Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Unarmed people where they should be armed are dead and or stupid people. Sorry, I don't know a nicer way to put it.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

So, I guess if a deaf person approached you for help they would be dead before you learned that about them. I think you are the threat to the safety of the rest of us. But of course, you "might feel bad later" so I guess that still makes you a "good guy" and still makes the person you just murdered the "bad guy."

Law enforcement agencies say crime is down, significantly down. Who says otherwise? Those standing to profit from ramping up fear among the public - firearms manufacturers and their lobbyists, dishonest political demagogues, and sensationalist media outlets, that is who.

From the Pew Research Center:

Opinion surveys regularly find that Americans believe crime is up nationally, even when the data show it is down. In 18 of 22 Gallup surveys since 1993 that have asked about national crime, at least six-in-ten Americans said there was more crime in the U.S. compared with the year before, despite the generally downward trend in national violent and property crime rates during most of that period.

Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen sharply over the past quarter century. The two most commonly cited sources of crime statistics in the U.S. both show a substantial decline in the violent crime rate since it peaked in the early 1990s. One is an annual report by the FBI of serious crimes reported to police in approximately 18,000 jurisdictions around the country. The other is an annual survey of more than 90,000 households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which asks Americans ages 12 and older whether they were victims of crime, regardless of whether they reported those crimes to the police.

Using the FBI numbers, the violent crime rate fell 49% between 1993 and 2017. Using the BJS data, the rate fell 74% during that span. (For both studies, 2017 is the most recent full year of data.) The long-term decline in violent crime hasn’t been uninterrupted, though. The FBI, for instance, reported increases in the violent crime rate between 2004 and 2006 and again between 2014 and 2016.

Property crime has declined significantly over the long term. Like the violent crime rate, the U.S. property crime rate today is far below its peak level. FBI data show that the rate fell by 50% between 1993 and 2017, while BJS reports a decline of 69% during that span. Property crime includes offenses such as burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft, and it is generally far more common than violent crime.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/03/5-facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/

Mike

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Fear, no. Reasonable caution, yes. The bad guys out there don't give a rats patootie whether you are having fun or not.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Come on Mike... The WILLIE JILLIES were for the bears...They get pretty big in Montana; not to mention mountain lions which you may have to choke with your bare hands. lets not get things confused here. I live in an AG community also and I DO lock my doors at night ! Especially. with a mother k*****g deranged attorney on the loose possibly not far from me. Everyone I know carries a pea shooter in his belt if for nothing else for things like baby copperheads etc... that come crawling out in the spring, mean and hungry and a menace to your dogs in your FENCED in yard. Yes, be kind and compassionate to those who want to harm you; maybe your head will come off in a swift stroke instead of a slow, sawing motion.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Mike, first, you don't know me. Don't assume that you do. I'm retired from the military and have had firearms training regularly over the last 20 years. Second, I'm a reasonably intelligent person. I can tell a person charging at me with evil intent from someone looking for help.
People without the benefit of military training can get it from the NRA or other places. And they should do it if they are going to carry. Thirdly, I've carried for decades and guess what, never had to shoot anyone. But I'm fully prepared to do so if necessary to protect myself or someone else.
Crime statistics are great and mean very little if you are unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Am I afraid of the world? No. Am I going to use appropriate precautions? Yes. Are you or anybody else going to stop me from doing so? No.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Is Alabama more dangerous than Michigan, or are Alabama folks more scared?

Scared of snakes, too, I see. If I had a neighbor wandering around in their fenced yard (in an ag community?) shooting off a gun that would worry me far more than a snake ever would.

Mike

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

I am strictly commenting on what you have posted. That is all I have to go on, and that is all that I am going on.

I am disagreeing with you, I am not telling you what to do.

The topic, which shouldn't even be here to begin with, is what do we as photographers do to protect ourselves in the wilds? You and others are worried about bad guys and think carrying a gun would be useful in the unlikely event that a mugger found you in the wilderness and charged you in full view with obviously bad intentions. I said that it is fearful and suspicious who are armed and wandering around trying to decide who is and who is not a bad guy that I worry about, and I try to avoid people like that. You may disagree with that, but it is an honest and legitimate response to the question at hand.

Mike

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Armed people who are fearful, suspicious and ignorant are dangerous. That is as nicely as I can put that.

Mike

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop ...

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Ah, so it is a photography related topic after all!



Mike

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you think you need a gun to protect your camera gear, you should sell your camera gear and pursue your gun hobby ...

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Actually, it probably makes more sense to protect your gun case with a motion-activated camera. I think you are more likely to have your gun stolen than you are your camera.

I think I am going to start doing my part to fight crime by carrying a camera with me on the trail and photographing everyone who has a gun, in case they might be a gun thief.

First step in every fire investigation here: is the gun cabinet empty? If so, open a suspected arson case.

Mike

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Our OP bought their camera to be a photographer, but their fears told them to be afraid to follow their passion.

N4646W

Well it is the Sierra Mt. range, not the Sierra, locals call it living in the Sierras.

Yes, law enforcement does recommend carrying, not official policy, but they do look the other way for the law abiding citizen.

Nope, not trying to stir up trouble and don't think the OP was either. But it seems that you and some others do not recommend standing up for yourselves, or your loved ones. Everything is just roses. If you will "read" his topic statement it has nothing to do with politics. Folks like you have made it political. It must be wonderful to live in such an idyllic world.

As for the OP's question, my gear gets extra padding, PVC tubes for tele lenses too big for pack. Depending on how long I'm going to be out, it might be mounted to a pack frame with minimal survival gear, side arm (first two rounds are snake shot), snake bite kit, para cord, small hatchet, matches in a dry tin, thermal blanket, fish line and hooks, and most important, Snickers bars and coffee. When the snickers and coffee run out, I'm gone.

Ron