Owen778

You've had several replies that state that, yes, quite a lot of people own guns, but no, it doesn't mean that Houston is incredibly dangerous.

I'm not sure what else to tell you. People are telling you about other aspects of the city simply because we think they are things that are much more important to your decision to move to Houston than the gun laws.

I think Pulaski is genuinely confused, as am I. What information would you want from the police that would help your decision, that you couldn't easily find elsewhere?

Michael

You'll need to visit Houston to see if you feel comfortable. If I worried about the chavs or rowdy sports fans in the UK, I'd probably stay away but since I know it is way overhyped, I don't give it a second thought.

DubaiCat

They should be able to answer my questions then given their data n no gun at my head here in Dubai

Suexpat

Just a question but why are you so hung up on the gun question. I think most of us have said we have no problem or worries with it.

ChocolateBabz

and hubby says we are just starting to get into golfing weather, different strokes right enough

Pulaski

But they won't because the police are not in the habit of providing that sort of public service. They don't have a team of people to answer the phone. They just don't. .... They have officers who show up prepared to shoot people, even if it is a routine traffic stop, and detectives who analyse crimes after-the-fact, that's about all the police do here in the US.

Bink

I'm the same. I enjoy playing in the sweltering heat.
My issue with golf here is that it doesn't stay light enough late enough here compared to the UK so for a round after work it can be difficult to fit in more than 12-14 holes.

Now I will admit I find playing soccer in the heat somewhat brutal.

Yorkieabroad

You make that sound like an "on-demand" service

We should point out that it is not - a doctor round the corner from us found that to her cost when she tried to hire an undercover cop to bump off her husband. The price tag of 5,000 should maybe have tipped her off - very reasonable, I thought!

Mr Weeze

If it is Sugar Land you are planning on living in then I suggest trying Fort Bend County Sheriff rather than HPD.

But to get a feel of it take a look at the following website - you can buy all of this in a store here. 105 rifles, 135 shotguns, 161 pistols.

The only time I've actually seen guns (except on the a police officer's belt) here is in stores like the above and when I went to a shooting range for clay pigeon shooting - something I also occasionally did in the UK.

http://www.basspro.com/Shooting/_/T-12400000000

Personally I'm far more concerned with the standard of driving and the relative acceptance of driving after 5+ beers than guns - and I think it is far more likely to hurt/kill me here than a random shooting.

hungryhorace

That's a valid concern here in the north east also. The attitude towards drink driving in America is totally blasé.

Weeze

I agree. It's a frequent problem when I go out with my moms club. There are always some that drink a lot and drive home.

Pulaski

Not just drink-driving, but driving in general. The roads are scary places.

Shortly after I settled in North Carolina eleven years ago I noticed that the local (small city) newspaper printed a story about someone driving off the right side of the road, losing control, hitting a tree (of which there are many in NC), and dieing. The next week there was more or less the same story, though they might have hit a utility pole (of which there are many in NC), with the same conclusion. The week after there was the same story again.

After a few months I realized that (i) this story was repeated pretty much EVERY week, at least once, and (ii) this story was also repeated many times over across the state EVERY week. The middle part of the story varies slightly, sometimes the driver goes off the right side and meets their fate, sometimes they careen back onto the road and either hit oncoming traffic or crash off the other side and into a tree or utility pole. The end of the story is invariably the same, because (i) they drive like idiots, (ii) about one third of people don't wear a seat belt (this is especially true of idiots, see (i) above), (iii) drunk driving is endemic, especially among idiots (see (i) and (ii) above), and (iv) people are idiots.

I talked about this ridiculous/ tragic state of affairs with a colleague who had previously worked as a cop in Florida. He said it is exactly the same in Florida, except there they have ditches, ponds, and lakes, so people drown rather than get killed hitting trees.

When I came here the population of the US was five times that of the UK, but there were ten times the road fatalities. The population of the US is still almost exactly five times that of the UK, and since I came here road fatalities have halved in the UK, but they haven't changed AT ALL in the US, i.e.they ate now 20 times road fatalities in the UK!

Suexpat

Driving while on the phone and texting is also a problem.

hungryhorace

New Hampshire (of all places!) is voting on Thursday to ban using a mobile phone whilst driving. I really hope it passes.

Sally Redux