How the way we walk can increase risk of being mugged

[Seth]

The point is, do the crime statistics reflect the need to practice your scary faces in the mirror? They certainly don't here. Perhaps they do where you live. There's reasonable precautions and then there's obsession with the possibility that something bad is going to happen to you.

The statistical likelihood that the victim of a violent crime will be the victim of a violent crime is 100%. Since it's quite literally impossible to predict where violent crime is going to strike, and since it's been known to strike in even the most peaceful communities, it seems prudent to prepare and train for such an event. Since such training and awareness have the direct benefit of decreasing the chance that you will be victimized by giving you better situational awareness skills, as the OP demonstrates, not to mention the additional peace of mind, physical exercise and confidence that being trained provides, the benefits of such training far outweigh the negative aspects, of which there are effectively none.

It's no different than practicing your fire escape plan so you won't die in a house fire because you don't know what to do.

You seem to have this silly notion that entertaining the idea that one might be criminally victimized and preparing a response plan for that eventuality is "obsessive." It's not. It's just common sense. And you will probably (hopefully) live your whole life without ever needing to employ your plan, but if it happens to you it will likely mean the difference between survival and death.

With death or crippling permanent injury as a risk of a violent encounter any person with any sense at all can see that having a plan and some training as to what to do is a perfectly rational idea.

Your dismissive attitude is just trollery because you can't bring yourself to agree with me on much of anything.

[pErvinalia]

No, it just seems you are obsessed with bad things potentially happening to you. If you live in a violent place, then that's fair enough. If you don't, then you are letting fear rule your life to a degree. Perhaps I'm overconfident about my size and appearance that I don't need to worry about these things (although, these days, I don't go anywhere or do anything that would see me come across many potentially violent people). Maybe you look like an easy target, so you need to do this. I don't really know. It does seem as though you are overly preoccupied with the possibility of bad things happening, though.

[FBM]

I don't know the area where Seth lives, but I have to admit that of the 8 or 9 countries I've lived in or visited, there are only two where I felt that being armed most of the time was a good idea: Honduras and the US. That's part of the reason I don't have much desire to live in the US again.

[Seth]

No, it just seems you are obsessed with bad things potentially happening to you.

Wrong. I'm not obsessed, I'm rational and realistic. Bad things happen. I mentioned before that I keep emergency respirators in my house because I live near a rail line. It's not because I'm obsessed with a derailment, it's because I've actually survived a deadly derailment by pure chance and I've experienced a toxic material release from a tank car passing less than 100 yards from my home. Rather than worry about whether it might happen again I simply stocked the hazardous materials response and escape kit, put it in the closet and quit worrying about it because I know that should such a thing happen again I'll be prepared to survive it.

If you live in a violent place, then that's fair enough. If you don't, then you are letting fear rule your life to a degree.

Again, you cannot distinguish between fear and rational risk analysis and response. If you own a fire extinguisher, then by your metric you are "obsessed" with fire and you are "letting fear rule your life to a degree." If you possess a first-aid kit you are "letting fear rule your life to a degree" because you are "obsessed" with the consequences of barking your knuckles while working in the garage, according to your "reasoning." If you come inside during a thunderstorm you are "letting fear rule your life to a degree" and you are "obsessed" with not getting struck by lightning.

That's just idiocy at work.

Perhaps I'm overconfident about my size and appearance that I don't need to worry about these things (although, these days, I don't go anywhere or do anything that would see me come across many potentially violent people). Maybe you look like an easy target, so you need to do this. I don't really know. It does seem as though you are overly preoccupied with the possibility of bad things happening, though.

You only think that because I have the courage and wisdom to actually discuss such things and I advocate for preparedness, which you evidently can't stomach. I'd say it's YOU who is letting fear rule your life because rather than face the risks, analyze them, formulate a plan and train for response to both common threats and uncommon threats that have potentially fatal consequences you are simply remaining in willful denial of reality because it disturbs you to think about such things.

[pErvinalia]

@FBM... Yeah, I've got to admit, I'd considered being armed in South Africa. Although, if you stay in the right areas, it seems perfectly safe. I only once felt in danger when I was there, when my ex-wife decided to take us on a tour of the streets of Jo'burg and we accidentally wound up in one of the more ghetto suburbs. That was considerably frightening..

