Is That a Gun in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

The Case For Concealed Carry by Eric Power

My wife showed me a video (Pt. 1) recently that had to do with Concealed Carry licenses. This was a report (Pt. 2) by ABC News that was done a few years ago. It shows their bias against CCW laws pretty clearly, so right off the bat I'm irritated. It was uploaded by a YouTuber with the title "Proof That Concealed Carry Permit Holders Live in a Dream World", so obviously he has his own axe to grind as well. The point of the video, as I took it, was that Concealed Carry permits are useless at best, and dangerous at worst. However, I reject their "controlled experiment" entirely.  They set this test up from their assumption that CCW's are detrimental and useless.  Of course they're going to get the results that they expected!

The Set-up

 Let's consider the experiment. We'll take some people; one with zero handgun experience, someone else with moderate handgun experience and also a black belt in martial arts (as if that is pertinent in this case), another who's basically an immature AirSoft jockey with a video game fetish, and finally two experienced shooters with hundreds of hours on the range. They all take a course in handgun training  and are then put into a classroom, while carrying their pistol in a hip holster, to allegedly take a course in helmet safety. At some point, a "killer" comes in, takes out the instructor and then goes for the student to test their reaction time. Nobody was able to "wild west-quick draw" their pistol from their hip holster and take out the killer before getting "shot" themselves.  And there you have it folks!  PROOF that Concealed Carry does not work!  Great!!  We can all go home now, right? Yeah, not so fast.

Here are some points on which we agree.  They say that it takes months of practice in order to train yourself to effectively draw and use your firearm.  This is called training your muscle memory.  I agree. Not just with firearms, but with anything!  You need to train yourself to start a fire, to run a marathon, or to drive a car.  And certainly, to be tactical with a firearm.  Another point; anyone can have an accident.  Absolutely true.  This was brutally illustrated by the officer in the first segment who shot himself in the foot in a classroom full of children, all the while on video.

Now here is where we part ways; it is better to run or hide than it is to pull out a gun.  I STRONGLY disagree. I think it is better to run or hide WHILE pulling out your pistol. This is not a duel. It's survival.  Nobody should stand out in the open, trading shots back and forth. That's a clear recipe for dying quickly. Unfortunately, that's what all but one of the subjects did in the experiment; that participant sought cover behind his table and drew his sidearm.

Here is another point of contention that I have with the experiment.  All of the training was taught using Simunition, which is a non-lethal training cartridge that uses a wax bullet and shoots at a lower velocity.  When the participants went into the helmet classroom, they knew they were still loaded with Simunition.  So they basically went into the classroom with a hyped up AirSoft gun, otherwise known as "unarmed"!  Why did they even bother with reaching for their gun anyway?  Throwing it at the perpetrator would have done more damage than shooting him with it.  I'm very suspicious of this whole debacle; at this point, it would not surprise me in the slightest to discover that everyone in the set-up was a paid actor, participants and all!

Evidence to the Contrary

Let's, however, assume that the experiment is genuine at heart, albeit deeply flawed; maybe these well-meaning folks and their reactions are authentic, indeed.  However, to take this experiment and apply it to the millions of Concealed Carry License holders throughout our nation is not only reckless, it is untrue.

Here are just a few of the stories that occur everyday in America where people safely and effectively use firearms to protect themselves and others around them.  For the purposes of relevance, I have only included stories which were related to CCW holders.  Home-defense stories are another category entirely, and are not included in these examples - we have people foiling dollar store robberies, a parking lot robbery, a robbery in the drive-thru lane, an aborted mugging of some Average Joe walking down the street, and even a guy who shot a would-be robber while sitting in the barber's chair!  The mall shooting in Oregon that happened just days before Sandy Hook, could have been much worse than two dead, had it not been for the quick reaction of a CCW holder in the mall that afternoon.

You Take The Good, You Take The Bad...

Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle, Navy SEAL

Look, here's a hard fact of life: It's not fair. You could be the most well-trained, quick-draw gunslinger on this side or that side of the Mississippi.  You could be a Green Beret who bites the heads off of King Cobras for breakfast and assassinates despot Heads-of-State scumbags with a paperclip on your lunch break.  It will not guarantee that you won't be killed in a situation, whether that be a mugging, a mass killing, or getting creamed by the Metro Express Bus as you cross the street!  Someone could walk up from behind you and shoot you in the back of the head. Take, for example, Chris Kyle, aka "The Devil of Ramadi"(he earned this nickname from the insurgents that he was fighting against), arguably the most successful Navy SEAL sniper of all time; he was senselessly gunned down by a fellow soldier whom Chris, through his charity, was helping to readjust to civilian life.  Any number of things could happen to cut your life short in a New York minute.  It's not pleasant to think about, but it remains a possibility in this world in which we live.  Now chances are good that this will not happen. Hopefully, if something goes down, you will be able to retrieve your sidearm while behind suitable cover and neutralize the active threat that is before you, quickly and with minimal (preferably none!) loss of innocent life. Had there been a CCW holder in any of the recent massacres (Sandy Hook, DC Naval Yard) I wholeheartedly believe that the death toll would've been much lower. I won't even get into the insane issue that military bases and buildings have been turned into gun-free zones like schools and universities; that's another blog altogether.

"The First Responder" Myth

When it comes down to it, I want the responsibility for the survival of my loved ones and myself  to be in my hands, not in the hands of a so-called "First Responder", who is not even there when the deed goes down!  I mean no disrespect towards our police officers and firefighters that serve our community bravely, without question or thanks much of the time.  I am a strong supporter of our emergency services providers.  The fact remains, however; they can't be everywhere at once.  As the saying goes, "when seconds count, the police are minutes away." In most cases, they are the clean-up crew when a crime has already happened!  I have heard this particular sentiment in a few different places, so I am by no means the originator of this philosophy.  However,  I am a big believer in it: YOU are the First Responder.  It's a simple law of physics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  If someone breaks into your house, YOU are the first to respond, not the police.  If someone tries to mug you while strolling in the park on a date night with your spouse, YOU respond first.  Whether that response is a fight or a flight, is up to you.  Unless divine intervention or pure dumb luck prevails, and a cop just happens to be within 20 feet of the scene, YOU are the one who has influence on the outcome of the situation. If it isn't you, then it's the punk thug on the other end of the knife or gun who will make the decision for you.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. - Thomas Jefferson

Our government wants nothing more than to turn us all into sheep, who cower and bleat until the sheepdog arrives to confront the wolf.  That is NOT how it should be!  WE need to be the sheepdog! WE are responsible for taking care of and defending our own!  Let the authorities come and clean up the aftermath; just don't let the chalk outline be around your body.

 I would prefer to die knowing that I had the ability to change the outcome, with my tools of choice at my disposal, rather than live in dependency and fear, needing others to get the job done for me.  Being self-sufficient in this manner requires some tools and knowledge.  Get a gun that you are comfortable holding and shooting.  Take a gun safety training course.  Apply for and get your concealed permit, state laws permitting of course. Train, train, train.  Train some more.  Be confident, and pray to God Almighty that you never have to pull it out in self-defense.