I wrote this article in response to a monthly theme question in the Connecticut Carry Newsletter. More than once, I've
been asked, "Why do you carry a gun?" Maybe you'll understand my
final answer better as I tell you a little about what I've experienced, and
what I still see happening around me in our society.
I am a Bible-believing
Christian, these last 31 years, and a lifelong, born-here, U.S. citizen. I'm a father,
husband, friend, grandfather, and a good neighbor. I'm a second-generation
U.S. citizen on one side of my family, and from very early immigrants on the
other side... like Pilgrims-early, first Thanksgiving and all. My parents were
both WWII Army vets, and they insisted that we learn American English. My dad
even refused to teach us his mother tongue, so that we would adapt better to
life in the USA. He was right. We did. I'm a rational person. I'm, also, an honorably discharged, combat-wounded,
U.S. Army veteran. I've been on the trigger-pulling end of guns and have been shot by guns. I'd still rather take my chances of being shot rather than being beaten, choked, or stabbed. Panic-driven politicians and media have it all backwards.
Starting in my early
youth, I used several firearms, AND, when I went into the military, they trained
me on numerous weapon systems. But, now, our modernistic government wants me to bow down before it and grovellingly surrender my firearms and my natural right of
self-defense. Hmmm... Learn my job and weapons...Go kill people for them...But,
put away my interest in firearms when I come home? Something's wrong with their demand...
I know that U.S. society had its
problems when I was a kid. Neither was I a "perfect" son, nor always wise about
what I did. But, despite my own faults and problems in society when I was growing up, I've noticed some terrible changes in
our society over the last 40-50 years, and that many people try to ignore the problems or buy them off. Money doesn't fix problems. People fix problems.
I'm a
man of 67, who is not in the combat-ready physical shape that I was at 18 years
old, when my country's politicians sent me to the Viet Nam War. I still have bothersome
amounts of shrapnel in some of my war wounds, plus a bad back and bad knees, but
anti-gunners and their politicians want me to submit to evil or run away from it! Why don't they want me defending myself or my family? I cannot
arm-wrestle my way out of a wet paper bag, nor could I run away from evil even
if I wanted to do so, which I don't. AND why do they insist on violating us, when, our Constitution says very plainly that, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"?
God and His Word tell me that I am in the right. Our Constitution tells me that I'm in the right. Any deadly threat situation tells me that I'm in the right. Therefore, I'm not about to run, just because some
lily-livered people and cowardly politicians tell me that I am not supposed to
stand my ground if my loved ones or I get attacked. Hmmm... I can't run. I
won't run. Why DO they want ME to run away, anyhow? Those people "in high places" have their armed, beckon-and-call, body guards and Secret Service types to protect them. Why don't they want the law-abiding citizens like me to be armed and protecting ourselves? Thorny question...
Then there is also the spiritual warfare that has been engaged by those who are literally hell-bent on keeping God out of our government, our schools, and our churches. That part is NOT a war that can be fought or won with firearms, BUT it DOES impact society as such attacks remove the principles of spiritual and social accountability from public awareness. When there are no absolutes by which to test all things, then all things become their own self-justification that can be argued as of equal value to any other precept. Those attackers seem to love self-justification and ignoring that God set the moral and spiritual rules for us, including the death penalty for certain sins and crimes. The exclusion of God, by them, from so many venues of society, is undermining the foundation of U.S. moral and mental character, which in turn often leads to numerous situations that demand self-defense by deadly force, such as rape, robbery, assault, murder, etc. Those are all things which God says we should not tolerate.
I've noticed that those who attack our natural right
of self-defense seem to care mostly about their own fears and tears, or patting
each other on the head in sympathy, or gaining some sort of political advantage
from affiliating with those who have fallen prey to violent crime. They look
out for their interests but do not want me, or other law-abiding citizens, to be able to protect ourselves.
Hmmm... The rank odor of hypocrisy fills the air, like fumes from roadkill, on
a hot summer day...
I am greatly concerned,
when people tell me that I, a law-abiding citizen, cannot or should not carry a gun. Even
IF the ubiquitous "they" ever succeeded in removing every gun from every citizen and from criminal in
society, they could NOT stop violent crimes against people! Those anti-gunners
STILL sound as if they, either, deliberately or ignorantly want me to become a victim of one of the OTHER means of
violent crime. They do not seem to know or care that the FBI reports that ONLY
ONE OUT OF EVERY EIGHT violent crimes against people is ever committed using a
firearm. Check
my blog for the detailed discussion of that.
I don't know about YOU, but I do NOT want to be run over by a
motor vehicle, beaten with fists or clubs, kicked until the attacker has sated
his passion. I do NOT want to be stabbed, choked, garrotted, or have anything forced
down my throat. I do NOT want to be strangled by bare hands, smothered with
chemicals or pillows, or to be assaulted with kitchen implements or by any of the
myriad of other means that the FBI says are SEVEN TIMES MORE LIKELY, than
firearms, to be used against victims of interpersonal violence.
Why not just put up my
fists and slug it out? or bite and claw my way to victory? Face it, folks, I'm
no good at hand-to-hand combat, but the anti-gun crowd and the politicians want
me to just "take it". They are wrong. I'm not going to let the
government nor any violent perp roll over me or my family. Our Founders made
sure that the Second Amendment was added because they had already seen the
abuses of government in history and in their day, and they KNEW, from their
Bible, experience, and history, that governments and societies inevitably
decay, as sin creeps in when people turn their backs on God and His Word. Our Forefathers did not want to leave us hopeless, helpless, nor as prey
to the sin nature of humanity and governmental decay. Our early Congress ordered that Bibles be printed and gave us the Second Amendment. THAT should wake up a few people!
