So who do you shoot first?

That is the truth!

Well, I know *I* am much more polite when I am armed. And much more tolerant.
The consequences are too severe to be otherwise.

Bruce

quote:

Originally posted by RNshooter:
Well, I know *I* am much more polite when I am armed. And much more tolerant.
The consequences are too severe to be otherwise.

Now THAT make sense to me. I know I am as well. Thanks Bruce!

I think Cooper was being nostalgic and sort of referring to what you'd see in Westerns - where minor confrontations and disagreements would often lead to a face off, and not so much because they had weapons but more so because they had balls.

Cooper was a student and teacher of history, not the movies.

John Bernard Books said it best in "The Shootist". "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them".

While I won't presume to know what colonel Cooper meant when he made his statement, I can tell you what I interpreted it to mean. When people take the time and effort to develop the skills needed to be fully self reliant and independant; then respect, civilty and good manners are a natural off-shoot. He was lamenting their lack in the modern, self-indulgent, victimhood world where people behave boorishly and selfishly. Just my .02

Ken

^^this

To me it's not about the man wearing the gun on his belt but the man who would be discourteous and upon seeing the holstered weapon think "I shouldn't poke this bear". No threat is implied.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
^^this

Absolutely!!!

And besides all of this, he brought back, perhaps the most perfect holster ever devised from down there.

Stay safe
Poli Viejo

I’m compelled to add that I really like how he describes society as having swept etiquette etc. “under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions.” Beautiful

the highway i commute to work on always has troopers lining the coffers of the state with traffic citations. believe me it keeps everyone in line. i think similar psychology works when more good guys are armed, just like more troopers keep many people from driving badly on the highway. without consequences for breaking law or acting badly there is lesser incentive to control oneself. i think it's that simple. rules without consequences are no rules at all.

We don’t see it because we don’t think about it, but our society is more civil than it might be. A percentage of crime does not happen here because the criminal element does not know who is armed.

Should firearms be outlawed and somehow effectively collected from the law abiding - violent crimes would escalate quickly and then radically. What would a criminal fear if he/she is the only one with a gun?

quote:

Originally posted by Horn:
And besides all of this, he brought back, perhaps the most perfect holster ever devised from down there...

I thought I knew Cooper, but this is news to me. Which holster is it?

When I know a man is without arms, I may, at my pleasure, give insult for what might he do?

Though if the man be armed, great violence may greet me for the most minor slight. Who can guess the rage within a man or what may wake it.

quote:

Originally posted by mojojojo:
OK - then what is he saying? If not that, then it must be that because one is carrying a rapier/revolver/obvious weapon then one can be more assured of civility because of the fear/intimidation factor to someone who otherwise might be uncivil. I don't read it any other way than my original question or this.

The gist of the message is: potential troublemakers are less likely to cause trouble if the good people are armed, and by extension of fewer fools starting less shit because of fewer soft targets - because they might get shot if they screw with the wrong/armed Average Joe - you end up with a more polite society. So yes, fear is a component, but only for the would-be miscreants. Don't start none, won't be none. Most of them want soft targets. It changes the entire dynamic between the criminals and potential victims, by narrowing their pool.

In the mid 1970s, my friends and I had a spot where we would go to party. It was out in the middle of nowhere, we could crank up the tunes without fear of disturbing the peace, and it was at the top of a large hill so that we could see headlights long before they got to us. Every time we would go there, we would be the only ones there. We felt like it was "our" place.

One night we decided to go there. We drove up the dirt road barely wide enough for one vehicle. When we got to the clearing at the top of the hill, we discovered there were several other people there in several cars and trucks. I remember thinking to myself, "I guess this isn't 'our' place after all." We decided the best course of action would be to just leave. That is what we would have appreciated had the roles been reversed. We found a place to turn around, and as we did, one of the guys in their group approached us. We said we were just turning around and leaving, and he responded by throwing his beer bottle at us.

We completed our turn around and began our descent back down the hill. I was in the back seat and kept looking back. Sure enough, they decided to come after us. I wondered, "Why? When we saw the place was occupied, we just left. Why do they now want to fuck with us?"

By the time we got all the way back down the narrow one-lane dirt road back to the paved roadway, we could see all of the lights of their vehicles also descending the hill. We turned left onto the paved road, and after we drove about a half mile or so, I could see their headlights turning toward us. Again I wondered why.

By the time we got back to civilization, they were upon us. That was when my buddy in the front seat remembered that his take-down rifle was under his seat. He began extracting the barrel and other parts of the gun and assembling it. When the "brave" fellows pulled up next to us, my buddy laid the rifle across the top of the door with the window down.

I wish I could describe for you the reactions on the faces of these brave individuals who had us outnumbered 10 to 1, and absolutely no reason whatsoever to want to screw with us. They were having so much fun - until they realized they might actually pay a price for their ass-holish behavior. Shear terror, and the driver slammed on his brakes as did all of the other vehicles in their party.

As 46and2 said: Potential troublemakers are less likely to cause trouble if the good people are armed.

Spot on Colonel!