It seems more and more of my students are ‘first time” firearm owners. After the COVID outbreak, I think each of us did some hard looking into the safety of ourselves and of our families. I don’t know anyone that thinks today we are safer than we were yesterday, those of us that are old enough have seen our world change and sadly it isn’t for the better.
So, some of you might be asking, do I really need a gun to protect myself? That is a personal choice and one that everyone should decide for themselves. There are many people who believe that “guns” are the problem, but blaming a thing for it’s use and not the person is like blaming the weather when it doesn’t give us a perfect day. There are 195 countries in the world and of that 175 allow their citizens to have a “firearm” for personal protection. So, if “guns” are really the problem, do the other 20 countries have no crime, no homicides, no robberies, no rapes? No, they still have all those crimes, yes, some use illegal “guns” but others just use whatever their weapon of choice is. Others believe the “Police” are there to protect you, after all you pay taxes. Yet again, another fallacy that has no merit and under the law the “Police” have no legal obligation to do it. “In the 1981 case Warren v. District of Columbia, the D.C. Court of Appeals held that police have a general “public duty,” but that “no specific legal duty exists” unless there is a special relationship between an officer and an individual, such as a person in custody.”
What is the answer? EDUCATION! I am not suggesting that everyone needs to own a “gun”, but we all need to be educated on how to protect ourselves! If you choose to own a “gun” please, please go seek professional training from a Certified Firearms Instructor. Someone who you know might have had some experience isn’t always the best teacher. That would be like having someone perform open heart surgery when the most they have done is remove a splinter.
Few people rise to meet a challenge, most will fall to their level of training.