Off topic: If you are bored and need a laugh ... or is it dead serious?

[BikeFreak]

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t/180561/how-many-of-you-carry-a-gun-as-part-of-your-cycling-equipment

and

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/59519-Does-anyone-carry-a-gun?highlight=gun

[e46rick]

Sadly, I don't see the posts as jokes, I believe they are dead serious.
The boogey man is very real to some people.

If cycling were so dangerous that I felt it was necessary to arm myself with a firearm every time I went for a ride...I think I'd look for another activity.

[Westinghouse]

Cycling is safe enough, but the same cannot be said for all people. The sad but true fact is there are quite a few crazy, insane, dangerous people running around free. I do not see anything wrong with someone on a long tour carrying a concealed firearm for self defence. I have never carried a weapon on a tour. I have not had a need to. Usually, you have to be in a sort of bad place around violent people to be attacked. Those places and people are easy enough to recognize and avoid, but not always. I would not want the extra weight. It is not necessary to have a handgun. If a person is licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the states he travels through, it's his right to do so, and who can say it will never save a life or deter someone who intends to do him wrong in a serious way.

[staehpj1]

I don't feel the need to carry on tour, but the fact that others do doesn't bother me much.  I will say that I would think that it would be a hassle to deal with the concealed carry laws in various states.  Also staying with hosts I'd find it my moral obligation to disclose that I was carrying which might be pretty awkward.  So basically I consider it to be a bad idea, but a personal choice.

[johnsondasw]

To be of use in an emergency, the gun would have to loaded at all times, of course.  I would wager that carrying a loaded gun on tour is statistically way more dangerous than not having one.  It may discharge in a crash or you might shoot a partner or family member oe other innocent when someone's up around camp at night etc.  What's with this country, that's so nuts about guns?

[gpshay]

As for me I would not go on a Tour without my weapon  .. I carry Mace for dogs and people who I can not talk down out of an agitated state of mind .. I carry my weapon  for those who might decide to do me harm with some type of weapon .. the only one who will see my weapon would be the  attacker .. It absolutely sickens me as to what happened to those cyclists in India  .. if only one or both of them had something to protect themselves with the out come probably would have been different .. Glenn

[SlowAndSlower]

I would wager that carrying a loaded gun on tour is statistically way more dangerous than not having one.

+1 exactly. Second is if don't know what hell is, shoot someone. By time the legal system is done with you you will know what it is and you and your family will be broke.