To
Carry Or Not To Carry That Is The Question
By Al Nixon
I have a small dilemma. First of
all I don’t currently own a handgun. If I did, I am
not at all sure that I would carry it. Don’t get me
wrong I think the change in the law was needed. I just
don’t know if I am one who needed it. I know that the
old way the law read was that if you are not going
hunting, or to a licensed target range, you could not
carry. Period. Even transporting for those reasons,
included a bunch of restrictions that probably no one
ever followed. Not following them could have resulted in
jail time and loss of the firearm. Those restrictions
did indeed need to be changed. I don’t have a problem
with the way the law reads now, but I do understand the
fear and frustration of those who are anti carry.
I have been defending the new law
to my anti friends and don’t intend to help let the
law go back to all those restrictions. Don’t get the
idea that I am jumping ship, the following is not what I
think of the world, but it is what I know about me.
When I was much younger, I bought a
really nice handgun. It was a Walther PPK .380. It fit
my hand perfectly and I got to be a very good shot with
it and practiced some quick draws from the belt and from
various holsters. I was accurate when holding and I was
a quick draw, but I was not an accurate quick draw. I
thought I was, and I carried the gun a time or two even
though I was fully illegal. I already mentioned that I
was young and that may have been a large factor, and I
was a frequent drinker. Together those factors made me
very aware of my surroundings when I was carrying.
Things happened to make me feel threatened that never
seemed to happen when I didn’t have the gun. Things
made me angry enough to threaten others, which would
have just been endured when I didn’t have the gun.
Since it was illegal, and I was in the military at the
time, I decided not to carry, and strangely my
threatened feelings and the urge to threaten others went
away.
Years later I sold the handgun to
get money for another interest. I have looked longingly
at a few since but never wanted one badly enough to make
the investment. Now with the new law I find myself
wanting to own a handgun again. Maybe it’s the allure
of the carry permit, or maybe it’s the way this Old
World is turning out, but either way its drawing me in.
I said all of that to ask some
questions. Who is going to carry? When will they be
carrying? What kind of self-control do they practice
with or without the gun? Will they be swayed like I was
with a heightened awareness of the frightening or
maddening events around them? Will they react because
they can, or because they wish, or only because and when
they must?
I choose to believe that when all
the dust settles, those who have a genuine need to carry
will be the only ones who carry constantly. That the
rest of us will use the privilege to transport our guns
legally to and fro, but leave them locked up when there
is no real need for them. I truly believe that this is
the spirit of the law.
I fear that some will use this
freedom to go back to the days of the Wild West and
carry just to feel more important. I hope those who do
that will be very careful indeed of their attitudes and
have great anger control.
Some anti gun folks are arrogant
believers that the government should have control over
anything that could give a citizen any advantage over
his environment. They also believe that all citizens
should be saved from themselves because we are too
ignorant to live wisely. Some, on the other hand, fear
human nature itself, and finally some are just afraid of
accidents caused by neglect, or the overuse of a
freedom. Those last two categories aren’t as far off
the mark as we’d like to think.
I cheer the law, jeer the arrogant
anti’s and fear for grave mistakes. Gadzooks! That makes me sound like a politician.
Al Nixon
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