Just saw a great movie...Gran Torino 2008 and Wondering?

[belva]

I know that this is a movie but knowing that my fellows American are really keen to have guns I just wonder if in some city in America life is really like that?...I mean gangs that pick on you on your way back from work, feel threatened in your own house.

I mean If you have seen the movie you know what I'm talking about.

[austinite]

Well, yes. But they're not as intermingled as movies would make it out to be. Generally considerably segregated. So yeah, there are places where you could get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and be targeted for no reason. Very rare, but considering the number of large cities we have in the US, it happens.

In Texas, for example, although I know that the outsiders' perception is a bunch of cowboys and saloons, not the case really, but almost everyone owns a gun and many practice their right to openly carry it. You see, we protect our properties and the law allows that. If you come into my house, the law encourages me to shoot you to death. And I get to sleep in my bed that night. So it's fair to assume that 70% + of households also have shotguns.

As far as feeling threatened in my own home, absolutely not. The door is not locked for my protection, it's locked for your protection.

[Gaspaco]

[belva]

I was wondering because I visited several cities in the States but as a tourist I never stayed more than a week each, I often have friends taking me around and I never felt unsafe; but visiting some cities does't mean knowing how people live there, especially in the suburg.

I guess every city in the world has places where is better not to go like some areas here in London.

[Hazard]

Where I am in jersey is a suburb of NYC.

I live in a small town - I've always felt safe here..... ALWAYS. I never looked over my shoulder, never worried about being robbed or beat up.

One day a kid I was in school with walked through a park I've been to 1000 times. It was getting dark and there were a group of kids in the park. He was beaten to within an inch of his life. No one knows why. Maybe he does? Idunno.

Recently we've been seeing NYC police cars around. The gangs are making their ways through the suburbs. They're recruiting younger and younger kids and the towns are calling in experienced gang units to help fight the problem.

I've walked through some of the worst areas in jersey..... Driven through them...... I've partied in some sketchy areas too. I've personally never had a problem.

One time I went to visit a friend in Pennsylvania..... It was a quiet area..... Not much going on. On our way to a house party we got into a fight with a couple guys. They wouldn't let us go and ended up with a cracked eye socket and black eyes. (my friend saw them a week later lol)

Shit can happen anywhere for any reason. Looking like an easy target won't help your case anywhere in the world. By that I mean...... Looking like a tourist, looking weak, looking frail or sick. Whoever is trying to fvck with people will be looking to have the upper hand in the ordeal.

[austinite]

^ crazy.

My worst experience was in Cincinnati Ohio. I was 17 or 18 I think. I was taking a bus to work over in Lexington Kentucky everyday. I was only there for 4 months and it was probably the most rough areas I've seen in my life. I certainly did not feel safe there. I've seen insane fights on the bus. Arguments, etc... My apartment was on the 8th floor of a building with no elevator, beat up stairway and doors with gaps at the bottom you could fit a brick through. Constant noise, constant babies crying, constant women screaming. Typical movie-like liquor/grocery store across the street with old men holding 40 oz. Colt 45's.

They can get you anything you want, on demand. I had a mazda Rx-7 at home back in Texas. I asked a guy where I could get a nose bra for it (Hey, it was the 90's!), and he said he could get one for $20. So I said OK, it was merely 4 to 5 hours later and he showed up with a used one, but still in good condition. Guy was obviously a thief.

I also had choppers flying over my neighborhood at least once a month. And once in the 4 months I was there, I saw a kid lying down in front of the liquor store who was bleeding to death. He had just been shot. Several times, that store was raided by police with shotguns drawn. Nothing ever happened to me, but I was happy as hell to get the heck out of dodge and go home. That neighborhood, was without a doubt one to avoid.

[Hazard]

^ crazy.

My worst experience was in Cincinnati Ohio. I was 17 or 18 I think. I was taking a bus to work over in Lexington Kentucky everyday. I was only there for 4 months and it was probably the most rough areas I've seen in my life. I certainly did not feel safe there. I've seen insane fights on the bus. Arguments, etc... My apartment was on the 8th floor of a building with no elevator, beat up stairway and doors with gaps at the bottom you could fit a brick through. Constant noise, constant babies crying, constant women screaming. Typical movie-like liquor/grocery store across the street with old men holding 40 oz. Colt 45's.

They can get you anything you want, on demand. I had a mazda Rx-7 at home back in Texas. I asked a guy where I could get a nose bra for it (Hey, it was the 90's!), and he said he could get one for $20. So I said OK, it was merely 4 to 5 hours later and he showed up with a used one, but still in good condition. Guy was obviously a thief.

