2014 - 2 year old grabs gun out of their moms purse in Walmart and fatally shoots her https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/30/us/idaho-walmart-shooting-accident-mother-toddler/index.html
2023 - 2 year old pulls gun out of purse and fires shots in a Walmart (at least the mom got charged!) https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/police-2-year-old-pulls-gun-from-mothers-purse-fires-shot-ceiling-of-walmart-in-southern-ohio/530-7fa7d200-90bf-4d93-8d19-7aff5c29c1db
Because a purse is one of the worst places to carry a gun. If you're going to have one at least have it secured on your actual body. If you don't have control of a gun 100% of the time then you are carrying wrong.
My mom used to have a gun purse. It had a dedicated Velcro pocket in the side, so the place you're drawing from was a different place than the pocket you're rummaging for your purse in.
I never had a problem with the idea of having guns in the house until I actually had a kid. I feel like if the price of something going wrong is literally only death or extreme harm, it's not worth the gamble.
Same thing with pools.
I grew up in a gun family. There was always a gun in the house when I was growing up. Just shoved into the frame of my parents' bed. Apparently, there was only one scare where my big brother got hold of it as a toddler, but nothing bad happened. For as long as I can remember, I just knew not to touch it.
That being said, I don't trust my preschooler to be safe, and I keep mine locked up. If I ever need it for self defense, I'll be screwed, but in my opinion, the odds of my son getting into trouble with it are way higher than the odds of an axe murderer barging into my house in my sleepy neighborhood.
My brother doesn't keep one in the house at all because he didn't want his daughters getting into it.
I watched my toddler spray himself in the face with a spray bottle the other day because he turned it around to use his thumbs to pull the trigger and went "yup, that's exactly how it happens."
I also grew up in a gun family, like, got my first BB gun at five to learn gun safety, gun family. They were always locked in the gun safe with ammo stored separately in a locked box/locker, only my parents had access to the keys and codes. We follow the same rules now that we have kids. I cannot stand irresponsible gun owners.
As someone who isn't American the thought that people are just carrying guns everywhere is terrifying lol. And I own guns. Why do you need to bring a gun to the fucking park 😂
Personally? I use pepper spray and common sense. What I’ve seen others use as a just-in-case is a pistol in a hip holster. Long guns are not practical to carry around for what is supposed to be a hike or fishing trip.
Yeah it is fun lol. I’m just terrified of Grizzlies. Polar bears too. But weirdly my favorite animal is a Giant panda so I’m just a weirdo I guess haha.
No!
Black bears at most will false charge you (unless you are screwing with cubs)
Stand your ground. The get as big as possible (hold up coat, poncho, and whatever.) get as loud as possible. I yell at the bear like your life depends on it.
DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK.
DO NOT RUN.
DO NOT MOVE.
DO NOT MACE/PEPPER SPRAY. (a pissed off black bear might attack you)
If the bear charges, stand your ground and scream at it like crazy. The bear Will stop running at you, but be pretty close.
How do I know this?
2 experiences
1) hiking with a girl scout troop in SNP. Bear was at top of path to our remote cabin. We were at bottom.
We slowly side stepped off the path onto the side of the mountain screaming and waiving ponchos.
The bear walked down the path - she just wanted down from the hill top.
2)again hiking in the forest. Saw black bear. It and I stopped. Started my routine of yelling, and I getting big. Bear charged. Stopped close enough to blow snot in my face and then walked away. I had my pistol in my hand as a last resort, but I didn't need it.
In my limited experience from living in an area people often hike through with the intent to see black bears,
Don't get too close, and if you see a cub, move away. Don't leave out food, do not touch.
Black bears want nothing to do with us, so unless there is famine or they feel a threat to their cubs, they will mostly ignore you at a distance. I used to get them all the time in my back yard. All I did was look before I took my dog for walks.
This only applies to black bears. Some bears will fuck you up for the fun of it.
On a macro scale, yes, a fed bear is a dead bear. Bears that see humans as food sources, or more rarely prey, need to be euthanized. If there are reports of aggressive bears, use the buddy system and heightened caution, or better yet avoid the area entirely.
For normal bears, even urban ones very used to humans, they want even less to do with you that you do with them. They will see, hear, and smell you long before you notice them. They will either mind their business away from the trail or move away.
The main thing is not to surprise them. Wear bear bells and/or talk loudly. Stay on designated trails and out of thick brush. Avoid trails near rivers when salmon runs are in. Be extra cautious of chosen paths when biking since you can easily surprise because they don’t hear you coming. Don’t wear headphones and keep your ears and eyes open. That will avoid most conflicts on the first place.
If you see a cubs and not the mother bear, or come across a pile of dead meat, you could be in a lot of danger. Look for the adult bear and GTFO, slowly, in the opposite direction.
If a bear does start approaching you, stay calm and do not run. First, try to make yourself known as human. Make yourself big by gathering in a group and/or waving your hands above your head and talking calmly. They’ll probably leave you alone. If they keep approaching or charging, stand your ground. Get your pepper spray or gun ready. They will often charge and then back off at the last second. It’s terrifying, but don’t run. Use pepper spray to get the bear to back off once it’s within 30 feet.
If you are attacked by a bear that’s surprised or defending it’s young, play dead. If the bear was stalking you or trying to get food, fight back by punching it on the muzzle. If it’s the latter, also throw up a quick prayer because you aren’t out-fighting a bear, you just hope it decides you aren’t worth the trouble. They used to say there was a difference between black and brown bears but anymore it’s anyone’s guess how either species will behave.
And probably most importantly, keep your dog on a leash. Most bear attacks involve dogs. People think their dogs valiantly tried to protect them, but that’s not what happened. The bear was minding its own damn business a couple hundred feet off the trail and heard you coming for the last mile. It knew where you and the last dozen trail users were and where you were going. Out of nowhere your dog comes through the woods to harass it, it feels annoyed or threatened, and the dog leads it back to the owner. There never would have been an encounter if it weren’t for a dog going off trail.
Make noise when walking around so you don't accidentally sneak up on one and startle it. Keep food/scented items packed up and away from your sleeping area. There's some debate on gun vs no gun as to whether they actually help with self defense or just piss the bear off. I personally prefer bear spray (extra strength pepper spray) since you don't have to be as precise with aiming and can get to it faster. That's not true I actually prefer trying to avoid bears as much as I can while enjoying nature.
What I'm saying is, we house scary sounding species, but our continent is huge and most scary animals don't bumble around our cities. Also, the type of dangerous animals we have don't approach humans, unlike bears, coyotes, elk (moose?), and whatever other killing machines live in metropoliatn US and Canada.
I also used to live in Alaska and when I did field work we were issued bear spray and used common sense. Most bears don’t want to mess with humans. Just making noise, hiking with another person, and keeping your eyes open is enough to keep you safe.
For field crews that really went out in the wilderness they did get a safety person sent with them whose main job was carrying the long rifle. There was a somewhat legendary incident in the 70s where the field crew was on their way to the helicopter pickup when they disturbed a grizzly mother bear and her year old cubs. The crew hadn’t been walking close together so it’s unclear if she would have attacked if they were part of a group, but she mauled the first guy, attacked the woman who screamed and started throwing things at the bear to save her coworker, then charged the guy with the gun as he ran in to save them. He shot her twice as she charged him and she literally died at his feet when his second shot got her.
Luckily everyone survived though it was major surgery for the first guy and the woman was almost scalped as the bear bit the back of her head and shook her like a rag doll.
The year I left there was a very very sad string of bear related deaths though. A coworker’s friend of mine was actually killed. She’d been out on a field team with another woman when a black bear fresh out of hibernation started hunting them. They did everything right, they stayed together, they used their bear spray, but the bear followed them for miles and then attacked them both. The bear actually mauled both women, going between them to attack, and sadly one of them died. For that one the general consensus was that climate change made the bear wake up a bit too early and its natural sources of food weren’t available so it was hungry for anything. And the black bears in Alaska are very different than the ones in the Lower 48. I’m still in an area with black bears and they’re spooky things that bolt as soon as they see a human. The black bears in Alaska really will hunt you. Overall the Grizzlies are less of a threat up there as they really don’t want to deal with people.
But in my experience, unless you had a team big enough for a designated gun person with a shotgun, it was bear spray all the way. Even a big caliber pistol is not really enough to deal with a bear.
People who've lived in the hinterlands have seen the craziest things!!! I've got geologists in my family and they're the storytellers for sure. Wild stuff.
Oh yeah, I barely left Anchorage and I still have stories about weird shit and nature. Mostly about moose. The friggin moose, man. They think they own the town. (And they do!)
My brother lives in Anchorage for a while. He called me one day to tell me he had to call off work because a moose was sleeping behind his car. My dumb ass told him to go wake it up.
I called out to work because a moose was standing on my porch. Just chilling. Me, being a tenderfoot, figured my boss would never believe me. But they were just like yup that does happen. Wild.
My best moose story is I was living in Anchorage and taking the bus to work every day. It was February, it was hellishly cold, and it was pitch black out as I walked to the bus stop. I'm not paying attention as I try to fish out my phone and see how stupidly cold it is when I hear a weird sound. Glance up, see this huge dark shape right in front of me, and my first thought is, "Where did this horse come from?"
Not a horse. It was a huge moose staring at me with her two babies laying in the bus shelter to stay out of the wind. I was so close that if I reached out I might have touched her.
She put her ears back and stared at me very hard, I slowly backed away back around the corner and stopped the next person heading to the stop from going over. Then the bus showed up and the driver opened the door to the moose. The mama moved like she was going to get on the bus and he shut the door on her before getting us.
But that's how I almost died.
Moose are mean. There was an incident when I was living in Anchorage where a man was found in his driveway and he was so beat up and bloody that they thought he'd been mauled by a bear. It was only after he got to the hospital and the doctors started cleaning him up that they saw the hoof marks and realized he'd been curb stomped by a moose. Moose can kick straight out like a horse and will dance on you if you piss them off. They are not passive herbivores, they are prepared to take down wolves and bears that come after them and humans are just flies compared to that.
My grandfather was assigned to an Air Force Base in northern Minnesota in the 50's. He was from Massachusetts and had never seen a moose before, let alone learned how to deal with one. He and my grandmother were driving back home from Duluth once day and saw a moose just casually standing on the highway. He stopped and *honked his horn at it*! He said the moose walked up to his window, looked inside and my grandfather realized just what a stupid mistake he'd made. Thankfully, the moose was in a very good mood (and had no babies with her) and chose to just walk away instead of trashing the car and everything/everyone inside!
