If I had no guns...
Well, that's interesting, isn't it?
If I had no guns, I wouldn't have hundreds of memories with my father and brother, shooting everything from BB pistols to Beretta sidearms to M1 Carbines. I wouldn't remember learning with delight of snake rounds through a .38, or slugs through a Remington 870. I wouldn't have the memories of the discipline my dad taught me, a discipline that cannot be broken without the risk of taking a life. I wouldn't have that discipline guiding other endeavors in my life.
If I had no guns, I wouldn't have Christmases and birthdays opening shotguns, rifles, and pistols, with a delighted shout and happy look upon my face, and my family looking at me with the happiness that comes with giving someone exactly what they're passionate about.
If I had no guns, I would likely not have becoming actively involved in the cause of political lobbying for the right for people to defend themselves. Like so many others, I would walk through the world practically unarmed, perhaps even without a pocket knife. Everything would be fine, except for that one possible day when I'd be out with someone I loved and come under attack, and have to lose my life, or worse yet, lose them.
If I had no guns, I would not know the same security and safety in my home as I do now. As a responsible gun owner, educated about the laws of my state, I am intimately familiar with the Castle doctrine, and know that with my guns, my home is a secure area. My family and friends, people I would love and shelter, can find safety and peace here, and those would would do they or I harm will meet the righteous fire of my legal rights.
If I had no guns, I would not know, for a fact, that when I'm on the arm of the girl I love, I am able to defend her against things as simple as mud puddles by walking along the outside edge of the sidewalk when it's raining, and against the vile predations of the darker elements of human society.
If I had no guns, I'd have lost hundreds or thousands of hours of fascinating reading and conversations with amazingly knowledgeable and talented people on The High Road, The Firing Line, and other forums.
Guns did not make me who I am. My family did that. A childhood of laughter and play tempered with work and values did that. Millions of indescribable experiences, from knowing the smell of a crushed dandelion to the feel of gravel in a shredded knee out riding bikes and horses, to the heart-shattering feeling of true loss, have made me.
Guns, though, are a PART of what makes me, and they are a significant element of my most passionate core. My unyielding center that holds, unquestioned, to the right to live a happy and secure life and to defend that life if need be. It's the same core that recognizes these rights as a core element of what makes America different, a difference constantly under attack by those who would prefer safety to liberty.
If I had no guns, I'd still live my life, but I truly believe I'd be less for it.