Quote Originally Posted by Archangel
again, your restraint is admirable.
One of the best arguments for not carrying a gun came from a person, here in Canada, that had a rare permit to carry a concealed one. He said he figured that no-one is going to come and say, "draw." That with all the other concerns, there was little point in continuing.

I don't want to be part of a gun debate here. Here's where I agree: with all the legal/safety conditions for keeping a gun for self-defence, it become more practical to have a brick beside the bed. But I think a live katana is more "decoritive", and you already know I don't believe in decorative weapons, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Where I am at, namely, a densely populated area, downtown, a gun didn't seem prudent. Anybody with any sort of combat experience knows that 9/10, in close combat, a knife wins over a gun each time. My cane is a good deal longer than a knife. (But I keep one of those too) So if you think about this in a logical fashion, which I did, arming my self with a gun would actually reduce my ability to effectly control a hostile situation. My voice, my menacing looks, and my commanding authoritative aura should suffice, or, in last ditch efforts, I get my hands dirty.

Should I ever feel the need to defend my self with projectiles, I do have one weapon in storage. It is a 350 pound xbow. Lever action. It will shoot a bolt clean through an elk or a bear and keep going for quite some distance. I have a good assortment of bolts, and a small stockpile of Rippers, special bolts with hooked barbs in both directions, that rip going in and coming out, designed to bring down big game. I also have three harpoons.

It may sound silly, but I keep it around in case of emergency. Should there ever be a major disaster or some kind of horrible event that brings civilization around me crashing down, I wanted something that I could protect my self with, get food, etc. And I didn't want to have to depend on gunpowder or chemical based projectiles. In some cases, simple is serviceable.