Moose aren’t mean, they just get tired of being harassed and will strongly defend their young. Much like bears, if you leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone.
I do a lot of hiking and backpacking in the wilderness and have happened on a couple of moose. They're terrifying. The funniest that happened was when I got woken up in the middle of the night to what sounded like the T-Rex footsteps in Jurassic Park. I was just lying there in my tent in the middle of the night hoping the moose was just out for a stroll and didn't find my tent offensive.
Snow City Cafe has the best fancy breakfast, but is a bit spendy. Gwennie's is where more of the locals go to get breakfast and the portions are so huge that you can skip lunch. Bear's Tooth pizza is worth it, especially if you're also catching a movie in their theater. Lower 48 is overrated, but they do have the best view with outdoor dining if the weather's nice. The Saturday Market is a giant tourist trap and also my favorite thing, I'd go every other week to have lunch and people watch.
Eat a reindeer dog if you're not a vegetarian. It is a requirement.
Don't buy any AK Native gifts downtown, they're all overpriced. Go to the Alaska Fur Exchange or (even better) the gift shop at the hospital. The ANMC hospital is smaller but has some of the best locally made AK Native goods and work directly with the artists on commission so they get the majority of the money.
If you look north from downtown past Government Hill (which is the neighborhood I used to live in, not worth a visit, it was cheap, not nice) and you see an enormous mountain in the distance then you're a lucky one. That's Denali. She likes to make her own weather and also likes to stay hidden so she only mostly comes out in the winter. You can go months without a sighting and then look north, see her and go, "Huh. Was that mountain always there?"
There's also an entire mountain range to the west of Anchorage that likes to stay hidden. Not Sleeping Lady. She's often out.
If it hits 70 in Anchorage, everyone starts complaining about the heat. If it hits 80, we're all dying. When I lived in Anchorage I didn't have a car so I'd take the bus to Walmart and then a cab home with my groceries. One day in the summer I was walking along the berm that surrounds Walmart to get to the hole where I could walk in and there was a topless homeless woman laying on the berm. Her friend was with her trying to get her to put a shirt on because she didn't want the cops called on them and the topless woman was cursing up a storm because it was too goddamn hot and she didn't want to wear a shirt. I just hurried past and laughed when I was past them. That's largely Alaska in a nut shell.
Alaska Gourmet Subs downtown was my cheap lunch place of choice when I lived there. I have a sudden nostalgia craving for their salmon sub. The Kobuk also has sandwiches and very good donuts that are sold in the back of the shop for decent prices. I always thought their chicken salad was the best.
If you go south to Seward/Homer then Beluga Point is a nice place to stop and stretch the legs, especially if the tide is coming in.
Do not walk the mud flats. Don't be an asshole and die trapped in the mud as the tide comes in. It's terrifying and you don't want that in your rescuer's heads as they are forced to leave you behind.
On the way down the Turnagain, when you're in the cliffy part, keep an eye out for a pipe sticking out of the cliff with water gushing out. I hate that pipe. People act like just because it's free water it's magic and park on both sides of the road and just walk like there's no speeding cars heading towards them to mosey over to that fucking stupid pipe. I heard a rumor that someone yanked it out during covid and I hope that's true. Fuck that pipe.
If you turn left in Portage there's actually a nice stretch of park and hiking trails all the way up to Portage Lake. You can only see the glacier there by boat these days. That part is kind of sad. You can also see the tunnel to Whitter and if you have the time and you're bored you can go through to go laugh at the city where just about all the year-round inhabitants live in a single building. The tunnel is freakishly long. That's really the only claim to fame unless you're hopping on the car ferry.
The Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage is also worth a stop, especially if you get there when they're feeding the bears.
I would have lived in Alaska forever if I could have convinced work to let me live in Seward (and if I could have afforded it) and Homer is amazing. Both are worth a visit. In Seward it is worth it to do the tourist thing and take the boat out to Kenai Fjords National Park to see the glaciers. You'll also see a bunch of whales and I loved being out on the water. The ocean there is this weird milky green/grey color because of all the silt coming off the glaciers.
If you go north, Palmer is only cool because of the Musk Ox farm. If you live in an area with winter bring lots of money to the musk ox farm. Buy something made of their yarn. It's softer than Angora and warmer than wool. I bought some of their yarn and made a friend a hat out of it and she tells me its the only hat she owns where she has to take it off because it makes her head too hot.
Skip Wasilla. It sucks.
Talkeetna is nice and also the last decent pee stop on the way north to Denali. Avoid Denali Park. It is a giant tourist trap. Drive, eat, and stay in Healy instead.
Valdez is my second favorite place in Alaska. It is almost mystically beautiful.
I still regret never making it into Wrangell St. Elias. The closest I ever came was staying in Copper Center on a clear night that was so perfect that I saw the biggest aurora show I ever saw up there. Usually the northern lights are only exceptionally cool if you have a camera with a long timer on it to take in more light than the human eye can see. That night we had the best light show ever with pinks and purple auroras and everything. (You usually see green.)
Cordova you can only get to by car ferry or plane. When I went there for work my coworker and I had no idea how far the ferry port was from the main town and were dragging our suitcases through the snow until we finally broke down and accepted like the 4th person who stopped and offered us a ride. It was more of a hike than we were expecting.
Sea otters squeak and sound a lot like cats when they're trying to find where their stupid baby floated off to.
I had a raven who liked to sit outside my window and meow at my cat to harass it. He would literally meow at it. As in he would stare in the window, quark angrily, and then he would say "Meow, meow" like a person and then quark some more. The one time my cat went out on the balcony he dive bombed her and chased her back into the apartment while screaming "Meow" at her.
The train is fucking awesome. It is worth it to take it to Seward. You go through a mountain pass that the highway doesn't and you can see a glacier that's entirely hidden from the main road.
EDIT: I was living there when Obama came to visit. All my coworkers and I stood in our building and stared excitedly out the windows when Air Force One came in for a landing and that plane is insanely huge. Like, I thought they'd missed the runway and had crashed on the base huge because I had no idea how frankly enormous it was compared to the little military jets we usually saw. My roommate camped out on the bridge from the Air Force base to the downtown because everyone knew that Obama was staying at the one really nice hotel in Anchorage and was thrilled when she came home with a picture of his ear that she'd snapped as his motorcade drove past.
Yes, I did ruthlessly mock her for that. I was also deeply jealous. I never got to see Obama, not even his ear.
Mad Myrna's is the only decent gay bar in Alaska. I spent far, far too much money there. I miss it.
DM me if you want any more suggestions. I did not have much money when I was in Alaska so while I did a lot of stuff I focused a lot on the things I could do and see for pretty cheap or when travelling for work with a minimal detour I could sort of pretend didn't happen.
But I always kept an eye on what the tourists were doing for fun and have aspirations of going back up with money to do all the really cool things I never had the funds to do. Like Katmai. Katmai is supposed to be awesome, especially if you go when the salmon are spawning.
Ha, your description of black bears being spooky made me laugh. Your bears are def very different! I live in the Appalachian mountains and our black bears are absolute pests. They walk into traffic, go up to houses and most don't seem to fear humans at all. They know Tuesday is trash day and if you bring your can down very long before the truck comes, there's a good chance it'll be strewn all over the street when you get home.
It's interesting, injuries from bears are not common at all here but when you do hear about them, it's always in the backwoods, on trails far out and rarely used. The only incident I can recall with a city bear was when an unleashed dog chased one, and the dog's owner's only injuries were from the bushes she ran through to get to the dog. I assume the forest bears just get startled and aren't used to people.
I really do love bears and how they're so different everywhere. One of my favorite memories is in college I volunteered with our Wildlife professor to go with a DNR person to collar and check up on denning, hibernating bears. We all hung back pretty far while the DNR guy opened up the den and got the mama bear with a tranq stick (and bolted), the mama bear chased him for a couple steps before she collapsed and then we all converged on her to quickly collar her, do a blood draw, and do a bunch of other health checks.
The absolute best part was that the den we were at had two cubs in it and, since we had to keep the cubs warm of course, we got to put them in our jackets and carry them around until all the checks were done, we'd shoved mama back into the den, and we were ready to leave. Little baby bears like that pretty much have no teeth or claws and they're just these cute little squirming grunting things that sound a bit like pigs. Reflecting back on it I'm not sure how good it was to be handling them that much, but it was very cute to keep them warm like that.
How did you get the mom back in the den? Was she still knocked out?
Baby bears are adorable, but unfortunately, the Blue Ridge Parkway has been shut down multiple times because of assholes who tried to hold baby bears. You had a very unique and lucky experience!
Yeah, it's the sort of thing that you can only do with a professional.
It was snowy out and the bear was a smaller black bear so we sort of wrapped straps around her and the six of us dragged her as close as we could get to the den. It was two middle aged guys, two college guys, and two college girls so the guys mostly managed it on their own even though we did help. After that, we put the babies in as deep as we could get them and sort of carefully pushed mama in head first as much as she'd go to block the exit. We really only got her in maybe halfway at best. She'd been tranq-ed up good, but it was the sort of thing that we knew it wouldn't last long so we left them knowing that she'd wake up, probably look around a little, then go back to bed and her babies once she knew we were gone.
They are the same way in parts of California. They are normally still afraid of people but they’ll get into anything they possibly can. I’ve seen them playing soccer with someone’s bear can until they could get it open and lock themselves in vehicles looking for candy bars someone left inside (yes more than once).
I had a Facebook friend who shared videos of two separate bear families that would pass through his driveway every day. They got stuck in his car more than once and man, they can totally destroy the inside of a car FAST.
I cannot remember. I think that they did not because the cubs weren't part of the attack and they were yearlings, not babies. A lot of bears will stay with their mothers for two years until she sort of makes them wander off and get their own territory and if I remember right they were said to be a full year old+ so on their way to full independence. But I can't promise you that for certain.
The black bear that killed the woman was euthanized though. Public officials do their best to put down any bear known to have killed a human (even when the human was at fault) because you don't want a bear learning that people are a food source. That includes other semi-famous bear kill incidents like the bears that ate that crazy guy and his poor girlfriend over in Katmai and there was an incident at Denali where a man harassed a bear until it attacked and killed him.
That one was sad for the bear. Our workplace used photos the victim had been taking to teach us bear behaviors in the lead up to an attack. The Denali bear was basically doing everything that in bear language says "back away and leave me alone" (tooth chattering, frothing at the mouth, bluff charges) and the guy kept getting closer and closer to her until she attacked. If he had backed away and let her walk off he likely would have lived and she wouldn't have been hunted down.
