King County cannot have gated communities... Broodmoor is not gated... Has a guard shack and was gated, but was told to remove the gates.

Hmmm...I know of some places in downtown Bellevue with guard gates...maybe those are treated differently than the real gates that swing. But the gated communities I was thinking of are up in my bf's 'hood of Mill Creek, but that's just over the county line in Snohomish County. Didn't realize King County had that law.

You know how they are in King County... There are few places that have guard shacks, but no gates.

Anyhow, I'll try to find the law for you.

I say that having a gun in the home is less effective than having burglar alarms. If the burglar alarms notices don't scare them away, they will hopefully be scared away when the actual alarm goes off and the cops are on their way. If they aren't, they are sometimes diehard burglars who are trying to feed a drug habit so a gun notice outside your home won't be greater than the psychotic effect the drugs are having on them. I completely understand your position that guns + alarm = better safe than sorry.

Your neighborhood needs greater awareness of its surroundings just as your homeowner's association advised. Neighborhood watch signs and so forth have no deterrent effect if casual observers can tell that no one is really watching the neighborhood.

Plus, putting up "glock" signs around your home is good for a laugh from criminals and noncriminals. I know I'd be extremely entertained if I saw such a sign. A "beware of middle class people with guns who might not be prepared to shoot a human" sign doesn't work the same in practice as an "ADT sign" (or even a "beware of dog" sign). Being properly trained to handle guns safely and target practice isn't the same thing as being prepared to shoot a person if the time arises. But of course everyone who owns or wants to own a gun doesn't agree with this until they either freeze up or have their gun taken from them by an assailant (which won't happen to every person with a gun because many people are more than eager to actually use it on a human--but you still don't know when it will be you that it will happen to).

Are they breaking in during the day, when no one's around? I'm guessing so? In that case I guess a gun wouldn't matter, anyway. On the other hand, the security system is a deterrant for most young people that break in during the day looking for stuff they can steal/sell. Other good things you can do to prevent a break in is have good doors and locks, keep your windows shut and locked, have good lighting around the outside of your house, and get a dog (even nice ones know when something bad is up).

:)

One NEVER pulls a gun on some one they do not intend to shoot... That is the first mantra taught with gun safety...

It's the judged by 12 or carried by 6 way of thinking...

Don't know. I know we have an "anti-solicitation" sign in front of the complex. But I do know that "they" do not know what "solicitation" means and may have been casing the area by knocking on doors and visualizing who what they have in there...

We can say let the police handle it, but I have a right to protect my property and my self...

LOL. Tell that to the people who pull guns but aren't prepared to actually shoot. Also tell that to the people who are too shaken to pull the guns in the first place.

But as long as you know that the gun in your home is a response and not a deterrent, good luck to you and yours.

Who doesn't know what "solicitation" means? These probably aren't particularly crafty criminals but don't assume they are dumb people--even if they are teenagers or young adults.

Criminals and noncriminals case areas without knocking on doors everyday. It takes a simple drive through or walking a dog around your neighborhood to notice when people leave for work and when they come home. You notice that as a neighbor so nonneighbors notice the same. In fact, without knowing the structure of your community it isn't safe to assume that some of these people aren't your neighbors or associated with your neighbors.

The neighborhood and the police should handle it together. If you choose to have a gun, just be realistic about what the gun is doing and what it isn't doing. :)

First, one doesn't flinch when holding a lethal weapon. That is where the training comes in...

Second, I agree, guns are a response to an action, NEVER a deterrent. Citizens have to know their rights when they used such weapons as these in the thought of self-defense...

There goes that "one" again. :D

"One" would floss and brush every night because that's what dentists say. However, I keep meeting grown people with money and health insurance who have swollen gums, dingy teeth, and smelly breath. :(

Right.

So just make sure you're actually home IF a would-be burglar ever enters your home. Actually, I'd rather NOT be home IF a burglar enters my home, but that's just me.

And since you've been trained, you know to announce that you have a gun versus trying to do a law enforcement infiltration on a burglar. And you know that there are laws regarding the difference between defending your home and jumping the gun or vigilante justice. Just making sure gun owners are as safe and law abiding in practice as their gun training teaches.

Well, you have a right to protect yourself and others in your home that you feel are at risk of bodily harm. But I don't think you have a lethal right to protect your possessions. As a hs teacher used to say, if you shoot a burgler as he's running down your front drive, you better drag him back inside :)

I do not see your connection between the use of a 3rd person pronoun, dental care and how to handle a lethal weapon? Your point is what? You want to be right in this one? Fine. You are right. You are not living where I live.



