Responsibly Armed

By Finn Aagaard

I carry my pistol always, whenever the law permits, inside
or outside the house; at night it goes under my pillow,
where I have slept with one on and off for 45 years. Am I
utterly paranoid, do I feel that evil out to get me is
lurking everywhere, am I so ruled by fear that I must have
my security blanket at all times?

No. To think so would be to completely misunderstand the
role of the personal gun in my life. My pistol, combined
with some competence in its use, has indeed been a wonderful
comfort in a few potentially unpleasant circumstances, and
the knowledge I can retain command of my immediate
environment does tend to encourage a calm self-confidence in
everyday life, while precluding panic in an emergency.

The chief virtue of the pistol is that I wear it; you do not
have to go and fetch it when criminal violence threatens
with shocking suddenness out of the blue, as can happen even
in peaceful Llano County, Texas, where I live. If you have
time to fetch a gun, you would do better to grab a shotgun,
probably. Wear your pistol, keep all other firearms locked
away. On you, it is safe from kids and other unauthorized
persons, you do not have to remember where you stashed it
or fumble with the combination lock of a pistol safe. It is
there, instantly ready to protect you and your family. On
the street concealed carry is usually required either by law
or social usage and has the advantage of protecting
everyone, even antigun liberals, because criminals cannot
tell which of their potential victims might be armed.

Yet my pistol is more than just security. Like an Orthodox
Jew s yarmulke or a Christian cross, it is a symbol of who I
am, what I believe and the moral standards by which I live.
It symbolizes the Social Contract between myself and society
and declares that I am no mere subject but a free and
independent citizen of the Republic who holds inalienable
rights while honoring the responsibilities that accompany
those rights. My pistol states that I will defend the common
weal, that I will uphold what is right and decent and that I
am willing and able to protect myself and mine. (The police
cannot and are not required to protect the individual person
or family. They are spread too thin for that. When called
they will do their best, but all too often they can get
there only in time to clean up the aftermath. You are
responsible for your own safety.)

My pistol is my family’s shield, my guarantee that upon my
life I will let no evil touch them. When a malefactor
demands, Your dignity and your money, or your life!” my
pistol introduces a very sobering third alternative: No – if
you persist in this criminal endeavor, it is your life that
will be at hazard.”

Many people will suggest that the contents of your wallet
are not worth jeopardizing your life for, just hand it over
to the thug and move on. By doing so you are encouraging
crime – success ensures the robber will seek another victim.
I consider it to be a citizen’s duty (a hard word to the me
generation) to resist attempted violent crime by all means
at his disposal, even at considerable risk to himself.
Remember, action is always faster than reaction (unless your
assailant has the reaction time of a Bill Jordan).
Dissemble, pretend to go along. ‘I don’t w-w-want any
trouble, you can have my wallet, I’m getting it out of my
hip pocket now.’ As your hand closes on your gun, yell:
“Look out, behind you!” Side-step as you present the
pistol, and when he turns back your front sight rests
squarely on his
chest. With variations to suit the particular circumstances,
this sort of ploy will work far more often than most victims
would believe. Statistics suggest that
an intended victim who resists with a firearm is by a good
margin less likely to be injured than one who does not
resist at all. On the other hand, the surest way to survive
a gunfight is not to get into one. Stay alert and avoid
potentially bad situations if you possibly can.

Research by Professor John Lott, Gary Glek and others into
the effects of concealed carry laws prove beyond quibbling
that they reduce violent crime quite considerably. Since it
began to license responsible citizens to carry arms,
Florida’s murder rate has sunk from 36 percent above the
national average to well below it, and overall the decline
in violent crime in states with concealed carry laws
(compared to the others) runs at least 15 percent for
murder, II percent for robberies and 9 percent for rape,
according to Professor Lott. Private citizens are said to
use firearms in self-defense as often as a million times a
year. In the vast majority of these incidents no blood is
shed; the thug flees or surrenders. Nevertheless, it is
claimed that private citizens justifiably in twice as many
criminals as the entire
law enforcement establishment in any given year. Obviously,
an armed and responsible citizenry is a very potent force in
keeping crime in check. In many nations where private
citizens are denied firearms – as most recently in
ustralia – violent crime is on the upswing, whereas in the
U.S. the rate is declining.

However, the right to be armed does not depend on these
facts; it goes way back to our very beginnings. Long before
the Second Amendment and the rights
acknowledged by English Common Law traditions, the right of
a free man to bear arms was recognized by almost every
culture or civilization that comes to mind. Until well into
this sorry century, free men were armed, and like the yeomen
of England and our own militia, they constituted the
backbone of their societies.

Every right includes commitments, not least the right to
bear arms. Anyone who carries a pistol in public has an
obligation to society to be reasonably competent with it,
able to hit his target – under stress – rather than
uninvolved bystanders; he must know and abide by the laws
limiting the use of lethal force; he must avoid quarrels and
altercations and understand that he will be held to higher
standards of restraint and responsibility than an unarmed
person. The course of instruction that is rightly required
(in addition to background checks) in order to earn a Texas
Concealed Handgun License teaches all this, and more,
including conflict resolution. Passing a shooting test is
mandatory, but the class does not include shooting
instruction; you are expected to have arranged for adequate
training
beforehand. It is a fine course; anybody who intends to go
armed ought to take a similar one.

My pistol has aided no evil, it has added not a tittle of
gratuitous violence to the world. On the contrary, its
presence on my hip or on the Land Rover seat very definitely
defused a couple of dangerous situations in the old days in
Kenya. More recently, on a dark street, I am convinced the
mere suspicion of its presence, engendered by my alert,
confident demeanor, averted what could otherwise have been a
nasty incident. Colt got it right; a pistol in the hands of
a decent, courageous citizen is a convincing peacemaker. My
pistol is a positive influence for stability, for decency,
for righteousness, for freedom from fear and violence, for
all that is right and proper. (If anyone can present a
rational argument that factually disproves this statement, I
will discard the gun and never carry it again.)

One’s self-image matters a great deal; it is what charts
one’s course through life. If I refuse to compromise my
integrity, my self-respect and what the Founding Fathers
referred to as their sacred honor, it is because my image of
myself will not permit it. Self-images are complex, of
course. Basically I see myself as a sound and responsible
citizen, a scrupulously law-abiding, friendly, reasonable,
middle-class, normally intelligent and fairly well educated
paterfamilias with some understanding of true values who has
been blessed beyond his deserts in this life and is truly
grateful.

At the very root and foundation of my being, though, I am a
warrior – a very mild one, but a warrior nevertheless – as
any man must be to some degree. My pistol symbolizes that as
such I will not be coerced by fear or by any political,
social or physical threats whatsoever into doing anything I
consider dishonorable or unworthy of my self-respect. You
can push me only so far, but no farther. It symbolizes the
positive side of the warrior spirit, which is the one force
that can maintain respect for the law, stability, freedom,
peace and decency in this world. Without it we are done.

Warriors and hunters tend to be fascinated by fine personal
arms and will often cherish one above all others, far beyond
its utility as a tool. That is why embellished firearms are
commonplace, while engraved carpenter’s hammers are not. I
dote on my Colt Officer’s ACP carry gun, and delight in its
presence on my hip. Now do you begin to understand what my
pistol means to me?

Be that as it may, our body of armed citizens has always
been a potent force for law and order, liberty and all that
is good in the land. If we allow the hoplophobic left to
destroy it on an emotional whim, to make themselves ‘feel
good,’ or in accordance with their unrealistic and failed
political philosophy, we will come to rue the day.

Finn Aagaard