Guy goes fishing in America, almost loses his shoes!
My guess is if we took America from the headline and replaced it with the UK, it might have gone down like this; and I could be way off base here, so if I am please tell me how you think it would go. If this were the UK, I think he would have a blackened eye, and no shoes to show for it. He'd think about reporting it to the police, but then those criminals might have their buddy's come back to hurt him or worse, and he'd have no way to protect himself if he did, because he doesn't own a gun, or knife, because it's illegal. Ultimately, I would predict that he'd just end up buying new Nikes out of his own pocket cash, and chalk it up to the game.
I'd imagine if that's me i'd have lost a pair of shoes! But i'd still live in a country where my kids are far less likely to be shot walking down the street. Seems a small price to pay. Also please see previous comment about guns vs crime levels. Is there any evidence to support the idea that crime diminishes as gun ownership increases?
And yes, i would absolutely report the crime.
In terms of repercussions, are you saying this Texan is now safe? Maybe next time instead of swaggering over confidently to ask him about the shoes prior to stealing them those gentleman will just shoot him in the back?
In regards the question in a previous comment about how to protect free speech within a society other than gun ownership - how about community building? The Solzhenitsyn quote you gave is disturbing and i feel unfortunately all too real. If the shit hits the fan and a government or whomever else tries to repress your freedoms then at the end of the day, if you don't have a community behind you you're just going to be a guy with a gun and sure you'll make a great slow motion movie clip as you come out blazing when they come to take you away but ultimately they are going to win the war.
Solzhenitsyn wishes the community had risen up. Guns do not build communities. Guns destroy communities. It is what they have been built to do! A community standing together with clenched fists in the face of oppression is more powerful than one that is divided, selfish and scared regardless of the number of firearms that it possesses.
I hear you, not all of the U.S. is like the wild-wild west. Some areas are rough though. I think it's nice to have the option to be able to protect yourself. I can't speak much to community building. There is a quote though
If you think about it, it makes sense, and if the book 'More Guns, Less Crime' is correct, that might be the psychology behind why that is the case.
I don't know how a community can stand together with out basic principles. America, has had freedom of speech, and the second amendment for quite some time. I'm hoping these principles stick around. It's kind of the glue that holds U.S. together.
You keep thinking of lone defenders, instead of armed communities. Who would dare to be a mugger in a community where people are generally armed? These guys expect their victims to be disarmed, because that's common in cities in the USA today. That's why they even bother to be criminals.
If they tried to shoot a guy in the back, every other guy around could be prepared to shoot back, not just the guy fishing. It isn't one superhero defender of Gotham that is the real power of personal arms.
It's that there are no potential victims at all, so crime like muggings just don't happen, since the likelihood of getting a wallet from someone without being significantly endangered is very low.
This is one reason crime disproportionately victimizes the poor, since they either can't afford weapons to defend themselves, or can only afford crappy ones.
How many crimes do police prevent? Practically zero. They commit orders of magnitude more crimes than they prevent. At best they can investigate and seek to punish criminals AFTER they commit a crime.
Personal arms prevent millions of crimes every year. They keep the crimes from happening at all. Cops don't.
Think of personal arms like antibodies. Vaccination programs seek to create herd immunity, so virulent pathogens can't cause epidemics. Disarmed people are vectors for epidemics of crime, Typhoid Mary's of Tyranny.
"You keep thinking of lone defenders, instead of armed communities."
No i don't. In fact you've made my point for me. It's the strength of the community that matters armed or otherwise.