I read a blog post by a gun blogger who took a break from his usual posts about accessories you could buy for your AR-15 to describe his upcoming trip to New York City. He was agonizing about how New York’s strict gun laws would leave him “unable to protect his wife and child” by carrying his preferred handgun at all times.
He also shared his planned itinerary and the tourist spots he hoped to hit, none of which were more than a few blocks from Times Square.
At the risk of jinxing myself, I can say that in twenty years of living in New York – and spending time in areas considerably sketchier than Midtown Manhattan at all hours of the day and night – I have never yet been in a situation in which I wished I was packing heat. But you do you, Mr. Proud Patriot Gun-Owner.
I think the perception of New York as lawless and violent is only partly due to poor information. I think some people also need to believe in New York as some violent Gomorrah where foolish liberalism has dragged an entire metropolis to the brink of anarchy, and Those People stalk the streets unchecked, picking off their victims at their leisure. It helps them feel good about their own situation and reinforces their belief system generally.
I just have fun people watching during my commute and sometimes trying to figure out what language is being spoken. Rarely have I felt threatened. Well sure, it wasn’t so odd to feel uneasy in some areas of NYC 20 years ago, but things have improved. To me it isn’t scary. It just seems very alive.
Because has the most unpleasant mass transit system in the world. A 21st century city with 19th century infrastructure. In reality it is safer than most cities of a similar size.
I say this as someone who has lived NYC metro area all my life.
Memphis is number 1 in the list I see. Lubbock, TX is number 4, but I suspect that will change this year. I’m in Amarillo, TX and we’ve had five shootings in 10 days, nearly constant traffic deaths including pedestrians, and we are, by all accounts, the domestic violence capital of Texas.
But the taxes are really low! Those are freedom potholes.
I think part of the perception is due to NYC being both exotic and unfamiliar to a lot of people, especially from the Midwest.
I’ll admit, NYC makes me nervous, and I’ve lived in Tokyo, Moscow, DC, and Chicago, and visited Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Osaka, St. Petersburg, Accra, Dakar, London, Philedelphia, and many more. I’m not nervous about crime, though. What makes me nervous is fact that if I go there, I wouldn’t know how to get around very well, wouldn’t know if I’m being overcharged, if I’m not tipping properly, if I’m making a faux pas, if I’m experiencing the “authentic” New York.
For many people, a city block in NYC has more people than the town they live in, a square mile more than the population of their entire state, and as others rightly mentioned, more multicultural than anything they’ve ever experienced. It’s exotic to the point it may as well be a far away land. And anyplace new is unfamiliar. Both these factors can naturally lead to a sense of danger. It doesn’t help that everything is more in big cities: more crime (by volume if not per capita) and more “spectacular”.
And for the record, I am always nervous about going to a new city, but also excited, and once I get my bearings I enjoy myself very much.
I been to New York City and never had a problem.
In fact , I gotten lost and people have come and helped me with out asking any one for help.
It been Atlanta that I have been mugged .
I seem to remember West Philadelphia having a problem with play ground violence back in the 90s. Thought that might have just been a couple of guys, who were up to no good?
Earlier this year, Memphis had two unrelated mass shootings less than 2 hours apart. A few weeks ago a dude shot 7 people in about 8 hours all over town. You got a long way to ho before Amarillo is as shooty as Memphis.
On a side note, Detroit’s looking pretty good in this comment thread so far!
It’s not me that’s in Memphis, it’s Mr. Kidd! We can’t wait for this stupid project to get finished so he can come home to our, apparently, considerably safer metro!
Those shootings I mentioned all happened way too close for comfort. The Kroger he’s been shopping at, FedEx campus near his project site, and that last guy was apprehended less than 1/2 mile from where he’s staying down there.
