By Rhonda Little. [Republished with permission from rodalena.com]
I like marbles. I don’t really like guns.
No. Hang on: that’s wrong. That second sentence is not actually true. I do like some guns: there are many that are simply beautiful, much like the oddly mesmerizing beauty in the colorful smooth glass toys of children. Allow me to edit my intro with this more accurate statement:
I don’t feel comfortable around guns.
In fact, guns make me decidedly uncomfortable. They are tools of death, tools of pain. A guns is not a tool of creation, it is a tool of destruction. That said . . .
I’ve held a gun. I’ve even fired a gun. The experience was both exhilarating and…weighty. There was a terrifying gravity in pulling that trigger, which was only compounded by the realization that I have some natural talent in marksmanship, and honestly, hitting that target dead center was…really fun. But knowing that such a small movement of my index finger could end someone’s life was horrible. I did not like learning that I was a pretty decent shot. If I had my druthers, we’d live in a safe and peaceful world where devastating tools like handguns were unnecessary.
But we don’t.
We live here in this dark world. We walk on a hard marble full of sharp rough edges. It’s a place of burglar alarm systems, school shootings, airport security, locked doors, gated apartment complexes where a woman oughtn’t walk alone at night to get the mail, terrorists, the necessity of blue mace, gangs, and a thousand other fears. Ours is a world in which it is a good idea not to watch the local news, or, hell, expose oneself to any news at all, if one wants to preserve any of one’s tenderness toward humanity.
I was thinking about my attitude toward firearms recently, and I found myself thinking the strangest thought: I owe a debt of gratitude to some of those seemingly fanatical gun-toting people. They are doing something I could never do because of my innate discomfort around guns. There is a group of law-abiding people among us who endure a fair amount of public scorn (like being unfairly labelled “fanatical”) in addition to a huge amount of invasive scrutiny and training and licensing in order to be able to own and carry a gun legally. This is a huge responsibility and a heavy burden I don’t think I could bear.
I don’t think I’m capable of being the unknown go-to hero in an emergency situation where using a gun to stop an act of violence was necessary: the very thought makes me shudder; I’m nearly certain the actual situation would probably paralyze me. I don’t think I possess the quick-thinking and the focus necessary to use a gun to protect the people in my home from an armed attacker.
But, I know people who are prepared for such situations. They walk around with an unseen focus on protecting innocent people. They think thoughts I don’t want to think: they look for areas where danger is likely to lurk, where escape routes are, what hidden perils lie beneath the surface of our plastic shopping centers and concert venues and parking lots.
Walking among us are silent plain-clothed first-responders who have gone through the extensive background checks, bought a weapon and waited and probably waited some more to take possession of it. They have trained to use that weapon, obtained their license and now carry a gun on their person. Many of them are people who, oddly enough, hate violence. They long for a safe place to raise their families, a world more as it should be: a peaceful beautiful marble with no jagged edges, a place swirling with thick clouds, blue skies, and laughter, not a rough gray rock swirling with a haze of gunfire, smoke, and pain.
If you happen to be one of those people who bears that heavy burden on your hip,
thank you.
Good find, Robert. A well done article.
Now if we can get a welfare queen to write a similar thank you note to all the hard working people that sacrificed and took risks to be successful in business so that she can raise her kids without a father and not have to work to put food on the table.
You’re welcome.
… not the same thing at all.
If you look at it from a responsibility standpoint, it is actually analogous.
Where would this Nation be if everyone had the viewpoint of the reader that guns protect society but I am not going to take on that responsibility.
She says thank you to those that do, but what there was no one to thank?
I think you’re both right. A “welfare queen” would imply someone who lives off of social aid when they shouldn’t have to. But there are others who couldn’t get by without it.
A gun weenie could fall into either one of those groups: Perhaps they could man-up (or woman-up), but perhaps they can’t.
Either way, they are “part of the problem” by not being part of the solution. But at least I can respect a gun weenie who realizes this, such as the author of this article above.
