It’s Not The Guns

A short while back I met a man, who pointed out my gun to his son and began espousing the interests of gun control, now normally I would have stayed out of the conversation, because I believe people should think what they want, and if someone chooses not to own a firearm, then that is their business, but, since he chose to use me and my gun for an example, I figured I was justified in presenting my argument.

Here’s kind of how it happened;
Under normal circumstances, if you see me wearing clothes you can rest assured that I am armed, as in carrying a firearm (or two) and a knife (or two), I have a permit for concealed carry (which I think is unconstitutional, but it is the law at present, and I always try to obey the law).
Sometimes the imprint of the little Beretta 21-A that I carry in my pocket shows, and sometimes if I reach up to get something the tip of my Colt 1911 or Ruger P91, or Sig P228 or H&K USP that I carry might show, more often not.
This particular instance I was in a local convenience store and a man and his son (who looked to be about my son’s age), were standing on the aisle behind me.
The guy pointed out to his son, that I was carrying a firearm (you could see the Berretta’s outline on my pocket),  and that ‘guns are evil’.
He went on to explain to him that he should never touch, much less carry a gun, and that people who carried guns were evil unless they were the police.
I had heard enough, so I turned and asked him how he figure this out, especially since he did not know me, nor anything about me.
Here’s the conversation.
Me – “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help overhearing your statement. How do you figure that I am an evil person?” (I asked this in a bemused manner, not hateful).
Him – “Well why do you carry a gun, if you’re not out to use it on someone?”
Me – “I carry a gun for protection, it’s like life insurance, you need it and hope you never ever have to use it.”
Him – “Why do you need protection, you’re a big guy? Besides we have police to protect us?”
Me – “Okay number one, because criminals don’t come at you straight up, they always have an edge, and most of them are armed. As far as the police protecting us, in 1998 the U.S. Supreme court ruled that it was not the police’s duty to protect us, it wat their duty to enforce the laws and if you ever noticed, very rarely will a criminal commit a crime in front of a police officer.” I then asked “Have you ever been the victim of a crime and had to call the police?”
Him – “Yes, my house was burglarized once.”
Me – “Did you have an alarm?”
Him – “Yes.”
Me – “How much time expired from the time the alarm went off until the police got there?”
Him – “Five maybe ten minutes.”
Me -”How much did they steal.”
Him – “A tv, a vcr, and a microwave oven….”
Me – “Okay here’s my point, an alarm goes off, the alarm company responds by calling your house, one to two minutes, the alarm company calls the police, one to two more minutes, depending on the location of whoever is on patrol at that time, and the size of the area they are patrolling you can figure another three minutes, if they are in the neighborhood to thirty minutes, if they aren’t”
Him – “So you think if I had a gun there my house wouldn’t have been robbed.”
Me – “No not at all, my point is, if someone tried to rob you right now, they would have anywhere from five to ten minutes to rob you and get away before any police would show up. If you were out in the parking lot, and got mugged, you would have to make your way, if able back inside, to call the police.”
Him – “I would use my cellphone.”
Me – “Not down here you wouldn’t, even Verizon doesn’t pick up down here.”
Him – “Well guns are still nothing but trouble.”
Me – “Well I can testify to twice when mine have  caused people to reconsider their options when it comes to trying to rob someone.”
Him – “How does that prove anything, when more kids are shot by their parents guns than by criminals.”
Me – “Oprah or Rosie?”
Him – “Huh?”
Me -”Did you hear that from Oprah or from Rosie O’Donnell?”
Him – “What’s that got to do with it?”
Me -”Because it is a well-known fact that both individuals were pushing the agenda of handgun control.”
Him – “So?”
Me -”So, what isn’t a well-known fact is that both individuals are hypocrites, because they don’t believe the message they preach.”
Him- “How do you figure that?”
Me – “Because both of them have armed body guards.”
Him – “Well don’t they have the right to do what they want or to say what they want?”
Me – “They have to right to say what they want to and do what they want to in accordance with the law. They also have an obligation as famous personalities that so many people rely on, to tell the truth and get their facts straight.”
Him – “You just don’t like them because they are anti-gun.”
Me – “No that is just one of the reasons I don’t like them.
Him – “So you still haven’t proven how guns are not evil.”
