In online debates with people who take exception to my gun rights advocacy, I have sometimes been called a "coward" for insisting on being armed--told that a real man would be able to defend himself with his fists (and/or other body parts, presumably). On such occasions, I've considered pointing out that as a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair, it just might be a teensy bit unrealistic to expect me to effectively defend myself (or even to simply flee) with a reasonable chance of success, without relying on more than I can get from my body alone.
In the end, I've never bothered with making that point, it being my experience that such people aren't truly interested in engaging in a productive debate, but simply wish to enjoy the fun of practicing the Internet equivalent of flinging their droppings. I once spent several months under the tender mercies of drill sergeants, and if my skin were thin enough that I couldn't deal with some bravely anonymous keyboard commando's charge of cowardice, I would never have made it through Basic Training.
Besides, there's a much larger issue. If we're to accept that only a "coward" would insist on armed self-defense, we are apparently saying that a 110 lb. woman must either be able to defeat a 250 lb. would-be rapist mano-a-mano, submit to being raped (and whatever else her assailant has in mind), or be unworthy of respect; that a 75-year-old man who cannot punch out his 19-year-old thug mugger should be the object of our contempt; and that even a bad-to-the-bone mixed martial arts champion set upon by a dozen gangbangers is some kind of pansy if he doesn't prevail without the use of a weapon. This is without even getting into the fact that all this assumes that the assailants are not themselves armed--that somehow, this time, gun prohibition has worked (as no other kind of prohibition ever has).
Finally, and from an admittedly selfish perspective, such a belief system would seem to require that I accept the idea that for someone like me, the only "courageous" option, in the face of just about anyone's wish to prey on me, is to accept the role of prey.
If that's how it is, you know what? Just call me a coward. An armed coward.
P.S. If you don't read any other articles from the "If you enjoyed this article..." box below, please read the Charlotte Gun Rights Examiner's "The Capenters: From tragedy rises heroism." It very movingly builds on my article from yesterday.
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Austin: Obama: The anti-civil rights president?
- Charlotte: The Carpenters: From tragedy rises heroism
- Cleveland: Canadian media can also lie about guns
- DC: No right to arms, no vote in Congress!
- Denver: Changing hearts and minds
- Los Angeles: Gun control in churches, Part II: The Militia
- Minneapolis: Open carry is the 2nd Amendment
- National: Queens councilman brandishes gun in church!
Comments
Bravo.
Kurt, I have read many "pro-gun" essays in my time.
Quite simply, this is among the best.
I hope the readers here share the link to this column far and wide. It deserves to be read by everybody.
Wow, David. Coming from you, that's praise I'll value more than I can say.
Thank you.
Your point is well taking. However let me point out I have seen and know of many situation where one man has killed another with a beating. Here's a fact in fact a solid fact that smacks in the fact of propaganda we have been told from the time we were kids. I've got to add the people telling us this were government parasites in the government schools. What we were told is, "it takes two to tangle". This is simply not true. If that were true than a woman who wasn't covered from heat to toe was asking to get raped. Or man who didn't work out to have big powerful bodies were asking to be beat and robbed. Being armed to protect one's life is a God giving right.
This is the argument I made when the vet from Ohio en route to the VA hospital in Virginia broke down in DC...the similarly wheelchair bound vet I might mention. I'm sure you know the case, the one where they convicted him of ammo possession instead of concealed carry violations.
It's also right along the lines of something alphecca touched on today, the usual brady hysterics, related to the "youth guns" that are sold.
www.alphecca.com/?p=1247
One by one, inch by inch the self hating bastards intend to remove the rights of those that value life and freedom. I won't even go into how the new health care system planned would impact you or others like you, the rationing that will be coming, or how it all ties together right now, but it does.
This goes back to the quote "God made man, Sam Colt made them equal."
