Uncomfortable realizations

December 17, 2009 by George
Filed under: Gun Rights, Self Defense 

My journey in becoming a gun owner and a gun rights activist has been punctuated by a series of uncomfortable realizations.  I think that this is the journey that lots of new gun owners face. Each step is a revelation of the reality of the world around you.

I discovered the first uncomfortable realization in reading Mas Ayoob’s excellent book “The Truth About Self Protection“.  The lesson was simple: there are Bad Guys* out there, and they don’t think the way you and I do.  They are not deterred at all by the thought of visiting violence on another human being.  They are at best agnostic toward violence…it is just another part of their job.  At worst, they welcome violence and the power that it gives them over other people.  But either way, you are not an individual to these Bad Guys.  You are a resource.

The second uncomfortable realization is that you are on your own.  Simply put, you may be called on to defend yourself someday from a Bad Guy.  The lawless looting in the wake of hurricane Katrina is a classic example.  The police couldn’t protect anyone.  It doesn’t take a Katrina.  Bad Guys are out there, looking for victims every day.  And, as the saying goes, when seconds count…the police are only minutes away.

The third uncomfortable realization is that if you are going to have to defend yourself, you should use the best tool for the job.  This is where a lot of people, I believe, break down and compromise.  The tremendous number of goofy self-defense gadgets on the market are a testament to that.  Even worse are articles like this one that Don Gwinn found, in which the city of Oak Park is giving whistles to its citizens, presumably so that the would be attacker will crap their pants and run away when confronted with the deadly whistle.  Or this page, in which the Illinois State Police recommend that you vomit on yourself if you are a victim of sexual assault in order to discourage the attacker.  I’m a 5′10″, 170 pound skinny computer geek.  There is no way in hell that I am going to be able to fight off an attacker with a nail file.  A firearm gives me the ability to defend myself…it brings me to parity with those who want to do me harm.

Which brings me to today’s uncomfortable realization, which I had in reading the linked Oak Park article.  The chain of thoughts went like this:

  1. Certainly the government of Oak Park knows that there is the possibility that their citizens will need to protect themselves.  Why else would they issue whistles to the populace?
  2. The ISP must know that their advice in defense of sexual assault is ludicrous.  I mean, they deal with criminals every day, right?  They know that there is no way that an average citizen can fight off 250 pounds of yard-hardened criminal.
  3. If there is one thing that we have learned in the 20-odd years of the restoration of concealed carry rights, it is that it doesn’t make things worse.  I happen to believe, based on Dr. Lott’s work, that it in fact REDUCES crime, but you don’t even have to go there.  It certainly doesn’t make it worse.  If it even saves one life, it is worth it, right?
  4. Although I’ve been picking on Illinois, since Don made the links easy, examples are rife throughout the country of governments trying to chip away at citizen’s gun rights.
  5. Cognitive dissonance.  One the one hand, governments know that citizens need access to firearms to protect themselves, and yet they seem hell bent on preventing access.

Uncomfortable realization: Your government doesn’t think you are worth saving.  It is more important to them preserve their power then it is for you to be safe.  You are nothing to them.  A cog.  Replaceable.  Not worth protecting.

Uncomfortable realization number five:  Number four looks an awful lot like number one….

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Comments

2 Comments on Uncomfortable realizations

  1. Dod on Thu, 17th Dec 2009 11:19 pm

    2. The anti-gunners handle the cognitive dissonance so well…they just ignore it and tell us we’re paranoid crazies for thinking about these things.

  2. Borepatch on Thu, 24th Dec 2009 5:56 pm

    3. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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