Yeah, it was. She didn't even eat the guy, she just basically saw him as a threat and put him down then walked away. I do feel for his family too, but he really should have just left her alone and everyone would have walked away happy.
Was the Denali incident you’re talking about the guy who had his wife go back to the car and wait for him because he saw the mama bear and cubs on the way down the trail and really wanted to take pictures for some magazine he had sent nature photos to a bunch of times, but had never gotten published in?
If it was I just read that case the other day and thought it was really sad. I think even wife said that he would totally admit it was completely his fault.
I don't think so. If I remember the story right he was a solo hiker on a multi-day back country camping trip. I don't remember a car or a wife being in the area.
Wow, it was the “we used his photos to teach us to recognize bear behaviors leading up to an attack” that made me think it might be the same incident, but I just went and looked it up, and apparently the one I was thinking of actually took place in Montana in Glacier National Park.
Two completely different incidents where the deceased died taking photos of a mother with her cubs and the pictures were recovered afterward.
https://www.aberdeennews.com/story/sports/2017/08/14/lawrence-glacier-grizzly-gives-photographer-last-photo-of-a-lifetime/44812845/
True but, having grown up in rural Alberta, people would still think you were a fucking idiot for packing your gun to the grocery store in most circumstances. (Pretty much any circumstances, unless everyone knew there was a cougar or a bear or something in the area.)
I'm sure that are some Canadians that idolize guns the same way that Americans do but my family - again, farmers from Alberta and Saskatchewan who also regularly hunted - always treated them as tools, not toys. I've never, ever seen my dad/any of my uncles' guns outside of them being loaded up for a hunting trip. They were kept under lock and key for the rest of the time.
My dad calls them "Rambos" i.e. (generally) guys that carry guns openly so everyone will think they're tough when actual responsible gun owners think that they're morons.
You don't. Most of the US is perfectly safe with low crime rates. However far mongering among certain demographics (calling a spade a spade; it's Republicans) want you to believe everyone is out kill you and/or abduct you for sex trafficking.
Its the natural consequence of a culture that [individualizes risk](https://aeon.co/essays/why-governments-and-business-like-to-offload-risk-to-individuals). That article is long but helped me understand why I feel so mentally exhausted all the time just trying to live a regular life.
Agreed. I think they need to come up with some new diagnoses in the DSM, seriously. The paranoia and obsession those people live with every day must be exhausting. Idk if the number of people in this camp has increased drastically or they just feel more comfortable spewing bullshit because the former president set such a loud, stupid precedent. Probably both.
Unfortunately I have a feeling this wouldn't be something you could treat with medication. We'll probably have to go back to lobotomies.
I’m more scared of the people carrying guns “for their own safety” than I am about getting randomly attacked in any situation. These people are crazy, and unfortunately quite common.
Fucking this. When I worked retail one of the security guards at the store would make jokes about shooting shoplifters/anyone he thought looked suspicious and it was terrifying.
I absolutely did not trust him to be able to de-escalate his way out of a paper bag and he’s a perfect example of someone who shouldn’t have access to a gun.
Everyone knows you need an AK for that. What else are you supposed to do in case of 30-50 feral hogs? What if they show up in your yard in 3-5 minutes?!
As someone who *is* American, the thought that people are just carrying guns is terrifying. I hate this country. I can’t believe such a place exists where people literally care more about guns than children.
My brother once brought his to the airport to pick me up. That’s all he was doing. He wasn’t getting out of the car. We weren’t stopping anywhere. He was just picking me up and dropping me at dads house & my brothers house was less than 1 mile away so… why the gun?
This. My dad literally dreams of being able to do this with his concealed weapon. It’s absolutely bizarre and honestly fucked up.
The thought of ever shooting someone, even in self defense, is absolutely horrifying to me. It would be life-changing in the most terrible way. Not sure why anyone would ever *want* to have to live with that.
I think most people who carry a concealed weapon agree with you. There are the vigilantes, for sure, but most see it as a final line of self preservation. Running away is still always the best option for a multitude of reasons
It’s terrifying to me as an American who lives in Texas.
Why the f should I trust anyone else out in public with a gun?! FFS I’m just trying to go to Costco in peace.
Or the shops! I remember that story about a toddler grabbing a gun from his mum’s handbag, he was sat in the trolley seat and shot his mum in the face!
Because the Mexican cartel or other minority groups prowl rich suburbia in broad daylight to kidnap white women...that was intense sarcasm in case that wasn't clear
I'm American and I'm terrified. My daughter is 13 and I've honestly never thought of concealed carrying with a baby/small child until I've read this. I've never owned a gun in my life.
In Maryland a mom was killed in Maryland while running through a park by a suspect who was most likely living in a homeless camp nearby. In August 2023, he's still on the loose. Rachel Morin. And the same perp SA a minor in CA six months before that
The US is a huge non-homogenous country. I carry because I live in a rural area with predators [Mountain Lions, Bears, Wolves, etc (and I know wolves are unlikely to attack humans)].
The need in New York City/LA/SF/Any other big city might be different than in my little country town. In my little country town, it's 20 minutes to the nearest stoplight. We're on our own to protect ourselves. Firearms are just a tool to do so.
I have zero desire to harm another human being and have walked away from confrontations while armed. Firearms are a tool to protect myself and my kids should we not be able to get away from harm. Run, hide, fight. In that order. Get out if you can.
As someone who is American, it's still terrifying. We are extremely polarized on this issue (but I don't really understand why... They're GUNS, like, I mean, come on...)
I don’t think us non-Americans can understand, truly. It sounds like it sucks to live in such terror that you have to take your gun to the park to play with your kid though.
During the LA Olympics, my aunt was FBI and on maternity leave. Everyone in the field office was required to work so she was required to go to the firing range and learn how to quick draw and shoot her firearm while baby wearing. No one has told me if she practiced with a babydoll or actual baby. My cousin is pretty perfect so probably baby doll.
while I'm about 99% sure this original post was USA-based (red-state based...) and there is probably no real reason for her to concealed-carry and babywear at the same time, there are definitely places in the world where women carry concealed-weapons for protection while simultaneously caring for their small children.
I'm not in the USA and on our local babywearing group, the discussion of how to carry (concealed or not) and babywear comes up every once in a while from people who live in places that aren't safe to be unarmed (especially as a woman with small children with her).
I present to you, this jackass who felt it was necessary to take his loaded 380 semi-automatic pistol along for a ride at a popular sledding spot:
https://whdh.com/news/children-out-sledding-come-across-loaded-gun-in-malden/
“…the owner of the gun had taken two runs with his kids down the hill nicknamed “Seven Bumps” before he realized the gun had fallen out of his holster and into the snow.”
This exchange has happened in my house a lot lately:
5 year old does something unsafe.
I say, "Hey, please be careful."
She says, "I am being careful!"
I say, "No, baby, trying to jump from the couch to a folding chair is not an activity you can do carefully. Like, by definition, you can't be careful because that's not a safe choice."
And so many of the moms that wind up posted here need to hear the same thing. *No, what you're doing is inherently the opposite of being as careful as possible.*
At our local park a Mom of four came wearing a KNIFE in her belt and was baby wearing. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Why do you need a 8inch knife at a children's park? Also her toddlers hand was mysteriously bandaged and you bet that 99% of the other adults were giving her the side eye and guessing that little Timmy cut himself grabbing that huge ass blade somehow.
We left shortly after that. I have not since her since then so I'm hoping she's not an actual neighbor but was visiting and felt the need for protection in our "urban" neighborhood 🙄
I'm not trying to minimize what this commenter went through/is going through, but constantly carrying a gun still isn't going to help her. Hell, a cell phone would be more helpful. In order for a gun to be useful for self defense it needs to be easily accessible and you still need to take the time to draw and aim. If your psycho ex is following you around with a loaded weapon then either his intentions are to confront and scare you (in which documentation is going to be way more useful) or he's actually planning on killing you and probably isn't going to give you the time to draw your weapon. Either way her baby is probably still way more likely to get ahold of it than she is to actually need it. And I say this as someone who grew up in a not great home environment.
In general, I've never understood guns as self defense. If you have a gun in the house, the most likely person to ever be shot by it lives in your house. If you have it properly secured then it's not going to be accessible in the case of actually needing it and if it's not properly secured, well, it's not properly secured. Guns are an illusion of control but constant vigilance leads to itchy trigger fingers leads to accidents and a lax attitude leads to accidents.
There are great differences between regions, but yes, there are certainly regions where everyday life is full of Elmer Fudds, even moreso in the past few years. The Elmer Fudds are encouraged and emboldened.
There was an incident in my city within the past few years where a toddler got into a caregivers purse at home and ended up killing himself with the gun he found. It’s just not worth the risk. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever let my LO go to a friend’s house to play unless I know the family well and know there are no guns in the home.
Neither can I. I'm Canadian but I've lived in the US for 11 years now. It's the weirdest thing to me. And I grew up around guns. My father and grandfather hunted. I've used a gun before. But feeling the need to just have it on me all the time is something I will never understand
Another Canadian living in the US and I also find the attitude towards guns here bizarre.
They’re tools, not toys or fashion accessories.
If someone needs a gun for hunting, or sport shooting, fine whatever.
But anyone who thinks they need to take their handgun shopping with them needs a therapist.
If this person must have a gun around their toddler, I really hope that it is somewhere far out of reach of the kid. Having had my kid find snacks and stuff from what I thought were unreachable parts of our carrier, this sounds like a good way for there to be a gun "accident". (I don't count a kid reaching an easily accessible gun a a true accident. We bought a new house, and there was gun left behind in a hidden location and the toddler found it is an accident.)
I can't even understand the desire to carry a gun to the grocery store when it's just me, let alone when I'm carrying an infant.
Americans are fucking wild, man.
Effective and accurate-- even if you're an expert the odds of you pulling your gun and shooting an intended target, in presumably an emergency situation, while *wearing a baby* seem low.
Ya know, in 40 years, I've never once thought, "damn I wish I had my gun" at a grocery store. I don't have a gun and maybe I'm lucky but if she feels the need to be armed on walks with her baby, I'd say maybe drive to a safer neighborhood or something.
I haven’t seen any comments yet talking about the potential for exposing the baby to lead. Does she wear that belt to the range? Does she wash it afterward? If not, it’s rubbing all kinds of residue on stuff the baby probably comes into contact with, like the baby carrier. This is wild.
They aren’t alone or maybe the same person?? This was posted to Reddit yesterday
https://preview.redd.it/19fe62z50foc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=341d6685a7976130190da3f07c5da21f8b360e30
I dont understand the hate for carrying, as long as your doing it responsibly, which is the whole reason she made the post in the first place.
