How do you respond to people thinking your are paranoid?

Ask them if they use seat belts, airbags, take long walks in a thunderstorm? If their house has an alarm system or their car?
 
When the conversation happens, I like to remind people that, when I was in high school, as part of the health curriculum I was required to learn how to perform the Heimlich maneuver - on others AND on myself. I was required to know how to reach into a wound with my fingers to stop an arterial bleed, how to perform an emergency tracheotomy, how to treat a compound fracture, even how to deliver a baby. I was required to know how to use a fire extinguisher, how to deal with venomous snake bite, how to keep someone else from drowning by buddy breathing with them. In the 30+ years that have passed since being required to learn these "critical" skills, I have never had to use any of them, and, unless you become a first responder or serve in a combat zone, the majority of us will go through our lives without ever using any of these skills.

When we were told we would have to learn these things, we asked the obvious question: WHY do we need to know these things? After all, we can always dial 911.

The answer?

Because you may one day find yourself in a situation in which you are the first responder, and it takes time for emergency personnel to respond to a 911 call. What are you going to do in the meantime, they asked - watch someone bleed out?

That was a perfectly logical response. It wasn't about being paranoid, it was about knowing that it takes time for emergency services to respond and being able to deal with life-threatening situations until they arrive on scene.

The chances that I will ever have to deploy my firearm in self defense are as remote as the likelihood that I will have to stop an arterial bleed by reaching into a wound with my fingers, but the final conclusion is just as logical: it takes time for police to respond to a 911 call. Am I just going to watch someone kill me or a family member while I wait the 18+ minutes it is going to take police to respond, or am I going to act to protect them in the meantime?
 
Big difference between paranoid or being prepared. In a SHTF situation, things may or may not have the outcome I hope for.
But I feel more confident being armed than not. I'm not as young as I once was, have a hard time thinking I could fend off two
teenagers at my age.
This is a different world we live in. To quote a line from one of my favorite movies, " WE'RE IN A WORLD OF S##T".
 
Paranoid or Prepared? Being Prepared.

Paranoia is a misguided term used to describe those of us who are more prepared than others in this world.
~
Preparation comes in all forms from simply have a fire extinguisher at home just in case, to a secure hardened shelter w/1 yr of supplies and weapons just in case. But no matter how you look at the fact it is still being prepared.
~
Ultimately it is your business and no one else's and you need to get over the need to justify yourself to others who are either unwilling or uneducated and won't prepare for themselves.
~
I OC everyday, so it is obvious that I am prepared, I've never felt the need or inclination to justify to anyone why I do so, beyond the fact that it is within scope of Ohio law and I want to carry. So let them get over it on their own and let them call 911 if they really feel they need help.
 
I tell them that considering the violent crime statistics today it is not paranoid to carry protection but prudent. If they persist I simply tell them that what I am doing is legal and to mind their own business.
 
ezkl2230 said:
When the conversation happens, I like to remind people that, when I was in high school, as part of the health curriculum I was required to learn how to perform the Heimlich maneuver - on others AND on myself. I was required to know how to reach into a wound with my fingers to stop an arterial bleed, how to perform an emergency tracheotomy, how to treat a compound fracture, even how to deliver a baby. I was required to know how to use a fire extinguisher, how to deal with venomous snake bite, how to keep someone else from drowning by buddy breathing with them. In the 30+ years that have passed since being required to learn these "critical" skills, I have never had to use any of them, and, unless you become a first responder or serve in a combat zone, the majority of us will go through our lives without ever using any of these skills.

When we were told we would have to learn these things, we asked the obvious question: WHY do we need to know these things? After all, we can always dial 911.

The answer?

Because you may one day find yourself in a situation in which you are the first responder, and it takes time for emergency personnel to respond to a 911 call. What are you going to do in the meantime, they asked - watch someone bleed out?

That was a perfectly logical response. It wasn't about being paranoid, it was about knowing that it takes time for emergency services to respond and being able to deal with life-threatening situations until they arrive on scene.

The chances that I will ever have to deploy my firearm in self defense are as remote as the likelihood that I will have to stop an arterial bleed by reaching into a wound with my fingers, but the final conclusion is just as logical: it takes time for police to respond to a 911 call. Am I just going to watch someone kill me or a family member while I wait the 18+ minutes it is going to take police to respond, or am I going to act to protect them in the meantime?
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I too have had a bit of training but the most I've had to use is first aid. CPR, check. First Aid, check. Oxygen, check. CPR, check. Defibrillator, check. OSHA Operations Level First Responder, check. Spill containment, check. Fire fighting, check. Chemical and hazardous materials identification and handling, check. And that even included crime scene preservation as we did have to deal with pipe bombs and dead bodies. All because of work. Due to the remoteness of some of our sites, we were the first responders and fire, EMT, police would all have been there long after someone would have died.

