There is a great article here showing why.
There is a lot of controversy concerning Illinois newly enacted “Concealed Carry” law. Signs are popping up all over in businesses that don’t want guns in the work place. Don’t get me wrong. Guns are scary. One bullet can kill and having a gun is a dangerous proposition. When I was a child, my parents never kept a gun in the house even though my father was a WWII veteran and used it to defend the free world. He killed the bad guys and used it with the respect it deserved. Right or wrong, guns can be used to be offensive weapons or defensive guards. It would be wonderful if one day we can use flowers and words to defend ourselves. I really do wish for that time. But reality is that guns are here and probably to stay.
Let’s discuss how many times we hear over and over in the press about a crazed lunatic using a gun to kill innocent, men, women and children. Those stories resonate ion the news for weeks. Discussions about gun control are pervasive. But the recent Oklahoma incident is uniquely quiet. Did you know the crazed employee at the Oklahoma Company who was fired from his job and then turned a knife on co-workers was stopped by a citizen (employee) who had a gun? I just found out. Surprised this was not presented more in the press? My guess is that it did not fit the pervasive anti-gun rhetoric pf the news media. Mark Vaughan is a hero. He stopped a second murder and possibly more. The killer was in the midst of stabbing another female co-worker when he was shot and killed by Vaughan.
So here is my point.
Scenario #1 – Let’s say we have a sign in our business that says “No Guns”. All law abiding citizens will likely respect the sign. The ones that don’t are subject to arrest. Arrest for what? Arrested for disobeying a sign. Good guy gets taken away to jail for carrying a gun. He was trained and certified but still was arrested.
Scenario #2 – Same business with anti-gun signage has a crazed lunatic with a gun, knife or whatever comes into the same business and starts killing. Now we have a business that has a business full of people not carrying a gun to protect themselves or the coworkers.
Scenario #3 – Our last scenario is the Oklahoma situation. One person killed and another is on the way to being murdered. More may be killed soon after. No one is able to stop this person without risking injury or death. The police are called but the response time may take minutes and several other people may needlessly lose their lives. A citizen with a gun stops the killer in his tracks. This horrible situation ends instantly and lives are saved.
Personally I like #3. I like the comfort of knowing that someone with a gun may save a life. May save my kids, my wife, my family from being killed by a crazed lunatic or terrorist. The signs don’t stop the crazy ones. The signs don’t stop killers. The signs only stop the law abiding citizens who took time out of their life to get trained and get a permit to carry a gun. The only down side of this would be someone carelessly carrying a gun and hurting someone accidently. While this will certainly happen, it is unlikely that the risk outweighs the reward.
I encourage response to this topic. It’s an important topic to get out in the public. To me this is not a political discussion. This is philosophical. Email me your feelings.