Me -”Okay look here’s the deal, a gun is an inanimate object, it can’t move on its own, it has to have someone to move it. It in its natural state is no more a weapon than a knife, a baseball bat, a brick, piano wire, an axe, a spoon or a fork. The point is if I wanted to kill someone or hurt them I could use pretty much anything at hand to do it with.”
Him – “Well that is my point, guns make it easier to hurt people.”
Me – “True, but they also make it easier to defend yourself and others.”
Him – “Why not use a fork or spoon like you said?”
Me – “Because if I must have a weapon, then that means whoever I am defending myself against is armed, and most of the bad guys don’t rob you with forks or spoons, unless you are in prison.”
Him – “Well that’s what we have prisons for, is to hold the bad guys.”
Me – “Prisons only hold the bad guys that get caught, and most of them get out in a few years.”
Him – “Well I still don’t want  a gun anywhere around me, or my kids.”
Me – “Well that is your choice and I hope the day never comes when you needed one to defend you or your family.”
Nothing I said up until that point seemed to get to him, but when I said ‘defend your family’ he started staring at his son for a little while and then he said, “I hope it never gets to that point either.”
I told him to have a good day and walked up to the counter to pay for my stuff, the woman behind the counter had been paying attention to what had been going on, and she said, “Well you handled him calmly enough. He’s a fool if he doesn’t believe in having a gun these days.”
I said “Although I disagree with him, he is entitled to his opinion.”
She said, “I guess so, but I disagree with him also.”
I paid for my stuff and was walking out to my truck when the guy came out and hollered at me.
Turning around I saw him walking across the parking lot, his son in tow. “So tell me something?”
“Okay?” I responded.
“Have you ever had anyone die as the result of a gunshot?” He asked.
“Yes.” I answered.
“And you still carry a gun.” He asked.
“It took a finger to pull the trigger.” I replied.
“My sister was killed by a guy in Memphis that was trying to steal her car.” He said.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I replied.
“I’ve hated guns ever since then and thought they should all be outlawed.” He said.
“I can understand the hate for the guy that pulled the trigger, but the gun was just a tool he used.” I said.
“I figure if he didn’t have that gun, she would still be alive.”
“Maybe.” I said, “Or he may have used an even crueller way to kill her.”
Then I asked him “Did you ever wonder where the police were, when this happened?”
“They were only three minutes away, in fact they passed the guy as he was running away.” He said.
“Did they catch him?” I asked.
“Finally after a couple of weeks.” He responded.
“Are you going to say if she was armed she might still be alive?”
“Nope, I don’t have to say that, because there are a lot of things that could have happened, If she had been armed the guy might have gotten scared and ran, or if her gun was in the glovebox or her purse, then the same thing might have happened. Either way, I am sorry for your loss.”
“Do you honestly believe that having a gun in your house is safe?” He asked.
“Yes.” I replied.
“You must not have any kids.” He stated.
“I have two, and I have taken them both out and shown them what firearms are capable of, they also have been taught not to touch any guns without me or some other capable adult supervising.” I said.
Then I added, “Kids are a lot smarter than you give them credit for, if you try to teach them things you would be surprised at all the things they can learn.”
“Well, I don’t know if I would want my son to learn how to handle a gun.” He said.
“I understand, and I’m not going to say that he should, but I will say that if he was going to it would be better for you to teach him than one of his friends when he gets to be a teenager.”
“Well I don’t know anything about them myself or how to handle them.” He said.
I told him then about the City of Pelham has a handgun training class, or used to, that he could go to and learn more, if he wanted to, and of a reputable gun dealer that if he had the time could tell him just about anything he wanted to know about firearms and how the functioned and what each was good for and what it wasn’t good for.
The guy apologized for his earlier comment.
I told him no apologies were necessary and that everyone is entitled to their opinions.
I don’t know if he changed his mind about owning a gun or not, but I do think he changed his mind about how safe he was and about stereotyping people who carry firearms.
I feel that instead of trying to control firearms, we should try to control criminals, murderers, rapists and child molesters, should have no rights to be on our streets.  If someone has proven time after time that they are a complete and total burden to society and they have no intentions of ever changing, that person should be removed from society, permanently.
There’s several old clichés that fit this topic that people really should think about.
‘I carry a gun because a policeman is just too heavy.’
‘When seconds count the police are only minutes away.’
‘My right to defend myself and my family outweighs your right to be a piece of crap.’
and the old favorite.
‘When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns.