Kevin P.
My sister-in-law is one of my good — no, great…no, best friends. She’s one of those people with whom I can disagree, with whom I can have a terrific argument, full of facts and emotion and emotional facts, and at the end of it all, we just keep on being friends. About politics. About religion. About society. About Trump. We disagree about many, many things. But above all, we respect each other. If you don’t have a friend like this, you should get one.
We had an interesting series of conversations recently. She’s anti-gun. Really anti-gun. For all the reasons I could list, but I won’t, because you’ve heard them all before. I took her shooting and she hated it.
Recently I was helping her work on her car when I noticed a collapsible ASP baton, the kind police carry, and the kind our home state frowns upon. Like, it’s a felony, lose your job, no really, frown upon.
Not wanting to be especially judgey, I mentioned that she might want to be careful with it, because of the 5-0 and the traffic stops and stufflikethat.
She was shocked, amazed, even stunned, that merely possessing such a thing was illegal. Yes, I explained, because there is no NBA (National Baton Association) to litigate on behalf of lawful baton owners, using the Second Amendment of the baton bill of rights.
Imagine how much she lost her shite when I told her, as opposed to the baton, it would only be a misdemeanor if she were caught with a pistol and no CCW permit.
She explained, not to my surprise, how many of her girlfriends routinely carried self-defense objects outlawed in our peculiar state. Brass knuckles. Baseball bats. Pointy things. Martial-arts-trained hands and feet (ha ha, not illegal…yet). Because, why not? Why wouldn’t an independent, single woman, who works and lives in a major city, coming and going at all hours, carry some means of self-defense? Why wouldn’t a feminist shuck off the burden of reliance on some…man…to come and save them? The future is female! (Well, actually, it might be.)
But a gun? Oh, hell no.
Why not, I asked? If you’re clearly not of the turn-the-other-cheek variety, if you’re clearly in favor of self-defense — armed or otherwise — if you clearly value your own life and self-worth, why not carry the best? Why half-ass around with a stick that’s sure to get you arrested, and that’s probably useless against a chemically altered or bigger dude, never mind two of them? (And by the way, if he wasn’t going to hurt you before you pulled a stick on him, he sure is afterwards.)
If there comes the dreaded bump in the night, you’d call a cop, right? A cop with a gun? Is there any other kind? And you don’t trust cops, so….
So why don’t you own a gun?
Because it could be turned against you? Anything can be turned against you.
Because guns are used in crimes? Damn right they are, for good reason.
Because guns are evil instruments of murder? Yawn.
Because you don’t want to hurt someone? Explain that baton to me again, please.
Unless you’ve got a tendency towards self-harm, or live with someone who does, Unless you’ve got an uncontrolled temper, why don’t you own a gun? Why doesn’t everyone?
I didn’t “win” the argument, but I didn’t expect to. I respect anyone who doesn’t want the responsibility of owning or carrying a gun. It’s hard. It’s dangerous. It’s a buzz kill. Maybe you don’t trust yourself, or someone else you live with. That’s okay with me. You be you.
But to value all of the right things, for all o f the right reasons, and go 90% of the way to self-reliance, only to stop…this is something that I just can’t understand.
The title of the article made me go straight to a RATM cover. Sorry. Music et all.
You sure you didn’t mean Cypress Hill?
( Here is something you can’t understand … How I could just kill a man?)
It was a Cypress hill song, but Rage Against The Machine covered it. I went with the rock version in my head. I love Cypress hill too.
RATM- intentional reference. Glad you got it.
Normally, I try to separate art from the artist but RATM is just drips with Marxist fantasy ironically fueled by IP revenues. It is appropriate that they were chosen by the all style and no intellect Wachowski siblings for the Matrix. I think the Pierre de Beaumarchais quote “Nowadays what isn’t worth saying is sung” (or rapped) is especially appropriate for them even though it is for all pretty much all other singers as well. I am not criticizing you for enjoying their music, in fact I wish I could too.
