Originally Posted by Far-L

I have two good reasons.

One, when the big earthquake hit California, I was in a place called Santa Cruz very close to the epicenter. It is a coastal town with really only one highway going in and out of it. That, plus many other roads around it were destroyed. That meant a run on grocery stores and basic necessities became scarce fast. That coupled with the fact that people were dying under rubble and people were upset more could not be done faster to save or find them meant agitation set in very quickly.

That meant the threat of violence set in very quickly. Society was upended and you would be amazed how fast even a town of mellow affluent old hippies and young surfers and university students becomes so feral. Ready to fight. Ready to rape. Ready to kill. Humanity can be more beastly than any beast. Think of what went down during Katrina, much of which is still not published.

Then I was living in downtown LA when the LA riots hit. At least 50 People were circling our building as a pack behind a slow moving van yelling, "we know you're in there! We're coming to get you!". Later we drove, heavily armed to the closest police station, forget using 911, and we asked the riot geared-up cop what to do. He said very matter of factly, "Don't just start shooting people, but if someone crosses your threshold... unload your clip." At that point I knew, once again, society had completely upended in a matter of hours.

Traffic signals may have been working, but no one was paying attention to them if you understand my drift, and that makes the road a very dangerous place. Guns are like cars, the faster they go, the more rounds they shoot, yes, the more dangerous they are, but not necessarily in the hands of someone safe and respectful of the laws of the road.

As Sun Tzu once said, "In times of peace, the gentleman will carry the sword at his side".