Your Safety - Your Problem

You are responsible for your own safety. Not the government. Not the Police. Your safety and the safety of your dependants falls on your own shoulders. I just watched a news story about a murder in New Orleans where a criminal broke into a home in the early morning hours and murdered the wife. During a struggle before the wife was shot, she called to the husband to “Call 911”, after which he grabbed their infant child and retreated to a bathroom. During his retreat he heard a gunshot. The criminal came into the bathroom and shot the husband, who was covering his child with his body in a corner. He “played dead” and the criminal left the house without taking anything, so it wasn’t a robbery, just a cold blooded murder. The husband recovered from his wounds and the child was unharmed. These were good people. They were heavily involved in the community and were very charitable folks. The criminal is still at large. This was one of six murders that occurred during that 24-hour period in New Orleans. The murder rate in New Orleans so far this year is off the charts.

So, what can we learn from this incident? For one, violent crime can strike anyone, anytime, anywhere. Two, the government cannot stop it. Following this rash of crime, a group of people marched in protest to try and get the government to do something about it. What exactly do you think the government can do? The Police are not there to protect the individual person from crime. The courts have already ruled on this. There could never be enough officers to prevent crime. Instead Police respond to crime AFTER the fact to try and bring those responsible to justice. It is the threat of imprisonment, fine, and/or loss of personal freedoms that are used to dissuade criminals from committing their crimes. However, criminals are evil people who generally feel like they are invincible and will not be caught. It is only the honest or generally honest people who are kept in line with the threat of punishment. The only thing that has proven to actually cause fear in a criminal is a victim who fights back with a greater amount of force than the criminal intends to use. Basically, this means that the victim who is capable and willing to use deadly force to protect themselves has the best chance of surviving an encounter with a violent criminal when it happens.

In my opinion, the absolute best method to fight crime is for all the good people to be armed AND know how to physically protect themselves. That being said, I will readily admit that there are a lot of people who are incapable of doing this. For several years I have been teaching shooting skills to people whose job includes carrying a firearm and have found that a small percentage of this group has difficulty with the concepts required for effectively using a firearm in self-defense. Even among Police officers, there are many who just barely qualify under strict standards for using a firearm. For the average citizen the number that would have difficulty in wielding such a weapon is no doubt much higher. However, that doesn’t mean that every good person can’t learn how to defend themselves using a suitable method. There are other physical weapons beyond firearms which can be used for self defense and there are other non-weapon methods that can be learned. Martial Arts classes are a great way to get physically and mentally fit while learning how to defend your self. Given the high degree of sedentary and overweight people, especially in America, combining an exercise class with a means of defending your life seems like a great use of time. The key is that you MUST do something to defend yourself, as this responsibility is solely yours.

For years there has been a misleading media campaign against guns. Just like environmentalist groups that I have previously mentioned, there are a number of “non-profit” anti-gun groups that use fear and carefully orchestrated media tactics to promote their cause and solicit donations from the unknowing citizens to perpetuate their own life styles. They don’t understand guns and they don’t understand the need for self-defense. The resounding premises promoted by these groups are that guns cause crime and that the elimination of guns will stop crime. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cold hard fact is that guns are used in only a minority of crimes. It is also quite rare that a legally purchased firearm is used in a crime as usually such guns are stolen. Most violent crimes involve bare hands, knives, and any number of common household objects that can be readily used as a weapon. The overwhelming majority of firearms are owned by good people who use them responsibly and without ever committing a crime. Further evidence, which is conveniently suppressed by the anti-gun groups, is quite clear in that good people who legally bear firearms are responsible for stopping much more crime than the evil criminals with illegal guns successfully commit. And the vast majority of those cases are without a shot ever being fired. It is the threat of deadly force which gets the attention of the criminal and sends them on their way. This threat is right here, right now, painful and possibly their final act, while the society induced threat of jail is an after-the-fact issue, which the criminal believes they can avoid or they just don’t care one way or the other.

Those responsible good people who chose to arm themselves should be applauded for taking steps to protect themselves from evil. It must be emphasized, however, that simply purchasing a gun is not in itself the answer to self-defense. If you choose to take on this responsibility, you MUST learn everything that goes along with it. Millions of people take possession of one of the deadliest machines available, the automobile, but they must learn how to use it and there is training provided and tests administered prior to allowing people to use them. People who choose to use guns owe it to themselves and to society to get the training and go practice the proper operation of their gun. While I do not think that we need to license gun owners, I do feel that there is a need for more gun education in our society. For one thing, it is quite common for the anti-gun groups to take the small number accidental child shootings as a central cause for banning guns. The overlooked fact here is that kids who are properly educated in firearm safety do not have gun-related accidents. Those who are not educated are the ones who cause these tragedies. We teach our kids about safety with all the other dangerous items around the house, such as the stove, poisons, and sharp objects. Why don’t we teach them about gun safety? The public education system is one of the best means to reach the most kids and having a simple gun safety message throughout all grade levels, especially in the K-6 range should go hand-in-hand with such common things as fire safety and crossing the street. Further, public service announcement advertising during kids programming on TV can fill in the gaps and serve as good refreshers. But none of this is being done.

For the adults, when someone is considering or has decided that they want to become a gun owner, they need to visit their local gun club or any one of the firearm training schools available out there. At these places they can learn all the safety aspects as well as learn how to properly operate the gun or even what type of gun to choose if they haven’t gotten to that point yet. After the purchase and even for people who have owned guns for years, it is mandatory that they go to the range periodically and practice their shooting skills. This is just as relevant to those who are armed for self-defense as it is to those who have guns for sporting, competition, or hunting purposes. At a later date I will put together a series of articles on the fundamentals of shooting for self-defense. It is just as important to understand the four universal firearm safety rules as it is to know which side of the road to drive on in your car.

Whether you choose to go with a gun or pick another method of self-defense such as Martial Arts, the common thread is that your own safety against the evils roaming our society is entirely in your hands. If you do not choose to take your self-defense into your own hands, then you can end up being a victim bleeding on your bathroom floor while your spouse lay dead in the hallway. The alternative was that you knew how to defend your castle and confronted the criminal with violence of action and the threat of deadly force. The best case is that the criminal would have fled to save his own life; the worst case is that you are forced to kill him. But, you ask, what if you are killed by the criminal during an armed encounter, wouldn’t that be the worst case? It’s a matter of perspective, but in my mind what it comes down to is quite simple. If you do nothing, you or someone you love will die; if you do something, you have a chance to save yourself and your family. If you practice your skills with diligence, your chance of defeating the evil increases. Basically the odds of success in this encounter are directly related to how hard you are willing to work and prepare for it.

The choice is yours. Be a pacifist and be the sheep for the criminals to take advantage of. Or you can become the sheepdog and protect yourself as well as your “flock” from the wolves when they come calling in the night to do you or your family harm. It’s your call, but don’t bother to call the government to do it for you. It is out of their power to individually protect your life from the evil amongst us.