I would never consider owning a gun if I would live in a country with little crime. But Venezuela is among the most violent countries in the world. As I mentioned earlier, I was always against the idea of owning a gun, thinking that it probably could do more harm then good. I was always the type of person who thinks that most situation can be avoided. I used to do some pool hustling as a teenager, in some pretty shady places, and when you play for money I would often get into arguments, but was always able to talk my way out of it and never got into a fight, even though some of those situation where pretty bad. I did some martial arts as a teenager, not to much, but you know they try and teach you to avoid violence. My father, being a hunter has always had many guns at home, and when we lived on a sailing yacht he used to sleep with a 357 under his pillow. So you can say that I was raised thinking owning a gun is the way to go, but I formed my own opinion about it.
I've had some bad experiences, like having my car stolen when I was 17 by 3 guys and having a gun pointed to my head for like 30min, till they let me go in some remote area, and another robbery at gunpoint, as well as other people pulling a gun on me another couple of times. Despite these experiences I was still against owning a gun, mainly because I think a gun wouldn't have made a difference in any of these situations.
Land is very cheap here, and about 15 years ago, my parents bought some land in Venezuela. Really beautiful place with 2 rivers, nature, hunting. They had to make a better road, so they bought an old caterpillar bulldozer and lived in a tent while making the preparation to build a house. One day when they where returning from a nearby village the dog started barking while they where getting out of the car and at the same moment 2 guys with mask came out of some nearby bushes and said now you are fucked old man and started lifting a shotgun to my father about 5 meters away and taking aim. They pretty much ignored my mother completely cause they likely didn't see any threat in her. Little they knew that my mother was carrying the smith & wesson 357. she started shooting and besides having practice with hand guns, was so nervous that she didn't hit them. A fraction of a second later the guy fired the shotgun, but the bullets only damaged my fathers jacket and one little graze to the flesh. The guy would have never missed with the shotgun at that range, unless my mother hadn't shot. they dived into the bushes and my parents where able to get into the car and to the police. when they returned the villains had burned down all the equipment and torched the dozer. My parents wanted to retire in that area, but after that incident sold the land and went back to Germany.
In Venezuela the criminals have become very unscrupulous, and you hear many stories about people getting murder t despite not putting up resistance. A neighbor, and old couple got killed a couple of years ago, and I know which was the gang (well it was more like organized crime) who did it and how it happened. The boss of the gang was a neighbor and a sister in law went to school with a girl who was one of the members long time girlfriend. The old couple had all kind of security and alarm systems in their house, but this gang was specialized, since they stole banks, armored cars, atms (i know sounds like from a movie doesn't it ?). Besides being violent they where pretty smart guys, probably the reason that the bosses where in the mid thirties and haven't been killed before. They used to take a kid along some of the robberies who was specialized in opening all kind of locks. this kid was a crackhead, and during the robbery freaked out and cut the old couples throat. The whole gang was killed a couple of months later by some special intelligence police send from Caracas. And ironically the crackhead who killed the couple wasn't killed by them. I'm sure it wouldn't have made any difference if they where carrying guns.
So my point is that there are situations, places where owning a gun for protection is better. You could argue, that it's better to avoid these places altogether, and I think you are right. Actually I'm working on that and hope to find some nice country in the future and move there.
I still think that a lot of people only buy guns to feel better about themselves, and if I would buy a gun I would keep it as secret as possible, not even telling relatives about it to avoid gossip. Also training is essential for the correct handling mindset. |
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United States. Nov 14 2012 23:31. Posts 2734