I have a similar friend, we’ll disagree on Trump, capitalism, and high school, but we agree on guns, women, and jobs. His view on guns is he doesn’t want to be defenseless and guns are the most reliable and effective defensive weapons available.
Until the phaser with a stun setting only becomes reality, guns are the best thing you can get.
Almost everyone should have at least two firearms. One should be a concealable handgun, and the other a long gun of some sort. I’d hate to lack either.
Let’s be honest… having two guns is like having two rabbits… next thing you know there are dozens…. and they are all just too cute to get rid of.
Boy howdy, ain’t this the truth. You nailed it.
I accept donation of all guns that fall into the ‘ugly’ category. You know, those that families hide when guests are over, are ashamed to be seen at the range or sporting club with. Those poor, under-fed, attention-starved firearms will find a home and loving care at Nigel’s no-questions-asked home for under-loved guns. A 503C organization.
Like stun guns…The People’s Republic of M–assachusetts would NOT allow it residents one…Where the 2nd Amendment is a “local/state police department–may issue privilege…” Star Trek Phasers—“Forget about it !!! Cause YOUR definitely NOT getting one of those here!!!” Lol….Just Ask MA. AG./ Maura Healey….The Globalist RINO Governor, and His DemoCommie buddies….
Then you should read about Caetano v. Massachusetts:
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-10078
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caetano_v._Massachusetts
A determined man or group might take the baton and use it for things it was not designed for…just sayin’…to make up for inadequacies, perhaps.
Police are known to use batons for purposes that they were not designed for too on handcuffed suspects.
I really have no problem with folks choosing to be unarmed. You be you.
It;s the folks surrounded by armed protection that want to take my guns away from me that pisses me off. And if your sister in law supports those folks she’s just as big an asshole as they are.
“You be you.” That’s the problem. Nobody ever is. Live and let live is a nice motto, but few people actually live by it. People seek out the familiar. When they’ve taken that as far as it can go, they try to turn the unfamiliar into the familiar. Even indifference doesn’t ensure a neutral outcome, because they can not-care themselves into a poor situation and take the rest of us with them.
The “I don’t want a gun” crowd will almost always either work directly against your gun rights, or will vote for whomever for whatever other reasons; oblivious to that candidate’s position on firearms freedom. You said it yourself, firearms ownership is difficult. Well, so is taking a pro-2A stance as a politician. It’s difficult standing up and making intelligent arguments after every tragedy, when the opposition just has to scream “Guns! Children! Do something!” Thus, even indifference toward guns defaults in favor of anti-gun politicians.
No, sir, the so-called fence sitters and those who haven’t even considered the firearms issues are just about as bad as the antis. Really, if firearms freedom is not important to a given voter and that voter cannot even comprehend its importance, then that voter is unqualified to cast a ballot and should be disenfranchised.
Speaking of stupid non-gun arms bans, we really need to repeal the federal Switchblade Act. It’s an utterly ridiculous law and has gone unchallenged since it was introduced.
You don’t need a fast opening knife to attack somebody. You decide when the fight starts, and you want to take them by surprise, so as a criminal attacker you’d be better off with a silent opening Opinel than a stiletto.
But when somebody’s already attacked you, your folding knife is useless if you can’t open it instantly.
Therefore, we’ll outlaw the knives that were made to be rapidly deployed, and not outlaw the other ones, because…Hollywood? West Side Story?
Exactly! Legislators are terrified that allowing people to carry switchblades will suddenly fill the streets with finger-snapping, greasy-haired, singing and dancing gangsters, running rampant with all their satin jackets, jazz hands, and prancing about!
Just play it cool boy, real cooool…
Totally. The politicians that know squat about guns , same goes for edged weapons. An OTF . or a push button side opener are no more deadly than my kershaw flipper. My Mike Draper Ltd edition spyderco. Msrp $500. Will kill you the same as any automatic opener , I own a couple of them too. Peoples heads need to be checked.
If you are planning/preparing for a knife fight it is hard to image a worse choice in an edged weapon than the stiletto style “switchblade”.
