Quote:
Originally posted by Nothing But Net
It's the OK Corral in the sky folks!
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I know this seems to contradict what we have all been told and taught in this culture, but carrying firearms actually reduces violence in 2 ways.
I carry a legally purchased handgun for my own protection and amusement. I wear it like most people wear shoes. It goes with me everywhere I can legally take it, and it is ready to defend my life at a moment's notice. As a CCW holder (permit to carry holder) I see this as normal. It is a huge responsibility and I accept it by modifying my thought process and habits to carry a handgun safely and legally. The absolute *last* thing I want to do is harm someone unintentionally with a firearm and the second to the last thing I want is to be killed or injured by a criminal or dog because I didn't have the ability to defend myself in a life or death situation.
In my pre 911 life, I would travel extensively throughout the eastern US. Many times at night. Before I made the committment to carry, I would not stop to help anyone that may be in distress for fear of eanding up in some crazy guys chipper , or something nuts like that. There was one time that I didn't stop for a man I nearly hit in the highway as he was flagging me down to stop after his car had apparently caught fire. I didn't dare stop, I was alone, afraid, and far from home. I wouldn't have stopped for anyone. Then I started taking the pistol with me. I had no fears of being killed and when I saw someone that needed help at least would stop to see what the trouble was. I have also run into dangerous people on the road. The handgun is a great insurance policy if you accept the responsibility. The overwhelming majority of "good folks" do. If they didn't we would hear nothing *BUT* gun tragedies and crime stories 24/7, tens of millions of people use them to aid society every single day.
It is also true, despite what you may have seen in movies or imagine in your own mind, that gun folks are the first to *avoid* trouble. We are actually trained in how *NOT* to escalate situations to shooting battles. We don't want to shoot, brandish or brag. We dont want to be dead either, which is often the only option for victims. It is truely the fact that I *can* wipe out the entire nieghborhood that allows me to evade true physical confrontation. My fight or flight adrenaline is not racing through my system, I know if we fight, you'll be dead. I also know that I don't want to go to jail, which a criminal is not as likely to really be concerned with, probably having been there before many times. A fight is the last thing I want, for me and for you. I don't know any OK corral gunslingers because they don't have guns long, they do something stupid and go to jail or lose their guns.
I have actually even been in arguments with people while wearing a handgun. The way you deal with people is different when you carry a gun though. I have never pulled it out in anger or rage. Only one time in 3 years has my handgun cleared leather , and that was because a homeless guy used very bad judgement and startled me in a strange city. No, I didnt shoot him , I helped him. But if I had been afraid, I probably would not have felt safe enough to do so. So, my having a handgun made a small difference to a homeless man in distress. This happens more times than you will ever know. Guns save lives. Guns allow people to do the right thing without fear.
There are men and women in my family that carry regularly. We've never shot anyone. Thank God, we haven't had to.
So, when people talk about the old west and the OK corral, I just think of all the guns around me right now, and the friends I have that carry, and the places we go. I don't understand where they get the notion that there would be shooting in the streets like the olds days when people carry guns. It's a complete mystery to me, I've never seen that happen and I have a *lot* of guns and have gone a *lot* of places with people that have them. It's a silly notion. Maybe someday we can erase this nonsense from people's minds. Maybe then we can eliminate the bullshit we have going on at airports then too, and let the good guys protect us all by protecting themselves.
(slang's eyes lighten as he kisses his defensive handgun goodnight)