Right to feel safe, or right to be safe?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

guitarguy314, the answer to your question is neither.

As an American, you have the right to be free. Safety is irrelevant. The US was never intended or promised to be a safe country, in feeling or in effect. It was promised and intended to be a free country. Sometimes liberty is a little dangerous. Living in this nation is an acceptance of that fact. If one wants to be safer, they are also free to find another nation to live in. One with fewer protections of liberties.

 

[arizona98tj]

The best way to convince the others, unfortunately, is for a criminal to threaten them or take the life of somebody they love--when they finally lose faith in the law's ability to protect them, then they might change their minds.

It took the raping of her friend before my buddy's wife decided him CCWing wasn't such a silly idea after all. It is indeed sad that some people require such a thing to happen before they understand.

 

[barnbwt]

The best way to convince the others, unfortunately, is for a criminal to threaten them or take the life of somebody they love--when they finally lose faith in the law's ability to protect them, then they might change their minds.

I don't think something so drastic is necessary in most cases, if you can get the person to do some Method Acting and imagine how they would feel in such a scenario. Ask them if they feel they or others should be able to retaliate in kind when threatened, in a just world. If it would be fair for a woman to retaliate against a rapist with an equal or greater force as he. If the teachers found slumped over their students at Sandy Hook should have had something in their hands to defend themselves with, in a just world. Then describe the only contrivence that has been invented that allows for this (guns ).

Too often the "gun" itself is tied to negative emotions (usually from propaganda) for people, and purity of emotional feeling is what drives many peoples' opinions, making the question too complicated to answer without blaming the gun. So try to get them to imagine force/force conflicts without guns present. If the person can suspend their focus on firearms (i.e. if they are even receptive to discussion) they should readily find there is no better alternative (which is why we have all chosen guns as effective fighting implements for centuries now). Most gun-evasive (not hostile) people I've talked to simply find it "uncomfortable" to talk about self defense because they've never had to defend anything, and find it sort of a "jinx." That talking about it makes it more likely to happen. Just like many have a phobia of writing a Will or buying life insurance. Even I initially found all the talk of self-defense on here extremely morbid (and still find tactical discussions somewhat unseemly, if occaisionally enlightening).

TCB

 

[OptimusPrime]

I'm with Ragnar, no one has a right to safety because unfortunately, individual safety is usually dependent upon others. But, we are free to choose, that's our right. I'm happy to choose to defend myself, individually. And luckily my wife has agreed to exercise her right to the same, BEFORE anything bad has happened close to her. It is always sad when we learn things post-trauma; happens far too often.

 

[12131]

Feeling safe is not a right. Being safe is.

ETA: I have a personal right to be safe, and I take personal responsibility and measures to protect myself. I have no right to ask or demand another person to ensure that I am safe.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Define being safe.

 

[justice06rr]

IMO you only have the right to feel/be safe in your own home/property. When you are in public--anything goes. It is up to you as a responsible adult to take charge of your own safety regardless of where you are.

Its not the law-abiding CCW-er's people should worry about, but the criminals and bad guys among us.

 

[JRH6856]

Ever hear of the Four Freedoms?

1 Freedom of speech
2 Freedom of worship
3 Freedom from want
4 Freedom from fear

FDR said it. All too many people actually believe it.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

FDR was the worst president in American history, for many many reasons.

 

[Manco]

Define being safe.

For one thing, individuals should have the right to provide for their own safety using the most effective tools, namely firearms. Supplementing this are laws against crimes such as murder and assault, along with law enforcement agencies and prisons. Nothing can be absolutely guaranteed, of course, but such steps can help improve the people's odds of maintaining their right to life, as well as leading productive and happy lives if they so choose. To this extent, government can help the people BE reasonably safe and still free--less would take society toward anarchy, and more would take society toward statism and tyranny.

As for FEELING safe, that's really all in the mind, and government has no business meddling with how people actually feel--only the real conditions may be addressed (and allowed to be addressed by the people themselves), and even if some people don't feel safe, there is never a justification for compromising liberty and real safety just to fool some people into FEELING safe. No fully-developed reasoning adult human mind would approve of such actions from so-called leaders (except for the deceivers in the government who desire more power, of course), being coddled and tricked into a false sense of security like so many sheep.

 

[Baba Louie]

We have a right to self defense. It's supposedly one of those unalienable thingies our forefathers wrote about that pre-exist any form of government. But a right to feel safe or right to be safe? That's stretching it.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. -- Helen Keller

Sad but true. Utopia does not exist, no matter how hard some try to convince themselves or pass laws prohibiting this or that in an effort to "make things safe".

Tho there are some examples where laws do work to make some things we consume safe(r), or places we work at, cars we drive, etc. All come at a cost.

 

[barnbwt]

I think we have more of a right to make ourselves safe (read: pursuing Life) than we do a right to be made safe. Granted, security is the primary purpose of government (at least, it used to be), but we have no inherent God-given right to this benefit of civilization. Instead, we are given the right to construct a government (in our case, a Constitutional Republic) that best provides this service to us citizens as part of the Social Contract theory.

As has been seen countless times, we citizens are not always the wisest at deciding the best method for securing our own safety, but it is ultimately our decision who safeguards us (a government, ourselves, or no one).

TCB

 

[9MMare]

Well, if we have the right to life and liberty, I think it is reasonable to argue that we have the right to be safe--only to a degree, of course, because as you said complete safety is unachievable. .

American citizens have many options for taking their individual and family safety into *their own hands* and be responsible for it. (anti-gun people would like to remove some of those options).

And yes, there is no guarantee, no matter what you...or the govt...does.

Please see my signature (2nd one.)

 

[9MMare]

I think we have more of a right to make ourselves safe (read: pursuing Life) than we do a right to be made safe. Granted, security is the primary purpose of government (at least, it used to be), but we have no inherent God-given right to this benefit of civilization. Instead, we are given the right to construct a government (in our case, a Constitutional Republic) that best provides this service to us citizens as part of the Social Contract theory.

As has been seen countless times, we citizens are not always the best at deciding the best method for securing our own safety, but it is ultimately our decision who safeguards us (a government, ourselves, or no one).

TCB

Thank you! Well said.