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There is an old saying, God made people, Samuel Colt made them equal. If one thinks about it there is a lot of truth in there. A hundred plus pound girl has the same equal defense against a four hundred pound bear, rabid dog, six hundred pound moose, three hundred pound man, etc.
Now before we go any further everyone check the laws in their state. For an example, if caught carrying in NJ one faces ten years in prison. Don't automatically think the Second Amendment will protect you in liberal states. IF, you haven't ever used one or owned one for goodness sake don't think it is same as picking up a bat and start swinging. I've taught gun handling non professionally to friends and others. My daddy's rule is number one. Never point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill. Second, guns are ALWAYS loaded. People are killed because they "assumed" there were no bullets in it, as they pointed it at someone and pulled the trigger. (see rule one)
I started carrying daddy's guns when I was six, and yes I cried when I killed my first rabbit. I remember vividly many of the things I shot. Some were necessary, some for sport. And a few just because I had a gun and I could. A gun is a tool, it has no life of its own. It isn't evil nor good just because evil or good people are holding it. A sword, a knife, an axe, a bow and arrow, whatever one has in their hands is a tool. People don't think of a typewriter as a tool to kill but it can be used that way. Not from physically hitting someone but destroying them with words. Starting rumors and wars kills people.
If one doesn't own a gun, for goodness sake don't run out and buy one if the idea hits your brain. Gun ranges have guns to try out along with a fairly safe environment to practice. Be sure to let them know you want an instructor. Try out different calibers and different brands to find the right fit for your hand. If you can't control it you aren't going to be able to use it. I carry a damn big caliber in a smaller gun. Yes it kicks! My kids hate it. Some of the women I taught to shoot love it and told me they were getting their own. They didn't want a twenty two, thirty eight, nine MM, forty five or any of the smaller calibers. If guns aren't your thing leave them alone. I'm not afraid of the killer with a gun. I'm afraid of the idiot with a gun. If you have one or if you don't and buy one, practice. Put a LOT of lead down range. I'm happiest around people who can handle their weapons with their eyes closed.
No idea how many of you are seeing the stories about twelve and fourteen year old boys and girls, and women, home alone are defending, wounding, and or killing those who break into their homes. They pulled the trigger and lived to tell their story. Sadly, many can't make that leap and pulling the trigger doesn't happen so they are killed, sometimes with their own gun. There is another old saying, I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.
I'm not you. If you think guns are evil or even if you don't and you haven't ever owned one, or even if you do, put some lead down range before making a decision. Do not believe anything you have seen in the movies. I've seen some really good fast accurate shooters. They are few and far inbetween. And if them guys are shooting at you, chances are you're going to die. "ALL" that lead doesn't miss. They are probably using automatics or semi automatics using the spray and pray technique. Unless you're Annie Oakley stay out of the line of fire. Women don't have the body mass men do. One bullet, even from small caliber, and most women are through.
He wanted to try out my gun so I handed it to him.
"Where's the safety?" Was his first question.
"Between your ears. Don't put your finger on the trigger until you have your target in your sight."
"Okay, now where's the safety?" He asked again.
"I told you. Between your ears. You point, you pull the trigger, it shoots." Most guns have a safety. Mine don't. Not on the gun anyway. It no longer amazes me how many grew up not ever handling a gun.
It's only a tool. Sometimes necessary to back up other tools like house locks and car locks among other things.
always,
Barb
Comments
If you use your pistol to tack up posters, wanted or other types
Might I suggest a hammer would be safer AND more efficient?
When I was teaching in an inner-city high-school, one of the students was appalled that I carried a folding knife in a belt sheath, a 'weapon' in that student's actual protest to me. (Which was against the school's regulations, for students) I calmly replied that the knife was NOT a weapon but a tool, and said student was free to report me to the administration. I never heard another thing about it.
with love,
Hope
Once in a while I bare my soul, more often my soles bear me.
And then there are those like me,
who should NEVER have access to a firearm. I have a volitile, hair trigger temper and would be WAY too tempted to "put some lead down range" at the idiot who orders a cab and then doesn't get ready to go when the cab arrives, thus causing the cab driver to begin playing several bars of Ride Of The Valkyries on his horn because his passenger isn't coming out yet.
Gun ownership, in my humble opinion, is as much the temperament of the owner, as it is training in how and when to use said gun.
I do have some less deadly but effective weapons, like nunchuks, a lockblade knife with a razor sharp edge, and a very solid Louisville slugger (baseball bat) close to hand in the event someone decides that what we have in the house should belong to them instead of us.
I also carry, wherever I go, a collapsible steel baton which has gotten me out of one or two jams by the simple displaying of it. Something about the *SNAP* of that thing deploying for action makes most people think more than twice about pushing the issue.
I did qualify, while in the military, with a couple of firearms and I have fired a couple more in the course of my life, but I feel quite certain that I have gotten this far without one and will be better off without one for the rest of my life.
I am NOT anti-gun. I just feel that *some* of us should not own, carry or use one. I, of course, include myself in that last group. If confronted by someone who DOES have a gun, witnesses will describe seeing two streaks leaving the immediate area. One being the bullet, and the one in the lead will be me, imitating The Flash as I outrun/outmanoever said bullet.
If you DO own/use/carry a firearm, for God's sake do it RESPONSIBLY!! Follow Barbie's advice and NEVER point it at anyone unless your life or a loved one's life is on the line and there is no other way out of the situation... AND!!!! There is no such thing as an unloaded gun unless YOU have unloaded it!!
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
Weapons are tools. Tools can
Weapons are tools. Tools can be weapons. Guns are designed for killing - but what people keep carefully forgetting is that they aren't solely for the purpose of killing _humans_. Those people I know of who have killed with guns are one of three types. Ex-soldiers, hunters, and people who've killed vermin. (Did you know a possum can take a .357 magnum shot to the butt and keep on going? They're TOUGH)
I would suggest that more guns are used to kill deer every year than are used to kill people. The truly sad part? Many of those people 'killed' by guns are by people that are using them in self-defense, or suicide, but the statistics refuse to list that. They just show how many people die by firearm. As for the self-defense? If you talk to the anti-gun people, it never happens, and even if it did, it's no excuse for owning a gun, or their ever existing. The 'gummint' will protect everyone, even if it's clear that they can't, won't, and never did. (When seconds count, they're minutes away.)
Me? I have a lot of guns. None are currently loaded. Several have loaded magazines right next to them. None have the safeties active. _None_. If I need to grab the gun, I don't want to have to fumble around with little levers in the dark. Jam the magazine in, rack the slide, and go. (Large muscle vs small muscle control)
Oh - if you want fun, read the transcript of District of Columbia Et Al vs Heller. Whether or not you like guns, it's amusing to see how incompetent the presenter for DC was for the gun control laws. He hadn't a _clue_ about guns OR the laws - and the justices weren't about to let him off of the hook, not even the ones that disagreed with the majority decision. (Specifically, it's where the Justices do their interrogation before rendering a decision. )
Interestingly enough, part of the dissenting opinion was because D.C. isn't a state. So people living there aren't protected by any amendment that refers to the states.
I think it's because people who are in government just can't conceive of the possibility that another part of the government would _possibly_ disagree with their ability to control people.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.