A Post I'm Proud Of
Right here.
I think that if Lisa had her way, all girls would be issued handguns and sent to a training course with them right after their first menstrual cycle. I know I'd be in favor of that. I think we'd see rapists become a VERY endangered species shortly thereafter.
Despite watching (ok, causing) Lisa's progression from fearing the presence of guns in the house to a CHL-holding proponent of armed self-defense, and reading (and being greatly moved by) Mrs. duToit's exellent piece Word To Women, I find myself with little patience, and less sympathy, for women like the one described in Lisa's post.
I have little patience for people who ignore facts. Especially when said facts LITERALY hit them upside the head, as in, "There's a person who is motivated (for whatever reason, justified or not) to do ME, personally, bodily harm". Oh, sure, she has a guard at work walk her out to her car. Neighbors watch her house. There's a court order against him; police are supposed to be present any time he comes near. Her son was accused of assault. Falsely, sure, but HER SON had to step in to stop violence against her.
Whoopty-freakin' doo. "Everybody else has to protect me - I'm not going to do it myself!"
I'd be one proud Daddy if, at some time in the future, one of my kids was able and willing to step into harm's way to protect me. HOWEVER - and I'm sure Lisa feels the same way, even though we haven't discussed it - I would be MORTIFIED with myself that I let a situation get so out of control that one of MY CHILDREN had to go in harm's way to protect me. It's supposed to go the other way - I put myself in harm's way to protect my children.
What's worse, given her attitude of "No guns in MY house!", is that her 19-year-old son was likely very poorly prepared to stop an assault against his mother. Fortunately for everyone, the son was physically bigger and stronger than his stepdad, but that's the only thing he had going for him. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he's had no practical weapons training, and had the assailant NOT been physically smaller and weaker, or had been armed, his intervention would have turned out far more tragically. And SHE put her son in that danger, with her pacifist attitude of "Someone else protect me".
I try to have patience, because logic can bring people around.
I try to have sympathy, because she probably never thought of any of this, and almost definately never in these terms. Not to mention the constant bombardment by anti-gun bigots' lies that indoctrinate society against any effective means of self-defense.
I did it with Lisa. I'm glad Kim did it with the Mrs. But it's hard to be patient or sympathetic to those who expect others to go in harm's way on their behalf, and are unwilling to take ANY steps to mount any defense themselves.
Even if Lisa wasn't a shooter, and I was one of the sick individuals who would raise a hand against their spouse, I wouldn't EVER hit her. I do have a good self-preservation instinct, and even if I won a physical fight with her, I'D KNOW I'D BEEN IN A FIGHT.
I almost feel sorry for anyone who would raise a hand to Lisa in anger - she's gorgeous, but no delicate flower, and they'd likely wind up in the hospital. And that's BEFORE I got hold of the sumbitch.
Ok, enough of the frustration and vitriol... let's get down to discussing FACTS:
- "If there had been a gun in the house, he would have used it on me." What, exactly, makes you say that? Your home is full of weapons; did he use any of them? I assume you have a hammer in the garage. Golf clubs and/or baseball bats (or some other long bludgeoning item... maybe a 2x4?) somewhere around. Is your kitchen devoid of sharp instruments? If so, how do you prepare food? In fact, at striking distance, ALL of these common household items are as potentially deadly as a handgun. If he didn't use any of them, why would he have used a gun against you?
- "There's a restraining order. He can't come around here without a police escort." He commited an assault against you. This is a felony. Do you really think a court order is going to be a serious deterrent? The man is unstable. Unstable, as in, his mind is not processing information properly. My guess is his decisions are being driven by emotion rather than logic, and legal pieces of paper, if they stir any emotion at all, will only stir up anger that you had a restraining order issued against him. The logic of cause->effect leading to jail time if he violates the restraining order isn't going to penetrate the emotion of anger. He'll do what he damn well FEELS like (note the difference of FEELING and THINKING), without thinking about the results of his actions landing him in jail. Sure, he'll end up in jail. Will that make you feel better if you're in the hospital or the morgue?
- "Security at work, and neighbors at home look out for me" I'm leaving the venomous response to this in the first part of this post, this part is about LOGIC. Could he get into the building you work in? Does he know the time and route of your trip to work? Are your neighbors watching your house at 3am? If he shows up at your house, and kicks the door in (not difficult in most houses) or breaks a window to come in (even easier), how long will it take the police to get there after you dial 911? Call the police and report a break-in in progress, and then call Domino's and order a pizza. See which one gets there first. In a large part of the United States, the pizza will be the "first responder". And you know, when you're hungry, exactly how LONG it takes for dinner to arrive. Help against a violent intruder will be longer, and you'll be in a lot worse shape than just being hungry.
