The Final Word on Bearing (Carrying) Arms
These days, people’ve got the concept of rights backwards. A right isn’t a gift. It’s not some divine lollipop handed to you by your ancestors. A right is a sacred obligation. The right to vote is the sacred obligation to defend the country. The right to keep and bear arms is the sacred obligation to be both proficient and safe with firearms. If you’re a 350-pound sack of lard, strapping on a decked-out custom job from Wilson Combat that you’ve never bothered bringing to the range, you should be whipped with a piece of rubber hose.
If you want to carry guns in public, these are your responsibilities.
- Be Proficient: Go to the range at least a few times a year. It doesn’t have to be a lifestyle, but if you can’t consistently hit a B-8 target1 at 25 yards, you shouldn’t be carrying a gun. If you have to use it under stress, you’ll hit everything except what you’re aiming at.
- Be Safe: If you go to the range at least a few times a year, you’ll learn the safety rules. But there’s more to safety than just correct handling. If you’re going to own guns, you have to know that you’re safe. That means mentally stable. There’s no shame in going off the rails. I’ve known good men who fell into a deep depression, and much harder men than me who snapped. The key is to be honest with yourself. If you’re having a breakdown, you shouldn’t be carrying guns.
- Maintain a certain standard: As far as I’m concerned, the right to bear arms is the responsibility to be ready and able to use them in a safe and effective way without endangering innocent bystanders. If you’re not ready to take on that responsibility, you shouldn’t be carrying arms. You should be taking steps to improve yourself so that you can—once again—take on that responsibility. Then, and only then, should you carry a gun.
“But I can’t do that because of XYZ. But I need a gun in case of an active shooter / end of the world / Russian invasion”
That’s fine. There are lots of other ways to be useful in a crisis. Learn first aid. There’s gonna be enough morons discharging guns left and right in a crisis, but few, if any, of them will be prepared to put people back together once the smoke clears. If you’re not fit to carry a gun, carry a medkit. I promise you, no man worth his salt’s gonna make fun of the guy carrying a medkit.
— Dad
For some inexplicable reason, they just happen to be the same size as a human torso.
↩