One Meaning of Gun Ownership
While still employed in the aerospace mill, I would often get questions about my reasons for owning guns and shooting them regularly. I usually would respond with a rote quote of the words in the second amendment (not a bad place to start) and then some statistics about violent crime in Southern California and more statistics about slow police response times to 911 calls. I would usually wind up with a missive about how I should be able to protect myself outside of my own home with a firearm. After all, there are more criminals at large where I’m not ‘permitted’ to carry, thanks to the hoplophobic idiots in power.
John Longenecker makes many good points with his article today in the L. A. Gun Rights Examiner column: Gun control, campus violence prevention, and disappearances. I was particularly impressed by this elegant description of one meaning of owning a gun:
Gun ownership and the idea of lethal force is not a matter of owning a gun, it is a spirit of Independence and preferring to live with that over an exclusive reliance on others. Gun ownership is the knowledge that no one can take your place in your own safety, and acceptance of the fact that it is not anyone else’s job, including police. It is the understanding and acceptance that lethal force may be necessary.
Amen.
I will make a point in future discussions about gun ownership, to stress the importance of independence and self-reliance. These have always been two important traits with which I credit myself, but seldom invoke in firearms discussions.
L. A. Gun Rights Examiner is one of the several Examiners I visit frequently on the web. I also visit the National Gun Rights Examiner, St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner and always the Columbia Conservative Examiner. You should visit them too.
