[krger]

>In northern New England, for example, like Maine and New Hampshire, I'd estimate 1 in every 3 or 4 people in most public spaces are armed. I'd be shocked to find out it's less than 1 in 10 in any specific gathering of 100 or more people.

I've lived in Maine my entire life—from the most rural parts to Portland—and this is just nonsense. There is absolutely no way that even 10% of people are armed in public.

>Do you start shooting when the odds are that high that someone might shoot back? Maaaaybe, but not as soon as you might if you were surer that you would get away with it.

Perhaps you'd like to consider what JUST happened in Lewiston last October.

[smeej]

Very few of them are carrying openly (why make yourself the first target?), but I stand by my statement that I'd be shocked. A youth league bowling tournament would be an exception, given the preponderance of children.

There was a combined six minutes between shots fired at the two locations and officer response, four at the youth league event, and only two minutes at the bar.

I didn't say nobody's ever going to try it. Some people are going to break, and show up with a lot of firepower and a plan. All I said was people will try it later than they might if they were sure most of their victim pool wouldn't shoot back.

[krger]

>Very few of them are carrying openly (why make yourself the first target?), but I stand by my statement that I'd be shocked.

This is an extraordinary claim that demands at least some evidence in order to be taken seriously.

>A youth league bowling tournament would be an exception, given the preponderance of children.

To the contrary: if you honestly believe that somewhere between 10% and 25-33% of Maine adults are carrying for protection—and, once again, there is literally no way that this is even close to true—it would make even more sense that the adults there would have been carrying To Keep Our Children Safe(TM).