“Be glad I carry concealed weapon; I just might save your life,”

[Teresa]

Nice read:

You don't know me, or maybe you just don't know that you do. I am your neighbor, doctor, clergyman, nurse or just another nameless, faceless stranger in the crowd, and I have a state-issued license to carry a concealed pistol. I do so whenever possible.

Though you don't know me, there are a few things you should know about me. In my case, I was fingerprinted by the local police for an FBI criminal background check. I am not a felon, junkie, drug dealer, stalker or even a shoplifter since any number of indiscretions including alcohol or other drug abuse or even simple assault or a restraining order would disqualify me from holding a license.

I have attended classroom training and covered situations when it is appropriate and legal to even indicate that I have a gun, much less display it or actually use deadly force. In Washington state it's even legal to openly carry my weapon for all to see.

I am well aware of the laws and regulations affecting me. Like most people who legally carry concealed handguns, I practice regularly at a range. My fellow license holders and I are generally well trained and practice more than many law enforcement officers.

I am aware of the responsibility I bear, and while I have no duty to retreat here in Washington, I will retreat if possible to avoid conflict.

But know this: Should the need arise, I will act swiftly, intelligently and decisively to protect my life and the lives of those around me.

You should feel a degree of comfort knowing that there may be someone nearby with means, motive and training to possibly save your life or that of those around you. Criminals, on the other hand, should feel fear. They never know if their next intended victim may be armed, trained and ready to effectively defend themselves.

If you feel safer patronizing establishments with a no-guns-allowed policy, please keep in mind that the criminals don't obey the signs or the laws. That is why we call them criminals.

Criminals know that the law-abiding customers of those establishments are easy prey and will have little to no fear of the consequences of their actions. The hallways and parking lots of these establishments might just as well post a sign saying: "NO WEAPONS ALLOWED – Attention, criminals – this is a defense-free crime zone. All law-abiding patrons of this establishment have been disarmed for your convenience. Enjoy – The Management"

Are you still afraid of me? There is no need to fear me; I am just another loyal, law-abiding American.
You should, however, be very afraid of those who endeavor to turn the entire law-abiding population of our great country into defenseless victims.

[Teresa]

For some of us.... this belongs in the "DUH" file, but for the rest of the population it should be reprinted in every paper in the country! But even if this were printed in every paper and taught in schools as required material, I think the lefties would dig up some crap to "disprove" it.
  It seems sad that history proves that people will subjugate themselves before taking responsibility for their own life and the defense thereof.


A World without Guns
Peter Moss

"A world without guns is a world without violence", cry the gun-control advocates.

What is the evidence? The world before the invention of guns was not without violence and those places where firearms are restricted are not without violence either.

Giving up guns today does not translate into a non-violent world and those guns removed or confiscated can be replaced in short time by theft from the state, illegal imports or even home made. It is obvious that inanimate objects do not induce anyone to commit violence and removing one (assuming it could actually be done) simply means there are literally hundreds of other objects to take its place.

What will not have been removed are the factors causing crime and violence in the first place. In fact, a great deal of time, effort and money will have been wasted on removing guns and absolutely nothing will have been done about the social problems that are the root cause of crime and violence that the removal of firearms from law abiding citizens was promised to cure. Money and effort that could have been expended on the actual causes of crime that at least has a chance of working to reduce crime is being wasted with the only result possible of decreased citizens safety.

Britain, Jamaica, Brazil, Canada and Australia, recent attempts by governments to reduce crime and illegal use of guns by criminals and the deranged by confiscation or restriction have produced what can be expected - an imbalance of power between citizens and criminals. An imbalance that criminals are most grateful for and very keen to exploit by acquiring guns to induce fear and compliance in their victims and protect their profits from crime. There is little risk in crime when victims come with a government-backed guarantee of being unarmed and defenceless. Unfortunately, Government has chosen to ignore crime and instead put needed money and huge effort into ensuring law-abiding citizens who neither aid nor commit crime as the focus of attention.

