I decided, yesterday afternoon, to run a series that I had found on another blog I had been a part of, and I had also later posted on yet another blog. Now it is time to put it here, but it will be a bit different. For each of these 10 items, I will also give a further comment or two about each one. Here is number 1:
Ten things non-gun people should know about CHP holders
******************************************
1. We don't carry firearms so that we can ignore other basics of personal safety. Every permit holder that I know realizes that almost all dangerous situations can be avoided by vigilance, alertness and by simply making wise choices about where one goes and what one does. We don't walk down dark alleys. We lock our cars. We don't get intoxicated in public or hang out around people who do. We park our cars in well lighted spots and don't hang out in bad parts of town where we have no business. A gun is our last resort, not our first.
It is important for the non-firearm person (or, hopefully, an anti-gun person that is willing to listen to a bit of reason) to understand that people who choose to carry a firearm, as the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution grants us each individually the right to do, are not wannabe cops, or militant people, or unhinged psycho vigilanties. We don't go seeking danger. We are very responsible and sane people, concerned for the safety of ourselves and our loved ones. Our goal as responsible gun owners and legal bearers of firearms is to avoid confrontations or situations in which we may find danger.
Close your eyes and think of a Gun Owner. Do you think of a big burly guy in fatigues, unshaven, holding a whiskey bottle? I would suggest that your opinion and view of Gun Owners was formed by TV, Hollywood and Schools. None of those three have a track record of being objective when talking about the gun owner. I can tell you that in the concealed carry course I was in for my permit, about 1/3 of the people were women, including 3 very nice and grandmotherly little old ladies. Also there was a girl younger than I am. Most of the men there were businessmen, I'd put them in middle to upper-middle class, by how they dress and act. A few retired couples. One or two younger guys. You need to be 21 in my state to get a concealed carry permit, so they were at LEAST that old.
The point is, gun owners like myself aren't the evil animals that you might have been led to believe we are. In fact, we're ordinary americans, just as yourself, who wish to make use of the rights as given in the Constitution, specifically the right for the individual to keep and bear arms.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