Maybe someday, she could be “part of the solution”. Until that day, I’ll accept her gratitude for what it is worth, and hope that the sentiment spreads.
A welfare queen is actively draining the resources of others.
Someone who does not like guns is not. I don’t agree with either, but the person who doesn’t like guns and doesn’t carry is still self sufficient and doesn’t require the work of others just to eat.
She may require the work of others to live. She acknowledges this. And says thanks.
She may be well on her way to self preservation and even on to being able to help others in need of protection with a firearm. The first step is realizing the role in society it plays. Now if we can get the 47% to appreciate the other half or even get the occupy idiots to appreciate the 1%, then we can start to restore the Republic.
I realize I went off on a tangent but it was easy to draw similarities between people who don’t arm themselves for whatever reason, yet benefit from an armed society and people that don’t work for whatever reason yet benefit from capitalism.
The difference is if this lady is attacked and a concealed carrier is not there to defend her or chooses not to, the IRS won’t lock them up. Welfare queen and her ilk vote for politicians who rob the working with threats of imprisonment or death (if resisting) for not forking over their hard earned money for the “betterment” of society. So this is not the same at all.
O.o
What’s this? I’m confused.
It’s an article by a hoplophobe who is also logical and has a good amount of self-awareness.
The end result is someone who doesn’t like guns but also doesn’t pretend they aren’t necessary.
I’m truly shocked. I didn’t think one person could be all of those things at the same time. I thought “logical” and “hoplophobe” were mutually exclusive terms.
One can have an illogical fear (a phobia) while still realizing it is illogical.
I think she actually has a fear of violence, and the thought of her committing violence (even when justified) scares her. She realizes that a gun in her hand could be used for violence, and that thought terrifies her. She knows she doesn’t have what it would take to hurt or kill someone else. She carries on as well as she can in spite of her fears, and that is kind of brave…
What I like about her is that she does realize her hoplophobia (or deep fear of violence) does not need to be cured by eliminating every gun in the world. She is rational about her fear in that way.
A hoplophobe who believes in the 2nd Amendment. A rare and refreshing thing! They do exist!
That just means you don’t think hoplophobia is actually a phobia, since phobias are, by definition, irrational and difficult or impossible to dispose of.
Good for her!
Self awareness and logic are prerequisites for conquering fear.
Chris Hadfield: What I Learned From Going Blind In Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo62S0ulqhA
I would also expect that it’s someone who would actively SUPPORT our RKBA, as opposed to simply being neutral. An unusual attitude, though welcome.
Yes for thee, but not for me… Thank you very much.
This is called “writing down an internal conversation.” She weighed both sides objectively. She chose one. She did not attack the other.
See what she did there? A conversation. Very well done.
Thank you for recognizing that those of us who carry are the pillar of civilized society, providing a valuable public service free of charge to the tax payer.
Thats hilarious. The grandiose delusions some of you folks take on just because you buy a stupid gun are an endless source of amusement.
It stops being grandiose when it starts being you who’s being protected by an armed American. Which is more often than you know.
Troll much? It’s not the buying of the gun that does it- It’s deciding to carry that does. Now you have an obligation to protect not only yourself, but those around you. Alot of protectionists want more police on the streets. With so many people carrying, law enforcement or not, you do. And better, since those civilians that aren’t police are less likely to commit a crime or hit bystanders.
You’re welcome.
There is nothing grandiose or delusional about it.
Concealed Carriers are statistically the most law abiding segment of the population.
More guns = less crime.
Truth can be a hard pill to swallow.
Tell you what Chris, if in the very miniscule chance I am around when a character like Michael Brown is threatening your life I will give up my illusions of heroism and cross the street while he has his way with you.
You want to know something neat? I carry a gun every day! I can take care of myself, thanks.
There you go again, you think you are special because you carry a gun. I find that attitude is extramly amusing. I know this website purpetuates that point of view (and I understand why, it is a great way to maintain a loyal readership) but been realistic about it. You are a shmuck with a gun, just like me. Get over yourself.