There are many problems with gun control. Perhaps the foremost of these is the simple fact that, to achieve an objective by control, there must be a relationship between the two. Yet, nobody has shown or demonstrated a causal relationship between levels of gun ownership and crime. Guns do not cause crime. Therefore, law abiding firearm owners present no danger to the public and in fact reduce crime by being an unidentified hard target and risk to criminals.

Control of one (guns) is patently not control of the other (crime). This however does not mean that there is not an inverse relationship if guns are removed from society i.e. crime will remain unchanged. The empirical evidence that is ignored by government and gun control advocates is that levels of crime will often increase as shown by every attempt to control crime or the supply of guns to criminals since the invention of the gun. The explosive crime rate increases of Britain, Jamaica and Brazil are not just accidents, unexplained or the exception to the rule, they are the consequences and result of deliberately ignoring known dangers and sound research.

Government and gun control advocates tout the Firearms Control Act as a measure to control crime and reduce the supply of guns to criminals. The preamble of the Act states this as the reason for the Act. This statement is a complete and utter fabrication that has no basis of truth in any research anywhere in the world. Should the SAPS, Ministers or the ANC government disagree, let them present their evidence to the world and rightfully claim honour and prestige for South Africa for what would be a world first. That they have not done so already is an indication of deceit regarding the intentions of the Firearms Control Act. An Act government is determined without valid reason, to enforce on an unsuspecting and trusting public, while the crime rate continues to increase despite this Act.

South Africa, with a crime rate near the highest in the world and a depleted, under-trained and over-worked police force, simply cannot afford the complete waste or crime increase enforcing gun control legislation is creating. Nor should the R2.18 billion (admitted) and huge resources of work force and equipment be wasted on implementation or upkeep. This concentration of fruitless effort and waste will not place one criminal behind bars or deny criminals guns. Much needed police members must not be taken off the beat, crime investigation or other vital duties as they are now, to the detriment of crime control. As is their duty and purpose, the police should instead be attending to crime and the safety of citizens. While violence and criminality continue to increase due to this wasted effort, citizens suffer unnecessarily from murder, rape, robbery, hi-jacking, assault, mugging, theft and house breaking due to an uncaring, unconcerned irresponsible government and thankful criminals taking advantage of the relaxed pressure on crime.

A world without guns will never be a world without crime or violence because guns cause neither.

Criminals by their own choice are predators who will feast on easy prey such as defenceless victims and low risk of punishment. It would be incredibly naive to suggest that making the criminal's workplace safer by giving criminals a government backed guarantee that victims are not armed will reduce crime and violence or that criminals would not take advantage of unarmed victims. Believing that criminals will be deprived of guns obtained from a single source flies in the face of all common sense and evidence that even complete bans are useless. Suggesting that criminals will reciprocate and throw their guns away is simply foolish beyond belief. Yet, this is exactly what government and the SAPS are claiming, promoting and enforcing instead of investigating crime, arresting criminals and ensuring criminals face swift certain punishment.

Until citizens demand that government takes their safety and lives seriously by revising both the policy of blaming guns and the practice of gun control rather than crime control, criminals will continue to reap the benefits of much reduced risk in their violent aggressive criminal activities and very small chance of ever being punished.

[Teresa]

I wish I could credit the author for this, but he is, sadly, unknown.  He speaks for me, and probably for most of you,  too.

My old grandpa said to me son,' there comes a time in every mans life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's When he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin',
I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.
I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves. Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.
Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'. ..

author unknown (but obviously brilliant),,,

[frawin]

Amen Teresa, and more so now than ever. In the past year crime has gone up dramatically everywhere.
My favorite reading in the "American Hunter" is the "Armed Citizen" Section.

[Varmit]

Excellent post Teresa!! Spot on!

[frawin]

Teresa, what is encouraging is that all of the concealed carry classes to get the permit are full every session. I belong to the Sportsman Club here and they have the classes regularly and they are always full.
It is happening record numbers in every state that has Concealed Carry.
I will say it again, never has a President divided this Nation as bad as the current one.