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greetings
i just read this in todays am costa rica after pondering admins new ticos are evolved article and thought it was excellent advice in todays world.. personal accountablity
hope this was ok
peace
harlon
Do not live in fear here:
Get yourself a firearmDear A.M. Costa Rica:
Letterwriter John Holtz had this to say about law enforcement in Costa Rica (“He wants some solutions to problems from crimes,” April 17, 2007), “Until we centralize law enforcement, demand accountability, up the pay, up the quality of the force and make sure their shoes hit the streets 24/7, we will continue to live in fear.”
There is no need to live in fear. My family and I lived in Costa Rica for years and we were never in fear. The reason was simple: we were not unarmed. We made no secret of being armed, and criminals bypassed us and our home, even though our Tico and Gringo neighbors were frequently victimized by thugs. You see, criminals vastly prefer unarmed victims and will go out of their way to avoid someone who will fight back. While living in Costa Rica, I only had to use a firearm once in self-defense. Word quickly got out that we were ready, willing and able to defend ourselves, and we were never bothered again.
You might be surprised to know that many, perhaps a majority, foreign residents in Costa Rica are armed, whether they advertise it or not. Many of us from a variety of countries got together for occasional target practice. We were never hassled by the police. To the contrary, I would usually invite a few of them to join us for practice, since their own departments didn’t provide ammo for training and we had large quantities of ammunition.
To the point: some people just don’t get it. Police very rarely prevent crime or catch criminals during the commission of a crime. If you want to be safe, if you want your family and your property to be safe, then step up and take the responsibility for the safety of your loved ones, yourself and your property. Own a firearm. Practice with it. Develop a mindset for self-defense. Be aware of your surroundings. Refuse to be a victim. Fight back. Then and only then will you and your loved ones truly be safe. The choice is yours. If you live in fear, it’s because you choose to live that way.
For what it is worth, that advice applies anywhere in the world. During my military service and years as a professional peace officer, I lived in some of the most crime-ridden places imaginable, in the U.S. and abroad. The rules are the same regardless of where you live.
D. J. Buckner
Denver, Colorado, and Atlanta, GeorgiaEdited on Apr 18, 2007 05:01
Edited on Apr 18, 2007 05:01
I really don’t know where these people lived in C.R.? But I can tell you I have spent months at a time in the country, mostly Nosara where we had a house and for all intensive purposes lived there. No proplems, the house was secure we did not leave anything flashy laying around(actually we had nothing flashy)…just had a great time and took normal precautions based on our knowledge of C.R.. Also we have spents months living in Playa Hermosa just south of Jaco, same thing no real problems, Jaco may be another story but no problems there. In about 6 years of traveling to C.R. we had our tire punctured once while driving out of Alujela, I knew what was going on and proceeded to a safe place to park. I know we may have been lucky so far but don’t feel this country is rampant with violent crime. currently I live in Brooklyn, NY and can tell you there are areas you would not walk at night etc…If I felt I had to arm myself to live safely there I think I would just stay right where I am.
If posting that you are armed will cause the ” would be thugs” to pass your home and go on to another, I presume because these thugs are not armed themselves, then it seems logical that if we all arm ourselves and make it known, then the thugs will follow suit and arm theirseves.
Hasn’t the escalation of arms proven this over and over again?
Ofcourse the problem needs to be dealt with, and accountability of law enforcement needs to be stepped up.
I don’t doubt that your arming yourself, and at one time defending yourself with a gun, was succesful. However, I ,for one, would hate to see everybody follow this trend, as it is obvious how it will turn out.I couldn’t agree more…to say that you should arm yourself is completely ridiculous. With all due respect to D.J. Buckner, this kind of thinking is exactly the reason the U.S. is a country that lives in fear and is fueled by the media. Turn on any American news program and this is exactly what you see because violence sells multiple forms of media…print, television, or otherwise.
Arm yourself and that is exactly what you will attract, more criminals that are armed.
Protect yourself and your family, absolutely. But to say the only way to do this is by taking up arms is absurd. I believe fear breeds fear…guns breed more guns…and paranoia of violent crime will ultimately lead to more violent crime.
The world is a more violent place now because we have made it that way by sensationalizing crime through all media channels and telling people that essentially, “we need to protect ourselves” at all costs because there is some thug waiting around the corner to get us.
