When I got my carry license, it was not so that I could play supercop, or be some kind of cowboy. It was because there are home invaders, street thugs, terrorists, and psychos out there swimming in the "ocean" that is our society. Every now and then a person can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if I am ever unlucky enough to be one of those people, I want to be in a position to change the situation. I hope I never have to pull that trigger, excluding the range. But if I do, it won't be because I want to be some hero; it will be because I value my life and the lives of those close to me. But Bob Wier, writing in The American Thinker, alludes to the obvious: gun free zones may be among the most dangerous places for deranged killers in the country--especially in case of the psycho wannabes, whose only aim before they die is to get their names in the papers:

That's right: another maniac, with guns bristling all over him, walked into a "gun-free zone" and began picking off human beings as if they were ducks in a shooting gallery. There were only a few minutes left in the ocean sciences class being held in the large lecture hall of the school when a tall, thin man, dressed in black, stepped out from behind a curtain on the stage. Witnesses said he looked around, almost as though he was relishing the thought of what he was about to do, pulled out a shotgun and began the slaughter.

While scores of students were screaming and ducking for cover, the creature with the guns was certain he would get no resistance from his helpless targets. Since the killer knew it was a building in which guns were prohibited by law, and, since he intended to take his own worthless life anyway, all he needed to do was disregard the law and calmly walk up to the cowering figures and press the trigger. Before he was finished, 5 students were dead and at least 15 were wounded, many of them critically. When his blood lust ended, the murderer, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, 27, shot himself to death with one of the 2 pistols he also brought with him. One sane person in that room with a firearm could have saved those lives. On the other hand, if it had not been designated a gun-free zone, it's unlikely that the coward would have chosen the place to act out his homicidal rage. I've heard all the reasons given by gun control advocates about the need to keep guns off the streets. Yet, the slogan that keeps resounding in my mind is: "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."

The Second Amendment to the Constitution declares a well-regulated militia as "being necessary to the security of a free State" and prohibits infringement of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." Even though some politicians have twisted that venerable document until it looks like Turkish taffy, it seems to me that our Founding Fathers believed that people had a right to protect themselves.

How many more massacres are we going to endure before we realize that we are giving malcontents a license to hunt humans when we broadcast the message that, "Everyone in this building, campus, church or city council meeting is unarmed?" Why not go even further and just say: "Those of you suffering from a deep seated, burning passion to kill, will be able to satisfy your hate-filled existence by entering these premises with the weapons of your choice. We can guarantee you plenty of free shots and no return fire."

Imagine the following scenario: You and your family are among about 50 other patrons eating dinner at a local restaurant. During the course of the evening, you happen to look up and see a man with a long topcoat enter the place; his hand concealed in one of the pockets. No one else seems to notice, but you have a gut feeling that he's dangerous. Although you've had training with firearms, you, like almost everyone else walking around unprotected, don't have a license to carry. If that man suddenly were to pull a gun, he'd have total control over that crowd. You and your family would continue living, only if the gunman decided not to aim his weapon in your direction.

Is that any way for a free people to live?

You tell me...

Here is the big problem I have: for gun owners who just want to follow the law and exist in a decent society, it is especially important to follow the laws and to use good judgment. But then I think of the so-called "Gun Free Zones". The problem with the Gun Free Zones is that--barring a metal detector at every entrance/exit--there is no way to insure it is gun free. In both the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois incidents, the shooter that went on the rampage was in a "Gun Free Zone". Meaning that your typical licensed gunholder could not bring their guns into the area either, lest they lose that license and pay an enormous fine. Unfortunately, all of the recent American gun "massacres" in recent memory all occurred in a gun free zone.

Hello???

Now I would never advocate breaking our laws. But to say that is does not give me pause to prohibit me from carrying my weapon, considering the entire reason I went through the arduous licensing process in the first place was because if some psycho comes into a venue I happen to inhabit and proceeds to start mowing down innocents: that is precisely the time whan I want to be packing. It is a huge moral dilemma, and one in my opinion that the state out not to be siding with the PC utopians on, but rather the sheepdogs out here that want to make this a better place.

But what do I know, right?</img>


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