I’m supposed to be finishing an overdue article for this website about weapon selection for permit holders. Today’s events have caused me to postpone that yet another day. I write this on the evening of December 14th, 2012, a day with senseless violence in two nations. Children are dead in these United States and in China at the hands of monsters, and four children in Tennessee lost their mother to a thug’s bullets simply because she was a police officer.
We live at the height of human civilization to date. The majority of our citizens in the US live in cities, not in rural America. Most of us will never know what it means to live away from food, shelter, health care, and law enforcement. We live under a blanket of safety provided by society…but sometimes, the monsters under the bed are real, and they are hungry.
For those of us who choose to own a gun as a tool of self defense, today’s events will make things difficult for awhile. We will be faced with politicians who believe that they can stop such tragedies by banning the tools used by the monsters. A fallacy, yes, but emotion is a difficult force to match with fact. We may also be faced with friends and loved ones who do not understand why we choose to own a device designed for violence.
I fully expect the anti-gun lobby to exploit this next part for their own ends and means…if that’s you, let me remind you that copyright law does apply to online writings, especially when written for a commercial entity.
Violence is what we are talking about when we discuss self defense. Let’s not beat around it. Some guns may be designed specifically for target shooting, but guns are weapons. A weapon is a tool meant for the implementation of violence. The problem is that some people believe violence to always be the wrong answer.
Every instructor at Blue Line Defense has worked or does currently work in law enforcement, public safety, corrections, federal security, or the military. We are people who are expected to run toward the monsters while everyone else flees for safety. Our priority is stopping the monster from hurting anyone else. We’re ok with that. It’s how we are wired. It’s what we are paid to do. We don’t use strong language or legislation to accomplish that goal once a monster has shown its true colors and is actively attacking others. Our holsters don’t contain negotiating tools.
A permit holder need not do any such thing. Your safety and the safety of your loved ones is your priority; unfortunately, sometimes the monster makes escape impossible. When that happens, you have two choices. You can die, or you can fight. If you own and carry a gun, you’ve given yourself the tool to fight.
Violence isn’t something to be idolized. It’s a horrible, brutal, cold-hearted thing. It rips children from parents and husbands from wives. It leaves humans broken and shattered, both physically and emotionally. The sad truth, however, is that violence is sometimes entirely necessary. You cannot reason with a monster, nor plead with it, nor cry and hope your tears will soften its hatred. There is no emotion in a monster’s heart, nor feeling in its soul. If you cannot flee the monster, then it must be destroyed. That means bringing violence onto it, with all the strength and resolve you can muster.
Some would ask how that makes us any different from the monster itself. It’s simple. We stop when the monster stops, and we only use violence as the final option, when all other options are no longer available to us. “We shoot to stop the threat.” I’ve uttered those words in front of more students than I can accurately remember. That is what differentiates us. We don’t look for violence, but we can bring it to bear when we have no other choice.
We aren’t monsters because we carry a gun. We carry a gun because we realize that today could be the day when we meet a monster.
More information about obtaining your permit: MN Permit to Carry.