Yes, Brandy’s video is :15 stem to stern. But the challenge remains: tell us why you carry a gun in a comment below using ten words or less. If you’re feeling slightly more ambitious, upload a ten second or less clip to YouTube and send the link to guntruth@me with the words “WHY I CARRY A GUN” (all caps) in the subject bar. We’ll post the good ones on our Facebook page. Meanwhile, Brandy’s in the studio today. I asked her to counter the antis’ argument that owning a gun puts you at more risk than not owning one.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

198 COMMENTS

  1. To kill people.

    Seriously. That’s my answer. I don’t want to kill people, but my gun is there in case I have to kill people.

    • I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
      Some come from ahead. Some come from behind.
      But I’ve bought a big [gun], I’m all ready you see…

      “Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me.”

  11. Another 10 words, courtesy of Craft and Chris Kyle:

    “Despite what your mama told you, violence does solve problems”

    • Then you need to join the underground railroad to freedom. Texas, Arizona, Utah, Florida are all great places that still allows you to exercise your rights.

  24. “right of the people to keep and bear arms shall”

    I guess I couldn’t fit it all in under 10 words, but you know the rest.

  29. ‘Cause there are people that are bigger and meaner than me.

    Darn, that’s eleven. Scratch the “Cause”.

    • When seconds count, the police forgot to turn on their handheld radios when they walked into Krispy Creme.

  38. I don’t carry a gun. California is lagging in respecting civil rights.

    (12 words. Too bad. The message is to important to restrict the number of words used. Or is 1a also up for grabs?)

  39. When seconds count the police can be there in minutes.

    There’s your 10 words.

    Edit: OOps Pheonix beat me to it.

  40. “The same reason I own a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit, because assuming I have the proper tools to do the job, the person in the best position to address my emergency is me.”

    Took about 9 seconds to state out loud without rushing.

  42. The great Unforgiven quote: “I don’t wanna be killed for lack of shootin’ back.”

    And, “Because evil exists.”

      • I’m glad you got this one in. I was on the road and couldn’t. It always needs to be in one of these posts, otherwise it’s incomplete.

  48. To confront deadly force with deadly force if necessary.

    or….

    To counter those who have no regard for my life.

    • I have a comment up there, 45 minutes ago. You need reading comprehension. What the fuck is your problem with me?

      • Your willingness to progressively surrender rounds into a Darwin Winner’s chest?
        I dunno what his problem is, but you write damn fine articles.

        • It’s not the first time someone has misconstrued something I said and overreacted into calling me, variously, a progressive, a libtard, a grabber, and (my favorite) a schmuck. I do not take any real offense. I just try to find the source of their misapprehension and correct it.

        • “A wise man is never insulted, because the truth will make him wiser, and an untruth is not worthy of note.”

    • It makes me both proud and sad to read this. Sad because you’re absolutely right, and proud because while the gun community might be at odds a little over things like marriage, we are unanimous over your right to defend yourself. And that’s something.

      • I wish more of my own would see it that way, honestly, because we are a perfect example of why the 2nd Amendment was made and what it means, as sad as it is.

  74. I wonder if she is aware that anybody who thinks the police take longer than 1-2 minutes to get to you are batsh*t crazy…

    and no, I haven’t forgotten this imbecilic statement.

  75. In under 10 words: It’s already saved my life once.

    In 15 words: Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

    If anyone asks why I “need” a gun, my response is: “Goodness, I sure hope I don’t.” This opens the conversation.

    • That’s a good response to “Why do you need a gun?”. I have described my need as self defense, but in a more chronologically narrow sense, I don’t NEED a gun right now at all. I HAVE a gun right now in case I am ever in a situation where it is quite obvious why I need a gun.

      I guess it also follows that I don’t need 15 rounds in the mag now, but I have them in case I need a gun and after 14 rounds I still have a chance of getting killed which can be mitigated with another shot. I would NEED that last shot. The chance of me needing that 15th round is much lower than needing the tenth round, which is much lower than needing the sixth, and so on, but all other things (bulk, weight, cost) being equal, the more the better.
      Not that mags are exactly space age technology anyway, as far as regulation goes.

