Que -- ¿What?
Each of us here on THR has a different history concerning how and why he decided to learn and use firearms.
Some grew up with them, others were trained in the military, some went hunting with a friend, some had something really bad happen to them or to someone they knew.
Some of us just learn more slowly than others.
I am in that last camp.
I grew up in Northern California, and practically everyone I knew either had a gun of their own or got to use their dad's gun for hunting or targets. Over the nearly ten years I lived there, none of the kids got shot, none of the kids (or adults) shot up a school or restaurant.
Guns were just part of life. Just like knives are part of a kid's life in Northern Sweden/Norway/Finland. People mostly used them to get game, kill pests, and protect their orchards, farms, and ranches.
I didn't have a lot of exposure since we didn't have them in the family. I had an air gun or three, but no firearms.
I learned to shoot the AR-15/M16 in military basic training. I never had to use it beyond qualification. I shot well, but it was just holes in paper.
I got out of the service and put guns behind me; that was someone else's job now. I figured the military would protect the country and the police would protect the communities at home. I spent the next ten years doing volunteer work in U.K. and Europe.
I returned to the U.S. after cross-training myself in computer programming.
Somewhere in there I got married three times and had two kids twice.
Once I was permanently back in the U.S. I made new friends. Some of them had guns for one thing or another. I was always a little nervous around people who liked guns and even more so around those who had them. Those who hunted I could understand, but those who just had a weapon for self defense caused me some unease.
This was to be my relationship with guns for the next twenty years.
During this time there were a couple of incidents where people I knew personally were killed or harmed by robbers or thugs. A friend of mine, a dentist, explained to me why, after his wife was murdered, he bought a pistol for his own protection and one for the office -- and had the office staff trained to use it. A woman we knew, and her husband, bought large revolvers after she was assaulted.
It's hard to tell someone who has been directly victimized that they're being paranoid.
When, eventually, we moved to an area where hunting was popular and people were at ease with guns, I finally decided I should learn more.
Over the next year and a half I did research, read laws, asked questions of those more experienced than I. In this process I learned that almost all of my misgivings about guns had been based on denied information and false information from people who intend the complete disarmament of the U.S. citizens.
More than a year. Not a week. Not one evening online. More than a year. That's a lot of reading. That's a lot of questions. That's a lot of listening.
If you truly care about the answers to the questions you have posed, you will spend more than a few evenings online asking tired questions of people who hear those same questions asked daily by dishonest or ignorant people who mean harm or who can't be bothered to do their own research.
The people who founded the United States established its constitution, but couldn't get it ratified without certain amendments. These amendments enshrined certain recognized individual human rights, and forbade government from abridging, encroaching, or infringing them.
The Second Amendment was not a casual "good idea" the make the population "feel good" about the constitution. It was drafted and re-drafted until a wording was found that would make it clear that individuals should be armed and that government shall never disarm them.
Over the more than 200 years since, their wisdom has been demonstrated repeatedly as the peoples of other countries have been disarmed and then systematically exterminated.
Those who believe in socialism, despite its repeated failures all over the globe, believe that prosperity can only be attained by stealing the wealth created by free enterprise and forcibly re-distributing it. They are convinced that if they just get the chance to convert the United States to socialism they will finally succeed.
They just know that if they keep doing the same thing that has always failed before that they will succeed with it here.
Forcibly taking the wealth of a society that's armed will be met with force. This is very inconvenient, so they must first disarm the target society.
They are tireless. They are relentless. They have no scruples. They care not about the truth of their arguments. This is a religious quest to them, and anything at all that must be done is justified by the goal they mean to reach.
I didn't realize this for most of my life. I had to dig for it.
I eventually came to know:
- guns are necessary to keep the freedoms of this nation;
- guns are necessary to protect one's person and property from thieves, robbers, rapists, and murders;
- guns are very useful in keeping down the ravages of certain pests;
- guns are excellent recreation.
Guns are independence. Guns are freedom.
I worked hard for this knowledge.
I finally overcame my own fears and, after careful review, was able to choose the weapons most suitable for my self and my family.
It is easy to sit back at a distance, uninvolved, and ask academic questions from a plausible viewpoint.
It's more work to study the subject and learn real history and learn real statistics and learn the real mechanics of firearms.
I invite you to approach the subject with the seriousness that I, myself, did.
Many here know far more than I. Many here will be happy to provide guidance.
I invite you to walk this road to enlightenment.
There is much to know.
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