Kurt people need to be reminded LTC is not for people to run around like auxiliary police. It's for the woman in the inner city, trying to get home from the train or bus station at night without getting raped or killed for her wallet after she had to work late that evening. LTC is for retirees trying to withdraw cash from a ATM safely without getting killed when away visiting the grandchildren out of state. Its for the handicapped and 5 foot nothing people. It's for the ex high school football star with 2 rebuilt knees and bad discs in their back. We just need to say it more often! Everyone normally hear CCW and think of a tall healthy burly Man. far from it. LTC makes the playing field equal. Please keep reminding people of that!
Well said, Kurt, and spot on.
Agree. If they won't do concealed carry for every law abiding citizen in Illinois, at least issue permits to those in wheelchairs, and to women who request orders of protection. It is only "common sense". If it would "save just one life", it would be worth it.
You are no coward. Far from it. The cowards are those that refuse to take responsibility for their own safety and that of their family. Instead, they choose to cower, expecting help from law enforcement.
Kurt, I salute you.
Airborne!
I told you how good you were. Now do you believe me?
Kurt,
Nice article.
A long time ago, my Marine Corps Drill Instructor, for close combat told me something tht has stuck with me these last 40 some years.
He said... "Maggots, there is no such thing as a FAIR FIGHT, you go into a fight to win, if you have any other thoughts in your head at that time... YOUR DEAD."
Those were his words verbatim.. he went on to say, I'm parapharsing here...
I don't care how big or small your attacker is you use anything within reach that you can to take him out. If you cant grab a club and he's only 4 foot 2 and weighs 76 pounds soaking wet, anh your 6 foot 5, 265 and bulging with muscles, you still pick up that club and beat him with it.
You have no idea what your attackers abilities are, so don't take any chance, or give them the advantage in any way.
I have lived by that for years.
You live by your standards also.. I will support you in that... OOORah...!!!
Everybody, thank you. I don't handle praise well--I get awkward and embarrassed, even over the internet, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it.
SA, I don't really see what it is that you and a few others appreciate about my writing, but it's humbling to get such a reaction from people I truly admire.
This is precisely the reason that I scoff when supposedly pro-gun people say "If we could magically get rid of all guns, then I'd be willing to turn mine in". Even if every single criminal were unarmed, I would still want my sidearm. Even unarmed encounters have disparity of force. You never know when you'll be going up against several adversaries who can physically overpower you. But having a firearm removes that disadvantage. This goes double for people of small stature, women who are physically weaker than their attackers, the elderly, the disabled, etc.
Even if you could somehow make all the guns in the world disappear tomorrow, we would be worse off than we are today because the physically strong and those who have numbers on their side would always have an advantage over they physically weak and those in the minority.
Kurt, thanks for your courage to continue to speak the truth!
A question affecting us all, for sooner or later we all feel the effects of infirmity and old age. And the obvious (to me) corollary is: Should effective defense be limited to military and police forces? Of course not. That’s why the Founders wrote the Second Amendment, so that the people, individually and collectively, could own, maintain, carry, and use the same weapons any oppressors might use. Defense is a pre-existing right which was recognized by our basic law, the Constitution; it was not granted! It’s there for the reading and any laws which abrogate that right are in fact unconstitutional, and no judge, jury, politician, CONgress, or majority voting bloc has the lawful right to take it away. But they do have the weapons, the ones they don’t want you to have …….
Maybe the best thing you ever wrote, Kurt, and that's going a ways.
Nice effort, Kurt. Zeroed right in on the point. That's "diligentia". Very powerful concepts and images. That's "vis". And, brief and decisive. That's "celeritas".
We speak of DVC (accuracy, power, speed) primarily as a triad for physical combat, but look at how well it works with words as well. Kurt reminds us that principles, if they really are principles, are immutable. I suspect Col. Cooper would be proud.
Keep socking it to those who would serve up the defenseless under threat of force. It matters!
Is it not interesting that the anti-gun crowd who are so abusive in comments on many pro-gun articles are conspicuously absent when the true end result of their agenda is discussed.
Guns are for the weak.
That's not an insult, it's what guns do: they're equalizers.
It is the weak among us who need guns the most, and any individual, no matter how bad-ass, is weak compared to an armed group.
