[at-l] Reply to Shane.....

[baltimorejack@hotmail.com (Jack Tarlin)]

A few asides....

First, I get at-l on digest,and there are any number of posts today that I 
haven't yet read; the following post is based on my earlier comments today, 
and Shane's response; secondly, it's almost 2 in the morning, I should 
probably wait til tomorrow, it's been a long day, but ere goes anyay:

Shane, first off, I tank you for being able to discuss firearms, personal 
protection, etc. in a rational, open-minded manner. One of the reasons this 
subject is avoided on a lt of trail forums is that history has regrettably 
proved that passions get so inflamed on this issue that it completely 
precludes and prevents rational discussion; i.e., people's inds are made up 
long before they post, and both sides are utterly incapable of respecting or 
listening to opposing views. Before I reply to your latest post, and before 
I comment on your views, I just want to make it very clear that I applaud 
your ability  to discuss the matter rationally and openly---all too often, 
on both sides, this is impossible when discussing this particular issue.

    That being said I want to  address the main point of your latest post.  
Yes, while on the Trail either briefly or long-term, one addresses perceived 
"risks" and threats, and makes appropriate action.  This is altogether 
prudent and sensible.  One would be foolish to do otherwise----provided, of 
course, that the risk is real, genuine, and constitutes an actual threat.

    You stated in your post, would it be unreasonable to be concerned about 
water purity, or insects, or inclement weather, or proper footwear, etc.

    No, of course not.  To address the points you brought up, one in 
concerned with water purity because this is a very real concern on a trail 
so heavily travelled as the A.T. One would be reckless to pretend that this 
was not so. unless one wants to be eaten, insect repellent  is is order at 
certain places on the A.T.  Again, this is a very real concern.  One carries 
rain gear, or at the very least, extra camp clothes, because the prudent 
hiker is aware that the A.T. is a wet Trail; sooner or later, you're gonna 
get wet or hike in the rain.  Lastly, with very few exceptions, one doesn't 
hike barefoot because most of us want better protection for our feet; it is 
recognized by most folks that hiking barefoot would present a clear and 
present risk to their health, to their ability to hike, and therefore, most 
folks want sensible appropriate footwear.

    Equating the above with a gun is comparing apples to oranges.  One 
carries a water filter, bug spray, a storm shell, or wears boots because one 
is aware that failure to do so would present a very real impediment to one;s 
ability to successfully continue down the trail.

     Likewise, one does NOT carry a gun,at least 99.9% of long-distance A.T 
hikers don't, precisely because they are aware that this is something they 
DON'T need, the same way that they don't carry inordinate ammounts of food, 
or zero degree sleeping bags in July, or tents suitable for an assault on 
Everest.

    You simply don't carry something out there that you don't need.  I'm 
glad you ageed with me, or at least acknowledged, that most folks find 14" 
hunting knives, machetes, tomahawks, and other weapons unnecessary on the 
Trail.  (And by the way, I have no problem with knives---on my first 2 
thru-hikes, I carried a favorite over-sized single-blade Gerber.   It served 
me well----for what I was using it for, i.e. cutting moleskin, shortening 
tent ropes, and cutting cheese.  After 2 thru-hikes, I realized it was 
larger and heavier than I needed, and I replaced it with a small Swiiss, 
which I carry today).

    The fact remains, Shane, that we all carry what we think we need, and 
there's nothing wrong with that--as Jim and probably others have quite 
rightly pointed out, you absolutley have the right to carry whatever you 
wish on the Trail, with the caveats that you obey the law, and avoid 
alienating or turning off your fellow hikers.  (And I asure you, showing up 
at a shelter or campsite with a K-Bar knife, bayonet, samurai sword, hatchet 
a la Last of the Mohicans, etc. is a REALLY good way of weirding the s**** 
out of people----they simply won't relate to this)

   In short, you absolutely have the right to carry what you think you need, 
and I absolutely respect your right to do so.   But I have to close with 
this, and I hope you do not take it as a any kind of"put down" or attempt to 
minimize your backwoods experience----I'm not talking about the far West, or 
Canada, or Grizzly country, or anywhere else.  I'm talking about the 
Appalachian Trail.

   You finished your last post by asking for someone to come up with 
coherent, solid reasoning for why you don't need a gun out there.  well, 
here's this:  I dunnno howmuch experience you have on the  A.T.  You sound 
like you have a ton of valuable experience elsewhere, which is good.

    Shane, I've probably spent more time on the A.T. as a long-distance 
hiker in the last 7 years than anyone else.  It wasn't something I set ouit 
to do, it just turned out that way.  I've hiked something like 13,000 miles 
on the Trail since 1995, and in the course of those travels, I've been 
privileged to met up with, camp with, and hike with thousands of folks.  
I've also met an untold number of non-hikers----people I've met in towns, 
along roads, in cars, while hitchhiking, etc.

    It is my considered and firm opinion that a firearm is simply 
unnecessary while engaged in a hike on the Appalachian trail, and that while 
the prudent and wise man prepares for risks, threats, and eventualities 
while in the backcountry, the fact remains that the chances of needing a 
firearm while hiking are so remotely small that I cannot defend or advocate 
carrying one.  As I said earlier, you have a greater chance of encountering 
a deadly threat in your own home----if you feel confident visiting your 
kitchen or bathroom at two in the morning without first strapping on a gun 
then you should feel equaly confident on setting out on the Trail similarly 
unencumbered.


    You are right Shane, to consider genuine threats and risks, and to act 
appropriately in each set of circumstances.  But as regards time on the 
appalachian Trail, the risk you're talking about simply does not mandate 
carrying a gun in order to achieve a level of security in order to deal with 
that risk.

    I look forward to seeing other opinions, but my experience has made me 
feel very strongly about this:  As I said earlier, there are certainly 
places in America where carrying agun may well be a good idea.  My old 
neighborhood in Boston comes to mind, for example.  In any case, there are 
absolutely places where you'd be dead right in wanting to carry, and feeling 
the need to do so, and Iassure you, in these cases, I'd be the first person 
to support you in this.  There are places in this country where risk and 
threat combine to make the posession, and easy accss to a firearm a very 
good idea.  At the present time, the Appalachian Trail is simply not one of 
these places, and nothing will convince me otherwise.

   And now I'm gonna go to bed, and check out this thread in the morning.

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