper picture of what actually happened. They are not PR trained, you know.

Your first time making a police report?

Actually, they're barely trained at all.
Seriously, they've got insane amounts of authority but are completely finished with training in less than a year.
I've had few pleasant experiences with police (despite not ever having anything worse than a speeding ticket, being white, and well-mannered).
They tend to be very unpleasant people.
The people who become police are probably amongst the last people that should be police.
Whatever psych evals they're given is clearly inadequate.
Even off-duty police are dicks, in my experience. It certainly draws a type.
IMHO, they need to vastly up the standards (requiring a masters would help weed out some of the people), and increase their salaries greatly. Of course, there would be less of them, but they'd be better trained, better equipped and probably better fits for the job.

[smitty3268]

IMHO, they need to vastly up the standards (requiring a masters would help weed out some of the people), and increase their salaries greatly. Of course, there would be less of them, but they'd be better trained, better equipped and probably better fits for the job.

The problem with that is that 99.9% of cop work is dull, repetitive, paperwork that a high school dropout can do. Many places tend to discourage over-qualified applicants because they just get bored and quit quickly anyway, wasting the time and money it takes to get them up to speed.

I agree it would be nice to have better qualified cops, the same way it would be nice if teachers were better. I'm just not sure there's a simple solution.

[smitty3268]

Because most crimes in Australia are never reported or recorded like in America. The police there (in Australia) are a joke and are only good at collecting fines and contaminating crime scenes.
...
Yes you are, both Australia and Britain hate the US for the freedoms that could never be achieved in those countries. To be honest, I don't see any difference between Britain and Australia. Australian's still more of a semi-British prison colony. Oh while we are on that topic, I heard Australian's are descended from British criminals.

Wow. That's a fine level of hate you've got going on there.

Anyway, I'm pretty doubtful that 90% of murders in Australia are never reported. I mean, I've never been there, but i don't think there are bodies piling up on the curb that just get picked up by the trash collectors and never reported. Or do you think they all get fed to alligators and no one ever misses them?

I also think that comparing stats like crimes across countries and trying to link them to any particular policy (like gun laws) is a very flawed premise right from the start. Crime rates depend on a million different factors, and gun laws are probably pretty close to the bottom of that list. Things like general education level, average income/level of poverty, cultural history, corruption, even the level of urbanization in a country or area. (There's a lot more crimes when people are bunched close together than when they are spread further apart).

The proper way of studying the issue is to look at particular areas that change gun laws - there have been places that suddenly restricted guns, and those that loosened up old laws. What happened after those changes is what you have to look at. I'm pretty sure people on both sides of the argument can point to particular situations that fit their general world view. It depends on the place, the people, etc.

[timothyja]

Wow. That's a fine level of hate you've got going on there.

Anyway, I'm pretty doubtful that 90% of murders in Australia are never reported. I mean, I've never been there, but i don't think there are bodies piling up on the curb that just get picked up by the trash collectors and never reported. Or do you think they all get fed to alligators and no one ever misses them?

We dont have alligators here, we feed our bodies to crocodiles.

The proper way of studying the issue is to look at particular areas that change gun laws - there have been places that suddenly restricted guns, and those that loosened up old laws. What happened after those changes is what you have to look at. I'm pretty sure people on both sides of the argument can point to particular situations that fit their general world view. It depends on the place, the people, etc.

On a serious note since the laws were changed here in the 90's to not allow semi automatic weapons there have been no more mass shootings which is the reason the laws came into place. I'd say thats a pretty good outcome.

[archibald]

-stuff about police-

My experience has been quite different, the police with whom I have dealt have all been courteous, helpful and friendly. I doubt either of our experiences gives a complete picture - I have no doubt that some people want a power trip, but I thought it was important to tell the other side.

[nightmarex]

My experience has been quite different, the police with whom I have dealt have all been courteous, helpful and friendly. I doubt either of our experiences gives a complete picture - I have no doubt that some people want a power trip, but I thought it was important to tell the other side.

There's a big difference in small town and state/city cops that's for sure.

Sorry you got robbed OP.

Ah gun debate, well, I live outside a city in a rural farm area where everyone has hunting rifles/shotguns and we never worry about getting shot/killed. The city (Syracuse) has quite a few shooting deaths a year vast majority if not all by handguns. The problem with handguns it their ability to be concealed and hard to argue the necessity of them or reasons for being legal. I suppose the powers that be want low income city dwellers to continue killing each other.

If it was mine to run, the US would be much different. No handguns, decriminalized drugs, no insurance for preventable disease (such as from smoking) and for the love of God, sanctioned prostitution can I get an amen?

[duby229]

I just want to say one thing...

Yes, I'm an American Citizen. I live in NE Ohio. We have several metropolitan area's here. Cleveland, Akron/Canton, Youngstown, Pittsburgh PA... Plus New York is only 6.5 hours away and Chicago is only 7.5 hours away. When I was a Field Tech I was working all over them. I've been around.

I've had the opportunity to meet a variety of people from many different walks of life. I've never felt anything like that. When that dumbass pulled the gun out, my heart sank, and I felt real fear. The walk of life that this guy comes from was obviously something bad. He was wearing rags more or less and was clearly looking to get high on something. I'm sure he was happy to get 15 bucks. He got his fix I'm sure.

Let me say this clearly.... There is no way that this guy purchased the gun he had legally. It was by my opinion definitely black market.

[nightmarex]

I just want to say one thing...

Yes, I'm an American Citizen. I live in NE Ohio. We have several metropolitan area's here. Cleveland, Akron/Canton, Youngstown, Pittsburgh PA... Plus New York is only 6.5 hours away and Chicago is only 7.5 hours away. When I was a Field Tech I was working all over them. I've been around.

I've had the opportunity to meet a variety of people from many different walks of life. I've never felt anything like that. When that dumbass pulled the gun out, my heart sank, and I felt real fear. The walk of life that this guy comes from was obviously something bad. He was wearing rags more or less and was clearly looking to get high on something. I'm sure he was happy to get 15 bucks. He got his fix I'm sure.

Let me say this clearly.... There is no way that this guy purchased the gun he had legally. It was by my opinion definitely black market.

I didn't mean to imply he had went threw the process of being a legal gun owner, not that he would probably qualify anyway. It's sad that a couple of bucks, most of which any of us could earn in a hour that this lowlife risked your life as well as serious jail time for.