Without them it would still be like the wild, wild west, everybody would have to stand up for themselves.
Would you and your family be up to the challenge of taking on a bunch of thugs by yourself everywhere you went?
I'm sorry, but that is line of thought is why we have such a police state and everyone crying to the government "help me"!
Everyone has to stand up for themselves NOW. We have to take on thugs everyday NOW.
And your reasoning is not very well thought out. Does your kids or anyone else's kids protect themselves at school or do they have school resource officers there. Would your kids or anyone else's kids have the ability to protect themselves when they are not with a parent?
I do know how to protect myself, but you have to come to the realization that there are a lot of people out here in the real world that doesn't have the capabilites of protecting themselves, the young, the old and the physically challanged just to name a few. Besides, police are there as a deterrent to crime, not to assign a police officer to every individual. Now how does deterring crime work? It works like this, if you have ever been speeding down the road, do you slow down when you see a police car or do you keep your foot in the throttle? Or another example, would a shoplifter hit a store when he or she knew there was an off duty officer watching the front door? I agree, we have to protect ourselves until help arrives, but deterring crime is the main function, not protection of everyone at the same time.
As far as a police state, I think your're over rationalizing.
And how does this argument line up with what the discussion was before? In the "Wild West" women and the younger children were expected to stand up for themselves if the men were away. I also didn't realize that in the "Wild West" or now it is common place that children were in danger at schools. And obviously cops do NOT deter crime. Crime is and has been on the rise for a long, long time. And the number of cops has been on the rise also, so where is the deterent? Yes, I agree that women, the young, and the infirm would have a more difficult time defending themselves against crime. That is why I talk about neighbors looking out for each other. If a criminal knows that everyone in a neighborhood is going to try and kill him if he threatens its citizens, THAT is a deterent. I guess the whole difference of opinion between us is summed up by your statement, "I agree, we have to protect ourselves until help arrives". I think we should protect ourselves, period. that means women, children, and the elderly. Waiting and wishing that help would arrive has gotten a lot of people, who could have helped themselves, killed.
Also, evidence of a police state. I live in AR, it may be different in other states.
1. The police can stop you and question you at any time for no reason.
2. They can hand cuff you and place you in their car during that stop for "your protection" with no proof of wrong doing.
3. They can search your car if you deny them the right by saying that it is "supicious".
4. They can lie to you to try and get a confession legally, but if you lie to them it is unlawful.
5. They can strip your vehicle of all its contents on the side of the road, including the seats, and if they find nothing they drive away. Thus leaving you to clean up their mess.
6. You must surrender information about yourself to a police officer any time they ask it, whether or not a crime has been committed. "Ver are your papers?"
7. You must register with the government to carry a weapon concealed. I don't remember seeing that in the Constitution.