This article didn’t claim that you are special because you carry a gun. Ms. Little just wrote about how some people can pull the trigger and others can’t. She is greatful that there are those who [think] they can. Why do I say think? Because you don’t know which group you fall in until you have to do it. And by the way, membership in either group is a bit fuzz since some people can bring themselves to pull the trigger in some circumstances and not others.
So do I believe you carry a gun? A fifty-fifty shot.
You carry every day? I think you lie.
Chris – democraticunderground is missing their village idiot. Can you call in?
He claims to carry a gun every day? Well, shit. That suddenly makes him right about everything, I guess.
Somebody get the fire extinguisher! Some poster calling themselves “The Best Chris” is calling another commenter out for being “grandiose”! The irony meter is exploding!
Just another troll.
I’m certain that some of the gun-owning public are just as deluded as you suggest. Anyone who thinks that simply buying a gun confers upon them special heroic powers is a nut.
I think the author’s (somewhat melodramatic) sentiments do in fact apply to a pretty significant portion of the concealed-carrying, trained-up-practicing-regularly set, however.
Your contempt is contemptible.
This tolerant hoplophobe has an incomplete understanding of reality. There is more than a bit of truth, and more than a bit of romanticism, in her projection upon us. We are not all trained and tested according to some official standard before becoming “licensed”. I was trained by NO one before I first carried by 22 rifle ALONE at the age of 13. I got my PA License to Carry Firearms before I took NRA’s First Steps Pistol. Her lofty description of us isn’t necessarily reliable. On the other hand, I’ve done about 100 hours of training AFTER I got my PA License.
I’m offering no guarantee that I will rescue her in if she is attacked. I’ll rescue my wife, daughter and son; maybe a few others. Anyone else is at best a maybe; it will depend upon the circumstances. Nevertheless, despite my reluctance to defend her, she is better off if I’m with her in a crowd armed than if I’m in the crowd un-armed. I just might construe myself or my loved one to be under attack as well as her.
Natural and “man-made” disasters occur in various places all the time. These are different from a hold-up in a 7-11 or a shoot-out at a mall. I may not venture outside my house. Even so, I may monitor what would be going on outside my windows. If looters approach my neighbor’s house I’m apt to have a word with them at a safe distance.
Most hoplophobes are prepared to trust their fates in the hands of “the authorities”. When seconds count, the authorities are but minutes away. When numbers count, the police have 1.15 million guns to protect 317 million people. The civilian gun owners, whom this hoplophobe writer acknowledges, have 300 million guns to try to help protect 317 million people. If it comes to that, I’ll gladly do whatever I can to protect her. You? Well, don’t count on me.
No, I don’t have any grandiose ideas. Some probably do; I don’t. Almost all my classmates in the classes I’ve taken don’t seem to have grandiose ideas. They mostly seem interested in protecting themselves and their loved ones. In the most advanced class I completed recently two classmates were physicians. One, a psychiatrist in a VA hospital brought his son. They were taking the class a 2’nd time. The other had served as a cop in a major city’s PD before retiring to go to medical school. If these have grandiose ideas perhaps they concern helping people Another classmate – different class – was a sky-marshal. If he has grandiose ideas of saving a plane full of people in a shoot-out, well, maybe that’s why he was recruited for the job.
First off, thanks for providing an opposing view.
Second, thanks for TTAG for not deleting and banning. (You know, like the MDA does.)
Third, your point. Concealed Carry and its effects on crime has been one of the most studied issues in criminology. The conclusion is it reduces violent crime. Not because any concealed carrier is necessarily going to have to use his or her weapon, but because criminals must now factor a potentially armed victim into their calculation. Thus they change their behavior and opt for less violent crime and more property crime. This is how incentives work.
Home gun ownership also provides this deterrent. In prison interviews, getting shot by a homeowner was the number one fear of burglars. This explains why in America, only 13% of break-ins occur when someone is home while in gun-free England the number is 52%.
So feel free to comment here, but next time see if you can bring something weightier than snark.
