self defense carry: It's Not the Gun

About SD Carry

As a young boy in Texas, I grew up with guns. They were basic tools, much like my grandfather's mitre box or pipe wrench, there to perform specific tasks when called upon. I was taught gun safety by virtually every male adult in my family. I spent eight years in the US Navy operating and maintaing various guns from .30 caliber to 5" rifles.

After a few years as a moderator on a popular gun forum, I learned that there is much disinformation, prejudice and plain ignorance about guns posted constantly on the internet.

This blog is dedicated to sharing worthwhile information about the increasing acceptance and practice of legal concealed carry in our country. There is much mis-information and wild opinion about this topic among its practitioners and the public in general. The moral, social and legal responsibilities of concealed carry are immense and must be understood and practiced by all who legally carry a gun.

There is also a vast amount of practical and useful information about carrying and the weapons themselves and I hope to be able to share some of that here. Your comments are welcome, but will be moderated by me before appearing on this blog.

Stay safe.

Friday, October 3, 2014

It's Not the Gun

Kyle Phillips/AP

A week ago, on the last Thursday in September, an angry man, Alton Nolen, (who calls himself Jah'Keem Yisrael) having just been fired from his job at Vaughn's Food Warehouse in Moore, Oklahoma, returned with a butcher knife, attacked and killed Colleen Hufford, then decapitated her with that knife. He then attacked Traci Johnson but was shot down by Mark Vaughn with a gun he had in his office.

From what I can gather from the media, most people are glad that Mr. Vaughn shot Alton Nolen, thereby saving an innocent life, if not more than one. No one seems concerned that Mr. Vaughn had a gun in his workplace, or used it to stop Nolen's violent killing spree. There also are no outraged voices clamoring against Nolen's use of a butcher knife. No calls for "butcher knife" control. (Paring knives, bread knives, Swiss Army knives, well, they are all right, but those assault butcher knives have to be outlawed.)

Many people who now think it is a good thing and o.k. that Mr. Vaughn got his gun and shot Nolen, would come out against having a gun in the work place. Or, perhaps, any place. But, they will have a difficult time reasonably explaining why it is good that Mr. Vaughn had a gun, and bad that Mr. Vaughn had a gun.

It is not the gun. It is certain people's unreasoning fear of violence, especially what they term "gun violence" (it's kind of like "hate crime". Doesn't matter where it stems from, it's still a crime.) And, it's those people's ignorance of the role firearms play in defending innocent people from violence. The only thing that will equalize a deadly confrontation between a 97 pound woman and a 210 pound aggressive man is a gun.

This is an old argument, not likely to sway the anti-gun people. What will get their attention is when a maniac with a butcher knife is bent on hacking off their heads. Or something like it.

Violence, like death, taxes and drugs, is here to stay and proper use and access to firearms is one big way of equalizing the odds when violence does eventually find you.

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