We lost an employee in route from a remote location due to a heart attack because it took Fire Rescue a half hour to get to the site after radio contact was lost with him. Fellow employees got there before FR and did CPR till they got there. After that we got portable defibs for our vehicles. GPS tracking units were also installed in a number of vehicles that were on the road daily. Procedures required checking in and out by radio or phone at the remote site. That may have saved another employee's life. Remote start up and shutdown of equipment poses hazards that you have to train for but hope you never have to use.

You aren't paranoid if you prepare for the worst but never have to use the training. Old adage applies, better safe than sorry.
 
I tell them my mother was visiting my city some years ago when she wasn't much older than I am now. A punk saw her walking back to her car in a mall parking lot and saw her as a target of opportunity. He ran up behind her, grabbed for her large purse that was wrapped around her arm and over the shoulder and yanked until she was on the ground and it came loose. She ended up with a broken shoulder, lacerations and other wounds. The perp was never caught. My mother healed for the most part but we could see she never fully recovered from this. I tell the questioner that "I HAVE DETERMINED I WILL NOT BE A TARGET FOR PUNKS. IF THEY TRY ME, THEY WILL GET MORE THAN THEY BARGAINED FOR." I have had no one able to counter this.
 
Do you wear your seat-belt, bike helmet, have smoke detectors in your home? Of course you do, as do I, however I have just taken steps to hopefully prevent one more possible cause of serious injury or death.
 
Start prefacing answers to questions with, "According to prophesy.":wink: Let them be paranoid for a while.:haha:
 
jeff357 said:
I don't carry a sign that I am carrying a firearm at all times. However I have gotten into discussions with people concerning firearms and they have expressed that they feel people that are 'gun nuts' are just being paranoid.
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I had that conversation with some of my relatives in Chicago when I showed them my Ohio CHL. One of them asked, "Is Ohio that 'dangerous'?"

I replied:
  • Police have no legal duty to protect individuals.
  • Police have no legal liability when they fail to protect individuals.
  • Police have virtually no physical ability to protect individuals.
The police don't protect individuals. They draw chalk outlines around individuals who don't protect themselves. If you aren't willing and able to protect yourself, you're just not going to get protected at all. Anybody who tells you different is a liar.

Of course it was amusing to hear somebody in the nation's murder [and police criminality] capital talk about how "dangerous" Ohio is...
 
Deanimator said:
I had that conversation with some of my relatives in Chicago when I showed them my Ohio CHL. One of them asked, "Is Ohio that 'dangerous'?"

I replied:
  • Police have no legal duty to protect individuals.
  • Police have no legal liability when they fail to protect individuals.
  • Police have virtually no physical ability to protect individuals.
The police don't protect individuals. They draw chalk outlines around individuals who don't protect themselves. If you aren't willing and able to protect yourself, you're just not going to get protected at all. Anybody who tells you different is a liar.

Of course it was amusing to hear somebody in the nation's murder [and police criminality] capital talk about how "dangerous" Ohio is...
Click to expand...
Tell them yes it is that dangerous. But unlike your city, you can defend yourself.
 
And the Defense Department is "paranoid" for spending billions on weapons and readiness training??? And American LEOs are "paranoid" for carrying sidearms and having ARs and shotguns in their vehicles?

It ain't a gun - its a "crime extinguisher!"
 
S&W645 said:
Tell them yes it is that dangerous. But unlike your city, you can defend yourself.
Click to expand...
But it ISN'T "that dangerous", and one reason why is that unlike in Chicago, armed robbery in Cleveland is dangerous for the ROBBER.

I suspect that very few people get into armed robbery because they want to work for their money or because they want to risk their OWN lives.
 
Deanimator said:
But it ISN'T "that dangerous", and one reason why is that unlike in Chicago, armed robbery in Cleveland is dangerous for the ROBBER.

I suspect that very few people get into armed robbery because they want to work for their money or because they want to risk their OWN lives.
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Liberals don't understand that crime goes down when citizens are armed. It isn't logical for them because to them, more guns = more crime. They forget about the fact than more armed citizens = more chances for the criminals to get shot. The self preservation gene is still in the crooks along with the stupid gene.
 
I typically ignore them. If they are provoking that argument in the first place, they generally do not care what your response is..
 
S&W645 said:
Liberals don't understand that crime goes down when citizens are armed. It isn't logical for them because to them, more guns = more crime. They forget about the fact than more armed citizens = more chances for the criminals to get shot.
Click to expand...
You're wrong. Liberals do understand that crime goes down when citizens are armed. It "IS" logical to Liberals that more guns equals less crime. Liberals don't forget about the fact that more armed citizens = more chances for the criminals to get shot. Liberals know the truth, but the truth is counter to their anti-Second Amendment AGENDA. People have got to stop this kind of BS RHETORIC assuming that Liberals just don't get it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Really, wise up.
 
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