Hey troll! Did you read the article? Is that you, or are you too stupid to recognize yourself?
A grandiose delusion Chris?
Why don’t you lay off of the run of the mill Psychology Textbook jabs and try thinking for a second here.
A.) If a nut job walks into a convenience store and you’re buying your 2 year old twins, Timmy and Tommy, a soda, what do you do? Bum rush the guy with the Hi Point?
B.) If a serial rapist breaks into your home at 1:00 AM to have his way with your wife and shoot you in the face in the process, what are you gonna do, Chris? Hit him with your flashlight?
Quit drinking the Kool-Aid, Chris. Educate yourself and think outside of the box, will ya?
The writer gets the point. Why can’t you?
Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times and do not feed the trolls. Thank you.
Yes, but what is the point of your snarky comment? What are you trying to accomplish?
Your words seem in indicate the direction of your actions if someone were in need of help.
I see a lot of articles about people being victimized while others record with their cellphones. I see some fewer still about someone be saved by another – and it’s sad really. But what I don’t see is anything grandiose about it, and I really don’t find it amusing either. What is amusing about sparing the innocent from suffering?
Chris is a troll and comments like a little b*tch.
Life is not grandiose, it’s just grand.
And had I not at a certain point in the past bought a certain gun, I wouldn’t be here to enjoy life.
That’s worth celebrating.
Okay, so we go from one anti-gun extreme (and an almost certain outright fabrication) in a previous article to this article which is equally hard to believe is not a fabrication. If the article and hence the author’s sentiments are indeed authentic, I have to say that I am stunned. It would be an outstanding example of rational thinking and liberty.
Again, assuming the author and her sentiments are truthful, I raise my drink in a toast to Ms. Little for her incredible mental clarity and responsible choices — her choice not to be armed and her choice to support good responsible people who do choose to be armed.
I can assure you that Ms. Little is a real person. I introduced her to pistol shooting (with an FNS-9). Her first shot at 10 yards was dead center. I encouraged her to write about her experience. This is the result.
In that case, I applaud your decision. Please pass on my best wishes and the hope that someday she may regard firearms as one might regard old, yet seldom-seen friends.
Sure wish I could talk to her for an hour or two. I’ve had a great deal of success talking to women who were afraid of guns, or who had been so indoctrinated they just hadn’t really thought about anything but the mantra of death and destruction. I’d love to give her a copy of my e-book, so she could read the story of how I was able to defend my life… and how dead I’d be now if I hadn’t had a gun. http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/?page_id=846
I wonder if she’s given any real thought to what she might do if she were attacked, or was powerless to defend her children. She really needs to be gently introduced to consider all of those things with her obviously open mind, and hopefully would come to understand that the gun is the most effective tool for that purpose simply because it IS effective for destroying that evil. And that is true many times when not a single round is fired.
That fear may not be rational, but it is natural. It may even be rational. When I shot guns as a kid I did not have any fear. That was a long time ago so I don’t remember if I even had the proper amount of respect for the firearm. Fast forward 40 years to last year when I bought my first gun. I was nervous the first time I chambered a round. I didn’t own a holster yet and there it was sitting on the seat of my car, hot, ready to go. I picked it up and my palm was sweating. I unloaded it and put it back in the case. When I got my first holster, I started carrying the gun with a chambered round, because that is how you do it, but it was a reality check that some people never get past. Took me a day or two to shake the jitters. Took my wive a couple months to carry in that condition. I don’t even think about that fear now unless I am reminded of it by an article like this. I could easily say that fear is irrational and no one should feel that way about a gun. But I felt it briefly and I pride myself on being rational…at least striving to be rational. Given enough time to get over that fear, I believe everyone can. People just may go about it at different paces.
It’s not fear per se that makes me uncomfortable around guns (although I’d be lying if I said there was no fear involved); it’s mainly a conviction: I do not want to ever take a life. The only possible exception I can conceive of is if my children were in imminent mortal danger. That said, I realize that people who lawfully carry concealed weapons probably have the same conviction I do, but bear the weight of it literally each day.
