BBC bosses went the extra mile to ensure the safety of actress and comedian Diane Morgan during the filming of ‘Cunk on Life’ in Las Vegas. The security measures were put in place as a precautionary step due to an incident where Diane was almost attacked on set.
During filming, Diane found herself in a precarious situation when a drunken individual approached her aggressively. The quick actions of the security team prevented any harm from coming to the comedian, with Diane jokingly recounting the incident as a moment where she thought she might “get shot at.”
Then how do you survive as a tourist? Are you supposed to hire a bodyguard? That sounds expensive?
I’m not talking about practice. Just wondering how many people you have to shoot in self defense in an average week.
Sorry if I sound a bit naive but I’m from a very safe country so I have no idea what it must be like to fear for my life and fight for survival every day.
It’s no big deal! I love the chance to talk about how awful American culture is from an insider’s perspective.
Stick to the touristy areas. Gun violence in the USA is highly localized to “bad neighborhoods”, but if you want to visit the “real” America then hiring a local guide/bodyguard isn’t a bad idea. American wages are crap, a few hundred bucks a day and you can buy enough muscle to walk safely through a crack den. I don’t recommend poverty tourism as a matter of principle though, and the wealthier areas, national landmarks, and national / state parks are usually safe enough to tour solo since tourism is big business and they don’t like losing customers to the medical system.
Oh, and that’s another thing. Definitely buy travel insurance and make sure it’ll cover any of America’s hellish medical expenses in case of an emergency. A life debt to a US hospital makes a terrible souvenir and it’s a more likely risk than bullet wounds. An uninsured appendectomy costs $10,000-$35,000 depending on what hospital you go to, and you’ll want to take a cab 'cuz an ambulance ride is a four-figure extra charge.
You’ll be entirely unsurprised to learn that we don’t have good figures for that. The most reliable estimates for defensive gun use (including when the gun isn’t fired, just displayed) puts it anywhere between 100,000 and 2.6 million incidents per year. On average, that’s maybe 7 incidents per 1,000 people per year.
Most folks are still lucky enough to go their whole lives without needing to even brandish a gun, but one night in a “bad neighborhood” might see multiple shootings.