I have lived in the rural Southwest for many, many years. In addition, being a life-long hunter, it has been my pleasure to visit quite a bit of the rest of rural America. I find the attitudes and practices regarding self-defense to very often be quite different from those found in our major cities. Let me give you some examples.
In general, violent crime is not nearly so common. In my county, the largest in the state and bordering with Mexico, we probably have one killing, legal or otherwise, every two to three years. However, the other side of that equation, is that law enforcement is spread awfully thin. While the average police-response time in the cities is supposed to be about 15 minutes, it could well be twice that in rural America; and many rural folks can tell you about having to wait one to two hours before the law shows up in some cases. Keeping in mind that the gunfight at the OK Corral took place in 30 seconds, you can see that an awful lot of bad things can occur before the police get on the scene.
For that reason, most rural dwellers have a better handle on the ability to defend themselves. The idea that they are responsible for their own safety is not just some philosophical idea. The private ownership and use of guns, handled responsibly and safely, is not only not an issue, but an accepted practice. The other day I was taking my coat off, about to get a haircut, when I realized that I had my carry pistol on me and was exposing it in public. My lady barber, also a local city councilperson, said, “Oh, you just leave that on. It won’t bother me one bit.”
I also find that rural folks are a good bit handier with their firearms than their city counterparts. This is mainly because their firearms are just everyday tools to them, and they use them frequently. While we may not ever get in a blazing gunfight with criminals, we use our guns frequently to deal with venomous snakes, predators that are after our domestic animals and when in season, the chance to collect some wild game for the table. I suspect that the average farmer/rancher shoots more in one month than the average city dweller does in a year. And if you expected to win a prize at the annual Turkey Shoot, you’d better be good, really good.
Finally, rural folks, in general, are more involved and concerned about keeping the peace. The county that I served as the elected sheriff is big ranch country with an interstate highway right through the middle of it. We would often have some exciting adventures involving the crooks that drove from one coast to the other via that highway. In just about every one of those manhunts, I would find my local citizens showing up with an offer to help, not with vigilantism in mind, but just an honest desire to help in some way.
I’ve often said that our country is alive and well in rural America. And I think that the main reason is that rural folks take a greater hand in preserving their own safety and those of their neighbors. I also know that there a lots of good people living in America’s cities; I just wish they could find more ways to become proactive, in a lawful way, to help clean up the massive problems that most of those cities endure. Someone smarter than me is bound to figure it out eventually.
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