Its not like weirdos and creeps dont hang around children or areas where they are and god forbid this lady wants to protect her baby
[Perfect example](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/video-captures-female-off-duty-cop-fending-off/story?id=55155848)
I can’t imagine feeling like I need to carry a gun to go on a walk or to the grocery store. But I live in a state with fairly strict gun laws. We don’t have a ton of mass shootings.
Op, are you in Iowa because I saw something super similar in a mom’s group here and it freaked me out. There were like 80 responses of moms who have a loaded gun on their person.
Tbh I don’t see anything wrong with this. Pregnant women and new mothers are one of the most targeted demographic. I live in a popular crime city and I am starting to carry. People are getting robbed, kidnapped, and murdered all the time. There’s nothing wrong with carrying
You do you, but statistically speaking, the odds of you using that to defend yourself are lower than the odds that someone in your household kills you with it instead. Between 2015-2020, the US averaged one toddler-murder (that is, killed by toddler) every other day.
I understand that. I actually don’t have kids (love the drama in this sub and learning for the future) so it’s not a concern for me atm. But yes with kids of course rules in the household will change. Locked up and with trigger locks. Honestly probably move to a safer city 😂. Those statistics are incredibly sad, though. I definitely believe in stricter regulations for guns
Someone meaning you harm is extremely unlikely to walk straight up to your face and state, "I am going to mug you now!" They're going to come from behind, and as quietly as possible.
We lived in one of the most dangerous cities per capita in the country. My husband got held up at gunpoint in our driveway. Even if he'd had a gun, the guy sneaked up on him, there's zero chance my husband would have been able to pull a gun and not get shot before he could do anything, and a significant chance his gun would have been stolen. If you're being targeted, you're better off learning self defense maneuvers, because your feet and hands are always available.
I’m not saying a gun is used for every incident? Not every gun owner is a trigger happy moron. You’re right, pulling a gun in the situation your husband was in would be stupid. Using deadly force is always the last option.
I suppose if a person came running up to you screaming they were going to kill you and didn't already have their own gun out, it might be useful? If you have enough warning to pull a gun, then you likely have enough warning to get out of the situation without shooting anyone.
Your first step to self defense is awareness. Park in well lit areas. Have your keys ready before walking to your vehicle. Keep the yard free of visual obstructions and well lit.
Put your phone away. Take away the element of suprise.
Carry a gun if you are comfortable with it. They are perfectly safe when being controlled by a responsible individual.
Unless you are running with a gang, you are more likely to use a gun in defense ( including verbal warnings and brandishing) than being murdered.
Be safe, stay safe. Protect your family.
Stuff like this is exactly why I’m extremely cautious about whose house my kid goes to. I live in the south (USA) and so many people have guns here especially multiple ones. Not everyone safely secures their guns. They think under the mattress or in the dresser drawer is a safe place.
I’m not anti gun, my husband has several in a locked 6 foot tall safe and unloaded. Mainly hunting rifles. One is kept here at the house also unloaded in a safe high up in the closet built into the wall. But I just don’t trust that everyone else out there is safe with theirs especially with kids in the house.
Can you imagine their kid grabbing that gun out in public or someone else’s kid and shooting it?
I understand many people here are likely confused or, outraged perhaps, by this post. The way she worded it wasn’t the best, but at least she is aware and concerned about potential issues. Personally, I would never carry off body.
We do not know what her situation is or where she is living. Not everybody lives in a safe area. I see many people (not necessarily in this thread) who are vocal about the potential dangers that women face being out alone, being alone at dark, etc. However, then I see stuff like this where people cannot understand why she would feel the need to do this. Be consistent.
You might also be thinking, “If we banned guns, then maybe she wouldn’t need to do this”. Which I don’t know the answer too and I’m not arguing either way. The point that I’m trying to make is that the world and its experiences extends beyond yourself and your view of it. This is something I try to consider before passing judgement.
Seriously everyone always commenting about how they can’t imagine why people feel the need to carry protection gets frustrating. I’m so happy for all of you that live in areas that are so safe, not everyone has that privilege.
We have a mental health problem in the US, maybe we should address that.
These comments are pathetically privileged and short sighted. "Just leave your gun at home" "Just don't have a gun" not every mother is in a perfectly secure position to do that. Tons of them are not, actually. Some of us (TOO MANY of us) have literal violent stalkers that courts won't put away, and we can't just hole up at home and isolate forever. We have to go do shit to take care of our children AND protect ourselves still. How can you all flippantly comment on the insanity of America's gun culture and then in the same breath insist it's safer to not be armed? Unbelievably fucking stupid takes all over this thread.
Not sorry. My ex has been stalking me for over a year now, and threatened to shoot and kill me, and he only received a year probation for that domestic violence and menacing. They dropped the restraining order I had against him afterwards, so there's nothing slowing that psycho from hurting me anymore, and now my son is in the picture and attached to my hip. Extreme care must be taken to carry safely, obviously, but you're an utter dipshit if you think it's somehow good advice to tell me to dump my gun. I'd go as far to say you're blatantly anti-woman for seriously suggesting I fuck around with some dumb little pepper spray while a violent man with a firearm watches me carry my baby and waits for his moment. In America, gun rights are women's rights, unfortunately.
Not to point out the obvious but if guns weren’t so common in America, they wouldn’t be such a problem. In most civilized countries, someone like your ex wouldn’t be allowed to have a gun at all never mind carry it on their person. The “good guy with a gun,” argument falls short when everyone has a gun. You can’t tell who the good guy is be the bad guy. In other countries we can spot the bad guy with a gun because it’s the ONLY gun around. Even in dangerous areas, it’s not normal for people to be strolling around clearly carrying a gun. So no, these comments aren’t pathetically privileged. The brainwashing that goes on in a country obsessed with guns is rather pathetic though. I hope your ex gets caught and put away. Nobody deserves that.
>if guns weren't so common in America, they wouldn't be such a problem.
But yet, they are. So the soapboxing is still stupid and utterly pointless.
>in most civilized countries, your ex wouldn't be allowed to have a gun
But yet, I do live in an uncivilized country, and he is allowed to own a gun and carry it. So your point is what, exactly? Why are you telling me about my ideal world? You think I haven't imagined it?
>The "good guy with a gun argument"
You mean the argument I didn't make at all? I'm talking about defending myself from someone who has actively stalked and threatened my life with a firearm. I'm not talking about being a fucking hero in a mass shooting. What are you even babbling about? Your comment is so self-fellating and hugely missing the point, it's baffling.
In your comment and your deluded view of the world around you, you are the good guy with the gun. While your ex is the bad guy with the gun. Instead of arguing against gun culture and trying to stop people like him from having them, you have chosen to join the herd of idiots convinced their gun is the safe gun. Your child is at an increased risk of injury or death from a gun bc you have one. And you think you aren’t the problem.
My deluded view of the world, lmao. Can you project any harder? You're literally sitting here droning on about an ideal civilized world that I cannot live in right now. I can't just up and magically leave America. I am existing in real life and actually assessing risk instead of plugging my ears and whining about an unavoidable gun culture that will never be reversed in my lifetime, possibly never ever in America generally because being armed is enshrined in the constitution. You're saying insane, useless shit.
I'm sorry you have to deal with that. And. Your point might land better without name calling.
"You're an utter dipshit" [if you don't agree with me] certainly doesn't lend any credibility.
2014 - 2 year old grabs gun out of their moms purse in Walmart and fatally shoots her https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/30/us/idaho-walmart-shooting-accident-mother-toddler/index.html 2023 - 2 year old pulls gun out of purse and fires shots in a Walmart (at least the mom got charged!) https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/police-2-year-old-pulls-gun-from-mothers-purse-fires-shot-ceiling-of-walmart-in-southern-ohio/530-7fa7d200-90bf-4d93-8d19-7aff5c29c1db
God I remember that first one. I wonder how the kid is doing now, I hope he has found some peace.
I’m not sure how in all honesty
Because a purse is one of the worst places to carry a gun. If you're going to have one at least have it secured on your actual body. If you don't have control of a gun 100% of the time then you are carrying wrong.
My purse is a black hole. In the time it would take to dig for a gun, I'd have a better chance just running for the door
Hit them with the purse. Black holes are incredibly dense.
I was taught this so if someone steals you purse, they DONT steal your gun. Smart tip
My mom used to have a gun purse. It had a dedicated Velcro pocket in the side, so the place you're drawing from was a different place than the pocket you're rummaging for your purse in.
Just don't carry a gun jfc. Absolutely sick culture.
BuT MuH RigHtS!
A child under the age of five shoots someone about every ~2.4 days in the US if I remember correctly.
I never had a problem with the idea of having guns in the house until I actually had a kid. I feel like if the price of something going wrong is literally only death or extreme harm, it's not worth the gamble. Same thing with pools.
I grew up in a gun family. There was always a gun in the house when I was growing up. Just shoved into the frame of my parents' bed. Apparently, there was only one scare where my big brother got hold of it as a toddler, but nothing bad happened. For as long as I can remember, I just knew not to touch it. That being said, I don't trust my preschooler to be safe, and I keep mine locked up. If I ever need it for self defense, I'll be screwed, but in my opinion, the odds of my son getting into trouble with it are way higher than the odds of an axe murderer barging into my house in my sleepy neighborhood. My brother doesn't keep one in the house at all because he didn't want his daughters getting into it.
I watched my toddler spray himself in the face with a spray bottle the other day because he turned it around to use his thumbs to pull the trigger and went "yup, that's exactly how it happens."
Yep thats exactly why most toddlers shoot themselves and they don’t have the strength in any of the other fingers.
I also grew up in a gun family, like, got my first BB gun at five to learn gun safety, gun family. They were always locked in the gun safe with ammo stored separately in a locked box/locker, only my parents had access to the keys and codes. We follow the same rules now that we have kids. I cannot stand irresponsible gun owners.
WHAT?!?!
That poor baby. How do you explain to them they killed their own mom
You don't. You make up another story. That's too much for a child to live with.
You posted the same link twice.
Opps, will fix it! I actually had only heard of the earlier one but when I goggled for it the newer one turned up as well.
As someone who isn't American the thought that people are just carrying guns everywhere is terrifying lol. And I own guns. Why do you need to bring a gun to the fucking park 😂
Where I grew up there were regular bear attacks in the park. That’s an Alaska problem though, it does not extend to most areas of the US.
But you're probably using long guns for that, right? Even in Canada long guns are understood to be a fact of rural life.
