Do you keep firearms for home defense?

[noob5,000,000]

Just means if I go to Texas I'll treat them the same way I treat everybody (let them go about their own business and don't bug them). I don't need the prospect of a gun to make me play nice; I don't seek to cause trouble in the first place.

Part of keeping and carrying firearms is having the maturity and situational awareness to always avoid situations that could result in use of force. However, sometimes trouble seeks you out. Better to have and not need than need and not have, and all that.

[mtheis]

You're practically gonna need a cannon to deal with those critters. Regardless, with a high powerer rifle of large calibre, unless you are an expert shooter, you may need to plug it several times before it stops coming at you and hopefully there is enough distance to allow for that.

That's why I have these:

[theholycow]

On an interesting note, last year I spent couple of nights in Deadhorse, Alaska. You're not allowed to have guns there even though there are both polar bears and grizzly bears roaming around.

That's odd. Wikipedia disagrees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Alaska
"Municipalities may enact and enforce local regulations only if they are identical to, and provide the same penalty as, State law."
"Alaska was the first state to adopt carry laws modeled after Vermont's (normally referred to as "Vermont Carry"), in which no license is required to carry a handgun either openly or concealed. "

Not saying you're wrong, just wondering what the deal is...stuff like that sometimes doesn't add up. Could be it changed since last year.

On another side note, Finland has one of the highest guns-per-capita ratios in the world due to our extensive hunting culture. Still, you're not allowed to have a gun for self-defense and you have to keep all firearms in a locked cabinet. No-one thinks of using them for self-defense either, because you'll at least lose your guns and get a fine if you do that, and might even end up in jail. Still, people don't generally see it as a problem - I guess it has something to do with the lack of "culture of fear" around here...

So, I'm curious; with the difference in culture so strong that it is both illegal and culturally frowned upon to defend one's self with a firearm, is an exception made when that is the only option for saving one's life (i.e. cornered against an attacker wielding a firearm)? Not that I'm suggesting that sort of thing happens often; but in all of Finland it must have happened at some time in history.

With such a controversial topic it's tough to ask questions like this without coming off as argumentative, but I'm exploring curiosity, nothing more.

[Tups]

You're practically gonna need a cannon to deal with those critters.[/url]

It took eight .30-06 rounds from two rifles to stop a polar bear in Svalbard last spring. Of course some bullets missed, but quite many hit. The guys even spent all their flashbangs and flares before shooting the bear, but it didn't give a shit and just kept coming.

I hope I'll never end up in such situation. Shooting a polar bear sucks even if it's the only way to save your life.

That's odd. Wikipedia disagrees.

Deadhorse is a company town, so I guess it's the oil companies that have the last word in that matter. In the camp I was staying, the rules were pretty clear.

Moving outside was generally not allowed in Deadhorse, so it was a stark contrast to Svalbard where you can go practically everywhere whenever you want as long as you take care of yourself and carry enough gear to survive whatever the Arctic throws on you, or call help if shit hits the fan.

[theholycow]

Deadhorse is a company town, so I guess it's the oil companies that have the last word in that matter. In the camp I was staying, the rules were pretty clear.

Yeah, that explains it.

Moving outside was generally not allowed in Deadhorse, so it was a stark contrast to Svalbard where you can go practically everywhere whenever you want as long as you take care of yourself and carry enough gear to survive whatever the Arctic throws on you, or call help if shit hits the fan.

That sounds awful.

Note to self: No vacations in Deadhorse.

[ClutchFork]

Shooting a polar bear sucks even if it's the only way to save your life.

Right. Hate to do in such a majestic creature. Majestic, that is, so long as they are nowhere near my part of the world.

Deadhorse is a company town,

I don't suppose a polar bear had anything to do with the naming of this town, or maybe it was just a matter of starvation (the horse, or the horse's owner who ate the horse).

Jack London wrote some pretty gritty stories about Alaska, try "To Build a Fire."
Written (possibly abridged too): http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html

[theholycow]

Deadhorse is a company town,

I don't suppose a polar bear had anything to do with the naming of this town, or maybe it was just a matter of starvation (the horse, or the horse's owner who ate the horse).

Maybe they felt like trying to build a town in that forsaken land was like beating a dead horse...

[ClutchFork]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadhorse,_Alaska:

Sources conflict on the origin of the area's name. The most cited theory appears to be that the area takes its name from a local business prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, the "Dead Horse Haulers" trucking company. How the trucking company got its name remains in dispute.

[Squint]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadhorse,_Alaska:

Sources conflict on the origin of the area's name. The most cited theory appears to be that the area takes its name from a local business prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, the "Dead Horse Haulers" trucking company. How the trucking company got its name remains in dispute.

Guys.. I think we're beating a dead horse here.

[theholycow]

[ClutchFork]

Yeow! That is eating a dead horse. I would rather

[theholycow]

Yeow! That is eating a dead horse. I would rather

That horse looks kinda like a cow.

[ClutchDisc]

Yeow! That is eating a dead horse. I would rather

That horse looks kinda like a cow.

How about this one?

[tankinbeans]

Just turn the horse into glue already!

[AHTOXA]

Just means if I go to Texas I'll treat them the same way I treat everybody (let them go about their own business and don't bug them). I don't need the prospect of a gun to make me play nice; I don't seek to cause trouble in the first place.

Part of keeping and carrying firearms is having the maturity and situational awareness to always avoid situations that could result in use of force. However, sometimes trouble seeks you out. Better to have and not need than need and not have, and all that.

Well said. I fully agree.