Like most of you, I’ve had a lot of annoying conversations with hoplophobes. People who’d love nothing more than to see the government ban all guns from all civilians, and take them away from those who already have them. Remembering all the anti-gun “arguments” is like trying to recall what I had for lunch two months ago, but I remember the “good” ones . . .
I remember a family member telling me that “guns make people violent and I never want to be around a gun, ever.”
I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t help it. What are the odds she’d been standing in line at the grocery store next to a person legally concealing a firearm? Out of sight, out of mind? Or what I don’t know can’t hurt me. Both are dangerously delusional, given that legal gun owners are hardly the only ones who carry concealed.
Of course, another family member immediately pointed out that I had a concealed carry permit. I was probably carrying a gun right then and there. My anti-gun relative gasped and put her hands to her face. “Well, I hope your gun isn’t loaded, Sara!” I said “Of course it’s loaded! An unloaded gun is a club.” I didn’t want to scare her, but I’d reached my hoplophobic limit.
On another occasion, I had to tell an anti-gun cousin that shootings are the fault of the person that pulls the trigger. Like so many anti-gunners, she refused to confront the facts. “I don’t know the solution. I only know guns are the problem.”
Sometimes I feel like breaking out in song. All we are saying … is give guns a chance. But those of us who exercise our gun rights must remember that some of our fellow citizens are incapable of even entertaining the idea of keeping and bearing arms.
Which is why I rued the day California removed our right to open carry long arms. And wish California would restore our right to openly carry all firearms. Because seeing is believing.