Currently, I do not work, so I am at home most of the time. It is strange for this kind of activity the go on in my neighborhood, but how is the concern for my safety going to protect me other than being prepared? One way to be prepared is examining what my second amendment rights are, and what they are not. I have the right to protect myself and my property on my legal domicile. Anyone who I have not welcomed nor invited are not allowed to enter without my consent.

What is wrong with that?

And be better at covering your tracks than the police will be at figuring out what you did. :)

I agree with everything you said.

Don't make this personal. This thread isn't about you. You chose to share what's going on in your neighborhood that has you afraid and emotional. But this discussion happens everyday so don't get sensitive. I say the same thing I'm saying to you to people everyday regardless of who they are and where they live.

My point is that you are typing in theoretical language and I'm talking about what often happens in practice. Until you actually have pulled the gun and shot it at a human, it is difficult to say what you would actually do versus what "one" does or does not do as taught in gun safety classes. People are taught all sorts of things that they don't actually apply.


Okay. :)

But you have not shot an another human being either, unless there is a different lifestyle we all have yet to know about? :rolleyes:

And unless you have done it, you are right, we do not know what will happen until we are faced with that situation unless folks are avid gun users, i.e. hunter, police officer, military or just coming off of tours in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Those are the folks I would love to hear what their perspective is...

Uh...yeah....

Yep. Good luck.

I see what you mean but what would their perspectives accomplish beyond some general advice or an FYI? Some agree with what Peppy and I said. A lot of this stuff is based on something more objective than individuals' experiences.

I don't have a problem with law abiding citizines owning guns, in general, but it also doesn't accomplish what many people think/claim that it does. When I read scared people talking gun advocate stuff, as a result of a rash of burglaries in their neighborhood, it makes me wary.

Welp, that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I think differently and I know what is going on in my community and how I choose to handle a perceived threat, real or otherwise. Some of it will do with practicing techniques in weaponry and some it will do with conferring with other perspectives and some of it will do with publicizing/broadcasting the facts of my situation... I prefer being proactive rather than suffering as an assualt victim of this particular crime.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and asking GC what we thought. :)

Stay tuned for this one in a few months:
Supreme Court considers 'right to bear arms'

Landmark case on D.C. ban expected to have major ramifications

WASHINGTON - In a landmark hearing on gun ownership, the Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to endorse the view that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own guns, but was less clear about whether to retain the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23688073/

So they are challenging the ruling in DC? With our current make up on the Supreme Court, I can envision how this one turns out....

If you can't own handguns, what kind of guns can you own? That would seem unconstitutional to me.

I support 2nd amendment rights within reason. I grew up learning about and how to respect guns. My family owns a handgun and a shotgun, and I have shot them before on the range.

However, I do believe in proper background checks and that mandatory safetys be purchased with all guns.

:D That is what I am thinking...

The criminals broke into someone's car across the way from my house. The car was parked in the neighbor's driveway and the window was broken out. Have not heard if anything was missing.

That has happened to me in SoCal. The light was out in my case and they criminals stole all the lose items important to me--tapes namely, and an emergency care kit. It cost me $250 to replace the window and my insurance covered the rest. Afterward, I no longer liked living in that area and moved to a gated community--which I cannot do now... :(

But, yeah, I guess I will have less closet space... ;) I like Big Bertha...

Car prowling doesn't scare me...that happens everywhere, even in nice safe places like Redmond. Really there's no reason for you to be scared in Redmond, so you can probably chill out a little. There's no need to be in a gated community to feel safe - we've managed to do without them here all this time. Besides, don't you feel a little bit like a bird in a cage with the gate? I've always found gated communities (and yards with fences or walls in the front yard, too) to look very cold and standoffish...what's the point of being in a larger suburban community if you want no part of it?

Home burglaries are a different story. It takes either a gutsy or stupid person to break into a home...especially when someone might be there. And I don't want to see either one of those kind of people in my home uninvited.

I think the COA decision will be upheld. I don't think the Court will say the Second gives the right to own handguns, nor do I think it will impose strict scrutiny for gun restrictions, unfortunately.

I just don't think most people, or the Court, thinks the DC restriction is reasonable. It basically prohibits protecting ones own home and family. Also, I don't think there is much evidence to show that the people responsible for the violence in DC are paying much attention to this law.