Real Estate Agents Should Not Carry Guns
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 2 months ago
So says a real estate agent who is afraid of guns:
I am not in favor of real estate agents bringing guns to work, unlike my colleague Trey Garrison.
First and foremost, let me issue a positioning statement on guns. I recognize that we live in a scary world full of scary people. Realtors, real estate agents, brokers, and others have every right, duty, and responsibility to protect themselves.
But count me among those who think that the answer to gun violence is not introducing more guns into the equation.
That argument has never made any sense to me. It’s like saying we can defeat heart disease by eating more cheeseburgers.
The real answer is making sure we live in a safer world. I’ve often said that the world would be a better place if guns didn’t exist at all. Maybe that’s naïve or narrow-minded, but it’s what I believe.
But I also recognize that I’m fighting an uphill battle when I argue that all guns should disappear. Despite my pie-in-the-sky ramblings, I certainly appreciate and understand the rights granted to all U.S. citizens by the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights is something that I hold very dearly. I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if the First Amendment didn’t exist. But I also recognize that the founding fathers couldn’t possibly have predicted that we’d live in a world when a 20-year-old man can walk into an elementary school and brutally murder 20 young children and six adults in a few minutes.
In 50 years, will we think of this time like we think of the Wild West? It seems like some folks won’t be happy until we can all carry a handgun in a holster on our hip wherever we go.
If I see a stranger carrying a gun, I turn and run. I don’t feel safer.
But as I said before, I recognize that we live in a scary world and we all have to protect ourselves. Some people work in professions where they’re more prone to encounter bad people with bad intentions.
Hear that, ladies? Some professions are just more dangerous than others, and since you chose real estate, you are at greater risk of being raped. That’s just the way it is. Got it?
Actually, I thought of just such an instance near my home town, where a female real estate agent was recently raped while at “showing” home.
The real estate agent says he choked her, pulled out a knife, and raped her inside a home she was scheduled to show him in Salisbury Tuesday. The two then drive to a second house in Granite Quarry where the agent convinced Cooper to allow her to call her office. She gave a secret code that told coworkers she was in danger.
“As a woman, you’re supposed to be safe. Period,” said Salisbury resident Hattie Johnson. “Especially if a person was assaulted and they were on their jobs, they’re doing their job… it’s scary.”
No, you aren’t supposed to be safe, period! Despite the idiotic ramblings of Mr. Social Darwin above who thinks we are constantly evolving to a higher state (perhaps he has watched too many episodes of Star Trek), nothing you do can change the heart of man. You must carry means of personal defense.
Or, if you wish instead to listen to Mr. Social Darwin above, he would rather you be raped. Perhaps he even takes pleasure in the fact that you lack the means to protect yourself in some sort of sick way. Make up your own mind.
On September 9, 2014 at 8:13 am, Paul B said:
The only safety you ever have is that which you create from yourself. At one time if enough people obeyed the rule of law we had a perception of safety, but perceptions are just that. They are not reality.
Laws only work when people obey them of their own free will due some perceived social contract with strangers. What we are seeing now is that a lot of people do not see the same social contract so laws are not being followed.
Drive down the freeway at any time to see this in action.
On September 16, 2014 at 10:55 am, GomeznSA said:
You are correct, the ultimate provider of safety/security is the individual. I will point out though that perception IS reality, until proven otherwise. THAT perception – guns are ‘dangerous’ or ‘evil’ or whatever, is one of the memes that the hoplophobes rely on to maintain the perception that guns need to be eliminated. Of course the other part of the perception that they (hoplophobes) try to reinforce is that ordinary folks can rely on the government to protect them and look out for their well-being, thus we don’t need guns.
On September 9, 2014 at 1:02 pm, Bobbye said:
“If I see a stranger carrying a gun, I turn and run. I don’t feel safer.”
I call BS. This person either turns and runs whenever he sees a cop, or he is a liar. I vote that he is a liar.
On September 10, 2014 at 12:47 pm, sianmink said:
Has there been even one single bad guy in the US in the last 70 years who open carried in a holster? The world needs to know.
On September 17, 2014 at 5:50 pm, Sig_Sauer said:
Has there been any CCW holders involved in a robbery or an attack?
On September 9, 2014 at 4:33 pm, Will Plan said:
This appears to be a professional writer’s opinion; not a fellow Realtor.
