What are weapons to me? The reason I was able to be born, and the reason I'm alive, that's what...
I can remember very little about my grandfather, who died when I was very young. However, I do remember that he coughed, all day, every day, all the time... I learned when I grew up that he had been through the trenches in World War 1, and was the victim of a German gas attack, which caused massive, permanent damage to his lungs. Of the more than 130 men in his company who went over to France in 1915, three (THREE!!!) came back uninjured at the end of the war. All the rest died or were so badly injured they could fight no more. Guns won the victory over tyranny for his generation, and ensured he would be able to have children of his own in freedom.
My father went through World War II in the Royal Air Force (he was the equivalent of a PFC in September 1939, and finished in 1945 as the equivalent of a Major - seems to have had a "good war"!). He fought through the Western Desert campaign, and was one of those scheduled to go to Singapore, but had his draft changed at the last minute, while already at sea with the convoy. Of his mates who went to Singapore, nine out of ten died in Japanese POW camps. He was able to come back to Britain, emigrate to South Africa, and give his family a new life there, because guns won the victory against tyranny for him and his countrymen.
I fought my own war, in the operational areas of Southern Africa, and in an eighteen-year civil war in South Africa itself, where those of us working to help the victims of violence all too often became the victims of violence ourselves. I was shot, stabbed, etc. rather more than once, and if I hadn't had a gun available, would have been killed ten times over. Guns saved my life, and helped me to save the lives of others. They kept me alive in a time of great danger, and enabled me to help others to escape that danger. In my hands, and the hands of other good people, they brought lethal force to bear on those who wished us harm. As a side benefit, they also helped to feed me and many of my friends.
Now that I'm in the USA, the availability and presence of firearms reminds me never to take my safety for granted, and to be grateful to those who design and make these weapons, thereby keeping good people alive in times of peril. Sure, the bad guys use them as well - but there are more good guys than bad guys, and we tend to use our instruments more effectively, too! Without weapons, I'm at the mercy of whoever wants to dominate me by greater strength or numbers. With weapons, I'm on an equal footing with them. In the event (unlikely in this country - all too likely in many countries overseas!) that there are so many of them that I can't hope to defend my life against them, I can at least go out fighting, and make them pay for their crimes. Guns have kept me alive and free for several decades now. Long may they continue to do so, for all who love freedom!