Honestly, you can't count on anybody else to take care of you better than you can take care of yourself. Nobody else is around you as much as you are. And there are very few people in the world (in fact, if there are ANY, consider yourself well-loved) who put more value on your life than YOU do.
- "Guns are inherently dangerous." Only in the hands of the untrained, and even then, it's the untrained PERSON who's really dangerous, not the gun itself. A gun is a machine. No different from a power saw, a garbage disposal, or an automobile. It does what it was meant to do, and if it's used improperly, it can have tragic results. Just the same as someone using a power saw without stabilizing the piece they're working with, or someone sticking their hand down a garbage disposal to clear a jam, or someone driving while drunk, talking on a cell phone, or while putting makeup on. If you put as much care and caution into handling guns as you do to driving safely and responsibly, that gun will NEVER hurt you or anyone else, just like your car won't.
If you don't drive safely, you'll hurt yourself and/or others. Same thing with a gun.
I'm going to wrap this up (for now) with two offers/requests:
#1) If you disagree with any of the facts I've written, or have a problem with my logic, please let's start a discussion in comments. I promise to stay calm, level-headed, and non-abusive, and I promise to delete any inflammatory comments, or comments intended to be abusive. We'll keep this discussion cool and logical.
#2) If you're interested in learning about safe handling and usage of firearms, and live in or around Fort Worth, Tx (or plan to travel here), let me know. I'll provide the firearms, ammunition, range fees, instruction, and a safe range for you to learn. The only thing you have to do is let me know, and then show up. This will be factual instruction in how to handle a firearm safely, and how to use it effectively - I will not try to "indoctrinate" you, or preach to you. All I'll do is share the knowlege that I have in handling firearms safely, and using them effectively.
If you're not in or around Fort Worth, let me know what city/state you live in, and I'll find someone who will do the same thing. I'm part of a volunteer organization, part of whose objective is to teach new people to be safe and effective with firearms, and not to be afraid of them. If I can't find someone near you, I'll travel from Texas to you, on my dime, anywhere in the continental United States.
I think that if Lisa had her way, all girls would be issued handguns and sent to a training course with them right after their first menstrual cycle. I know I'd be in favor of that. I think we'd see rapists become a VERY endangered species shortly thereafter.
Despite watching (ok, causing) Lisa's progression from fearing the presence of guns in the house to a CHL-holding proponent of armed self-defense, and reading (and being greatly moved by) Mrs. duToit's exellent piece Word To Women, I find myself with little patience, and less sympathy, for women like the one described in Lisa's post.
I have little patience for people who ignore facts. Especially when said facts LITERALY hit them upside the head, as in, "There's a person who is motivated (for whatever reason, justified or not) to do ME, personally, bodily harm". Oh, sure, she has a guard at work walk her out to her car. Neighbors watch her house. There's a court order against him; police are supposed to be present any time he comes near. Her son was accused of assault. Falsely, sure, but HER SON had to step in to stop violence against her.
Whoopty-freakin' doo. "Everybody else has to protect me - I'm not going to do it myself!"
I'd be one proud Daddy if, at some time in the future, one of my kids was able and willing to step into harm's way to protect me. HOWEVER - and I'm sure Lisa feels the same way, even though we haven't discussed it - I would be MORTIFIED with myself that I let a situation get so out of control that one of MY CHILDREN had to go in harm's way to protect me. It's supposed to go the other way - I put myself in harm's way to protect my children.
What's worse, given her attitude of "No guns in MY house!", is that her 19-year-old son was likely very poorly prepared to stop an assault against his mother. Fortunately for everyone, the son was physically bigger and stronger than his stepdad, but that's the only thing he had going for him. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he's had no practical weapons training, and had the assailant NOT been physically smaller and weaker, or had been armed, his intervention would have turned out far more tragically. And SHE put her son in that danger, with her pacifist attitude of "Someone else protect me".
I try to have patience, because logic can bring people around.
I try to have sympathy, because she probably never thought of any of this, and almost definately never in these terms. Not to mention the constant bombardment by anti-gun bigots' lies that indoctrinate society against any effective means of self-defense.
I did it with Lisa. I'm glad Kim did it with the Mrs. But it's hard to be patient or sympathetic to those who expect others to go in harm's way on their behalf, and are unwilling to take ANY steps to mount any defense themselves.