-del
Oddly, that isn’t as unbelievable as you think. I know at least one person who while she does not like firearms, and was even at one point so terrified of them that she left the room when she saw us handling a completely unloaded firearm with the slide open, and we were keeping the muzzle down.
But she respected that we would take on the responsibility. Anyone who straps on a firearm MUST take on a higher level of responsibility for any actions we take with our firearm.
Some people can truly have a phobia and yet not be against other people handling the object that causes that fear. Some people are afraid of heights but respect what window washers on a sky scraper do. Some people fear snakes but respect that they keep the rodent population down.
Now that’s common sense and diversity I understand.
“They are tools of death, tools of pain. A guns is not a tool of creation, it is a tool of destruction. That said . . .”
They are tools that can save lives from those who would threaten them. They are tools that can prevent the innocent from being subjected to pain inflicted by the lawless.
And they are the tools that were used to create this nation and guarantee the freedoms we enjoy.
Otherwise, there’s a lot in this article to respect.
Look, I get what you are saying, but She is right.
She never says, “Guns Kill people,” She says that guns are tools. And yes, they are tools that are designed to injure, to kill, it is up to the user to wield the power of the tool with the respect it is due.
We use the deadly power of a tool to counter the deadly mind of those that will do harm. The intent of use is to protect yourself or others, but by design a gun is meant to be used to do harm unto another.
I have handguns because I like handguns, like to shoot them, like to clean them, like to handle a quality revolver that is a work of art. I started out having a handgun for recreational target shooting. I thought a lot about getting a CHL. Did I want that responsibility? Did I want the change in wardrobe that is necessary for concealment?
I now have my CHL and carry where legal every day. My well being and safety is my responsibility. I have a husband to protect me, but he’s not around 24/7, not as interested in guns as I am and frankly, it’s up to each individual to decide what means they avail themselves of for self defense.
“if one wants to preserve any of one’s tenderness toward humanity.” I learned by the time I was 10 yrs. old, humanity can be mean, nasty and even dangerous. I just don’t get her statement. Nice that she thanks gun owners who could save her but better she take that responsibility on her own or take her chances.
But guns are also tools of life. I can think of one great example…the second amendment. Allowing guns to be used to preserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
They are also tools of bonding between people, of self discipline, learning, friendly competition, fellowship, humanity (in putting down hopelessly injured and suffering animals), etc.
I thought we were going down that same ol’ rabbit hole, but ended up quite pleased. It is very refreshing for somebody to actually analyze their innate fear of firearms rather than simply acting on it by bashing guns. To take that one step further and thank armed civilians for undertaking the responsibility is a class move.
Only small gripe I have is the claim that guns are not tools of creation. America itself was created with guns. Peace (whether lasting of temporary) has been created with guns. Thousands of people have gone on to create families thanks to lifesaving defensive gun uses.
That brings me to my last point, guns are neutral. They are inanimate. They possess no inherent dispositions of either malice or goodwill. The man or woman holding the gun dictates its role. In the hands of a the right person, guns save lives each an every day.
Point well-made, and taken. A gun is a bit like an ax: the things such tools can be used to destoy make room for new, and hopefully better, things to be built.
Thanks for reading and for all of the thoughtful responses. As a fresh little fish in this pond, I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the conversation.
I disagree that a firearm is not a tool of creation.
They began to create democracy from the time they became common on the battlefield(16th century), by making the common, cheaply equipped foot soldier the superior weapon system to expensive aristocrats: armed and mounted knights.
Firearms enabled(created) American independence.
Firearms grant the honest citizen and his fellows the ability to walk abroad in freedom and safety.
Firearms create recreational opportunities fo millions.
Don’t tell me they aren’t creative.
Without my rifle, I couldn’t *create* that venison dinner.
Amen!
You are welcome, and thank you Ms. Little. You have Common Sense ™.
Great article. Really speaks to the truth of why many of us carry.
Nice.
And nicely said, Rhonda Little.
