No, I’m not afraid of guns, I write about them all the time. I’m actually rather facinated by others fear of guns. I think its a bad thing for people to be scared of guns, or really afraid of them (if there is a difference). Even if you don’t like guns, treat them as an enemy. Why? “Know thy enemy”. Also, for other reasons that I’m going to talk about.
Case #1 is my roomate. She does not like guns one bit. She’s never touched one, to my knowledge, and won’t even if one is sitting on the kitchen table in her way. I don’t blame her, its just the way she is. But what if something were to happen to me, what would she do? Good question. While she’s never touched my guns, I have showed her how to unload it. Its her enemy and she needs to know how to at least unload it, in such a manner as to not shoot herself.
Case #2 — my dear friend Lauren. She is also another one that doesn’t like guns at all. Her roomate also has a gun (an Old police issue .32 Revolver). Now they live in Tucson, which I wouldn’t classify as the safest place for young women to be. Now to offend anyone who lives in Tucson, but I hear there are alot of rapes, and other violent crimes. While Lauren’s roomate would defend their domicile, what if she wasn’t around and someone were breaking in? She should know how to operate guns, load it, unload it, shoot it. Even if she plans to never ever touch a gun, its important to know. What you don’t know, can kill you.
Case #3 — Office secretary. Sue, the office secretary, or “Administrative Assitant” as is politically correct. Our office is a little different than most — as we’re a small close knit group (And most of us have CCW’s). When we first discussed guns with her, she was also one that refused to touch any guns. She wanted nothing to do with them. After a while she’s voiced some intrest. At one point in time, she asked to see my P22, which I happily showed her (unloaded). I showed her how to load, unload, saftey, etc. She’ll probably never shoot a gun, much like the other cases I’ve mentioned. But at least she knows what to do.
While I’m not bothering to do any research, but I’m sure simple gun saftey training could save a good number of lives every year. First from people that pick up a gun, and shoot themselves by mistake. Second from people who could have defended themselves if they just knew what to do. This is exacly why I have a CCW. I’m not trying to be a gun toting nut, but if having a gun saves my life once 40 years from now, every cent, every round, every second spent — will have been completly worth it.