      600 Round Assault Clip
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W66TPHy5lJw

    • Reminds me of the story about a cop who pulled over an old lady who happened to have a CCL. He asked her if she had any firearms in the vehicle and she told him that she indeed had one in the glove box, one in the console, one under the seat and one in her purse. Flabbergasted, he asked her, “Good grief lady, what are you afraid of”? Her reply, “Not a F’ing thing”.

    • “Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

      Good: Have gun, not need. Bad: Need gun, not have.

      Ten words. Fixed it for you, no charge.

  89. Because a cop is too heavy to carry around everywhere.

    (I cannot believe someone had not yet posted this one.)

    • In all fairness, I would rather be shot with a bullet than an arrow. Have you ever seen what those things do, a good hunting broad head is brutal- they’ll zip right through a torso, no problem.

  103. It’s a tool and carried for a purpose, nothing more.

    (No different than a folding pocket knife, pliers, or hammer on a belt.)

  107. I know it’s more than 10 words, but I had to put it out there:

    The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

  116. I’ve never needed my steeltoes, but I’ve needed my gun.

    EDIT: While that’s a nice “it’s good to have a gun” sound bite, it’s not a “why I carry,” especially before my first DGU.

    Why? It’d be stupid not to, and I’m not stupid.

  117. I decided years ago that my life is worth protecting. Also, now that I have a family, it’s part of my responsibility to protect them.

  119. Because on the last day of my father-in-law’s life, I promised him…

    “I will always take care of your baby”!

  120. I carry a firearm because it is my constitutional right. Guns provide fire superiority, and are a bit too large to carry.

  131. As Syrio Forel once said:
    “There is only one god–and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: ‘Not today.'”

  132. Here’s my ten word rationale: For rare problems guns can solve, guns solve them best.

  144. In ten words… “you have no sword? sell your cloak and buy one”. The full version: “He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36 The Words of Jesus, New Testament Bible.

    Christian Swords
    Now for anyone that cannot equate being a Christian with owning weapons, I suggest you read up a bit in God’s Holy Word that I base my Christian walk upon. Christ came the first time to this planet as a newborn infant. As an adult He was meek and tender hearted toward the lost. While He was among His disciples, He as God incarnate, watched over them. 

    Jesus said: “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (70,000)

    The disciples were in need of no weapons in His care. He did not tell them to carry a sword, nor money, or shoes, nor a backpack. He, while with them, supplied all of their material needs and security.

    Luke 22:35 And He (Jesus) said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” 

    While on earth Jesus fulfilled His purpose; He as The Living Word, taught the Word of God His Father, and trained up disciples and others to continue teaching the Gospel message after He returned to Heaven. As prophesied, He was crucified, died, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. Later He was caught up to heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father. He will return (I truly believe very soon) again to this planet to take His rightful place as the sole and rightful King and Ruler of this earth.

    Prior to His ascension, knowing the day approached that He would depart and leave His disciples to go it alone on earth to fend for themselves, He began preparing them to survive without Him.  
    Recalling verse 35 above, now listen to what he told His disciples: 

    “Then He (Jesus) said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”

    Sell some of your clothes to buy a sword? The obvious equation here places the possession of a sword in greater value than the clothing to be sold. 

    The logical question to ask is, why would the disciples of Jesus need a sword? Not trying to sound facetious, but was a sword used to cut firewood? Perhaps as a decoration to their dress uniform? Maybe to pick their teeth with, or maybe as a collectable? 

    Recorded history of that era reveals the undeniable singular answer to that question… a sword was, are you ready for this, anti-gun faint-of-heart readers… a WEAPON. A sword was used as a weapon. In the time of Christ, as today, a weapon was necessary for self defense against others with swords (or big rocks) that wished to do you or your loved ones harm. Christ was not a utopian dreamer, as many people are today. He was fully aware of the dangers His disciples would face. Some of the danger would be at the hands of the very people that He came to save from their sinful ways, He knew how dangerously sinful men were (and are). 

  145. Oh, foo. The question is “why do you carry” not “why do you need an AR-15.”
    That one I can answer: To protect your right to call me vile names.

Comments are closed.