Once it becomes known you carry a handgun on a regular basis as a civilian the more cynical or socially obtuse among your acquaintances (Notice: I didn't say 'Friends') will sometimes ridicule you with the question, "What are you afraid of?"Read the whole thing!
My answer has been, "I'm afraid of a lot of things. Losing our surviving child is my greatest fear, then losing my wife and being alone would probably be my next greatest fear other than perhaps losing my health or ability to live on my own, but one thing I'm not afraid are those creatures -- animal or human -- who think they can attack me. My Bite Is As Bad Or Worse Than Theirs!"
Author and host of the hit OUTDOOR CHANNEL show SHOOTING GALLERY spouts off...
Sunday, August 02, 2009
More Catch-Up
Yeah, I got behind when I was out and about. Frank James, gunwriter supremo and all around good guy, had this excellent piece on his blog, Corns, Beans, Spent Brass, An Empty Page and a Deadline:
Something similar plastered around the email universe and attributed to Clint Smith as paraphased below:
ReplyDeleteWhen a someone calls you parnoid or asks what what makes you so paranoid that you carry a gun the proper response is, "I am not paranoid. Why should I be paranoid? I have a gun."
Try to avoid overt, intial responses to defend guns when possible. Think one step ahead and throw their monkey back where it belongs....on their back.
Just my 2 cents.
I like that response. I always try to remember to throw the monkey on their back, to expose their insecurity...yes a gun may make them fearsome but the challenge is to go to their root of fear. Fearful people are fearful of many things and if they can see it to bark at it they feel better. In this instance, knowing you have a gun gives them something to talk about to address their fear...better to turn their fear of guns around to cause them somehow, based upon their tact, to expose their root fear nature and that a gun is just a secondary manifestation of their primary problem...being a fearful, unprepared person. Being prepared is one thing, being scared is another...always make that distinction and leave them fearing their unknowns or lack of preparedness...not the gun which is a secondary or tertiary manifestation of their fear.
The fewer who know I carry, the better. I try not to give any sign whatever to anyone when I'm carrying, which is almost always. This saves a lot of useless chatter, as well as avoiding the nightmarish scenario that some pinhead you're with will feel bolder because he or she knows you're carrying, and will do or say something so incredibly stupid you seriously contemplate shooting the SOB or B yourself.
ReplyDelete"A wise man fears everything; a fool fears nothing."
ReplyDeleteI find the real gem in this article is the concept of bait for the house as a marker key of sorts. I am going to work on this concept today, should be easy to do.
ReplyDeleteFD in AL
I always ask if they lock their cars and take their keys. If they answer "yes", I ask why they are paranoid.
ReplyDeleteCarrying a concealed weapon is the same as taking the keys out of your vehicle. It is a necessary precaution that makes sense.