I respect your opinion on most topics, Hedge. You bring a level headedness to things.
This issue is tough, however. When your front door is kicked in by three armed home invaders intent on pistol whipping you about 15 times before taking your valuables and fleeing into the night... you're not all that concerned about perpetuating a cycle of violence.
You just want to protect yourself.
In south florida, every week there are 1-2 home invasions. 2-3 guys will break a window, beat the shit out of resident, and rob him in middle of night. That's some scary stuff.
What would you do if that threat was present? Call the police? They'll be there in 11 minutes, about 3 minutes after bad guys have driven away and you have a smashed face, if you're lucky.
If you have another solution, I'm all ears. Even if the bad guys had no guns, they still have bats, knives, and element of surprise, more than a match for a groggy person with maybe 5 seconds warning after the smash to prepare for incoming mess. You either have time to grab a cell and mumble something to the 911 operator... or to grab your weapon and level it at the door to drop whatever illegally enters your room.
As I pointed out earlier in this thread, you (of all people

) makes the best arguments for guns.
That's just my opinion though.
I can't really say much against what you tell me, cause I ain't living in your reality.
336 mentioned the cleaning up Giuliani did - that has to be done before any of the other issues are taken care of.
Ie, get rid of the illegal guns, clean up the streets from criminals.
But as far as criminals and Florida...
Now, I'm no expert on the current population there.
But from what I understand, there are way too many people that could be working and contributing instead of just doing time.
That's perhaps something Florida should try to change somehow to get more tax revenue, and to boost economic power.
JMO.
But that's slightly off-topic.
My main point is really this though - I can't tell you that you're fcuking wrong. Because I don't live in your reality everyday.
Of course I've stayed in rough neighborhoods my fair share of time, when I lived in other countries.
But I think what pisses most pro-gun activists off are anti-gun activists that are ignorant to how life in tougher hoods are like.