Even if Lisa wasn't a shooter, and I was one of the sick individuals who would raise a hand against their spouse, I wouldn't EVER hit her. I do have a good self-preservation instinct, and even if I won a physical fight with her, I'D KNOW I'D BEEN IN A FIGHT.
I almost feel sorry for anyone who would raise a hand to Lisa in anger - she's gorgeous, but no delicate flower, and they'd likely wind up in the hospital. And that's BEFORE I got hold of the sumbitch.
Ok, enough of the frustration and vitriol... let's get down to discussing FACTS:
- "If there had been a gun in the house, he would have used it on me." What, exactly, makes you say that? Your home is full of weapons; did he use any of them? I assume you have a hammer in the garage. Golf clubs and/or baseball bats (or some other long bludgeoning item... maybe a 2x4?) somewhere around. Is your kitchen devoid of sharp instruments? If so, how do you prepare food? In fact, at striking distance, ALL of these common household items are as potentially deadly as a handgun. If he didn't use any of them, why would he have used a gun against you?
- "There's a restraining order. He can't come around here without a police escort." He commited an assault against you. This is a felony. Do you really think a court order is going to be a serious deterrent? The man is unstable. Unstable, as in, his mind is not processing information properly. My guess is his decisions are being driven by emotion rather than logic, and legal pieces of paper, if they stir any emotion at all, will only stir up anger that you had a restraining order issued against him. The logic of cause->effect leading to jail time if he violates the restraining order isn't going to penetrate the emotion of anger. He'll do what he damn well FEELS like (note the difference of FEELING and THINKING), without thinking about the results of his actions landing him in jail. Sure, he'll end up in jail. Will that make you feel better if you're in the hospital or the morgue?
- "Security at work, and neighbors at home look out for me" I'm leaving the venomous response to this in the first part of this post, this part is about LOGIC. Could he get into the building you work in? Does he know the time and route of your trip to work? Are your neighbors watching your house at 3am? If he shows up at your house, and kicks the door in (not difficult in most houses) or breaks a window to come in (even easier), how long will it take the police to get there after you dial 911? Call the police and report a break-in in progress, and then call Domino's and order a pizza. See which one gets there first. In a large part of the United States, the pizza will be the "first responder". And you know, when you're hungry, exactly how LONG it takes for dinner to arrive. Help against a violent intruder will be longer, and you'll be in a lot worse shape than just being hungry.
Honestly, you can't count on anybody else to take care of you better than you can take care of yourself. Nobody else is around you as much as you are. And there are very few people in the world (in fact, if there are ANY, consider yourself well-loved) who put more value on your life than YOU do.
- "Guns are inherently dangerous." Only in the hands of the untrained, and even then, it's the untrained PERSON who's really dangerous, not the gun itself. A gun is a machine. No different from a power saw, a garbage disposal, or an automobile. It does what it was meant to do, and if it's used improperly, it can have tragic results. Just the same as someone using a power saw without stabilizing the piece they're working with, or someone sticking their hand down a garbage disposal to clear a jam, or someone driving while drunk, talking on a cell phone, or while putting makeup on. If you put as much care and caution into handling guns as you do to driving safely and responsibly, that gun will NEVER hurt you or anyone else, just like your car won't.
If you don't drive safely, you'll hurt yourself and/or others. Same thing with a gun.
I'm going to wrap this up (for now) with two offers/requests:
#1) If you disagree with any of the facts I've written, or have a problem with my logic, please let's start a discussion in comments. I promise to stay calm, level-headed, and non-abusive, and I promise to delete any inflammatory comments, or comments intended to be abusive. We'll keep this discussion cool and logical.
#2) If you're interested in learning about safe handling and usage of firearms, and live in or around Fort Worth, Tx (or plan to travel here), let me know. I'll provide the firearms, ammunition, range fees, instruction, and a safe range for you to learn. The only thing you have to do is let me know, and then show up. This will be factual instruction in how to handle a firearm safely, and how to use it effectively - I will not try to "indoctrinate" you, or preach to you. All I'll do is share the knowlege that I have in handling firearms safely, and using them effectively.
If you're not in or around Fort Worth, let me know what city/state you live in, and I'll find someone who will do the same thing. I'm part of a volunteer organization, part of whose objective is to teach new people to be safe and effective with firearms, and not to be afraid of them. If I can't find someone near you, I'll travel from Texas to you, on my dime, anywhere in the continental United States.
posted by Aaron Neal at 8:35 PM
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