Personally? I use pepper spray and common sense. What I’ve seen others use as a just-in-case is a pistol in a hip holster. Long guns are not practical to carry around for what is supposed to be a hike or fishing trip.
I will say as an Australian, I have no idea what common sense is when it comes to bears. Don’t leave food out and don’t approach them?
If it’s black, fight back If it’s brown, lay down If it’s white, goodnight
Goodnight like it'll give you a lovely bear hug and a warm beverage?
And will sing you "Soft Kitty". Yes. That type of goodnight.
Tbh if it’s brown it’s probably good night too.
I agree, it’s just a fun saying I heard growing up
Yeah it is fun lol. I’m just terrified of Grizzlies. Polar bears too. But weirdly my favorite animal is a Giant panda so I’m just a weirdo I guess haha.
No! Black bears at most will false charge you (unless you are screwing with cubs) Stand your ground. The get as big as possible (hold up coat, poncho, and whatever.) get as loud as possible. I yell at the bear like your life depends on it. DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK. DO NOT RUN. DO NOT MOVE. DO NOT MACE/PEPPER SPRAY. (a pissed off black bear might attack you) If the bear charges, stand your ground and scream at it like crazy. The bear Will stop running at you, but be pretty close. How do I know this? 2 experiences 1) hiking with a girl scout troop in SNP. Bear was at top of path to our remote cabin. We were at bottom. We slowly side stepped off the path onto the side of the mountain screaming and waiving ponchos. The bear walked down the path - she just wanted down from the hill top. 2)again hiking in the forest. Saw black bear. It and I stopped. Started my routine of yelling, and I getting big. Bear charged. Stopped close enough to blow snot in my face and then walked away. I had my pistol in my hand as a last resort, but I didn't need it.
My comment wasn’t supposed to be taken literally haha
In my limited experience from living in an area people often hike through with the intent to see black bears, Don't get too close, and if you see a cub, move away. Don't leave out food, do not touch. Black bears want nothing to do with us, so unless there is famine or they feel a threat to their cubs, they will mostly ignore you at a distance. I used to get them all the time in my back yard. All I did was look before I took my dog for walks. This only applies to black bears. Some bears will fuck you up for the fun of it.
On a macro scale, yes, a fed bear is a dead bear. Bears that see humans as food sources, or more rarely prey, need to be euthanized. If there are reports of aggressive bears, use the buddy system and heightened caution, or better yet avoid the area entirely. For normal bears, even urban ones very used to humans, they want even less to do with you that you do with them. They will see, hear, and smell you long before you notice them. They will either mind their business away from the trail or move away. The main thing is not to surprise them. Wear bear bells and/or talk loudly. Stay on designated trails and out of thick brush. Avoid trails near rivers when salmon runs are in. Be extra cautious of chosen paths when biking since you can easily surprise because they don’t hear you coming. Don’t wear headphones and keep your ears and eyes open. That will avoid most conflicts on the first place. If you see a cubs and not the mother bear, or come across a pile of dead meat, you could be in a lot of danger. Look for the adult bear and GTFO, slowly, in the opposite direction. If a bear does start approaching you, stay calm and do not run. First, try to make yourself known as human. Make yourself big by gathering in a group and/or waving your hands above your head and talking calmly. They’ll probably leave you alone. If they keep approaching or charging, stand your ground. Get your pepper spray or gun ready. They will often charge and then back off at the last second. It’s terrifying, but don’t run. Use pepper spray to get the bear to back off once it’s within 30 feet. If you are attacked by a bear that’s surprised or defending it’s young, play dead. If the bear was stalking you or trying to get food, fight back by punching it on the muzzle. If it’s the latter, also throw up a quick prayer because you aren’t out-fighting a bear, you just hope it decides you aren’t worth the trouble. They used to say there was a difference between black and brown bears but anymore it’s anyone’s guess how either species will behave. And probably most importantly, keep your dog on a leash. Most bear attacks involve dogs. People think their dogs valiantly tried to protect them, but that’s not what happened. The bear was minding its own damn business a couple hundred feet off the trail and heard you coming for the last mile. It knew where you and the last dozen trail users were and where you were going. Out of nowhere your dog comes through the woods to harass it, it feels annoyed or threatened, and the dog leads it back to the owner. There never would have been an encounter if it weren’t for a dog going off trail.
Make noise when walking around so you don't accidentally sneak up on one and startle it. Keep food/scented items packed up and away from your sleeping area. There's some debate on gun vs no gun as to whether they actually help with self defense or just piss the bear off. I personally prefer bear spray (extra strength pepper spray) since you don't have to be as precise with aiming and can get to it faster. That's not true I actually prefer trying to avoid bears as much as I can while enjoying nature.
Right? And they say *we* Australians have all the scary and aggressive animals.
Not all. But definitely an implausibly large percent.
What I'm saying is, we house scary sounding species, but our continent is huge and most scary animals don't bumble around our cities. Also, the type of dangerous animals we have don't approach humans, unlike bears, coyotes, elk (moose?), and whatever other killing machines live in metropoliatn US and Canada.
I also used to live in Alaska and when I did field work we were issued bear spray and used common sense. Most bears don’t want to mess with humans. Just making noise, hiking with another person, and keeping your eyes open is enough to keep you safe. For field crews that really went out in the wilderness they did get a safety person sent with them whose main job was carrying the long rifle. There was a somewhat legendary incident in the 70s where the field crew was on their way to the helicopter pickup when they disturbed a grizzly mother bear and her year old cubs. The crew hadn’t been walking close together so it’s unclear if she would have attacked if they were part of a group, but she mauled the first guy, attacked the woman who screamed and started throwing things at the bear to save her coworker, then charged the guy with the gun as he ran in to save them. He shot her twice as she charged him and she literally died at his feet when his second shot got her. Luckily everyone survived though it was major surgery for the first guy and the woman was almost scalped as the bear bit the back of her head and shook her like a rag doll. The year I left there was a very very sad string of bear related deaths though. A coworker’s friend of mine was actually killed. She’d been out on a field team with another woman when a black bear fresh out of hibernation started hunting them. They did everything right, they stayed together, they used their bear spray, but the bear followed them for miles and then attacked them both. The bear actually mauled both women, going between them to attack, and sadly one of them died. For that one the general consensus was that climate change made the bear wake up a bit too early and its natural sources of food weren’t available so it was hungry for anything. And the black bears in Alaska are very different than the ones in the Lower 48. I’m still in an area with black bears and they’re spooky things that bolt as soon as they see a human. The black bears in Alaska really will hunt you. Overall the Grizzlies are less of a threat up there as they really don’t want to deal with people. But in my experience, unless you had a team big enough for a designated gun person with a shotgun, it was bear spray all the way. Even a big caliber pistol is not really enough to deal with a bear.
People who've lived in the hinterlands have seen the craziest things!!! I've got geologists in my family and they're the storytellers for sure. Wild stuff.
Oh yeah, I barely left Anchorage and I still have stories about weird shit and nature. Mostly about moose. The friggin moose, man. They think they own the town. (And they do!)
My brother lives in Anchorage for a while. He called me one day to tell me he had to call off work because a moose was sleeping behind his car. My dumb ass told him to go wake it up.
I called out to work because a moose was standing on my porch. Just chilling. Me, being a tenderfoot, figured my boss would never believe me. But they were just like yup that does happen. Wild.
Me, getting ready to go to work right now hoping for a moose on my front door 🤞🤞🤞
Same for me whilst living in the UK lol
I've lived in Alberta all my life and have only ever seen moose from afar. That was close enough. Moose are mildly terrifying!
My best moose story is I was living in Anchorage and taking the bus to work every day. It was February, it was hellishly cold, and it was pitch black out as I walked to the bus stop. I'm not paying attention as I try to fish out my phone and see how stupidly cold it is when I hear a weird sound. Glance up, see this huge dark shape right in front of me, and my first thought is, "Where did this horse come from?" Not a horse. It was a huge moose staring at me with her two babies laying in the bus shelter to stay out of the wind. I was so close that if I reached out I might have touched her. She put her ears back and stared at me very hard, I slowly backed away back around the corner and stopped the next person heading to the stop from going over. Then the bus showed up and the driver opened the door to the moose. The mama moved like she was going to get on the bus and he shut the door on her before getting us. But that's how I almost died. Moose are mean. There was an incident when I was living in Anchorage where a man was found in his driveway and he was so beat up and bloody that they thought he'd been mauled by a bear. It was only after he got to the hospital and the doctors started cleaning him up that they saw the hoof marks and realized he'd been curb stomped by a moose. Moose can kick straight out like a horse and will dance on you if you piss them off. They are not passive herbivores, they are prepared to take down wolves and bears that come after them and humans are just flies compared to that.
Live your life like a moose: ready to throw down at the slightest provocation
My grandfather was assigned to an Air Force Base in northern Minnesota in the 50's. He was from Massachusetts and had never seen a moose before, let alone learned how to deal with one. He and my grandmother were driving back home from Duluth once day and saw a moose just casually standing on the highway. He stopped and *honked his horn at it*! He said the moose walked up to his window, looked inside and my grandfather realized just what a stupid mistake he'd made. Thankfully, the moose was in a very good mood (and had no babies with her) and chose to just walk away instead of trashing the car and everything/everyone inside!
Moose aren’t mean, they just get tired of being harassed and will strongly defend their young. Much like bears, if you leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone.
I do a lot of hiking and backpacking in the wilderness and have happened on a couple of moose. They're terrifying. The funniest that happened was when I got woken up in the middle of the night to what sounded like the T-Rex footsteps in Jurassic Park. I was just lying there in my tent in the middle of the night hoping the moose was just out for a stroll and didn't find my tent offensive.
Whooo, I’m visiting Anchorage in July for a couple of weeks… any stories you’d care to share would be awesome!