You ever notice that the ones that focus their energy on negative things end up drawing negative actions into their life? Hmmmm…
So Buckner was from Colorado, gun capital of the West! How fitting. God help us if Colorado is ever under attack — almost everyone I know here is armed (and maybe dangerous! LOL) with not just one, but literally dozens, of firearms. It’s so very very Colorado to have a weapons stash!!
Does anyone know if it is legal for pensionados to own a gun in Costa Rica? I can’t imagine Buckner carried his “piece” in peace with Costa Rican law.
The vast majority of crime in Costa Rica would be described as non-violent. That being said, you still have the right to defend yourself and your family and protect your belongings. My experience here in the Central Pacific area is if the criminals know you are armed, they are not willing to risk their life to get your stereo and your microwave oven. To say that arming yourself only causes the criminals to arm themselves is a rediculous and unsubstantiated statement. Most crime here is local. Most people know who the criminals around a community are. The key to lessening the problem of crime is exactly what was previously said, better trained police, freeing the police to actually do their job, etc. Also their needs to be radical reforms in the judicial system that continually puts criminals back out on the streets, sometimes within 24 hours of a serious crime. In the mean time though, I have no problem with someone arming themselves to protect their property and their family, as long as they are first and foremost responsible gun owners. To accuse the original poster of acting outside the laws of Costa Rica is wrong. You admit you have no knowledge of the gun laws here, but take it upon yourself to accuse him of breaking the law. A foreigner can infact own and use a firearm here. There are certain steps you have to take, but it is not uncommon and is within the law.
It’s not a ridiculous or unsubstantiated statement to say that “arming yourself only causese the criminals to arm themselves”. Why do you think people arm themselves in the first place? One action leads to another action. Why do you think we have military support in most countries? Because “we” believed that there was a need to arm ourselves to protect ourselves against others invading our country, stealing our property, hurting our familes. This goes back thousands of years! How would we ever arm ourselves if weapons were never created? Violence breeds violence…it’s that simple!
I agree that there are reforms that need to occur but this is a “band aid” solution at best. Just look what is happening in North America! We have guns, military, police, prisons, judicial systems, etc. and this part of the world is more dangerous than ever.
Do we need to get into Virginia? Do we need to get into Bush’s crusade on terrorism? I can list at least a dozen other examples.
If people have the right to arm and defend themselves in Costa Rica then I guess that is the law and we have to live by it…but please don’t suggest that firearms are not creating more issues than they are solving…that is ridiculous and unsubstantiated!
That certainly doesn’t apply to America. In countries where guns are illegal, there is less crime, at least less violent crime.
It most certainly does. D.C. is a perfect example. Strict gun control, gun violence through the roof. Stop listening to Rosie.
So Don’t arm yourself and I will. I can promise you I will never harm you with my gun unless you want to harm me or steal from me… it’s that simple!
Violence isn’t the bad thing. People committing evil acts is. Using violence to stop evil is a good and noble thing. To say violence breeds more violence doesn’t mean anything. It is OK to kill someone who is in the process of murdering people. Violence did breed violence, so what? Don’t you want the murderer stopped?
Edited on Apr 20, 2007 11:27
HUH? Gun violence through the roof with strict gun controls. How does that make any sense. Oh, and I’ve never seen Rosie. UGH!
It’s a bit tricky, we say it is wrong to kill, but then we kill under certain circumstances. Who are you to take a persons life, is life so cheap that you would kill a man because he broke into your house, wanted to steal your car? You thought he/she had a weapon so you shot another human? Maybe that person assaulting someone on the street for a few bucks could be your son strung out on drugs etc…should he be shot and his life taken for this digression? Can you be judge, jury and police officer within a split second? Let a trained police force carry guns, there’s very little violent crime in Costa Rica and most of the neigborhoods people on this board live in. I have lived in some pretty tough parts of NYC over the years and never felt I needed to carry a weapon or would be safer doing so. Advanced civilized countries should be looking for ways to elimenate violence from society, not recreate the wild west or emulate sierra leone…Look at death rates among countries like Japan, Canada, Northern Europe the U.K. from gun related murders…a fraction of what we have here in the U.S. lets follow there lead.
My property I would not kill for. Only to protect others and myself. The trained cop seems to show up a little to late. I don’t think reacting in such away makes me judge, jury and cop, just a person who wants to protect his family and himself. In a free society I should have that right especially when our culture here in the U.S. is pretty violent.
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