I finally got fed up with my home state and moved to Georgia. I was instantly impressed with the knife laws. You could carry any kind of knife as long as the blade was five and a half inches or shorter. In April the Governor signed a new pro gun law. He also threw a little to knife owners. You can now carry any knife as long a the blade is not over twelve inches. If the blade is over twelve inches you have to have a cwp. I carry my bowie everywhere.
Well it’s great that Georgia has reasonable knife laws…but picking up and moving simply because of this one thing? What if you otherwise like the State you’re living in? What if it has great schools and hospitals, and
terrific hiking trails with awesome views…and lots of really good people, many of whom you count as friends?
I can’t stand the ridiculous knife laws where I live..but I don’t think I’d want to leave the state just based on
those laws. But as always, to each their own.
I have been successful in getting anti-gun people to think seriously about firearms ownership by stating the Biblical New Testament principle that even Jesus Christ exhorted his followers to “sell a robe and buy a sword”, the means of self-protection of the day.
I iterate that their lives are precious and, as such have the DUTY to defend their own lives and that of others. Of course, there are those well-meaning Christian sects, such as Quakers who are so “non-violent” that they eschew any form of self-defense as (apparently) their own lives mean nothing to them.
For the rest of us, a totally anti-gun woman (who would not let her husband possess a firearm) was “turned around” by my argument for protecting one’s life and the life of others by quoting the Biblical proscriptions on self-defense. She is not only a better shot than her husband (who is also armed), she obtained her CPL and carries all the time.
Hey I stopped caring if my daughter-in-law carried a gun. Or has one protecting my grandchildren. Ditto on my DoD ex-Army son. She does Krav Maga and somehow thinks that’s sufficient. 40,30,20 and 10 years I was very large,agile and very strong. Now I’m NOT…I married an extremely capable woman(who taught self-defense) who IS a badazz and likes guns. Good enough for me! Yeah you do you…
Tell your sister-in-law to go learn the story of Anne Frank and her family. Better yet, tell her to learn the story of the 1977 blackout in New York, where the power went out…and society completely broke down within minutes. There’s a fantactic American Experience documentary about it that was released in 2015 that everybody should watch.
This was updated. It’s called the LA riots in 1992. The difference is the New York City police were not told to stand down, but the police were overwhelmed. In LA California the police were told to stand down.
@Chris T from KY: LA Riots? I was there. The police would not have had a prayer of prevailing, vastly outnumbered in a community that mostly hated them.
I got caught in a sticky situation myself on the first day. I coincidentally had a gun on me at the time (a WWII-era pistol I had taken to work to show my boss), and it saved my bacon. Lesson learned that day was to never leave home without one.
So, from my perspective, both your observations and conclusions are spot on, brother. Absolutely spot on. To this day, I can’t understand how people can recognize the need for self-defense and still refuse to own a gun.
If there comes the dreaded bump in the night, you’d call a cop, right?
Maybe later.
Bump in the night has to deal with big dogs and myself.
U B U, huh? Unfortunately Govt. doesn’t allow you that luxury. So you have a choice. Be an Outlaw (as distinguished from being a Criminal/Terrorist/Whatever) or you be lunch. Yeah, UBU alright.
“It is more likely to be used against you. I’m not paranoid and it is very unlikely that I would need it. I would probably just hurt myself or another innocent person. The cops won’t know if you are the good guy or a mass shooters so they might shoot you.” These are the unconvincing but common talking points that I hear people use when asked why they don’t own/carry a gun.
my only problem with the article, the 2nd amendment is the right to keep and bear ARMS. not guns. it is designed to keep the govt from infringing on our god given rights to self defense. regardless of weather one chooses to arm themselves with a baton, brass knuckles, switch blade, machete, or belt fed full auto sbr, the govt has no place stopping them. these stupid laws against any of these things one might arm themselves with for defense are all just as illegal and ludicrous.
Women who think any martial arts training is going to save them from a bad guy are fooling themselves. A five foot six woman weighing in at 130 is no match for a six foot, 200 plus pound man, especially if he is willing to take some damage to get what he wants.