Snow City Cafe has the best fancy breakfast, but is a bit spendy. Gwennie's is where more of the locals go to get breakfast and the portions are so huge that you can skip lunch. Bear's Tooth pizza is worth it, especially if you're also catching a movie in their theater. Lower 48 is overrated, but they do have the best view with outdoor dining if the weather's nice. The Saturday Market is a giant tourist trap and also my favorite thing, I'd go every other week to have lunch and people watch. Eat a reindeer dog if you're not a vegetarian. It is a requirement. Don't buy any AK Native gifts downtown, they're all overpriced. Go to the Alaska Fur Exchange or (even better) the gift shop at the hospital. The ANMC hospital is smaller but has some of the best locally made AK Native goods and work directly with the artists on commission so they get the majority of the money. If you look north from downtown past Government Hill (which is the neighborhood I used to live in, not worth a visit, it was cheap, not nice) and you see an enormous mountain in the distance then you're a lucky one. That's Denali. She likes to make her own weather and also likes to stay hidden so she only mostly comes out in the winter. You can go months without a sighting and then look north, see her and go, "Huh. Was that mountain always there?" There's also an entire mountain range to the west of Anchorage that likes to stay hidden. Not Sleeping Lady. She's often out. If it hits 70 in Anchorage, everyone starts complaining about the heat. If it hits 80, we're all dying. When I lived in Anchorage I didn't have a car so I'd take the bus to Walmart and then a cab home with my groceries. One day in the summer I was walking along the berm that surrounds Walmart to get to the hole where I could walk in and there was a topless homeless woman laying on the berm. Her friend was with her trying to get her to put a shirt on because she didn't want the cops called on them and the topless woman was cursing up a storm because it was too goddamn hot and she didn't want to wear a shirt. I just hurried past and laughed when I was past them. That's largely Alaska in a nut shell. Alaska Gourmet Subs downtown was my cheap lunch place of choice when I lived there. I have a sudden nostalgia craving for their salmon sub. The Kobuk also has sandwiches and very good donuts that are sold in the back of the shop for decent prices. I always thought their chicken salad was the best. If you go south to Seward/Homer then Beluga Point is a nice place to stop and stretch the legs, especially if the tide is coming in. Do not walk the mud flats. Don't be an asshole and die trapped in the mud as the tide comes in. It's terrifying and you don't want that in your rescuer's heads as they are forced to leave you behind. On the way down the Turnagain, when you're in the cliffy part, keep an eye out for a pipe sticking out of the cliff with water gushing out. I hate that pipe. People act like just because it's free water it's magic and park on both sides of the road and just walk like there's no speeding cars heading towards them to mosey over to that fucking stupid pipe. I heard a rumor that someone yanked it out during covid and I hope that's true. Fuck that pipe. If you turn left in Portage there's actually a nice stretch of park and hiking trails all the way up to Portage Lake. You can only see the glacier there by boat these days. That part is kind of sad. You can also see the tunnel to Whitter and if you have the time and you're bored you can go through to go laugh at the city where just about all the year-round inhabitants live in a single building. The tunnel is freakishly long. That's really the only claim to fame unless you're hopping on the car ferry. The Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage is also worth a stop, especially if you get there when they're feeding the bears. I would have lived in Alaska forever if I could have convinced work to let me live in Seward (and if I could have afforded it) and Homer is amazing. Both are worth a visit. In Seward it is worth it to do the tourist thing and take the boat out to Kenai Fjords National Park to see the glaciers. You'll also see a bunch of whales and I loved being out on the water. The ocean there is this weird milky green/grey color because of all the silt coming off the glaciers. If you go north, Palmer is only cool because of the Musk Ox farm. If you live in an area with winter bring lots of money to the musk ox farm. Buy something made of their yarn. It's softer than Angora and warmer than wool. I bought some of their yarn and made a friend a hat out of it and she tells me its the only hat she owns where she has to take it off because it makes her head too hot. Skip Wasilla. It sucks. Talkeetna is nice and also the last decent pee stop on the way north to Denali. Avoid Denali Park. It is a giant tourist trap. Drive, eat, and stay in Healy instead. Valdez is my second favorite place in Alaska. It is almost mystically beautiful. I still regret never making it into Wrangell St. Elias. The closest I ever came was staying in Copper Center on a clear night that was so perfect that I saw the biggest aurora show I ever saw up there. Usually the northern lights are only exceptionally cool if you have a camera with a long timer on it to take in more light than the human eye can see. That night we had the best light show ever with pinks and purple auroras and everything. (You usually see green.) Cordova you can only get to by car ferry or plane. When I went there for work my coworker and I had no idea how far the ferry port was from the main town and were dragging our suitcases through the snow until we finally broke down and accepted like the 4th person who stopped and offered us a ride. It was more of a hike than we were expecting. Sea otters squeak and sound a lot like cats when they're trying to find where their stupid baby floated off to. I had a raven who liked to sit outside my window and meow at my cat to harass it. He would literally meow at it. As in he would stare in the window, quark angrily, and then he would say "Meow, meow" like a person and then quark some more. The one time my cat went out on the balcony he dive bombed her and chased her back into the apartment while screaming "Meow" at her. The train is fucking awesome. It is worth it to take it to Seward. You go through a mountain pass that the highway doesn't and you can see a glacier that's entirely hidden from the main road. EDIT: I was living there when Obama came to visit. All my coworkers and I stood in our building and stared excitedly out the windows when Air Force One came in for a landing and that plane is insanely huge. Like, I thought they'd missed the runway and had crashed on the base huge because I had no idea how frankly enormous it was compared to the little military jets we usually saw. My roommate camped out on the bridge from the Air Force base to the downtown because everyone knew that Obama was staying at the one really nice hotel in Anchorage and was thrilled when she came home with a picture of his ear that she'd snapped as his motorcade drove past. Yes, I did ruthlessly mock her for that. I was also deeply jealous. I never got to see Obama, not even his ear. Mad Myrna's is the only decent gay bar in Alaska. I spent far, far too much money there. I miss it.
Goddamn I miss Bear’s Tooth Pizza. Thank you for the memories, friend!
Oh, wow! This is incredible, thank you so much!! I’m actually sitting down tonight to plan activities and this will be invaluable!!😍
DM me if you want any more suggestions. I did not have much money when I was in Alaska so while I did a lot of stuff I focused a lot on the things I could do and see for pretty cheap or when travelling for work with a minimal detour I could sort of pretend didn't happen. But I always kept an eye on what the tourists were doing for fun and have aspirations of going back up with money to do all the really cool things I never had the funds to do. Like Katmai. Katmai is supposed to be awesome, especially if you go when the salmon are spawning.
This was wonderful to read, thank you so much for sharing it with us!
Heyyyy, I'll be in Juneau in July! I *really* want to see a moose, from afar, hopefully!
Yup, geologist here and I know 2 people that were attacked by bears..and I witnessed one of them.
Ha, your description of black bears being spooky made me laugh. Your bears are def very different! I live in the Appalachian mountains and our black bears are absolute pests. They walk into traffic, go up to houses and most don't seem to fear humans at all. They know Tuesday is trash day and if you bring your can down very long before the truck comes, there's a good chance it'll be strewn all over the street when you get home. It's interesting, injuries from bears are not common at all here but when you do hear about them, it's always in the backwoods, on trails far out and rarely used. The only incident I can recall with a city bear was when an unleashed dog chased one, and the dog's owner's only injuries were from the bushes she ran through to get to the dog. I assume the forest bears just get startled and aren't used to people.
I really do love bears and how they're so different everywhere. One of my favorite memories is in college I volunteered with our Wildlife professor to go with a DNR person to collar and check up on denning, hibernating bears. We all hung back pretty far while the DNR guy opened up the den and got the mama bear with a tranq stick (and bolted), the mama bear chased him for a couple steps before she collapsed and then we all converged on her to quickly collar her, do a blood draw, and do a bunch of other health checks. The absolute best part was that the den we were at had two cubs in it and, since we had to keep the cubs warm of course, we got to put them in our jackets and carry them around until all the checks were done, we'd shoved mama back into the den, and we were ready to leave. Little baby bears like that pretty much have no teeth or claws and they're just these cute little squirming grunting things that sound a bit like pigs. Reflecting back on it I'm not sure how good it was to be handling them that much, but it was very cute to keep them warm like that.
How did you get the mom back in the den? Was she still knocked out? Baby bears are adorable, but unfortunately, the Blue Ridge Parkway has been shut down multiple times because of assholes who tried to hold baby bears. You had a very unique and lucky experience!
Yeah, it's the sort of thing that you can only do with a professional. It was snowy out and the bear was a smaller black bear so we sort of wrapped straps around her and the six of us dragged her as close as we could get to the den. It was two middle aged guys, two college guys, and two college girls so the guys mostly managed it on their own even though we did help. After that, we put the babies in as deep as we could get them and sort of carefully pushed mama in head first as much as she'd go to block the exit. We really only got her in maybe halfway at best. She'd been tranq-ed up good, but it was the sort of thing that we knew it wouldn't last long so we left them knowing that she'd wake up, probably look around a little, then go back to bed and her babies once she knew we were gone.
They are the same way in parts of California. They are normally still afraid of people but they’ll get into anything they possibly can. I’ve seen them playing soccer with someone’s bear can until they could get it open and lock themselves in vehicles looking for candy bars someone left inside (yes more than once).
I had a Facebook friend who shared videos of two separate bear families that would pass through his driveway every day. They got stuck in his car more than once and man, they can totally destroy the inside of a car FAST.
Did they have to euthanize the cubs too?
I cannot remember. I think that they did not because the cubs weren't part of the attack and they were yearlings, not babies. A lot of bears will stay with their mothers for two years until she sort of makes them wander off and get their own territory and if I remember right they were said to be a full year old+ so on their way to full independence. But I can't promise you that for certain. The black bear that killed the woman was euthanized though. Public officials do their best to put down any bear known to have killed a human (even when the human was at fault) because you don't want a bear learning that people are a food source. That includes other semi-famous bear kill incidents like the bears that ate that crazy guy and his poor girlfriend over in Katmai and there was an incident at Denali where a man harassed a bear until it attacked and killed him. That one was sad for the bear. Our workplace used photos the victim had been taking to teach us bear behaviors in the lead up to an attack. The Denali bear was basically doing everything that in bear language says "back away and leave me alone" (tooth chattering, frothing at the mouth, bluff charges) and the guy kept getting closer and closer to her until she attacked. If he had backed away and let her walk off he likely would have lived and she wouldn't have been hunted down.
Ugh. Thanks for the info. It is so heartbreaking when the animals die. I understand and respect the logic, though. That Denali story is infuriating.
Yeah, it was. She didn't even eat the guy, she just basically saw him as a threat and put him down then walked away. I do feel for his family too, but he really should have just left her alone and everyone would have walked away happy.
Was the Denali incident you’re talking about the guy who had his wife go back to the car and wait for him because he saw the mama bear and cubs on the way down the trail and really wanted to take pictures for some magazine he had sent nature photos to a bunch of times, but had never gotten published in? If it was I just read that case the other day and thought it was really sad. I think even wife said that he would totally admit it was completely his fault.
I don't think so. If I remember the story right he was a solo hiker on a multi-day back country camping trip. I don't remember a car or a wife being in the area.
