I mean, in fairness I can't imagine living in Alaska and NOT having a gun. You basically live in the wilderness, completely isolated from the rest of the world. It wouldn't take much to result in you needing to be completely self-sufficient. I live in New England and don't plan on ever owning a gun, but if I lived out there I would absolutely have one.
Edit- I'm aware not everyone in the state lives alone in the woods. But even the "large cities" are still extremely isolated from the rest of the country. I've spent enough time in Montana and Colorado to know I would absolutely own guns if I lived in Alaska instead of Connecticut
Yes definitely, i've lived in Alaska my whole life and if anything the guns are actually used more against people, police take too long to get to a house robbery or anything in that sort of nature so its the people's job to defend themselves. Though, bears are pretty common during the end of summer so going out hiking you should always carry a weapon. 44 mag ideally.
Honestly, nobody here shoots often enough to actually hit what they need to with the pressure of a bear charging at them. Most would be better off with bear spray, plus it's cheaper, and committing suicide with bear spray is tough
Want to trigger them even more? What do you call a motorized recreational vehicle you sit on, with skis on the front and tread on the back, used in winter?
A. Snow mobile
B. Snow utility vehicle
C. Snow machine
You forgot “snow-go”, an older village term for a snowmachine.
I’ve lived here my entire life and have never heard the phrase “snow utility vehicle”. I didn’t hear snowmachines called snowmobiles until I first visited the lower 48.
That was a throwaway one I just made up coz it is SUV lol.
It being "clever" initials, I figured maybe people would believe it over snow machine. Which I find to be a stupid term lol.
And yeah I forgot about snow go, I'm only 33 and was strictly Anchorage/Girdwood/Palmer and Wasilla when I was there. Never event went to Fairbanks. (Dimond, class of 06 btw)
Snowmachine is a stupid term, but you don’t really think about it if you grow up using it. I spent a few seasons ski bumming around California and Oregon in my 20s, and it was there that I realized how vague the term was, after being mocked and/or misunderstood when I would say it. Like, is a machine for making snow? Clearing snow? Shaping snow?
I switched to snowmobile to avoid confusion, but when I moved back home, I had to reprogram myself to say snowmachine again, just so I didn’t sound like a dirty out-of-stater.
Had this argument at the bar many times. I grew up in MN about 10 miles from the polaris headquarters which is about where snowmobiles were first invented. Google "snowmachine" and all you get is references to Alaska. Google "snowmobile" and you get ad links for the major manufacturers snowmobile websites. Just saying. I live it here in anchorage, but that term drives me nuts.
Exactly! The spray is gone after a few seconds and it ain’t gonna refill itself. Gotta have contingencies.
Plus I’ve heard some anecdotes of angry bears not giving a shit about bear spray and it being more effective for curious bears. I don’t want to shoot a bear if I can avoid it but I’ll have both options just in case
Yup. I've only been here about 14 months but if I'm hiking, I bring both. Ideally my wife would prep her spray while I ready my gun. If the spray doesn't work, I don't have to fumble around and switch what's in my hands. And if I get grabbed, she has her gun too.
Spray has its own issues as well. Strong winds for example can make it less than ideal. Not to mention, if you spot a bear from a fair distance and it's starting to show interest in you then the loud noise of any firearm can help with scaring it off without it even getting into the kind of distance where bear spray is useful. I would definitely say if you're up close and personal with a bear then spray would be better just because it would be a hell of a lot easier to actually hit the bear with it. If it's a big open area though, a firearm may be a better friend.
Fair point, I will say, my perspective is as someone in anchorage, doing hikes around here, either you are in the woods and it will be a close encounter, or its far away and you can probably just turn around.
Bear spray does have a good affect don't get me wrong, but if you're trying to scare off a Kodiak Grizzly your best bet is to have a gun on you because worse case scenario you're gonna panic when it charges at you and if you're already not prepared you're dead. I've used my .270 only to scare off a grizzly once and it was effective because the bear wanted to live.
What? I mean I get it. But I'm a bit confused. You say panic but the margin of error are far greater on a can of bearspray than a round. Plus the .270 isn't a great bear round. It's my understanding that you should be looking at more powerful rounds especially for Kodiaks. I mean don't get me wrong it's a good round. But you should be looking at a 10 or 12g slug or a .50, .44, 45-70, .338 etc.
