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I carry a gun—Get over it
by Susan Callaway
[email protected]

Special to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise

I carry a gun. All the time, just about everywhere I go except to bed and the shower. Even then, a gun is within a foot or so of my hand all the time. An occasional trip into the disarmed victim zone of the post office, and my last (and I do mean last) trip to California to visit family are the extreme and very temporary exceptions.

So, why do I carry it? I'm asked frequently, so much that I printed up cards [http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/Guncard.htm] to hand out to the curious. I've spent a lot of time trying to explain the most important reason:

I own my life and am the only one responsible for that life and my safety. I can, and do, work with others—including the local sheriff's dept.—for mutual defense, but in the end it is the responsibility of each person to guard their own safety and that of their legitimate dependents.

No, I'm not paranoid or afraid.

The fact that there is little crime where I live is not relevant because there is no place where the risk of attack is zero. So a gun is simply insurance. But, unlike an auto policy, it can't do me any good in an emergency if it is locked up and unloaded. It has to be instantly available, in my hand to be effective. And, just as with my auto insurance, I sincerely hope I never have to use it.

Of course, free lance criminals and maniacs are not the only, or even the most dangerous threats. The entire history of the world demonstrates clearly that those who desire to own other people and control their lives never cease their efforts to render them weak, helpless and unarmed in every way.

Innocents Betrayed (from JPFO)

Genocide examples from all over the world: Russia, China, Germany, Cambodia, Guatemala, Uganda, Rwanda and more. Examples showing how disarmed people in America have suffered persecution, mass murder, slavery, and terrorist attacks.

A fast-moving, modern production, Innocents Betrayed presents the entirely true accounts of how civilian disarmament made possible the killing of millions. The point is made sharply, clearly, unforgettably. It's the factual counterpoint to the lies in Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine."

Then there is the endless mantra of those who think they should decide who, where and how a person prepares to defend themselves, if at all. They can't seem to get past the rather obvious fact that anyone who actually cannot be trusted with the ordinary tools of life should not be loose in the first place. Anyone who can't or won't use a gun (or a knife, matches, a car, etc.) without deliberately harming others needs to be in a cage or a padded room—or dead at the hands of their intended victim.

Unfortunately, often it's impossible to know who those people are before they hurt others, and most of the time they are left free to harm others again and again even when they are apprehended. The insanity of passing preemptive "laws, attempting to restrain the vast majority of peaceful people in a vain hope of preventing these crimes, is obvious to anyone who gives it any rational thought.

Politicians and "authorized journalists," among others, don't seem to be capable of much rational thought, of course.

But, in the end, I live and therefore I am. I don't need any other person's permission to live or defend myself. I don't need anyone's vetting of my intentions or sanity, nor approval for the self defense tool I choose or how I carry it.

I don't NEED to explain myself. I don't NEED any reasons at all.

Susan Callaway is the Editor of The Price of Liberty.org where this article was first published

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