I have lived in Oakland for the last 5 years, in nice areas. During that time:
- Brian Bore, a 30 year old data scientist was walking home from a bar just down the street from where I lived at the time, and was shot dead. They never caught the murderer. [1]
- A couple blocks away from my office in downtown Oakland, a woman was shot by a stay bullet during the day, [2] and teen's funeral was attacked and a 16-year old girl was killed. [3]
There have been other incidents as well, for which I do not have news sources: My S/O at the time was held up at gunpoint and his wallet and phone stolen. My morning coffee place had a mugging at gunpoint at 10 AM on Saturday morning (I arrived a half hour after it happened).
Our city is plagued by gun violence. It disturbs me greatly.
However, I don't think getting a gun myself makes sense. I have no problem with a gun for protection, but the kind of gun violence we face in this city is not the kind that is easily solved with a pistol. When someone has a gun trained on you and is trying to mug you, a gun of your own is not likely to help with that situation. If you're hit by a stray bullet, that's another situation that a gun of your own doesn't help with. And for just drive-by shootings, or whatever happened to Brian Bore, a gun of your own doesn't help at all.
A lightweight bulletproof jacket makes a LOT more sense.
Consider me an interested buyer. I wonder how light it is -- the jacket in the video looks pretty hefty.
1. https://abc7news.com/news/former-nasa-scientist-fatally-shot...
2. https://abc7news.com/news/innocent-bystander-hurt-in-oakland...
3. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Downtown-Oakland-rush...