[pct-l] Carrying weapons

[Scott Williams]

Mountain man like you Mango, hell I figured you were packin' and could
shoot the eye out of a squirrel at a hundred yards!  You thought I was the
security?  Man were we in trouble.

Shroomer

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 6:47 AM, Jim & Jane Moody <moodyjj at comcast.net>wrote:

> I discovered that if I hiked with Shroomer, I didn't need a gun.
>
> Mango
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From: *"Scott Williams" <baidarker at gmail.com>
> *To: *ecpg at peoplepc.com
> *Cc: *pct-l at backcountry.net, "Kellie Morrill" <kelliemorrill at yahoo.com>
> *Sent: *Wednesday, November 9, 2011 10:16:43 PM
>
> *Subject: *Re: [pct-l] Carrying weapons
>
> I'm a retired probation officer and was a member of, or ran our felony
> investigations unit for 15 years in my 30 years on the job.  Every felony
> committed in our county came across my desk if their was a suspect charged
> by the DA.  Thousands and thousands of crimes, many against women, almost
> everyone of them occurred in a city, or in the parking lots of our Regional
> Parks.  I can't recall one occurring "on trail" that wasn't a city trail.
>  The notion that women are unsafe in the wilderness seems to come from the
> tremendous press that the very isolated weird cases get over the years.
>  People tend to forget the thousands of rapes and hundreds of murders in
> Oakland, Berkeley, SF and the surrounding suburbs, but can tell you of the
> trail side killer in Marin many years ago.  That case got press, and stays
> in folks minds, the mundane, very real threat of crime in town, on the
> streets, in shops and homes, goes almost unnoticed it is so common.
>
> You are much, much safer on any wilderness trail than you have ever been at
> home or in whatever town you live in across the country, because that is
> where crimes are routinely committed, not in the wilderness.  If you feel
> the need to carry a gun for protection, wear it on the street, in the
> restaurant you have dinner in, and at home, home invasions are way more
> common than trail side stranglers.  My point is that if you don't carry a
> gun at home, you certainly don't need one on the PCT.
>
> That being said, I am always careful when leaving trail to see who is in
> the trail head parking lots, and I don't camp near roads.  Stealth camp,
> not from bears, but from marauding drunks near towns and campgrounds.  And
> try to hitch with friends.
>
> If you begin alone, but are a social person, you will quickly meet friends.
>  Rely on them, come into town with them.  Hiking in a group is fun and even
> safer than on your own, in case you get injured.  The statistics are just
> not weighted toward needing a gun on trail.
>
> Shroomer
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