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Do you want to spend the rest of your life going through metal detectors, to strip you of your rights and your dignity, in order to gain a false sense of security?

That is hard to answer. Personally, no and it doesn't make me feel safer, maybe if I flew a lot which I don't, would hate that dang 2-hour early arrival at the airport and the sometimes indignities of that. But when I have to think about family members who work at the mall, work at convenience stores, fly frequently, I don't know yet because I haven't thought it through and hate to give an off-the-cuff answer.

I don't even like all the cameras, but I've grown so used to them, I never even think about it any more. How bad is that?

And the one time I needed them, by the time the police got on it, they had overwritten the tape which they did every two weeks. Ticked me off, not so much at the police because they had higher-priority crimes to deal with than my purse which was stolen due to my own carelessness, but I had good clues in fraudulent checks, the payee, because some kind soul found my checkbook with tissues still in, clearly two were not my handwriting. How dumb is that on the part of the culprit? Anyway, there were several places where you would put the same abbreviation as the payee; I happened to patronize one of them myself (a chain of gas stations locally). I almost pleaded for help to try to figure out at which one the check had been cashed to help the police. No one cared. Until the check was returned with a stop pay and I get a notification. I explained the situation, gave them the police report # to get me off the hook, and apologized, said I guessed they'd just have to write it off or maybe my banking ins covered it. That's when I found out they had overwritten the tape already.

But when there has been a serious crime, that is one of the ways the police solve it, seize the tape, may have to get a court order if not voluntarily surrendered, even from places where the crime didn't occur, trying to track the prior activities of the perp. I've got mixed feelings about the ethics of that, but naturally I'm glad if they get someone really bad off the streets (hah, not for long usually).

I got some of my things back including my driver's license which saved me that hassle. I asked couldn't they do a finger print check on that? The answer was no which I didn't understand.

I hate it all what has become of my country, hate those tags on clothing (never shoplifted in my life), all the encumbrances we are now subjected to because there are so many bad people out there. Growing up, I was FREE and SAFE from all of that. The WORST that happened was if I went into a store (usually upscale) just to look when I was a teenager, I knew I was being watched. I didn't like the feeling.

One funny thing happened though. I ran in my usual store and didn't want to bother to get a cart, always pick up a few more things than I'd planned, anyway, stuffed several cans of cat food in my coat pocket, finished my rounds, felt somebody "heavy" behind me, followed me up to the checkout, I plopped all the stuff on the conveyer, dug all the cans out of my pocket and added them, I never saw the guy, but felt him make a quick exit :-). So I have to be careful about that because I suppose they can get you before you get to the checkout if you do something suspicious like that.

I forgot, don't like to say it publicly, but I've talked about it freepmail enough around here. I do not believe I can legally own and carry a gun because I have had mental health issues since my 20's. That bothers me because even at my worst I have never been a threat to anybody, maybe ONLY myself a couple times long ago. It makes me feel discriminated against. But how do they know? I'd be a lot safer having a gun than some drunk or macho temper-tantrum type. So we are all stereotyped and treated the same. I have no criminal record, not even a speeding (lucky, I know occasionally I sped to keep up with traffic or wasn't watching the signs, habitually a pokey driver since I was young, the kind people hate to get behind) ticket ever, just parking tickets and twice didn't get my registration renewed in time so was fined for that. How many people can claim that?

When something really bad happened several years ago, my life was in jeopardy, that and my whole family. I had to stay in hotels and slept in my car for several nights running until they got enough evidence and found him. The FIRST thing I did was pick up the phone and call a neighbor across the street and ask if he still had his gun and could he please be ready to come help me out if this guy shows up because we all know that even with quick response time, it is never quick enough assuming some other things criminals could do I'd rather not mention.

Of late, I have felt a need to be able to own a gun. It curtails my freedom going out places I won't go alone now but would if I could carry. Also, I'd feel safer in my own home.

But who said life was fair?