But even you must be generalising about the US, surely? I can't believe it's all mass shootings and drive by shootings all over the country. Surely there's a massive swathe of the country that isn't affected by high crime?

[pErvinalia]

I'd say it's YOU who is letting fear rule your life because rather than face the risks, analyze them, formulate a plan and train for response to both common threats and uncommon threats that have potentially fatal consequences you are simply remaining in willful denial of reality because it disturbs you to think about such things.

Lol. How do you come to that ridiculous conclusion? I don't think about bad things happening, therefore I must be fearful?!?

About the only thing I fear these days is the bloody snakes around here. I've mostly stopped my solo bushwalking in spring and summer due to the worry about being bitten in an isolated area.

I also fear running out of beer (I'm hours from the nearest boozer), but that's a different kind of fear...

[Seth]

I'd say it's YOU who is letting fear rule your life because rather than face the risks, analyze them, formulate a plan and train for response to both common threats and uncommon threats that have potentially fatal consequences you are simply remaining in willful denial of reality because it disturbs you to think about such things.

Lol. How do you come to that ridiculous conclusion? I don't think about bad things happening, therefore I must be fearful?!?

Yup. Ignoring the possibility of bad things happening is just a compensatory mechanism to deal with fear. Or it's just plain old stupidity. Either way it makes one a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

About the only thing I fear these days is the bloody snakes around here. I've mostly stopped my solo bushwalking in spring and summer due to the worry about being bitten in an isolated area.

Get a pair of snake-boots and leggings and a Judge revolver that accepts .410 shotgun shells. Oh, wait, you can't get a shot-pistol to protect yourself. Pity about that. I hear Darwin calling your name...

I also fear running out of beer (I'm hours from the nearest boozer), but that's a different kind of fear...

But you have analyzed this risk and made preparations to avoid the threat I suspect, which according to your lights means you're living in fear. Using your reasoning you should be sitting complacently and calmly in your living room with the full and firm expectation that your beer will appear just when you want it so you don't need to plan ahead and stock up in case you have difficulty getting to the liquor store.

Shame on you, you fearful pussy!

[Seth]

@FBM... Yeah, I've got to admit, I'd considered being armed in South Africa. Although, if you stay in the right areas, it seems perfectly safe. I only once felt in danger when I was there, when my ex-wife decided to take us on a tour of the streets of Jo'burg and we accidentally wound up in one of the more ghetto suburbs. That was considerably frightening..

But even you must be generalising about the US, surely? I can't believe it's all mass shootings and drive by shootings all over the country. Surely there's a massive swathe of the country that isn't affected by high crime?

Yup. And guess where most of the guns are kept? In that swath. Guess where few to no guns are kept...in the high crime areas.

Correlation and causation.

Places where guns are carried more routinely by law-abiding citizens experience a substantially lower violent crime rate than places where law-abiding citizens are disarmed by the government.

[FBM]

@FBM... Yeah, I've got to admit, I'd considered being armed in South Africa. Although, if you stay in the right areas, it seems perfectly safe. I only once felt in danger when I was there, when my ex-wife decided to take us on a tour of the streets of Jo'burg and we accidentally wound up in one of the more ghetto suburbs. That was considerably frightening..

But even you must be generalising about the US, surely? I can't believe it's all mass shootings and drive by shootings all over the country. Surely there's a massive swathe of the country that isn't affected by high crime?

Well, I did say "most of the time." That bears a little explaining. If I'm at home out in the countryside, no, I don't feel the need to go armed so much because of people but because there are still quite a few bears in TN. On the other hand, if I'm going to a larger city for some reason, it's likely that I'll have to at least drive through a high-crime area. So even if I'm going to a place where I'd feel safe, I'd still wind up carrying for the whole trip.

[Seth]

@FBM... Yeah, I've got to admit, I'd considered being armed in South Africa. Although, if you stay in the right areas, it seems perfectly safe. I only once felt in danger when I was there, when my ex-wife decided to take us on a tour of the streets of Jo'burg and we accidentally wound up in one of the more ghetto suburbs. That was considerably frightening..

But even you must be generalising about the US, surely? I can't believe it's all mass shootings and drive by shootings all over the country. Surely there's a massive swathe of the country that isn't affected by high crime?

