personally, I don't like guns. I've never shot one, never owned one, once, I was forced to touch one by my ahole of a father.... BUT, guns, as much as I hate to say this, can and do save people... but, it is very rare...in most instances, having a concealed weapon only asks for danger..... so, when I lived in Albuquerque, some guy went into a walmart with a knife in his backpack. His intention was to murder his pregnant ex g/f, who worked at the deli counter. The guy jumped over the counter and started stabbing her. There just happenend to be a man there, who had a legal, concealed weapon permit. He shot the guy in the head and killed him, saving the woman and her child. It is a pretty powerful story.
I think crime and our economy and our values are/IS getting worse, but I also know that crimes weren't reported fully back in the 1950's as they are now... alot of molestations and kid porn stuff went undetected and/or unreported. With the tanked economy, it only makes sense that crime will get worse. People are losing jobs, are stressed more than ever, and in our society of money, power, and arrogance being considered a goal to attain, it only begs for trouble. When people can't get jobs to make money, what other choice do you have but to do it illegally?
Our best teachers, our politicians, are pretty much all crooks, disrespectful, arrogant, never take responsibility for their actions, blame others for thier problems, and back their own pollitical systems ahead of their own beliefs and thoughts (i.e., mob and gang mentality dominate political decisions) Where is the spiritual development? why do we not care more about this compared to money? Why has it become acceptable to not accept responsibility and instead blame others? Look at all the ridiculous television shows.... people seem to like the shows where there is rude people, full of mean drama, full of people putting others down to make themselves feel better... I am not blaming the tv shows at all btw, I think it is a reflection on where people's priority's have gone...