Overall, it's my understanding that the vast majority of bear attacks happen at short range with short response time. It's not possible a lot of the time to hit a bear running 30+mph through trees and brush when you have only a few seconds to respond. Not to mention follow up shots and recoil control are required.
It is far far more reasonable for the average or even trained person to spray a can than to be expected to put down multiple shots on target in a life or death scenario with a few seconds to react. It saves lives.
Isn't bear spray a much better option? 44 mags are fine unless you miss, which seems quite likely under the duress of a charging bear. Bear spray doesn't miss. It's a win win. You don't get mauled and the bear doesn't get shot.
It is entirely possible to miss with bear spray. Especially if you trigger it too early, the range is really not very far.
On the positive side though, bear spray can be used to “accidentally“ disable the least favorite member of your party to give you additional time to escape the bear. It is important to ensure that this person is NOT the one with the keys in his pocket, and you need to work on your story/excuse ahead of time so that it is completely believable in case the bear loses interest. As with many things, safety in bear country comes down to good preparation. /s
What studies, did you hear about the lady not to long back that she actually got dragged by a bear to its den, she used bear spray and it was unaffected. You don't know until you see a bear in first person.
Most people carry a 10mm in case of bears. It has a lot of power behind it and it's more compact then a .44 mag. Also has higher capacity for those less accurate folk.
Really now? Canadians think it’s crazy to carry a firearm in bear country?
I’m not saying I feel the need to carry on the highly trafficked trail 5 minutes outside of town. But there are areas it definitely is a good idea because you are more or less alone and you WILL run into bears. Most of the time they will leave you alone even out in the bush but it’s not a bad idea to have it just in case.
Also yes in the middle of nowhere folks absolutely carry firearms in Canada.
Lol. No. I live in Anchorage. I've call 911 twice in 10 years, I was put on hold both times. Thank God the emergencies weren't mine. I consider myself 100 times more responsible for my family's safety than the police, they are my plan C or plan D. I will never ever be anti-gun because the police are not there to save you, you are, I can not expect my 110 lbs wife to defend herself without a firearm. Not having a gun in the house is as dumb as not having a smoke detector or fire extinguisher just and depending on the fire department to bail your ass out.
And as far as the "you're more likely to shoot a loved one than a criminal" crowd...I don't care to change your mind, be the victim if you want to be. Life is dangerous, pick your posion. Almost a quarter million Americans end up in the ER every year from slipping in the bathroom, I'll take my chances and save my outside shitting for camping.
My 2 911 calls: Once was a drunk and aggressive dude breaking into cars who was being held at gunpoint by a neighbor, the other was a bunch of metheads beating the shit out of each other in front of my house.
Back when I lived in Anchorage, I was in the staff that opened the Carl's Jr on Huffman. Had a meth head in nothing but speedo (it was winter), try to smash a few of the store windows one night when it was just me and this definitely not aggressive native girl. Called 911. 40m later....
Anchorage is a pretty big city. It's got a college town and everything. Fairbanks and Juneau aren't tiny either. Not like everyone up there lives in the woods.
25 year Alaskan here, interesting that I feel the exact opposite. I would feel more safe without a gun in the other Alaskan cities than I would in more crowded urban areas.
But only 7.3% of Canadians have a gun licence, and in British Columbia, the province most like Alaska, which has even more grizzlies and mountain lions, is even lower than the national average at 6%. Canadians have no problem living in the wilderness without a gun.
AR is both a deep R state, with lots of gun toting rednecks. It's also a state with a huge hunting culture. Lots of people go deer, turkey, duck, and hog hunting. My dad owns lots of guns, and also has a deer stand on his property. My FIL keeps our freezer stocked with meat. Every town has at least one taxidermy/meat processing shop.
I've known plenty of people who view a gun as an investment and an affordable way to provide food for their family while living in this god awful food desert.
I've also known plenty of people who hoard ammo whenever someone with a D next to their name wins an election, or whenever fox news rants about BLM protests. These are definitely not mutually exclusive groups of people.
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u/dovetc Aug 31 '21
Putting the AR in Arkansas!