....Yes, guns are tools. So are automobiles. So, why are we not driving econoboxes to work, the beach, etc? A Fiat 500 is certainly as good a tool as my RAV4. Personally, I'd rather have something else than the Toyota, but why, if it's just a tool?
I wish you hadn't gone there. I'll tell you why you might want something else. Imagine your Rav4 is four days old and you and are spouse are enjoying a day without the kids, sitting at a traffic light, when Bham! A 20something slams into you with his 94' Accord, doing maybe 25mph, because he was texting. Sure, your Rav4 is good enough to chase down the 20something, as he flees the scene, and you can hold him, as your spouse talks the police in to the alley behind the post office. But days, weeks, months, even years go by and still, your hip continues to hurt.
Every Black Friday you remember how insignificant the hit was, then you rub your hip and also recall how your wife said, "It's Black Friday, take the company Explorer and not your new Rav4. you're going to get dinged with all of the mad shopping carts." then you go on with your day. It's then that you realize your Rav4 is a Camry in wolf's clothing.
I had a company vehicle. My position changed and they took my Ford Explorer. I wanted a Ridgeline, but my wife already had a Pilot and it seemed silly to have two trucks, so I bought the Rav4 because it made "sense". After the incident, not so much. My wife is also used to truck and commented that the Rav4 felt like a tin can and she never felt safe in it. Rational or not, she feels safer in her Pilot. The week after it was repaired, I traded the Rav4 in and bought the Ridgeline I should have gotten in the first place.
This is NOT a condemnation of the Rav4. That vehicle offers a lot for its size and price range, but it's just not for me anymore. It might make sense you younger, more limber folks, but I don't have 3 decades left to fully recover from soft tissue injuries.
My position changed again and I was given a 2013 Explorer. Imagine you're driving down the road in your 2013 Explorer, on a beautiful day, and an enormous tree, large enough to cover five lines of traffic, falls on top of you in your Explorer, totaling the truck, but not you. A passerby opens the hatch and you crawl out with soft tissue injuries. I'm now driving a 2017 Explorer... If they take my Explorer, I'll get a Ridgeline and happily pay through the nose for gas.
The tree confirmed what I had suspected all along. I had the right tool for the job, sitting in my driveway, but drove the Rav4 that day and have been paying for it ever since, all be it a modest price.
PS - I guess is you've only been hit in a vehicle three times in four decades, then perhaps even a motorcycle makes sense. Of course, the older you get, the harder it is to bounce back from those fender benders ; )
PSS: this is also not a condemnation of any plastic gun. Different circumstances call for different tools. It's that simple. We all want the tool that we're most efficient with and even "like" better and it doesn't matter what material it's made of or what it costs, if it works for us. We went to the movies yesterday. it's warm and I don't like using a hip holster, since I'm seated most of the time. I picked up a relatively inexpensive Vega (Miami Classic) holster into which I shoved a shrouded hammer Colt Detective Special, which I overpaid for, and enjoyed the movie. Honestly, the holster might be harder to replace than the Colt. They don't take holsters as evidence do they!?!?!?
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