I also had choppers flying over my neighborhood at least once a month. And once in the 4 months I was there, I saw a kid lying down in front of the liquor store who was bleeding to death. He had just been shot. Several times, that store was raided by police with shotguns drawn. Nothing ever happened to me, but I was happy as hell to get the heck out of dodge and go home. That neighborhood, was without a doubt one to avoid.

I had an 89 Rx-7 GTU...... Loved that car lmao!

The bad areas I was in I didn't feel safe in...... I'll say that. I had my own business cleaning up crime scenes..... I was apart of a larger company but a more accurate description was I had my own territory. I was called to a halfway house where a retarded man was arrested and his apartment was condemned. I had to clean it.

I had a tennant there demand to speak to the supervisor. He was an older man, missing teeth, alcohol on his breath. He wanted to know why we were there and if the mess we were making would be cleaned up. The whole time he is invading my personal space. As this was going on I had to always be aware that he could pull something. I explained to him that I was there to clean up the mess that was left by a gentleman in his apartment building. I told him we were hired to make the apartment livable and he would no longer have to put up with the filth from this man. I made him the victim and I was there to help him. He didn't have bad intentions (that im aware of) but one can never know. The whole time I was there I had my guard up. 5 flights of stairs..... Doors to apartments open on every floor. Women passed out on their beds with the tvs left on..... Guys sittin in the corne of their room holding their head...... Shit was scary lol.

[JAB1]

YEs in some areas its just like that. I have an employee who is mid 60's, lived in same neighborhood his whole life, owns the house. Neighborhood has gotten really rough and he has issues daily. House broken into, smoking crack, etc on his property. He just came to my office last week to talk as he had witnessed a horrific beating in front of his house, and he did not contact police out of fear of retribution and it was eating him up inside.

[GirlyGymRat]

Well, yes. But they're not as intermingled as movies would make it out to be. Generally considerably segregated. So yeah, there are places where you could get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and be targeted for no reason. Very rare, but considering the number of large cities we have in the US, it happens.

In Texas, for example, although I know that the outsiders' perception is a bunch of cowboys and saloons, not the case really, but almost everyone owns a gun and many practice their right to openly carry it. You see, we protect our properties and the law allows that. If you come into my house, the law encourages me to shoot you to death. And I get to sleep in my bed that night. So it's fair to assume that 70% + of households also have shotguns.

As far as feeling threatened in my own home, absolutely not. The door is not locked for my protection, it's locked for your protection.

lived in Texas - an extremely polite society. Everyone is packin, even the ladies. I felt safer even tho I didn't have a gun.

I am thinking about getting me a gun and lessons I am starting to live in fear and its not a way to live.

[austinite]

^ Yep. Everyone is always smiling in Texas....

[teezer33]

^ crazy.

My worst experience was in Cincinnati Ohio. I was 17 or 18 I think. I was taking a bus to work over in Lexington Kentucky everyday. I was only there for 4 months and it was probably the most rough areas I've seen in my life. I certainly did not feel safe there. I've seen insane fights on the bus. Arguments, etc... My apartment was on the 8th floor of a building with no elevator, beat up stairway and doors with gaps at the bottom you could fit a brick through. Constant noise, constant babies crying, constant women screaming. Typical movie-like liquor/grocery store across the street with old men holding 40 oz. Colt 45's.

They can get you anything you want, on demand. I had a mazda Rx-7 at home back in Texas. I asked a guy where I could get a nose bra for it (Hey, it was the 90's!), and he said he could get one for $20. So I said OK, it was merely 4 to 5 hours later and he showed up with a used one, but still in good condition. Guy was obviously a thief.

I also had choppers flying over my neighborhood at least once a month. And once in the 4 months I was there, I saw a kid lying down in front of the liquor store who was bleeding to death. He had just been shot. Several times, that store was raided by police with shotguns drawn. Nothing ever happened to me, but I was happy as hell to get the heck out of dodge and go home. That neighborhood, was without a doubt one to avoid.

I worked in Cincinnati for about 5 years, over the rhine project. Talk about unsafe. Used to pay the hookers to gard my truck from getting robbed

[austinite]

I worked in Cincinnati for about 5 years, over the rhine project. Talk about unsafe. Used to pay the hookers to gard my truck from getting robbed

lmao. I was in pircehill. yuck! Name doesn't suit the place.

[teezer33]

It was like before eight mile and after eight mile. I was on the roof when the riots where going on, must have Been 10 or more years ago don't miss that place