Well, I did say "most of the time." That bears a little explaining. If I'm at home out in the countryside, no, I don't feel the need to go armed so much because of people but because there are still quite a few bears in TN. On the other hand, if I'm going to a larger city for some reason, it's likely that I'll have to at least drive through a high-crime area. So even if I'm going to a place where I'd feel safe, I'd still wind up carrying for the whole trip.

It's hard to explain to people who don't understand that it's not a "need to be armed all the time" fear-based decision, it's a "need to be armed in extremis" judgment that rationally requires one to carry the tool at all times because the occurrence of the extremis condition is entirely unpredictable. I don't carry a gun because I fear being attacked at any moment, I carry a gun because if I am attacked, there will be no opportunity to go get my gun should I need it. This does not, contrary to rEv's idea, mean that I walk around in a perpetual state of fear of attack. It's absolutely no different from owning a fire extinguisher. You don't expect your car to catch on fire, but you have an extinguisher in the boot so you can do something useful if it ever happens.

I choose to carry a gun because the potential consequences of a violent attack can easily be a matter of life or death and I have absolutely no way of predicting when or where such an event will occur because, like you, I go from risk area to risk area every day and what's prudent in one area might be pointless in another but one doesn't go armed only in hostile territory, one just goes armed all the time because it's easier than doing an individual risk assessment for every block you travel down the street. So the burden of doing so, and staying proficient, is negligible. Also, staying proficient happens to be a lot of fun.

[FBM]

To be fair, though, I have known some paranoid people who did/do go (excessively) armed pretty much as rEv describes. They exist, no doubt. But it's not reasonable to paint every gun owner with the same brush.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I walk fast, head down, hoodie up. If I get close to anyone that looks like they might be trouble, I start muttering randomness to myself, "Mulberry... no it was Tuesday, so it would be upholstered. Or perhaps bluer than usual. A tree! A tree? Don't be silly, mother!" etc.

Never been mugged yet. And I used to walk home from work at 4am every day.

[FBM]

I walk fast, head down, hoodie up. If I get close to anyone that looks like they might be trouble, I start muttering randomness to myself, "Mulberry... no it was Tuesday, so it would be upholstered. Or perhaps bluer than usual. A tree! A tree? Don't be silly, mother!" etc.

Never been mugged yet. And I used to walk home from work at 4am every day.

[JimC]

In Oz, there is virtually no need to consider the potential threat of an attacker armed with a gun, so one doesn't have to feel the need to go armed...

Basically down to a sensible policy of firearm regulation, but that theme has been done to death...

As rEv said, though, if there places in the world where being attacked by criminals with concealed weapons is a real and present danger, then I'm not going to say it doesn't make sense to prepare likewise...

I certainly know where I'd prefer to live, though...

Having said that, there are places and times in Oz where there is a real threat of being punched up by alcohol-fuelled young fuckwits. Basically, you need good street antennae, and be able to run faster than a drunk...

[pErvinalia]

To be fair, though, I have known some paranoid people who did/do go (excessively) armed pretty much as rEv describes. They exist, no doubt. But it's not reasonable to paint every gun owner with the same brush.

No, you are right, and I wasn't doing that. It was more his comment about practising his scary face in the mirror that made me think that he's taking this just a bit far. That combined with his general level of paranoia about all sorts of stuff, including Marxists. I really do think Seth lives in fear. Perhaps he has a good reason for that, I don't know. I'm just glad that I don't live like that. I take reasonable precautions for all things I do. There really has only ever been one situation in my life where I've been fearful*, and that was as a taxi driver dropping two aggressive guys off in the middle of a bad neighbourhood in the middle of the night. They started the process of attempting to rob me, but the way I reacted must have put them off. That was one of my last jobs before I quit taxi driving. But if I ever did it again, I'd keep a short metal bar in the driver's door compartment for situations like that. Even though that would probably be illegal.

*The only other time was a situation where I couldn't have really adequately prepared. It was my first day in Athens on holiday and was walking through the streets and I passed two gigantic drunk and aggressive Russian dudes who were down a side street. If they wanted to attack me, there was probably not much I could have done. I suppose I probably could have outrun them. They looked like weightlifters.