If an attacker is hopped up on drugs or meth, their actions and reflexes will be faster than hers and they will feel no pain. Those dudes who have to be subdued by 5 cops are real.
“Something I Cant Understand: Why Don’t You Own a Gun?”
Something I cant understand: why the author hates apostrophes.
You misunderstand…he was reciting a spell in a lilting voice, while tilted.
There’s every reason to own a gun. We all know what they are. There is no good reason not to own a gun. Worst case, you could always keep it locked in a safe unloaded. But it will always be there in case you ever have an anticipated need for it. It can’t do any harm, even if you have an immediate need for it and can’t bring it to bear in time. You’re no worse off.
Throughout history, hundreds of millions of people without a gun wished they had a gun. Millions still do right now.
No one ever wished they didn’t have a gun.
If you don’t believe yourself to be emotionally stable enough to own a gun, I’m happy you don’t…
Put it in a safe AND unloaded? Drivel.
Perhaps freeze the slide in a block of ice in the deep freeze. Hide the op spring in grandmas old hatbox up in the attic, the mag (one) hidden in a box of old Cosmos in the shehouse in the back yard and hide less than 10 rounds in the box of tampons in the guest bathroom.
i dont own a gun…
i own twenty…
I try not to count mine, that way when the wife asks, I can answer truthfully. So far she hasn’t asked.
Ohhhhh…
THAT’s how ya do it.
I lost count around 5. And I don’t even know how to count my ARs. Do spare uppers count? Do stripped lowers count? Just complete lowers? Well, now I have to think because I don’t remember,
“More than two, less than fifty.”
” I respect anyone who doesn’t want the responsibility of owning or carrying a gun.”
That’s where you lost me. If you’re crazy or violently impulsive and you know it, fine. If you’re terminally stupid or timid and you know it, fine, as well. If you are physically unable to operate of firearm, I can see that, too. Outside of that, if you aren’t a gun owner, then you’re most likely a lazy coward waiting for someone else to save you, then claiming a halo for your spinelessness.
I know, I know, somebody will come up with some other category or two whose members should be exempted from my harsh judgment. Go ahead; I’m flexible. If it’s a good reason, I’ll accept it. All you’re doing is proving my point, though, that only special exceptions with articulated extenuating circumstances get a pass. Whatever the final count of the number of such people in those groups are, it’s a tiny percentage of the remainder who need to grow up and assume adult responsibility for their own safety and security.
” If you’re crazy or violently impulsive and you know it, fine. If you’re terminally stupid or timid and you know it, fine, as well.”
So much this.
But if things ever go sideways, don’t expect me to tool you up…
The only freedom of choice they believe in is abortion. These people didn’t live in or near a combat zone. And there is an issue of race here. White socialist progressives simply don’t think they will ever need a gun. They “know” they can rely on the police.
Black people on the other hand KNOW, in general, they can’t rely on the police. But because of the history of racist gun control laws, they simply don’t know how to get a legal gun and carry permit.
I think it’s better that you don’t have a gun if you don’t intend to learn about it, how to use it.
Take your sister shooting. No, seriously. Take her to a shooting range where she can get some basic instruction from an individual who has NRA certification as an instructor and let her shoot a .22lr at a close range target. After she admits to you that it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be then ask her which would she rather have if she woke up by herself in the middle of the night and a strange man was standing over her, that .22lr pistol or the baton.
To Kevin P.
Maybe you can have your in-law 3/4 ass it with a machete, sword, or tomahawk? It is an upgrade from a baton. It doesn’t have that icky recoil either. Maybe later she will go gun later. You may want to refrain from , or build up, the absolutely nightmarish wounds that edge weapons can inflict. That is a selling point for guns. Yeah, sometimes you get the splat on the wall but sometimes dude bleeds out in a dark parking lot and you don’t even have to see it.
samuraichatter- baby steps.
Here’s how you drive home the reasoning to carry a gun vs. any martial tool.
Questions to any female carrying a martial weapon:
“Are you well trained with that tool?”
“Would you bet your life on being able to defeat a larger, stronger attacker with that tool?”
