By Adam Caporello

Small town America did me no favors. The quaint Massachusetts village of less than 6,000 had no crime to speak of, so doors were kept unlocked at all times. We were raised comfortably oblivious to the reality in which most people live. For that I am mostly grateful. Mostly . . .

Growing up I became familiar with your typical bolt-action .22 rifles and single barrel shotguns, I have the Boy Scouts to thank for that. However, I had never even considered the prospect of handling or owning a handgun, especially not for daily carrying. Handguns were items to be strapped to the hips of police officers and security guards.

I couldn’t tell you if it was due to growing up in liberal Massachusetts, my parents leaving the doors unlocked in our relatively crime-free neighborhood, or perhaps just sheer ignorance, but it never even crossed my mind that an ordinary citizen could or should own a handgun. I couldn’t comprehend why anybody would need that level of protection.

Then my daughter was born.

It was instantly the most frightening and joyous moment of my life. This gorgeous blessing had come into my world, but she had also just been born into a world filled with blind hatred, horrific inhumanity, and senseless violence. It hit me like .50 caliber recoil that I was personally and permanently responsible for her safety and well-being.

What’s a guardian to do? We could buy a car with a million airbags or install the most advanced security system, but what I quickly realized was that the best way to keep my wife and daughter safe and alive was to keep myself safe and alive in order to come between them and those that would do them harm.

That’s when you start asking yourself the tough questions. How would I defend against an intruder or an attacker? What if the attacker has a knife? A bat? A gun? Do I have it in me to take a life to protect the lives of my family members? Is it right in the eyes of the law? Is it right in the eyes of God? These are questions that every guardian needs to ask themselves.

So now, even in relatively gun-friendly Texas, friends and family inevitably have questions. When they ultimately ask what it was that prompted us to be a gun-carrying household in the first place, the answer is always the same. It was the burden of guardianship.

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17 COMMENTS

  5. And it doesn’t stop with your daughter. I now ride shotgun on the next generation, my grandkids. You’ve accepted a lifetime committment. The payoffs will be tremendous.

    I know several people right now that decided against kids. These folks are in their 60s now and are sad and lonely.

    I frequently hear people on this site talking of how 2a is so important for the future of the country. 2a is important, but no more important than the family.

    • I’m sure the payoffs of doing it well are tremendous. The results of doing it badly are highly unfortunate. I know I’m not cut out for it, so no thanks.

      • That’s admirable. I myself am not sure I’d be a particularly good parent, I just don’t think I have it in me. Sometimes that’s the choice you have to make.

        But I do have a large family, many nephews, and a few nieces. I do my best to be a good uncle for them, to challenge them, teach them to think for themselves, exercise reason and logic, and be good people.

        • You never can do it well enough, and the payoffs ARE tremendous.

          I never wanted children, and now have two girls that I worship. Not everybody operates the same way, but I do my best work when my back is to the wall and I didn’t ask for the task/s set before me. You might impress yourself someday.

          That said, the choice to not have children is yours. I have the greatest respect for you making it. I had made the same choice once upon a time. 🙂

  8. That is also why the statists in government also want to assume that role of guardianship over children. It seems more and more that parents are allowed to keep their children only so long as they raise them exactly as the professional education bureaucrats want them to be raised.

    There seems to be a major conflict about who the real guardian of a child is, the State or the parents.

  9. Never understood the mindset that sees firearm as bad, no matter where you are raised. I grew up in rural Mississippi, low crime, lots of hunting, never thought of NOT owning weapons for defense and hunting. Glad you came around, hope a lot more people follow you.

  13. I went through that process 3 years ago. It was a large part of the reason I have a renewed interest in firearms, and why my wife and I now carry.

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