New Gun Anxiety

I have carried since I was 21, my dad taught our whole family, 4 kids, how to properly handle a gun as soon as we were 5 years old. We had a target range in the cellar of our home which we practiced in the winter and in the summer we had a skeet shoot in the backyard. The guns were readily available with no safe, etc. We learned to respect what the weapon was used for. In my 80 years, I have only had to defend myself once, a home invasion, which was stopped before anything happened.

TheReddit poster says that he/she bought a shotgun for self defense, yet it is kept locked up and unloaded, apparently in a condition where many long minutes would be required to actually become capable of self defense. So that fear has completely negated the purchase. In most situations you do not have time to go to your gun safe, get the gun, get ammunition and then load the gun. Home invasions or burglaries occur at odd hours, and are unexpected. If the gun isn't ready to be put to use in only a few seconds, it won't be much help. I carry all the time, and keep loaded handguns close by when home. I decided long ago that like the fire extinguishers in the corner of the kitchen and the seatbelts I always wear, safety equipment must be available and used to do any good in an emergency.

I carry all the time also (a snub nosed .357), and after all these years feel a little funny when I have to leave it behind. I live in a constitutional carry state with little crime so I've never had to use it, but its there if needed. One thing the author didn't mention was that a well cared for gun will last for generations. I personally own some from the mid 1800's. So if a million were bought in a month, that's a million ON TOP of all those that already exist. Pretty nice little collection.

I carry concealed almost everywhere I go. When my children were small, I kept a .45 automatic in my bedside table. The kids didn’t have enough strength to pull the slide back and chamber a round. Later, when they were big enough, I taught them how to remove the magazine, lock the slide to the rear, and check the chamber. I taught them about safe handling (my daughter loved watching the Eddie Eagle video from the NRA) and taught them both how to shoot. Anytime they wanted to see one of my guns, I showed it to them. We never had a problem. I took all of the curiosity and mystery out of the equation. They’re both grown now, with their own households. Each of them have several guns, and they both have carry permits. I’m hoping their children grow up the same way they did.

Last week I renewed my concealed firearm license, even though my state is a constitutional carry state. Having lived through the kidnapping, by two gunmen who had the keys to his building and unit, of my closest friend (and brought to me for ransom), I learned my lesson about being unarmed. My neighbor six years ago, a Florida Highway Patrolman, told me that the police would not be there to protect me--that's not their job--and that my security was completely my responsibility. He also told me to be armed, and ready, in case the worst happens again. He took me to the shooting range after my golf lessons on the other range. One pro teaching another. Be safe, Bobby!

It is serious error to relax about firearm ownership because of any one administration. We may be fine for a few years but Trump's term will one day end. If the next administration is a dim or even liberal Republican we may not only need to own firearms, we may well be called upon to use them simply to keep our homes and families. Do not underestimate the ability of the parasitic classes to take from you all that you hold dear.

Good article, and always happy to hear from OP. My two cents: I was raised in a place where handguns were barely permitted--both literally and figuratively. It was hard to get a permit, and they were effectively useless for personal self-defense because of restrictions on transporting them. While at University of Florida, my best friend, a retired Marine, taught me to shoot at local legend Harry Beckwith's gun range, and I took the excellent NRA gun safety course to obtain a concealed carry permit signed by equally legendary Florida Commissioner Charles Bronson. I treasure these experiences as part of the many gifts America has given me. When I lived in South Africa, there were many common scenarios where if you were unarmed, you were dead. I carried concealed constantly and kept a loaded weapon easily accessible to me inside our home. But I also modified my behavior significantly to reduce the chances that I might have to use it because I have no desire to kill people. I scrupulously avoided any scenario where that gun might be needed. That included not going to bars carrying a weapon, avoiding travel by car at night and in certain areas by day, securing my home with steel gates and armor plates. And absolutely never letting anyone else know that I was armed. The gun itself was a major attractor for criminals in South Africa. It was burdensome, but gun safety for me included the avoidance of any situation where I might be more likely to "use it or lose it." So, in a sense, I understand what the original post that triggered this excellent article is going through.

Re #7, another Gator here, and a guy who shopped at Beckwith's wonderful shop beautiful Micanopy many times when I was living in the area. Did you ever hear of the night robbery attempt at Beckwith's shop where he grabbed his legal 9mm submachine gun and ran them off? Quite the shootout. I stopped in a few years ago, and new owners (of course) are still running the shop, looks prosperous and Micanopy is still beautiful. When I hunted RSA in the early 2000s I brought a handgun to hunt with, and that permitted carry. I heard some lurid tales of crews taking down armored cash trasport vans with AKs and other things. We were very careful where we went, and stayed away from J-burg until turning the car and getting on the airplane home. A lovely country with many good people, now going down the toilet, sadly.

#8, I did indeed. I posted in part hoping that OP would retell that story. And you are absolutely right about South Africa: I lived there from 2000 to 2003, and those were among the happiest times of my life but also some of the scariest.

Although I did not have my concealed carry license in the early part of this century, I wish I had. Who wouldn't want to have a carry license with the signature of Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson? Almost too perfect. That was possible in Florida two decades ago. Mas Ayoob wrote about the Micanopy shootout, which was hairy. Mr. Beckwith, a Class 3 dealer, who had loaded guns staged around his shop, needed them all when a group of armed robbers drove through the front door of his store. Reports stated that over 140 empty casings were found after the unsuccessful robbery attempt. As for my situation with the kidnappers of my best friend, getting into a shootout with the two armed kidnappers would have cost my friend his life, probably mine as well. I just paid the money and got my friend back, barefoot and in his pajamas in January. If the kidnappers had gone for me in a kidnapping, I would have had to shoot it out with them on the spot. No one's going to take me against my will. They would have to kill me first. I would not go with them. They would get shot by me.