This is a point that needs to be brought up more often when advocating for gun rights. I lift weights, run, and train for health and recreation. However, I am still smaller than many other men. Even though I am in good shape, I am not stupid enough to think I could defeat a much larger, angry aggressor with my bare hands. There is no such thing as a "fair fight" when dealing with a thug on the street or in your home. I do not go through life in fear of being victimized, but just as I have smoke detectors as a technological aid to surviving an unlikely house fire, I have a firearm as an aid in surviving an unlikely encounter with a "bad guy." A disarmed society immediately gives up all power to gangs and the most physically imposing individuals. There is nothing more pathetic than the individual who attacks the right to self-defense by attacking the manliness of gun owners. I am reminded of the Family Guy episode that implies that men who buy guns do so to compensate for having small penises. I think it is important for gun owners to reach out and encourage others to become responsible gun owners and dispel the dangerous ideas held by the anti-gun crowd, and also show that pro-self defense folks come from all professions and all walks of life.
Call me a coward also. I had a stroke so I also would have a tough time fighting of. I'm a survivor. I refuse to be a victim also.
If a person wants to defend him/herself with their fists, let them but don,t condemn others who use another method. I, myself prefer to use a weapon, a club( hit'em from behind)I want the advantage, a gun (one shot, one kill)I want the advantage. Am I physically fit. YES, I am with some Martial Arts Training, but I prefer peace and I AM willing and able to defend myself and my family no matter what it takes.
Some sort of 'fair fight' mentality is pretty common from the 'nothing bad can happen' crowd. It's amazing how many are 'converted' after they have experienced an assault or a robbery.
Take refuge in the thought that if our society were just a little less 'polite' then natural selection would take care of them pretty quickly and clean up the gene pool.
I personally don't get the fetishization of using bare hands to get something done. We are humans. Our ability to use tools is what differentiates us from the species that throw feces (mostly).
I have dealt alot with disability law and it gave me a big picture view of it. Look, humans are almost like the disabled species. Compared to other creatures we are weak, slow, blind, deaf, nasally insensitive and so on. The only thing we have going for us is our brains. But of course that one advantage is a big frickin' deal. We have parlayed that advantage into global domination on an unprecedented scale in the natural history of this planet.
And from that perspective we should never be embarrassed to use our brains to overcome our physical shortcomings. Its part of what makes us human. so personally i specifically like the equalizing effect of guns and consider it one of the best arguments for widespread gun use.
Interesting articles Kurt - I'd found them via the link from Instapundit.
In my experience, martial arts enthusiasts are often some of the most clueless people you'll meet regarding the viability of unarmed defense. Not all of them, but many grossly overestimate the efficacy of their 'system' against a determined attacker, much less multiple attackers. Interestingly those that engage in actual sparring - like boxing or MMA - seem to be much more reality-based.
My ex-girlfriend's father was a Marine fought at Iwo Jima and in his old age kept a revolver by his chair, just in case.
I never thought of him as a coward. That would have plain stupid.
As someone who is disabled with a form of muscular dystrophy, I couldn't agree with this article more. I always try the obvious methods of self defense first. Avoiding obviously dangerous situations, avoid traveling alone as much as possible (for more than just self defense reasons, if I break down I can't walk out, can't repair anything myself) and .. well the obvious, be a decent human type of attitude while at the same time keeping a healthy level of skepticism. Better to be alert to potential problems before they happen, than to be reactive to problems after they happen.
However, somethings things go out of your control. Defense classes go over when to run, when to fight. For people like me, running is not an option, and physical combat is not an option. A gun is my only real chance.
On that note, does anyone have a recommendation for a self defense pistol? Light weight, easy racking, and not too much kick. I currently have a 380 acp, but my forearm/hand muscles are getting weak enough that its now marginally shootable for me. The blowback style action allows too much kick. I actually have an easier time with my dads 40, but it's enough heavier that I can see the weight becoming an issue within the next year or so as my muscles continue to degrade. Suggestions?
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