Where we last left off in praising Sonia's effort in Part I, I was talking about how gun ownership does not change you into a hostile person, but is an indicator of your adult realizations of your own independence and sovereign authority and then choosing it. Not everyone has to own a gun or carry one – some everyday circumstances don't urge it – but some places do, and wearing a gun isn't to look for a fight, it is the realization that violence may find you.
On the subject of possibly having to shoot someone, this is a question that is not as it appears to be. It is another question. It is: ‘How do I survive this? No, really? Do I have choices in preparing beforehand? Do I myself survive the experience of survival itself? How do I live with myself if I have to shoot?'
The idea is not in avoiding realities – as in 'I hate to think things have come to this!' – but in accepting realities. Some of the very best truths in life are in knowing what we can control and what we cannot.
Some people prefer to abdicate their responsibility - let's call that the category of things they can control and elect not to – and others appreciate how they can take control of things. When someone elects to buy a gun – especially a married couple electing to buy a gun – we have a vote of a sort. Where some refuse to vote at all, others will vote. We then have a couple who saw that they are not entirely at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Some forces have now come under their control.
Gun owners – including law enforcement – know that they do not want to shoot, but will if they have to. Millions of times across this country, armed citizens de-escalate a violent crime without having to shoot. Why? Because gaining the upper hand with lethal force is enough in the vast majority of instances to tune down the danger. It is a point where the victim refuses to be a victim and gains control over the situation. Most of the time, this is enough to save a life. If it is not, and the thug must be stopped -- because he did not stop himself looking down the barrel of a loaded gun – then you have a shooting.
Who is wrong here?
Gun owners prepare with discipline, practice, and knowledge, constantly improving good judgment for that moment when they may have to draw and not shoot. They also prepare for the moment when this is not enough and they see that they do have to shoot.
In the protection of your own life or the life of another, you are not the violent person. Gun ownership did not make you into a person of violence, the thug was the person of violence, and experts teach that, for all your preparedness, the decision to shoot will not be made entirely by you, but by the thug. The thug makes the choice of whether you will shoot or not. You prepare for that moment when you have to decide on your life or his, but it is he or they who force the decision at all. Everyday people do not force such decisions, only criminals do. Gun owners by the millions every year do their very best to make certain that both thug and target live.
This is why there are about 2.5 million de-escalations of violence annually and only about 184 justifiable homicides out of all of those. That amounts to about 2,499,816 or so acts of violence which are not completed because the target refused to be a victim and brought their gun to bear on the situation. That's a lot of non-crimes, isn't it? Year in and year out, the figures remain about the same.
Welcome, Sonia, and family. Have a good time at the range. Understand that new gun owners do not enter a gun culture, they enter a liberty culture.
And be sure to register for my Safer Streets Newsletter and Commentary.
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Comments
Maybe Bruce Willis said it best in his last Die Hard Movie. "That's because you are that guy" meaning there was no one else around to do it so you did it. You defended yourself when there were no cops or anyone else to save your life but you. You would gladly let someone else do it if they were there but since they aren't you have to make a choice to live or die and that choice was forced upon you by someone who is intent on taking your life for some man made objects. She reached that conclusion and the her life and the lives of her family mean enough to her that she is now willing to take another life if she is forced by that person to defend herself or her family. Thanks to thugs maybe we are not as far away from the frontier as we hoped. It has just changed in it's looks.
No Robert,I would never let someone else do it, just because they were there. If I have the means, I'll take care of it myself. I would welcome them to stand by my side or cover my back. Down through the years I have had Police Officers tell me that they would welcome me to cover their back, if they were ever in a situation.
Sonia welcome to the 'Culture', I never knew I belonged to a 'Culture' until recently. The Gun Culture? But I'll take the Liberty Culture anytime. You all have a good day.
Absolutely, Sonia. Welcome.
And we expect from you more liberty writing.
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