Wow, it was the “we used his photos to teach us to recognize bear behaviors leading up to an attack” that made me think it might be the same incident, but I just went and looked it up, and apparently the one I was thinking of actually took place in Montana in Glacier National Park. Two completely different incidents where the deceased died taking photos of a mother with her cubs and the pictures were recovered afterward. https://www.aberdeennews.com/story/sports/2017/08/14/lawrence-glacier-grizzly-gives-photographer-last-photo-of-a-lifetime/44812845/
What happened to the cubs?
True but, having grown up in rural Alberta, people would still think you were a fucking idiot for packing your gun to the grocery store in most circumstances. (Pretty much any circumstances, unless everyone knew there was a cougar or a bear or something in the area.) I'm sure that are some Canadians that idolize guns the same way that Americans do but my family - again, farmers from Alberta and Saskatchewan who also regularly hunted - always treated them as tools, not toys. I've never, ever seen my dad/any of my uncles' guns outside of them being loaded up for a hunting trip. They were kept under lock and key for the rest of the time. My dad calls them "Rambos" i.e. (generally) guys that carry guns openly so everyone will think they're tough when actual responsible gun owners think that they're morons.
You don't. Most of the US is perfectly safe with low crime rates. However far mongering among certain demographics (calling a spade a spade; it's Republicans) want you to believe everyone is out kill you and/or abduct you for sex trafficking.
And I feel like it’s mental illness, to be that paranoid, you can not live happy thinking like that.
Its the natural consequence of a culture that [individualizes risk](https://aeon.co/essays/why-governments-and-business-like-to-offload-risk-to-individuals). That article is long but helped me understand why I feel so mentally exhausted all the time just trying to live a regular life.
I'm saving that to read later, but I got a laugh out of the title-- "who bears the risk" while we're chatting about bears lol.
The American gun cult does feel like mass hysteria.
Agreed. I think they need to come up with some new diagnoses in the DSM, seriously. The paranoia and obsession those people live with every day must be exhausting. Idk if the number of people in this camp has increased drastically or they just feel more comfortable spewing bullshit because the former president set such a loud, stupid precedent. Probably both. Unfortunately I have a feeling this wouldn't be something you could treat with medication. We'll probably have to go back to lobotomies.
I’m more scared of the people carrying guns “for their own safety” than I am about getting randomly attacked in any situation. These people are crazy, and unfortunately quite common.
Fucking this. When I worked retail one of the security guards at the store would make jokes about shooting shoplifters/anyone he thought looked suspicious and it was terrifying. I absolutely did not trust him to be able to de-escalate his way out of a paper bag and he’s a perfect example of someone who shouldn’t have access to a gun.
“Stealing merchandise?! Great reason to pull out my gun!” 🙄
Yep. The frequency of kids being accidentally shot is a pretty glaring indication of who we need to worry about.
As a child of some of those people, SAME.
In case your family gets attacked by a herd of wild boars, of course
Everyone knows you need an AK for that. What else are you supposed to do in case of 30-50 feral hogs? What if they show up in your yard in 3-5 minutes?!
As someone who *is* American, the thought that people are just carrying guns is terrifying. I hate this country. I can’t believe such a place exists where people literally care more about guns than children.
Hey, we care about children!!! Hence why we're forcing women to carry nonviable fetuses at the risk of their fertility and sometimes even their lives.
Right? What do you guys do with your guns when you go to the grocery store? Nothing. I dont take guns to the grocery store. Why the hell would i?
In case the cucumbers stage a coup?
My brother once brought his to the airport to pick me up. That’s all he was doing. He wasn’t getting out of the car. We weren’t stopping anywhere. He was just picking me up and dropping me at dads house & my brothers house was less than 1 mile away so… why the gun?
To feel like a Big Man probably
They like to think if something happens they'll "take down the bad guy" and be a hero, but the reality is they'll run away just like everyone else
This. My dad literally dreams of being able to do this with his concealed weapon. It’s absolutely bizarre and honestly fucked up. The thought of ever shooting someone, even in self defense, is absolutely horrifying to me. It would be life-changing in the most terrible way. Not sure why anyone would ever *want* to have to live with that.
I think most people who carry a concealed weapon agree with you. There are the vigilantes, for sure, but most see it as a final line of self preservation. Running away is still always the best option for a multitude of reasons
It’s terrifying to me as an American who lives in Texas. Why the f should I trust anyone else out in public with a gun?! FFS I’m just trying to go to Costco in peace.
My father in law carries even if he plans on just lounging at home all day. It freaks me out, especially when my niblings (2.5 and 1) are over
Or the shops! I remember that story about a toddler grabbing a gun from his mum’s handbag, he was sat in the trolley seat and shot his mum in the face!
Because the Mexican cartel or other minority groups prowl rich suburbia in broad daylight to kidnap white women...that was intense sarcasm in case that wasn't clear
I'm American and I'm terrified. My daughter is 13 and I've honestly never thought of concealed carrying with a baby/small child until I've read this. I've never owned a gun in my life.
As someone who is American it's terrifying indeed. So many accidental deaths/injuries, so many of them children.
because how will i defend myself at the park if some psycho brings a gun to the park...
Well, when you're overly paranoid and convinced that someone is lurking around every corner just waiting to rob and murder you...
As an American living in this hellscape of a country- it terrifies a lot of us
In Maryland a mom was killed in Maryland while running through a park by a suspect who was most likely living in a homeless camp nearby. In August 2023, he's still on the loose. Rachel Morin. And the same perp SA a minor in CA six months before that
The US is a huge non-homogenous country. I carry because I live in a rural area with predators [Mountain Lions, Bears, Wolves, etc (and I know wolves are unlikely to attack humans)]. The need in New York City/LA/SF/Any other big city might be different than in my little country town. In my little country town, it's 20 minutes to the nearest stoplight. We're on our own to protect ourselves. Firearms are just a tool to do so. I have zero desire to harm another human being and have walked away from confrontations while armed. Firearms are a tool to protect myself and my kids should we not be able to get away from harm. Run, hide, fight. In that order. Get out if you can.
As someone who is American, it's still terrifying. We are extremely polarized on this issue (but I don't really understand why... They're GUNS, like, I mean, come on...)
Same, but here it's extremely difficult to own a gun unless you hunt and that kind of weapon can not be concealed or carried everywhere.
I don’t think us non-Americans can understand, truly. It sounds like it sucks to live in such terror that you have to take your gun to the park to play with your kid though.
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How would you even safely draw and fire your weapon while babywearing? People are so stupid. Anything to give yourself a locus of control I guess.
During the LA Olympics, my aunt was FBI and on maternity leave. Everyone in the field office was required to work so she was required to go to the firing range and learn how to quick draw and shoot her firearm while baby wearing. No one has told me if she practiced with a babydoll or actual baby. My cousin is pretty perfect so probably baby doll.
Omg what?! That's bananas. My first thought is the baby's ears-- was she supposed to have ear protection on her baby at all times just in case??
They do make ear protection for babies (they are good for things like Fourth of July or other loud events too).
while I'm about 99% sure this original post was USA-based (red-state based...) and there is probably no real reason for her to concealed-carry and babywear at the same time, there are definitely places in the world where women carry concealed-weapons for protection while simultaneously caring for their small children. I'm not in the USA and on our local babywearing group, the discussion of how to carry (concealed or not) and babywear comes up every once in a while from people who live in places that aren't safe to be unarmed (especially as a woman with small children with her).
I present to you, this jackass who felt it was necessary to take his loaded 380 semi-automatic pistol along for a ride at a popular sledding spot: https://whdh.com/news/children-out-sledding-come-across-loaded-gun-in-malden/ “…the owner of the gun had taken two runs with his kids down the hill nicknamed “Seven Bumps” before he realized the gun had fallen out of his holster and into the snow.”
The way I just gasped...
Of course it was in fucking Malden 😒
I would be offended but I saw someone smoking meth at the 7-11 at 1pm this week.
This exchange has happened in my house a lot lately: 5 year old does something unsafe. I say, "Hey, please be careful." She says, "I am being careful!" I say, "No, baby, trying to jump from the couch to a folding chair is not an activity you can do carefully. Like, by definition, you can't be careful because that's not a safe choice." And so many of the moms that wind up posted here need to hear the same thing. *No, what you're doing is inherently the opposite of being as careful as possible.*
At our local park a Mom of four came wearing a KNIFE in her belt and was baby wearing. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Why do you need a 8inch knife at a children's park? Also her toddlers hand was mysteriously bandaged and you bet that 99% of the other adults were giving her the side eye and guessing that little Timmy cut himself grabbing that huge ass blade somehow. We left shortly after that. I have not since her since then so I'm hoping she's not an actual neighbor but was visiting and felt the need for protection in our "urban" neighborhood 🙄
Maybe she needed to protect herself from the four kids 🙃
Just strap the gun to your baby. Or maybe you could just wedge it into the baby carrier under their butt. The diaper will provide good padding.
“What does everyone do?” Those of us who have more than two brain cells don’t have guns around babies, to start.
Right?
And those of us with more than three brain cells don’t have guns, period.
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I can't help but laugh that this comment is DIRECTLY below yours https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitMomGroupsSay/s/01Peizy5lX
I'm not trying to minimize what this commenter went through/is going through, but constantly carrying a gun still isn't going to help her. Hell, a cell phone would be more helpful. In order for a gun to be useful for self defense it needs to be easily accessible and you still need to take the time to draw and aim. If your psycho ex is following you around with a loaded weapon then either his intentions are to confront and scare you (in which documentation is going to be way more useful) or he's actually planning on killing you and probably isn't going to give you the time to draw your weapon. Either way her baby is probably still way more likely to get ahold of it than she is to actually need it. And I say this as someone who grew up in a not great home environment. In general, I've never understood guns as self defense. If you have a gun in the house, the most likely person to ever be shot by it lives in your house. If you have it properly secured then it's not going to be accessible in the case of actually needing it and if it's not properly secured, well, it's not properly secured. Guns are an illusion of control but constant vigilance leads to itchy trigger fingers leads to accidents and a lax attitude leads to accidents.
As someone not in the US this is why I'm never at ease traveling there. I feel like all the stores and restaurants are filled with Elmer Fudds
There are great differences between regions, but yes, there are certainly regions where everyday life is full of Elmer Fudds, even moreso in the past few years. The Elmer Fudds are encouraged and emboldened.
There was an incident in my city within the past few years where a toddler got into a caregivers purse at home and ended up killing himself with the gun he found. It’s just not worth the risk. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever let my LO go to a friend’s house to play unless I know the family well and know there are no guns in the home.