Thanks for the honest, and appreciative words.
I am not asking this as an insult, but because I don’t understand. I see many descriptions of firing a weapon making people shudder or cringe at the thought that they could take a life. I never thought about guns in that manner even as a kid. I did grow up with guns so maybe that skews my thoughts. I grew up hunting and understood the reality of what a gun can do after seeing a deer shot with a .30-06. I respect firearms as a dangerous tool if misused, but I don’t never went around shuddering at the thought of a guns potential to harm.
+1 I think that’s why gun culture is the most important part of winning the battle. I grew up in a gun culture and even before I was allowed to start shooting them, I wasn’t afraid of them. They were just objects. Dad said not to play with them the same way he said to be careful with a pocket knife, or the same way he taught me to run a weed eater. I’ve never looked or held a gun and had a deep meaningful revelation that “wow, I’m holding something that could kill people.”
Exactly – it is a weapon sure. It’s a “martial art”. I used to practice sword fighting too — guess what, great fun. Killed countless lives through the ages. For me though- Just a fun way to stay in shape. Could it be used for malicious purpose? Sure; but what object/tool can’t?
Shooting sports are the same in my mind. Great fun – potentially dangerous if misused either negligently or maliciously.
As someone who first began shooting as an adult, I certainly can relate to what I would call the profundity of firing a firearm. I still recall the impression it made on me that a simple trigger press would near-instantaneously set in motion a series of events that could not be aborted (i.e., gun goes bang) and that anyone on the receiving end would be dead or badly injured in the irretrievable blink of an eye.
To quote the movie, it’s not fear that gripped me, only a heightened sense of things. But I felt the same thing when as a teen I first drove a car or when I first used a table saw: that these are things that require respect, awareness, and practice to be safe with.
I liked it! Awesome!
Thanks for keeping it real (not this post) I meant [most of] the others.
If this is all the support I can muster from “the other side” f-it, I’ll go it alone.
Dear Abby,
I read the above article and kept waiting for the “juke you out or you jockstap” move (i.e. the I support the 2A BUT statement…) I had to read it again to make sure I wasn’t slow on the uptake. In fact I’m still in shock that such a person exists. Did I read this acticle right? Is this person real or am I projecting? Help – I’m so confused…
Signed – Confused and Figuratively Disarmed Gun Owner in America.
I’ve taken a few antis to the range who expressed that “weighty” thing to me.
I wonder if a similar existential crisis comes every time they make use of an automobile. It’s comfort and complacency with the automobile that kills so many.
I can appreciate the sentiment but when it is applied without consistency it comes off as selective ignorance or a mental illness.
Taking it further casting a vote is likely to result in the greatest loss of life or applied misery. Seems hardly no one considers the power of their vote as they let the last commercial they saw decide it for them.
Are they nervous around any potential hazard? People have been known to drown in five gallon buckets, or choke on a hot dog. Why just guns?
Common mistake. Most people confuse the decision making process with the tool. Firearms are nothing more a tool to multiply and project force.
Not everyone can do this. Some people just can’t or don’t want to deal with it. And that’s fine. I don’t expect everyone to own a gun (though I think you should be able to if you want it).
Not all gun owners are smart. Not all gun owners are responsible. No large group of people is perfectly homogenous–you have good and bad everywhere. Generally speaking, though, you get more good ones than bad. Often many more.
In fact, guns make me decidedly uncomfortable. They are tools of death, tools of pain. A guns is not a tool of creation, it is a tool of destruction.
A paradigm shift is in order here. A gun is a tool of death only for a person bent on using deadly force to victimize another person. To the victim, the tool of death is the assailant. To the armed, would-be victim, the gun is a tool of self-defense – a tool used to preserve life.
Give her some credit. The result is still death and/or pain, whether used by an assailant or a victim defending against an assailant.
They [Concealed Carriers] long for a safe place to raise their families, a world more as it should be: a peaceful beautiful marble with no jagged edges, a place swirling with thick clouds, blue skies, and laughter, not a rough gray rock swirling with a haze of gunfire, smoke, and pain. If you happen to be one of those people who bears that heavy burden on your hip, thank you.
