On thing to add is that people that carry get USED to having the gun. For people that have worn a watch for years, how do you feel if you leave your watch at home one day? Don't you keep trying to look at your watch and just feel like something isn't write. You hope you don't NEED the watch, but it feels like something is missing, right? Well, once you get used to carrying, you feel the same way. When you go somewhere that the gun isn't allowed, you leave it back in the car......and you feel like a part of you is missing. That isn't any more "sick" than a person who looks at their arm to tell the time even when they leave their watch at home: it is a comfortable habit. The only difference is that the firearm may save your life - a watch may, at best, just help you keep appointments and save your job.......lol.
That really is a great answer.....and it's why I own some of the gun I do own!
Do I hope to use it for which it is intended as a protection against? Nope, certainly not. But I'm pretty darn certain that if I ever do need to use that particular insurance policy, I'll be damned glad that I kept the premiums paid up.
This reminds me of a story from one of Massad Ayoob's books (you probably read it, Rich, but this is for everyone else. Ayoob is a famous gun trainer and policeman. Amazing person with a handgun, too. This story is written out completely from memory, so I'm sure I have some of the minor details messed up a little bit. In other words, read it for the moral and not a biography of Ayoob's life.
When Ayoob was 13, his father gave him his first handgun. They owned a jewelry store, and armed robbery was a major problem. When he gave young Ayoob the handgun, he said something like, "I pray you never need to use this, but if you do, do not miss!" That's an important story because that's how sane gun owners (which are most of them in America) feel. We pray we never have use our firearms in self defense against a violent predator, but we also pray we planned ahead and have on in case the situation occurs. Like Rich was talking about, I pray I never need insurance for a major illness, but I still pay my insurance premiums every month JUST in case! It's preparedness and not paranoia.
Yes, I may get hurt resisting, or even killed, but I'll be DAMNED if I will just put myself at the mercy of someone who already has demonstrated a disregard for the law, my welfare, and common decency without a fight.
Well stated. Sure, a gun isn't an invincible shield, but I'd rather get hurt fighting with my boots on than make it EASY for a criminal to hurt me. As an adult responsible for my own well-being, I'd rather make a criminal work to hurt me or mine. Until the police can read the future and act proactively instead of reactively, nobody can protect me better than I can. As wade pointed out, outlawing guns doesn't take guns out of the hands of people who have shown they won't obey the law, anyway. Even if they could no longer get guns, they'd attack those who are smaller with clubs and knives (i.e., swords and Australia!). Can you outlaw EVERYTHING that a criminal could use to take advantage of a smaller "prey item" - I mean PEOPLE, of course? The only "real" reason for gun control is so that the government can make you dependent upon them AND so they don't have to worry about you resisting actions that they force upon you - it is not, and never has been, about making you safer.
