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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
why would that matter? or is this your way of looking at it as 'this only happens to other people, not me'.
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Perhaps I came across a little too snarky yesterday. So no, I'm not dispassionate concerning the events surrounding your statistic. As I said earlier, I've been the victim of violent crime (and not so violent) ... certainly not to THAT extent, thankfully.
It is a tragic event and I can certainly sympathize with the families of the victims (to a certain extent--I've never been in their shoes, so I can only understand their emotions with regard to my own experience); but I'm not sure what either one of the victims could have done to prevent it. A gun? A few self-defense classes? Mace/pepper spray? A stun gun?
When you are ambushed there's very little you can do; and these people were ambushed. Not to mention the fact that they were outnumbered.
What I really fail to understand with regard to the direction that this thread has gone is what all these statistics are supposed to point out.
I presume that MOST of us are very aware that crime is ever-present--not just violent crime--but quoting statistics without any kind of follow-up is just sensationalism and only serves to further the feeling of paranoia and fear that is becoming pervasive in this country. My biggest concern with that is: vigilantism/street justice. I mean, sure I've had thoughts of taking the law into my own hands but there is nothing scarier to me than a drunken and paranoid person with a gun*.
The fact is the sort of violent crimes that have been quoted in this thread are RARE.
That does NOT mean that we as a people shouldn't be ready to defend ourselves if needed ... just that there is NO POINT in dwelling on the crimes themselves beyond some kind academic fascination.
I ask again: when someone quotes a statistic about a violent crime ... please extrapolate how YOU would have handled it differently -- if possible. Seriously.
* This is from experience. When "Hurricane Elvis" happened in Memphis the power was out for two-to-three weeks in Midtown. Midtown Memphis has its fair share of crime (but I continue to live there). During the power outage people in my family patrolled their neighborhoods with shotguns and other firearms. I didn't have a problem with this until it became apparent that they were drinking ... heavily (bad beer, too). It was like a freakin' game to them. It started out as a "noble cause," but could have ended very tragically. But again, even this situation is rare and I don't really dwell on it. If it becomes an everyday thing then I might get a little more concerned.