To the author,
You’re Welcome. But let me point out something to you.
“They [Guns] are tools of death, tools of pain. A guns is not a tool of creation, it is a tool of destruction.”
You are wrong.
Everyone longs to live in a peaceful world. And the only tool that ever has created and preserved peaceful worlds IS weapons.
You say guns do not create. I say, guns created EVERYTHING you hold dear in your world. And even today guns both in your personal world and surrounding it, preserve and enforce the peace you cherish. A gun is just as valid a tool as a hammer, which smashes and pounds and deforms steel into shape, to create racing cars, soaring skyscrapers, and yes even scary guns. There is too much focus in this world on how “scary” it is that one can squeeze a trigger here, and over there, a hole appears, and that in some stretch of the imagination; one outcome of that hole is that it could have been an organ, in a person, and they could have died. This fear is only one of the possible outcomes of a gun’s use. Much more often a gun has power to create around its wielder an imaginary sphere in which they hold power to stand against oppression. Guns often do most of their creating not by being discharged at all, but just by being present. Their presence prevents anyone seeking an easy kill, and easy robbery, an easy conquest, from thinking there is one to be had. And when there are enough guns around that the monsters and the demons of the world are kept at bay, and the imaginary sphere is large enough, that is when society starts.
Some people in society become free to put down their guns, and build skyscrapers, and cars, and better guns. Better guns makes the sphere grow larger. And one day the sphere becomes so large and so commonly known people everywhere start drawing its outline on paper, and we call those outlines countries. Every single one in this world was formed by guns, or swords and spears before guns were invented. Guns are one of those inventions that indirectly touch every aspect of our world. In existing guns allowed enough people to leave the battlefields of antiquity that every single subsequent invention owes the life or the free time of it’s inventor to guns which protected them. And the result is we choose not to recognize there contribution at all. Kind of like Electricity. No one ever credits Electricity with having invented the iPhone. But without computers running CAD to design it there never would have been one. At this very moment the reason you have time to sit and type on your computer your opinion on guns, instead of fighting tooth and nail against some endless horde of dictators and malcontents trying to take over your home, is because there are such big guns protecting you no one wants to be the one to cross the imaginary line which will set all those guns discharging. Those guns are what we call the Department of Defense, and that line we call the boarder of The United States of America. And if you say to me, no one would ever try to invade another country in this day and age. I say, ask war torn Africa, ask ISIS, ask North Korea, ask China about Tibet, ask HAMAS, ask Russia.
The only thing about the world that ever really changes is that some people live so safe for so long, they start to think that people change.
Put another way:
Everyone wants to live in a peaceful world. Some people think it sounds like a great place to live. Some people think it sounds like a great place to pillage. Guns are the tools used by those who want to live in the peaceful world to keep the pillagers away. There will always be enemies at the gates waiting to strike. The solution is to build better gates. The problem is when your gates are strong enough you become unable to see the enemies anymore, and then you think about taring the gates down from the inside. Only because guns are so good at creating our safe world, do we have the time, energy, and freedom, to sit around and argue about guns’ usefulness in our safe world. If they weren’t useful, or if we didn’t have them. We would devote all our time to getting anything we could that was even close. That’s the joke of this whole “debate” in America. Guns wouldn’t make you uncomfortable if they weren’t so useful. The discomfort you feel, when you hold a gun, is not a hate for guns, it’s a hate of the dark side of people.
+1 on that!
Long story, short: mankind still exists due to the human ability to create and use tools, in order to compensate the inherited fragile nature of our specie.
Weapons were and are some of the important tools ever created by humankind, since those assured the survival of human kind and all the subsequent development of humankind.
So, in essence, among all creations of human specie, weapons are the most important and directly connected with the existence of this specie.
To deny that, by any means, in any way, directly or indirectly…well, it is quite close of saying that you hate the mere existence of your own specie.
