A Little Talk About Guns
December 30, 2007 | Guest post
Hi… My name is Gunfighter, and I’l be your guest-blogger for the day.
Alright, my name ISN’T really Gunfighter… my parents call me something else, but you get the idea.
Anyway, Becky has asked me to be one of her guest bloggers while she is away, and since I think Becky is pretty cool, what could I say other than yes?
I’m not a journalist, or any sort of professional writer. As a matter of fact, my field requires very little writing… except for the odd well-crafted memo for when I am trying to ply more money for my programs from the bosses… many of whom can only be called literate if you are very generous with the term. I make my living as a tactical firearms instructor for one of Uncle Sam’s three-lettered law enforcement agencies in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. What that means, in plain English, is that I teach Uncle Sam’s agents how to fight with a guns.Â
Normally, I don’t blog much about guns… my blog, The View From Here, is mostly about the random stuff that goes through my mind on a given day. Whether the subject is politics, race, music, books, fatherhood, history, food, or The Church, is subject to my whim. Please feel free to visit sometime.
Ok… Becky asked me to give some biographical data, so here goes: I’m 44, married, with two children, both girls, ages 18 & 9. I like to read, I have tattoos, and I teach Sunday School. I’m also very social.Â
Anyway, I want to give you a little talking to about guns.
If you are thinking about gun ownership, think about it long and hard. The first thing that you need to consider is your reason(s) for wanting to have a gun or guns. If you have decided to become a hunter and to keep guns for that purpose, you have some things to consider.
 If you want to own a gun for self-protection, you have some very different things to consider. In either event, get some advice… feel free to email me… I’ll give you said advice for free.
If you are in the market for a firearm, I would be happy to advise you… but honestly, I may just tell you to get a dog that barks instead of a gun.
Having made the decision to own firearms, get some professional advice, and that DOESN’T mean from the people that work at gun stores… those guys, most of whom are really good people. are trying to make a buck. They, like car salespeople will usually sell you all sorts of crap you don’t need.
If you do decide to get a gun. Get the gun that is right for you. YOU. Not your-friend-the-local-cop who will try and tell you all sorts of things… that he usually doesn’t know much about. Once you find the gun for you, make the investment in training. Seek and find PROFESSIONAL training.If you decide to carry concealed, do so correctly. If other people can see that you are armed, you will lose a lot of the advantage that concealed carry can afford.
I was at our local Border’s books store recently, when some idiot, clearly carrying a gun in one of those fanny pack holsters, got upset when I asked him what he would do if someone grabbed his gun from behind. He told me with what little dignity he could muster, that it was none of my business. He was right, of course… it isn’t my business… unless the person who could easily steal his gun decided he was going to go on a shooting spree with it. What’s my point? Don’t be stupid when carrying a gun. It’s not a cross or talisman to ward off evil. To bad guys it says: “Shoot me first!â€
If you ever have to shoot someone, don’t shoot once and wait to see what happens. Shoot him/her, and keep shooting until such time as you can tell that your subject has been shot effectively.
If your intended target is more than six feet away from you, and you are using a handgun, use both hands when you shoot. If you use both hands. your odds of an incapacitating hit or hits will increase by an order of magnitude. That one-handed crap is just that. Crap. Unless you are using the other hand to attempt a reload or starring in an action film, use both hands.
Effectively shooting someone means hitting them enough times or deeply enough to incapacitate… in other words, if you shoot someone and they are still in the fight, capable of hurting or killing you, you haven’t shot them effectively.
Lastly, if you decide to buy a gun, please, learn the applicable laws about using them, even in self-defense.
Cheers,
GF
PS: Becky, thanks for letting me talk to your readers, I really appreciate it. I’m sorry I missed the party last time you were in town, I heard that it was a good time, but you know how that goes… I had to take my youngest to Brownies.
December 30th, 2007 at 11:45 am
I’ve learned more about guns from you than I’ve known before, but they still scare the heck out of me. I just don’t want them around me. OTOH, knowledge is power. Thanks for the post!
December 30th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
GF,
LOVE THE NEW PROFILE PIC! I mean…really…how cute is Soccer Girl!
I could never own a gun as I feel like I could never use it effectively…therefore making myself a target for its use against me!
December 30th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Someone was walking around Borders with a gun? Why? Ewwww….
I like your advice to just get a dog. One helped my parents avoid a break-in a few years ago. There were footprints in the snow through their backyard, to the back door, then through a series of backyards where he/she struck a house without a dog.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:17 am
Great information. We’ve taken the dog route in our household. She doesn’t bark much, but her enthusasim to a stranger can be quite overwhelming.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:53 am
Jen, I have to ask. Do you feel the same about knives? Knives are used in murders. Do you feel the same about baseball bats? Baseball bats are used in murders. Do you feel the same about hammers, rocks, automobiles, and 2x4s? All of these and many other items are used to commit murder.
You have allowed the firearm, merely the tool a criminal decides to use, to be demonized and consequently become an object of fear. There are hundreds of millions of firearms in the U.S. that have never been, nor will be used in a criminal context. Criminals should be feared, not the tools they use. I just posted an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor by Dr. Helen Smith entitled, “Murder: The Weapon Isn’t the Question. Perhaps it would give you a different perspective about firearms.
Let me sincerely urge you to find a friend, and I’ll almost guarantee you have at least one, who owns and shoots firearms, and ask them to take you to the range. You will end up enjoying it. It’s really quite a lot of fun. If not, at the very least you will have more information, and as you stated above, knowledge is power.
Queen of the Mayhem, training is what enables someone to use any tool effectively. I’m sure you didn’t get into a car and drive perfectly your first time behind the wheel. I’m sure you bent your share of nails when learning to use a hammer. Shucks, someone had to show you how to use a mascara brush, didn’t they? It’s no different with firearms. I’d give you the same advice as Jen. Go to a range with someone who can show you at least the basics, and then take it from there.
Soccer Mom, there are a number of people in Nebraska who wished they had been “just walking around with a gun” while they shopped the Westroads Mall. Do you have car insurance. Of course. Do you plan to wreck your vehicle? Of couse not. Then why do you have car insurance? The answer is simple, because you never know when you might need it. One who carrys a weapon will probably never need it, but you can never know. Someone is going to be a victim. Will it be you? Ever hear of Luby’s?
Gunfighter is correct. Not everyone should own or carry a firearm. But that should be an informed, rational decision driven by knowledge and circumstances, not fear and ignorance.
December 31st, 2007 at 10:46 am
I vote for the dog route. Even a very friendly one will recognize danger.
Guns at Borders? What are they going to shoot? Ann Coulter?
January 1st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Always good advice and information GF!
My father told me when I was in my teens, not to carry any weapon someone could use more effectively on me than I could on them–he would have approved your message! And after taking self-defense lessons and such throughout my life, I pretty much know what I can use, and what NOT to mess with.
Personally, I rarely leave the property without praying Psalm 91–I do what I can, and I trust God with the rest.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:38 am
What sort of gun do you recommend for a trip to Borders? What caliber do you think would do the most damage to one of Ann Coulter’s stupid books?
January 6th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Knives scare me sometimes. This is why we have a bagel guillotine. But now that I have heard about all of the murder that goes on using those other things, maybe I should be scared of our bagel guillotine. I always have more to think about when I read over here.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
[…] Bill at The View from Here just got a new place in Blogland. Same Bill. He’s just spiffin’ up the place. I came this close to meeting him IRL during a recent visit to his neck of the woods, but he had Brownies that night. I think it had something to do with firearms. Oh, wait. That’s his regular job. He wrote A Little Talk About Guns. […]