I mentioned my veteran
status, which many citizens now respect. However, once we veterans are out of
the military, or retired from police forces (yes, I consider police to be part of our armed forces), those who attack our rights, our arms, and
our Constitution prove that they care little or nothing for those of us who have
stood, and still stand, between them and evil. The attackers of our rights and Constitution whine about people
like us carrying guns. They say that they fear us, our knowledge and experiences, and our guns. Yet, when some evil-minded perp starts banging around in
the trash cans outside their houses, or on their doors, or slipping through
their windows, the anti-gunners quiver in despair and call for ARMED officers
WITH GUNS, to protect them. As life would have it, too often those wished-for
officers of the law are unable to help the caller in time to save them. I have
to wonder what goes through the heads of anti-gunners at the last moment of
their lives, since they knew their other option was to arm themselves against
evil. IF I were to shove my head "in the sand", as they do, I know could never protect me nor my family.
Let's see, anti-gunners
don't want to own or use guns, but they call on people who use guns to protect
them,... BUT, IF the protectors mess up (in the opinion of a shrewd attorney)
or fail to stop the evil of which the gun-haters are afraid, then the
gun-haters think it's OK to sue the police and get money from the government. THAT
is a catastrophic failure to uphold one's moral and civic duty. Next to relying
on God, people are supposed to be their OWN first line of earthly defense, to
protect self and family. I believe that the anti-gunners have a completely
wishful or delusional view of public safety, for they hold everyone but
themselves responsible for their safety. I may be getting on in age but I still
hold myself accountable for my own defense. Hey! as long as I'm in my right
mind, if I don't try to protect myself, then why should I expect any one else
to help me? Why should I expect others to put their lives on the line for me if
I won't do it for myself? Demanding that other people jeopardize their lives on
my behalf, if and when I won't attempt to protect myself or my loved ones, is immoral!
The fallout from
anti-gunners refusing to arm themselves can be disastrous. Once someone has
been attacked or killed, too often, the victims' families despair about the
damage, violence, or death, ...and guess what!... they often SUE the police for failing to stop evil!! THAT is
TOTALLY illogical, because the police are NOT God. The proportionately few police,
being human, cannot be everywhere at once! God already gave me His Word, my
mind, a conscience, and the availability of tools, like firearms, with which to
discern and prepare for the eventual need to defend against attacks by
evil-minded people. I don't plan to neglect my moral and civic duty, and
thereby add to the problems of society, so I'm going to stay prepared.
In my 67 years of
tromping around this planet, I've noticed that our social decay is monumental,
parallel to, or even worse than, that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, there are still
evil elements in our society that want to push even more moral, responsible souls
out of this society, to hobble, silence, cripple, or destroy us. I've also
noticed that too many people try to leech off of the rest of society, grabbingall that they can from those who work to support themselves and their families.
I've noticed that our government's socialistic policies and programs too often foster bad attitudes
that institutionalize racism, distrust, hatred, crime, economic slavery,
interpersonal violence, dependency on government handouts, and serve to marginalize
generation after generation of people, whether they become dwellers in physical, mental, or
emotional ghettos, for prison is where one becomes the prisoner,
whether behind bars, social barriers, or in one's own head.
Even ignoring the deliberate evil-doers among us, the fabric of our society is strained to breaking, as Liberals,
Socialists, and Progressives thrive on personal and social miseries that inspire and self-justify their
program promises, promises made to buy the votes of those whom they have helped to subjugate
and enslave in those ghetto environs; votes of people who were bought off with money taken from those who work and
strive to remain free of such dependency, a wholly vicious cycle of social decay.
I've seen and read that those handout-inspired
environments breed bitterness, hatred, and violence, that spread, even as
Baltimore continues to smolder, as the aftermath of a wildfire. Baltimore's strict
anti-gun policies did not save it from the failures of enslaving governmental
policies, sin, or urge-driven chaos. The public's reactions were worse than the original
offenses, and in so doing, the public jeopardized its own survival. I am NOT
waiting around for social chaos and evil to catch my family or me unprepared. I'm
not going to tolerate attackers plowing through my home, pillaging, rioting. I must resist evil
and not allow it to pass this way.
I've seen that, out of
those hostile, self-despising, self-defeating, government handout, breeding grounds arise multiple generations of sneaky
and violent criminals and social manipulators, evildoers who are not punished nor
executed the way that God said they should be. Even the prisons have become,
not just breeding grounds, but, more like colleges for criminals, in the
furtherance of criminal skills and appetites, AND, our governments rotate the
perps back out to reinfect our streets. In this respect, the perps get more training and reinforcement than our
police do! and society puts up with it! Something is VERY WRONG here! God has consistently warned humanity, in His Word (and history concurs),
that, if government does not righteously and swiftly punish or execute
criminals for their crimes, then the result will be a burgeoning crime culture,
just as we have today. The existence and tolerance of such a prevalent crime culture is, in itself, a major commentary on, and condemnation of, the spiritual and governmental decay of our Nation. Many, who reject God's counsel,
are more concerned with their political careers, or the welfare of criminals,
than they are with the prevention of crime or the care of the criminals'
victims. If we do not agree with God about what He calls crimes, then, according to His
Word, we make ourselves criminals in His eyes and shall reap the fruit of
having rejected His Counsel. Is there really any wonder in the fact that many concerned citizens are carrying firearms with them?
So, let's see... what
have I learned in 67 years of life? I've learned that seeing and admitting that
evil exists does NOT make me paranoid. Much rather, being able to admit that
evil exists allows me to prepare and be on guard against evil, so that my
family and I should be prepared and ready to defend against evil whenever and
wherever it might attack us.
So, "Why do I
carry a gun?"
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