Re: riding and weapons

["Judy A. Worley" <aussie@aa.net>]

I'm with you, Ann. I'm a lady packer, traveling by myself in the wilds of
the Cascade Range, the only folks I've met are friendly, or too tired Crest
Trail users; anybody up to no good would have to go a long ways out of their
way, and be in pretty good shape to be up there. I carry a side knife to cut
in a hurry.  I think people watch too much TV and/or there is a public
hysteria because of it.
     I think I can get you a used Wintec aussie as a pretty good price.
Judy-----Original Message-----
From: Ann Hatfield <keithr@nocdc.bc.ca>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Sunday, March 01, 1998 9:21 PM
Subject: riding and weapons


>I'm absolutley astonished at how many women wrote to say they carry
>handguns not to mention mace, knives, pepper spray, etc. I assume all of
>them were from the U.S. because in Canada it is VERY difficult to get
>permission to carry a handgun of any kind and now one has to go through a
>training program, a background check and certification to be able to carry
>a rifle.
>
>The weapon carrying literally scares me.  I live in what most Americans
>would classify as wilderness.  We have a momma bear and her cubs on the
>place every single summer and autumn.  In winter we have cougar tracks on
>the driveway.  Coyotes call many nights when I'm out feeding the night
>horse feed and checking on foals.  I lived 6 years in Jasper National
>Park-as wild as you can get-lots of bears and cats.  Wolves called at the
>literal edge of town.  Tourists wandered about everywhere and few ever got
>hurt by animals. You aren't allowed to carry guns, in any National Park,
>unless you are a Park Warden.  I rode on the edge of the Park where the
>Wilmore Wilderness borders it with a friend who is a hunter as well as an
>avid rider/explorer of the farthest reachest into which he can get,  and he
>seldom caries a gun.  When he does it is a rifle so a large animal can be
>stopped at a distance.  Yes, I understand some pistols pack quite a punch
>and can stop a bear but I don't think they are the 'game' gun of choice-ask
>ranchers and hunters what they carry. Pistols are designed to kill humans.
>
> When we were in an area that we heard had a problem bear we rode
>carefully-out!  I was the third woman in B.C. to be hired as a forest fire
>lookout.  I had drunks come up to my look out, which was fairly accessible
>to the public, on  a couple of occassions.  "Whassh a pretty girl like you
>doing all alone up here?"  "I'm not all alone, I had 92 visitors today.
>Are you fellows going to sign the guest book, too?  Feel free to enjoy the
>view and the trail down is that way and the cliffs are right ahead of you."
> Most drunks I've dealt with in Canada weren't dangerous,  just drunk.
>
>Does the States really have that much more human trouble than Canada that
>ordinary people must really pack all this firepower?  Makes me nervous
>about coming down for rides.
>
>Am I totally naive, or protected here in my Canadian world;  is there so
>much violence around you everyday that you must go armed?  I wonder if
>Canadians, South Africans, Aussies, Europeans carry the arsenal the
>Americans feel comfortable with/reassured by.  I ride with no weapon-ever.
>I ride alone in very rough country. I camp with women friends every year
>and not one of us carries anything more deadly than a cel phone and a
>hatchet to make kindling and it only goes with us if we think we may have
>to clear trail.  Even then it's likely to be left in camp and a folding saw
>carried.
>
>I work with poor, stressed, difficult people.  No staff on the three floors
>carries a gun.  We have panic buttons that connect to the Royal Canadian
>Mounted Police office in town.  Only time they have been called is when the
>alarum installers were putting in the buttons.  "Oops, sorry officer.  No,
>he's o.k., he's installing it!"
>
>Truly scares the tar out of me to think that you ordinary folk feel
>obligated to carry all this stuff.
>
>Ann
>
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