The Sanity of Self-Defense
The Sanity of Self-Defense
I have been called numerous things in the many years I have spent embroiled
in various causes; but, until a couple of weeks ago I had never been called
a gun wacko. Oddly enough I was labeled as such because of something I wrote
that advocated individuals taking responsibility for their own defense.
Because I encourage people to educate themselves in the area of
self-defense, to avoid finding themselves at the mercy of criminals and
over-zealous bureaucrats, I was labeled a gun nut. So, that is how it is
these days? If you encourage people to defend themselves, you are some sort
of mentally-challenged individual best suited for a private, padded room? My
how times have changed.
When I was a youngster, growing up in the turbulent ?60?s, I learned quickly
that self-defense was the most basic instinct instilled in mankind. I
discovered, mostly out of necessity, that there is nothing stronger in human
nature than the drive for self-preservation. I also learned that defense of
self cannot be trusted to the hands of others that share the same natural
disposition of self first. I learned that rarely was anyone in a position of
authority around when I really needed them. In other words, those who were
charged with my safety proved incapable of rendering the service. I was
often forced to take matters into my own hands.
As I grew older and embarked upon my personal voyage on the boisterous Sea
of Life, I further realized that the lessons I had learned in my youth
applied equally in adult life. Once again I discovered that those charged
with my personal safety, i.e., the police and politicians, were not likely
to be in the vicinity when I actually needed protection. The older I got the
more apparent it became that the real insanity in the area of self-defense
was relinquishing the responsibility of self-preservation to groups or
governments that could not possibly protect me. The only sane alternative
remaining to individuals that desire to live unmolested is arming themselves
in order to insure Life and Liberty and further perpetuate their ability to
pursue happiness. Remember the old saying, ?If you want a job done right, do
it yourself.?
Now, while I was busy learning life?s lessons the hard way about everything
from facing down bullies intent on relieving me of my milk money to dealing
with thugs that were determined to do me harm, my father was teaching me
something else. Dad was tutoring me in the means by which I could protect
myself. He taught me the importance of the ability to meet force with force
while avoiding force whenever humanly possible. He taught me to use my wits
instead of weapons when it was appropriate, but made sure I knew how to use
a weapon when left with no other alternative. Dad also taught me that an
unmolested firearm, even fully loaded, is harmless. Ah, there?s the rub.
It is this simple fact that trumpets the safety of firearms. Guns do not
kill people! They are not animate with the ability to remove themselves from
their hiding places and discharging without external manipulation. The truth
is people kill people. Sometimes they use guns; sometimes they use blades;
sometimes they use baseball bats; and sometimes they use their hands. The
fact remains that more gun legislation, leading to stricter gun
registration, does not and will not stop the killing. People were killing
each other long before the first black-powder device was invented (remember,
Cain killed Abel with a rock); and, they will continue to kill each other
even if you were able to remove every firearm from the face of the planet.
It is insane to disarm ourselves only to be left at the mercy of criminals
who are no more troubled by the State?s new laws than they were with the old
ones.
So, given the generally accepted facts that police and government cannot
protect us, coupled with the reality that more laws just give criminals more
to ignore, why is it considered, by some, an unstable stance to champion the
right of every individual to defend themselves, by any means at their
disposal, should the need arise? Why would anyone try to turn the sanity of
self-defense into apparent fanatical advocacy for the return of ?old West
shoot-outs?? Fear is a very effective tool, that?s why.
The gun-grabbers have already succeeded, at least to some degree, in making
a significant number of voters afraid of the guns themselves. The decades of
campaigns declaring, ?Guns kill,? have been effective in fostering mistrust
of anyone possessing a firearm other than State-sanctioned officials.
Instead of teaching children a proper respect for weapons so they may become
adequate stewards of their own safety, they are taught to fear the weapon
and cautioned to simply surrender to aggression. Talk about insanity! If the
founding fathers of this country had taken this approach, there would be no
America to speak of today. The right of self-defense is the very foundation
of Freedom, so much so, that one cannot exist without the other.
All this being said, it is no wonder that I found being called a gun wacko
more than a little amusing. Even the implications of the term are hilarious
when applied to me personally, and anyone that knows me would hardly
characterize me as a gun nut. However, I do believe in experience. And what
forty-three years of experience has taught me is that surrendering the
responsibility for our own personal security, in exchange for a mere promise
of safety, is anything but sane. In every instance of my life when I needed
protection I have taken the initiative of self-defense because without it
there would have been no defense at all. It has been from necessity, not
desire, that I have had to defend my person and property.
Where were the police when my weekend sports shop was robbed? Where was my
resident elected official when my neighbor?s apartment was being ransacked?
And wasn?t that a government official holding a gun in my face just because
I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? There would be no
sanity without self-defense, and there would be no freedom. Surrender your
security to no one. Take that responsibility upon yourself because you?re
the only one you can trust with your life.
I am not a nut and I am certainly not a wacko, I am just a realist. I do not
buy the propaganda that strict gun registration or stiffer penalties imposed
by a myriad of new laws will put a stop to violence in our society. I do not
believe the lie that government can protect my family and I from that
portion of society that chooses to live outside the limits of the law. As
long as human beings inhabit the earth, some will always seek to do each
other some amount of harm. The only sane reaction to this stark reality is
to prepare a proper self-defense. As I have said before many times, ?Enough
is enough! Buy a gun, the life you save will probably be your own or that of
someone you love.?
R. Lee Wrights