“Would you bet your life on being able to to defeat multiple larger and stronger attackers with that tool?”
“Would you bet your life on being able to defeat multiple larger, stronger, and attackers that are armed with firearms?”
If you answered NO to any of the above, that’s because any physically-dependant martial tool relies on a high level of physical proficiency and training to be able to disarm or disable a larger and stronger opponent, much less multiple at close distances.
A gun, on the other hand, is a force equalizer. It requires minimal physical proficiency to operate and is exceedingly more effective at stopping threats regardless of physical size at range, which increases your chances of stopping or surviving a violent attack by a wide margin and decreases your chances of bodily injury.
I have a childhood friend who clearly likes guns. He plays first person shooters, owns airsoft guns, goes shooting with me all the time, and isn’t a bad shot himself. Yet, he doesn’t own any firearms. Why? He’s a broke college student living with his parents. I told him what AR-15 are going for and he balked at the price. That was kind of an eye opener.
I have another friend who was born and raised in the ghetto. He’s a very intelligent young man, stays away from the thugs, goes to church, and is only one in his family with a stable job. He wants a firearm for self defense, but can barely keep his car running.
There’s probably a lot more like them. People who would be gun owners if they weren’t stuck on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
No “probably” about it. There are millions of folks that can’t afford a firearm. Not just because of the cost of a gun + ammo, but because of the added costs that Local, State, and Federal governments impose – permission slips, NICS fees, extra taxes, mandatory training, etc. that often end up being more than the firearm cost. Criminals don’t pay those extra costs, only law abiding people do. What does that tell you?
There is much to this. When I lived in Mexico we once teased our maid about a local armed robbery. We of course said the criminal must be from her neighborhood. She got very serious and said it couldn’t be because no one in her neighborhood could EVER afford a gun. I had never had the thought that a person could be too poor to buy a gun.
She also said she would never call on the police if she were being followed at night because they were just as likely to rape you as anyone else. Wish we could get her on The View to tell them that.
To answer the title:
Because some people lack the basic awareness to understand that there are evil, violent people in the world they share.
Because some people lack the survival instinct that once permeated through all mankind (much of it has been bred out with easy living) to come into this world screaming for life and to leave it the same way.
Because some people are stupid, and frankly, aren’t worth defending.
Fight for every last breath, tooth and nail. If not, what is the point of it all? What’s worth doing in life at all if life itself is not worth defending with every fiber of yearning for more of it, and more of it for those we love and care about, with the willingness to unleash absolute violence on those who threaten it? Those who aim to threaten it are risking everything for something that is probably not at all worth the risk, but they would inflict the same death to others, so why not gift them the golden rule of survival? Only the strong.
Weakness and meekness profits one nothing.
I am always amazed at people that say they could never own a gun. It’s a tool, nothing more. No magic, just physics. To me it’s about being responsible for my life and my family’s safety. If you can’t take the responsibility of owning a firearm, should you be driving a car? Because that is also about being responsible and using a tool (car). So, if you don’t want to take responsibility for your life and safety, don’t expect other to do so.
“I didn’t “win” the argument, but I didn’t expect to. ”
you should never expect to change someones mind on the spot. if you do, cool but don’t expect it. the BEST results come when they come to their own conclusions that if you are going to arm yourself, its best to do it with something that keeps the bad guy at a DISTANCE, rather than close enough to hit with a stick.
Excellent article and great point.
Some years ago while working as the security director for a large company in DC in which about 75% of the staff were Liberals, a young lady came to talk to me because she’d come home to find her roommate had been stabbed 17 times by one of the local, Democrat, multi-time losers who lived in that great city. She was understandably traumatized, but because she lived in DC could not own a gun to protect herself with, and she she never would own one. We talked about options and she ended up with a completely illegal canister of pepper spray. The roommate survived and she carried her spray wherever she went.
As the article points out, anything less than a gun would not have stopped the attacker, but she and her fellow Liberals would never own a gun because they wanted to stop gun violence. All I could do in response to that comment was to look at her with absolute pity.