Evil exists in this world as well as good. Selfish and destructive individuals or groups have been on earth for thousands of years. Human nature is evil, you have to constantly battle the evil to allow good.
To assume that violence will be reduced by eliminating or making “illegal” the primary tool that the majority of “good” people have available for defense is based on pure emotions or faulty logical or rationale.
Do you really assume that someone or group who has decided to “do evil to another” will have an epiphany and change their evil intent by thinking….”oh, this person has no way to defend themselves; so I will not hurt, abuse, kill, or steal from them?”
In theory, excluding the behavior of a majority of today’s politicians, it is already illegal to assault, murder, rape, steal, cheat, lie, etc. How will removing firearm ownership from the law abiding affect any of the above evil behavior? Will crime rates plunge into nothingness? Human history appears to be show otherwise.
Eliminating the best means of personal defense against evil will accomplish nothing more than creating more sheep for wolves.
On September 9, 2014 at 4:43 pm, Archer said:
Once upon a time, I worked for a company providing services to real estate agents (no, I’m not going to name the company). I’m ashamed to say, under the notes for one particular Realtor Association/MLS, it said that an agent had been murdered at a showing and the police were seeking the list of people who had accessed the property, and that we were not to provide that information.
So, if you’re a real estate agent, you make a living meeting in remote, often uninhabited locations, with people you may or may not have met in person before the showing — essentially complete strangers — who may have found you through the yellow pages or advertisements showing your picture. It could literally be used as a “shopping catalog” for serial killers and/or rapists.
Given all that, taking steps to ensure your own safety on the job is not a question of whether you’re being “paranoid”; it’s a question of whether you’re being paranoid “enough”.
On September 9, 2014 at 6:50 pm, Michael Schlechter said:
I still don’t see where he justified his position with anything more than feeeeeeeelings about guuuuuns. Ewww. Is there any logic to be found in the ramblings of Mr. Ben Lane?
On September 9, 2014 at 9:42 pm, Rob Crawford said:
” the founding fathers couldn’t possibly have predicted that we’d live in a world when a 20-year-old man can walk into an elementary school and brutally murder 20 young children and six adults in a few minutes”
The Founders would have wondered why none of the adults were armed.
On September 10, 2014 at 10:39 am, BeGe1 said:
Correct, they would have wondered why a 20 year old man “can” walk into an elementary school and do those things…because he should have been shot for trying before it ever progressed that far.
On September 11, 2014 at 11:12 am, madoradataman said:
Actually, the horror described above has ALWAYS been possible. Before firearms it just occurred with an ax, knife, or club!! — but it still occurred.
On September 11, 2014 at 1:03 pm, Archer said:
Don’t forget that the worst school massacre in U.S. history occurred in 1927, decades before the invention of the Eee-ville AR-15. The Bath School massacre in Michigan killed 38 children and six adults (including the perpetrator and his wife, whom he killed earlier).
And it was done with home-made explosives and firebombs. Interestingly, the perpetrator had a rifle – a Winchester model 54 bolt-action repeater; one of many potential “assault weapons” of its day – but it wasn’t used to shoot anybody. Rather, it was “only” used to detonate explosives.
Is there any doubt that any creative monster with a few gallons of gasoline – or a few full propane tanks – and some matches couldn’t wreak more destruction?
On September 10, 2014 at 10:37 am, BeGe1 said:
I like how he admits that it’s very possible he’s being naïve or narrow-minded, but goes on to pretty much state that even if it truly is naive or narrow-minded, he chooses to believe it anyway.
That is why arguing logic with these people gets so frustrating. They aren’t basing they’re conclusions on logic.
On September 10, 2014 at 8:36 pm, deadmanwalking said:
Wtf? Is the author serious? He can’t be. No wonder society is so screwed up. Probably pees sitting down too.
On September 16, 2014 at 10:49 am, GomeznSA said:
“Maybe that’s naïve or narrow-minded” NOPE, no ‘maybe’ about it. That comment is both, as well as totally uninformed. I just commented on another thread regarding the immediate dissolving of guns via some magic ray. That would NOT stop crime and would in fact take away the single best resource available to those of us who are weaker, smaller, older or whatever to be able to defend ourselves and our families. Period.
And of course, he totally misses the point when he cites ‘gun violence’ (as do almost all anti-gun folks) – guns are inanimate objects and by definition cannot commit violence – people do. Guns are not moral, people are, or are at least they are supposed to be.