Posted on 05/05/2007 9:38:24 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Not ten minutes after the nation heard the news about the massacre at Virginia Tech, we began to hear the roar of the anti-gun people. While I know it’s true that many things can and will be done about new gun laws, the Second Amendment and who is permitted to carry what, I ask you to please not lecture me about giving up my concealed weapon. Unless you’ve actually looked down the barrel of a gun in the hand of a threatening person, don’t waste your words on me. I don’t want to hear what you have to say.
Many years ago I used to joke about what I did for a living. When asked, I would respond with “I sell drugs.”
Although it was a bit humorous, my answer wasn’t far from the truth. I was (and still am) a licensed pharmacist working in my own retail pharmacy. Along with hundreds of other items I actually did sell drugs…. legally, of course. With loads of controlled substances on the premises and lots of cash, I began to feel that retail was becoming the dangerous part of the profession. Not wanting to push my luck, I decided to apply for a pistol license.
The division of the New York City Police Department that handled the permits did everything they could to discourage me from getting one. If I forgot to cross a T on the application, the examiner refused to let me do it right then and there. He told me to go home, cross my T, and make a new appointment to return six weeks later. After all my T’s were crossed and all my I’s were dotted properly, I was instructed to return another six weeks later with the most current six months of my deposit slips showing how much cash I physically carried to the bank. Again, another six weeks, then another six weeks for something else, and another six weeks for all the papers to be filed, checked and whatever else they do. Then there were interviews and more interviews and ….gee. I don’t even remember how many times I was interviewed. Many of the gun control people of today are talking about a two-week cooling off hiatus before the actual licensing. Persistent me spent more than eleven months before I was legally permitted to buy and carry a firearm.
Some time later, while working behind the counter, a gun-toting thug approached me shouting some very bad words about what he was insisting I get for him. To this day, I still recall hearing the F and MF words many times along with the names of some narcotics and, of course, “WHERE THE BLANK DO YOU HIDE THE MONEY?” I didn’t even think about the possible consequences. Instantly I drew my Smith and Wesson .38 and fired. Without going into the rest of the story, let me just say that I’m here to tell you about it…..me and my .38 that I still carry and will carry till the day I die. So please -- please – please – Unless you’ve stood there as I did, don’t lecture me about the Second Amendment.
I’ve lived most of my life as a cockeyed optimist and no matter how bad the tragedy, I try to find some good in the results. Besides being responsible for one of the worst tragedies ever to occur in these United States, Cho Seung-Hui will be the poster boy for the passing and enforcement of some new gun legislation. Cho is also responsible for taking Don Imus off the front pages. Can you imagine? The war in Iraq, the possibility of global warming, another outrageous increase in gas prices, the deadline for paying income tax…. All very important matters. Yet, for more than a week, the big story was about a few stupid words uttered by a radio host.
In the news business, a story that sticks around for a long time and is milked by the media is known as a story with legs. Don Imus quipped a dumb line about a women’s basketball team and that story with legs stayed with us for days and days. In fact, it took the horrific catastrophe in Virginia to push Imus to pages 7, 8 and further back. But before that, every newspaper, newscast and talk show went on endlessly about Imus and his language. For thirty years he has insulted Jews, Italians, blacks, Mexicans, Irish, Arabs, gays, and lesbians. You name the group, for sure he has spewed out offensive comments about it. To me it’s never been what you say. It’s more about what you do and hardly anybody spoke about Don Imus’s accomplishments… the actions that spoke a lot louder than his words. There’s his camp for youngsters with cancer and siblings of SIDs victims. There are the fundraising efforts on behalf of men and women in the military that are in need of rehabilitation.
Hey. Before you write to accuse me of saying that doing benevolent work allows you to have a big stupid mouth. No. That’s not true. What I am saying is that before activists like Al Sharpton put ammunition into their bazookas and ready their forces to destroy an ‘enemy,’ they might take a few minutes out to place the bad on one side of the scale and measure it up against the good on the other. In this particular case, I would not blame Don Imus if he took his charitable efforts and went into seclusion for a few years. But he won’t.
Sorry to hear that. You might try holding the gun a little different to minimize the muzzle flip.
Copy the experts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50-plo48&NR
Open carry is legal in Virginia, but unless you want to spend all of your days explaining it to police after being turned in by endless waves of liberals, it is not practical. Concealed carry is practical and, since Virginia is a shall issue state, relatively easy to obtain.
Ping my FRiend :)
Colorado is an open carry state...but the county I live in has passed an ordinance that prohibits me from carrying open.
The .40 under my armpit never stinks as bad as the .32 in my boot. :-)
Thank you!
1 - some inebriated folks in KY who touched my knife from behind. After they got up off the floor because I immediately secured it and turned around, they asked what I would do if I ran up on someone who was not afraid of a knife. One displayed his scars to prove it. I told him I really didn't think of my knife as much a weapon as a tool. What is it good for then, he wanted to know. Well, when I run out of bullets and barstools. End of conversation. I left the otherwise fine establishment.
2 - also in KY, while walking down the street, I happened to be in the wrong place and time as a carload of also inebriated ‘yutes’ jumped on a guy leaving a gay bar. They nearly killed him. I intervened in the keep them away from the victim mode, but worried the whole time that some joker would see and grab for my knife, making it a whole ‘nother ball of wax.
no offense to Kentuckians, half my kin are from there. Still, both my arguments for discretion come from visits to that fair state.
Thus far, all of my contacts with LEO’s while openly armed in any of the states I have mentioned have been positive, as far as my carrying practices go.
I feel that one day, soon, we will all need to openly show protection. Not that we would use our weapons, but to show unity in protecting our families, neighbors and our country.
Lord, I hope it does not come to this.
How big is Mississippi? Almost everyone drives a few hours to get to a match.
http://www.idpa.com/clublist.asp?state=MS
Best regards,
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