I don’t like the “Concealed carriers will be my heroes” tone of the article. I don’t carry my gun looking for people to save. If I did, I would be arrested as a vigilante.
To a point I agree with you. I didn’t get my CHL in order to be a “sheep dog” and protect others. I got it to protect myself. There may be some instances where I’d intervene to protect another, but there wouldn’t be many.
You alone are responsible for your protection.
Guns are also one of the reasons America has its independence.
Guns are the reason that pioneers moved westward across the U.S.
Guns are the reason the U.S. has remained a superpower.
Guns help families stay closer together by helping them keep their traditions of hunting. As such, guns also put FOOD on the table of many individuals in the most remote areas of the US (not to mention, the world).
Finally, guns, and the rights for us legal American citizens to keep them, are protected the The Second Amendment.
Don’t like it? There’s no amendment that FORCES you to keep guns in your household.
But don’t come crying to me when you need “protection”. Anti-gun hypocrites!
I don’t carry (illegal in my country) and I am not a hero. Oddly enough I do find the idea of stopping someone from harming people is worth the bullets that one is likely to catch (+ modern medicine, as long as nothing is blown off you should be fine in most cases).
Wonder how far that letter would get on an MDA/ETfGS page?
fantastic article. Good on ya Robert!
Borrowing terms from Col. Dave Grossman’s Vietnam veteran source, it is the rare “sheep” who can appreciate the role of the “sheepdog” even though they have never had to directly confront the “wolves”. Rhonda, as has been noted, has a keen sense of self-awareness and is willing to look beyond stereotypes and narratives.
See Grossman’s discussion on that topic @www.killology.com/sheep_dog.htm
Sure. While not quite a “come to Jesus” moment it’s good to see a bit of self-realization occurring. Well except for the snipe of “oddly enough”. Yeah the vast majority of CC folks aren’t bloodthirsty.
“…the vast majority of CC folks aren’t bloodthirsty.”
Neither are the OC folks, of course. [grin]
One pet peeve, but a gun isn’t just a tool of destruction. That’s like saying axe is a tool for destroying things. A gun used properly is a tool to put food on the table and to protect one’s self and family. An axe used properly is used to “destroy” (chop down) trees, chop up the wood, and other things, for construction purposes and fuel purposes.
“Hang on: that’s wrong. That second sentence is not actually true…”
Too late.
Never understood the anti folks and all their anti-gun sentiment.
Mace is a defense weapon. So are nunchucks. So are combat knives.
Hell, I’ve seen those damned blow guns. I used to get the “Bud K” Catalog. When I was a kid, I actually bought some cheap little blow gun. With sharp little darts!! It was accurate enough, too. Lol
Now granted, using a gun may have more serious repercussions than using spray mace on someone. But there are instances when mace won’t do. There are instances when “nunchucks” won’t do.
There are also issues when people use their SUV’s to run pedestrians over, but do we eliminate cars in the process?
They didn’t grow up shooting guns, so they all join forces singing the “Guns are Bad” Song.
Pathetic. Toughen up and learn to deal with the fact that everyone is different in America. Some folks like guns. Some don’t. But it doesn’t give you anti folks the right to try and take them away!
And we gun owners are the one’s who are closed minded. Yeah. Okay. Crybabies.
The writer is a semi-self aware victim who chooses to do nothing about it.
I support her right to make her own choice.
Thank you, Ms Little. I too, am not comfortable around guns.
Its a huge responsibility, not least of which is to deeply consider the moral question of whether to take a life, to defend another. I train, to do so safely and effectively, to defend my family, but I fervently pray that day never comes.
I respect and honor your choice, too.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
― Aristotle
Bringing it down to the mechanical level, a little discomfort is good. That’s called respect and focus. The opposite is complacency. Get cocky with an inanimate object capable of biting you and it will. Got cocky with a chainsaw once after years of use and… won’t ever again. Same with any machine, the operator of a gun needs to stay focused. If you can’t, don’t.
You’re welcome.
Thank you, Rhonda.
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