Why yes, I'm armed. It's the civil thing to do.
I have to say that I just love the fact that my sidebar title is "Shooter." Hells yeah. Pliskin gets five points.
I took the Arkansas Concealed Carry Permit course weekend before last. It was a good excuse to get a little range time, take advantage of some good instruction, and run through some fun scenarios. It also inspired me to make use of this soapbox some poor fool handed me.
I don't carry a gun out of some misguided desire for mayhem; I'm not looking for a shootout-- very much the opposite, actually. I carry a gun because I believe that I, and I alone, am ultimately responsible for my own safety. I carry a gun because I also believe that I have some degree of moral obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. In arming myself, I'm effectively saying "I'm not asking anyone to protect me. I can protect myself, and I will. But if someone else needs my protection, I'll gladly offer it (probably followed by a lecture on the above points and the offer of shooting lessons)." Self-defense is perhaps the most essential human right; it is also among the fundamental responsibilities of any rational person.
And no, I don't carry a gun because I am paranoid, because I expect trouble, because I am afraid. I carry a gun because I am reasonable enough to see that in a confrontation between myself (a 5'1" female, 130 pounds soaking wet) and an attacker of even average dimensions, the odds are not in my favor, and I am reasonable enough to see that such a confronation CAN happen. I carry a gun because I don't believe in a world where a 6'13", 220 lb attacker can have his way with a victim half his size because he is larger and physically stronger and she can't do a bloody thing about it; that's rule by brute force, and civilized society is above that. (Need I quote Colonel Colt?) I carry a gun, then, because I believe in civilization.
I took the Arkansas Concealed Carry Permit course weekend before last. It was a good excuse to get a little range time, take advantage of some good instruction, and run through some fun scenarios. It also inspired me to make use of this soapbox some poor fool handed me.
I don't carry a gun out of some misguided desire for mayhem; I'm not looking for a shootout-- very much the opposite, actually. I carry a gun because I believe that I, and I alone, am ultimately responsible for my own safety. I carry a gun because I also believe that I have some degree of moral obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. In arming myself, I'm effectively saying "I'm not asking anyone to protect me. I can protect myself, and I will. But if someone else needs my protection, I'll gladly offer it (probably followed by a lecture on the above points and the offer of shooting lessons)." Self-defense is perhaps the most essential human right; it is also among the fundamental responsibilities of any rational person.
And no, I don't carry a gun because I am paranoid, because I expect trouble, because I am afraid. I carry a gun because I am reasonable enough to see that in a confrontation between myself (a 5'1" female, 130 pounds soaking wet) and an attacker of even average dimensions, the odds are not in my favor, and I am reasonable enough to see that such a confronation CAN happen. I carry a gun because I don't believe in a world where a 6'13", 220 lb attacker can have his way with a victim half his size because he is larger and physically stronger and she can't do a bloody thing about it; that's rule by brute force, and civilized society is above that. (Need I quote Colonel Colt?) I carry a gun, then, because I believe in civilization.
posted by Fins at
6/27/2007 07:54:00 PM
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