[pct-l] Carrying weapons

[Scott Williams]

I'm a retired probation officer and was a member of, or ran our felony
investigations unit for 15 years in my 30 years on the job.  Every felony
committed in our county came across my desk if their was a suspect charged
by the DA.  Thousands and thousands of crimes, many against women, almost
everyone of them occurred in a city, or in the parking lots of our Regional
Parks.  I can't recall one occurring "on trail" that wasn't a city trail.
 The notion that women are unsafe in the wilderness seems to come from the
tremendous press that the very isolated weird cases get over the years.
 People tend to forget the thousands of rapes and hundreds of murders in
Oakland, Berkeley, SF and the surrounding suburbs, but can tell you of the
trail side killer in Marin many years ago.  That case got press, and stays
in folks minds, the mundane, very real threat of crime in town, on the
streets, in shops and homes, goes almost unnoticed it is so common.

You are much, much safer on any wilderness trail than you have ever been at
home or in whatever town you live in across the country, because that is
where crimes are routinely committed, not in the wilderness.  If you feel
the need to carry a gun for protection, wear it on the street, in the
restaurant you have dinner in, and at home, home invasions are way more
common than trail side stranglers.  My point is that if you don't carry a
gun at home, you certainly don't need one on the PCT.

That being said, I am always careful when leaving trail to see who is in
the trail head parking lots, and I don't camp near roads.  Stealth camp,
not from bears, but from marauding drunks near towns and campgrounds.  And
try to hitch with friends.

If you begin alone, but are a social person, you will quickly meet friends.
 Rely on them, come into town with them.  Hiking in a group is fun and even
safer than on your own, in case you get injured.  The statistics are just
not weighted toward needing a gun on trail.

Shroomer