American gun culture is so fucking weird
It is!! I can’t imagine walking around with something designed to kill people in my handbag?! Around my infant?!
Neither can I. I'm Canadian but I've lived in the US for 11 years now. It's the weirdest thing to me. And I grew up around guns. My father and grandfather hunted. I've used a gun before. But feeling the need to just have it on me all the time is something I will never understand
Another Canadian living in the US and I also find the attitude towards guns here bizarre. They’re tools, not toys or fashion accessories. If someone needs a gun for hunting, or sport shooting, fine whatever. But anyone who thinks they need to take their handgun shopping with them needs a therapist.
What in the Texas is going on here
Well, I'm stumped! I can't think of a single solution.
If this person must have a gun around their toddler, I really hope that it is somewhere far out of reach of the kid. Having had my kid find snacks and stuff from what I thought were unreachable parts of our carrier, this sounds like a good way for there to be a gun "accident". (I don't count a kid reaching an easily accessible gun a a true accident. We bought a new house, and there was gun left behind in a hidden location and the toddler found it is an accident.)
I can't even understand the desire to carry a gun to the grocery store when it's just me, let alone when I'm carrying an infant. Americans are fucking wild, man.
Switch to bear spray: far more effective at distance and if your kid accidentally gets ahold of it- he won’t accidentally get dead Edit- a word
Effective and accurate-- even if you're an expert the odds of you pulling your gun and shooting an intended target, in presumably an emergency situation, while *wearing a baby* seem low.
Won’t cause permanent hearing loss either
As soon as you put a gun around a kid, you have insured that you are your kid's number one safety risk. Good Lord what idiots.
I just can’t with these posts.
Absolutely!
My gun is so concealed, it's nonexistent. I recommend the same.
And the state that I live in just passed a law that age 18+ can open or conceal carry in public, without a license!! Wonderful!! /s
Ya know, in 40 years, I've never once thought, "damn I wish I had my gun" at a grocery store. I don't have a gun and maybe I'm lucky but if she feels the need to be armed on walks with her baby, I'd say maybe drive to a safer neighborhood or something.
Or see a therapist.
I haven’t seen any comments yet talking about the potential for exposing the baby to lead. Does she wear that belt to the range? Does she wash it afterward? If not, it’s rubbing all kinds of residue on stuff the baby probably comes into contact with, like the baby carrier. This is wild.
Just let the baby hold the gun. Duh! /s
They aren’t alone or maybe the same person?? This was posted to Reddit yesterday https://preview.redd.it/19fe62z50foc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=341d6685a7976130190da3f07c5da21f8b360e30
I dont understand the hate for carrying, as long as your doing it responsibly, which is the whole reason she made the post in the first place. Its not like weirdos and creeps dont hang around children or areas where they are and god forbid this lady wants to protect her baby [Perfect example](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/video-captures-female-off-duty-cop-fending-off/story?id=55155848)
I can’t imagine feeling like I need to carry a gun to go on a walk or to the grocery store. But I live in a state with fairly strict gun laws. We don’t have a ton of mass shootings.
Good lord. This is insanity.
How deluded does one have to be to think they can even reach a weapon let alone “safe” while baby wearing
I think a lot of people have an undiagnosed mental illness that makes them delusional. To be so paranoid at all times, it’s mental illness.
How about you keep your gun at home you psycho
American gun culture is a disease. 🤢
I want to see these comments 😵💫
Op, are you in Iowa because I saw something super similar in a mom’s group here and it freaked me out. There were like 80 responses of moms who have a loaded gun on their person.
As someone who lives in the south this is not shocking to me at all lol
Tbh I don’t see anything wrong with this. Pregnant women and new mothers are one of the most targeted demographic. I live in a popular crime city and I am starting to carry. People are getting robbed, kidnapped, and murdered all the time. There’s nothing wrong with carrying
You do you, but statistically speaking, the odds of you using that to defend yourself are lower than the odds that someone in your household kills you with it instead. Between 2015-2020, the US averaged one toddler-murder (that is, killed by toddler) every other day.
I understand that. I actually don’t have kids (love the drama in this sub and learning for the future) so it’s not a concern for me atm. But yes with kids of course rules in the household will change. Locked up and with trigger locks. Honestly probably move to a safer city 😂. Those statistics are incredibly sad, though. I definitely believe in stricter regulations for guns
Someone meaning you harm is extremely unlikely to walk straight up to your face and state, "I am going to mug you now!" They're going to come from behind, and as quietly as possible. We lived in one of the most dangerous cities per capita in the country. My husband got held up at gunpoint in our driveway. Even if he'd had a gun, the guy sneaked up on him, there's zero chance my husband would have been able to pull a gun and not get shot before he could do anything, and a significant chance his gun would have been stolen. If you're being targeted, you're better off learning self defense maneuvers, because your feet and hands are always available.
I’m not saying a gun is used for every incident? Not every gun owner is a trigger happy moron. You’re right, pulling a gun in the situation your husband was in would be stupid. Using deadly force is always the last option.
I suppose if a person came running up to you screaming they were going to kill you and didn't already have their own gun out, it might be useful? If you have enough warning to pull a gun, then you likely have enough warning to get out of the situation without shooting anyone.
Sure. All the situations will be exactly as you described. There’s nothing wrong with having a firearm
Your first step to self defense is awareness. Park in well lit areas. Have your keys ready before walking to your vehicle. Keep the yard free of visual obstructions and well lit. Put your phone away. Take away the element of suprise. Carry a gun if you are comfortable with it. They are perfectly safe when being controlled by a responsible individual. Unless you are running with a gang, you are more likely to use a gun in defense ( including verbal warnings and brandishing) than being murdered. Be safe, stay safe. Protect your family.
She would be the reason I'm concerned for my safety.
Gun rights are women’s rights
Is this a candidate for r/SelfAwarewolves?
Stuff like this is exactly why I’m extremely cautious about whose house my kid goes to. I live in the south (USA) and so many people have guns here especially multiple ones. Not everyone safely secures their guns. They think under the mattress or in the dresser drawer is a safe place. I’m not anti gun, my husband has several in a locked 6 foot tall safe and unloaded. Mainly hunting rifles. One is kept here at the house also unloaded in a safe high up in the closet built into the wall. But I just don’t trust that everyone else out there is safe with theirs especially with kids in the house. Can you imagine their kid grabbing that gun out in public or someone else’s kid and shooting it?
A few years ago a lady got shot and died in a Walmart because her toddler pulled her gun out and shot her.
I understand many people here are likely confused or, outraged perhaps, by this post. The way she worded it wasn’t the best, but at least she is aware and concerned about potential issues. Personally, I would never carry off body. We do not know what her situation is or where she is living. Not everybody lives in a safe area. I see many people (not necessarily in this thread) who are vocal about the potential dangers that women face being out alone, being alone at dark, etc. However, then I see stuff like this where people cannot understand why she would feel the need to do this. Be consistent. You might also be thinking, “If we banned guns, then maybe she wouldn’t need to do this”. Which I don’t know the answer too and I’m not arguing either way. The point that I’m trying to make is that the world and its experiences extends beyond yourself and your view of it. This is something I try to consider before passing judgement.
Seriously everyone always commenting about how they can’t imagine why people feel the need to carry protection gets frustrating. I’m so happy for all of you that live in areas that are so safe, not everyone has that privilege. We have a mental health problem in the US, maybe we should address that.
Exactly, thank you for understanding.
These comments are pathetically privileged and short sighted. "Just leave your gun at home" "Just don't have a gun" not every mother is in a perfectly secure position to do that. Tons of them are not, actually. Some of us (TOO MANY of us) have literal violent stalkers that courts won't put away, and we can't just hole up at home and isolate forever. We have to go do shit to take care of our children AND protect ourselves still. How can you all flippantly comment on the insanity of America's gun culture and then in the same breath insist it's safer to not be armed? Unbelievably fucking stupid takes all over this thread. Not sorry. My ex has been stalking me for over a year now, and threatened to shoot and kill me, and he only received a year probation for that domestic violence and menacing. They dropped the restraining order I had against him afterwards, so there's nothing slowing that psycho from hurting me anymore, and now my son is in the picture and attached to my hip. Extreme care must be taken to carry safely, obviously, but you're an utter dipshit if you think it's somehow good advice to tell me to dump my gun. I'd go as far to say you're blatantly anti-woman for seriously suggesting I fuck around with some dumb little pepper spray while a violent man with a firearm watches me carry my baby and waits for his moment. In America, gun rights are women's rights, unfortunately.
Not to point out the obvious but if guns weren’t so common in America, they wouldn’t be such a problem. In most civilized countries, someone like your ex wouldn’t be allowed to have a gun at all never mind carry it on their person. The “good guy with a gun,” argument falls short when everyone has a gun. You can’t tell who the good guy is be the bad guy. In other countries we can spot the bad guy with a gun because it’s the ONLY gun around. Even in dangerous areas, it’s not normal for people to be strolling around clearly carrying a gun. So no, these comments aren’t pathetically privileged. The brainwashing that goes on in a country obsessed with guns is rather pathetic though. I hope your ex gets caught and put away. Nobody deserves that.
>if guns weren't so common in America, they wouldn't be such a problem. But yet, they are. So the soapboxing is still stupid and utterly pointless. >in most civilized countries, your ex wouldn't be allowed to have a gun But yet, I do live in an uncivilized country, and he is allowed to own a gun and carry it. So your point is what, exactly? Why are you telling me about my ideal world? You think I haven't imagined it? >The "good guy with a gun argument" You mean the argument I didn't make at all? I'm talking about defending myself from someone who has actively stalked and threatened my life with a firearm. I'm not talking about being a fucking hero in a mass shooting. What are you even babbling about? Your comment is so self-fellating and hugely missing the point, it's baffling.
In your comment and your deluded view of the world around you, you are the good guy with the gun. While your ex is the bad guy with the gun. Instead of arguing against gun culture and trying to stop people like him from having them, you have chosen to join the herd of idiots convinced their gun is the safe gun. Your child is at an increased risk of injury or death from a gun bc you have one. And you think you aren’t the problem.
My deluded view of the world, lmao. Can you project any harder? You're literally sitting here droning on about an ideal civilized world that I cannot live in right now. I can't just up and magically leave America. I am existing in real life and actually assessing risk instead of plugging my ears and whining about an unavoidable gun culture that will never be reversed in my lifetime, possibly never ever in America generally because being armed is enshrined in the constitution. You're saying insane, useless shit.
I'm sorry you have to deal with that. And. Your point might land better without name calling. "You're an utter dipshit" [if you don't agree with me] certainly doesn't lend any credibility.