Author of Be Ready for Anything and Build a Better Pantry on a Budget online course
Editor’s Note: With the new outcry for gun control, I wanted to repost this article about a personal experience, originally published in 2016. ~ Daisy
Dear Women Who Are Fighting for Gun Control:
This letter is to all the “Moms Who Demand Action” and the women who are part of groups like Everytown for Gun Safety. Please give me just a few moments of your time so I can talk to you, one woman to another.
We truly do want the same things. This is not an attack on you or the things you believe in, but rather, a discussion of empowerment.
I am sure that your heart is in the right place when you tell us that guns should be banned for the good of humanity.
You see the aftermath of horrific events like the Pulse nightclub shooting and the concert in Las Vegas and school shootings and you are horrified. I am too.
You are convinced that the world would be a better place with no guns at all. I am not.
You hear the impassioned pleas from celebrities like the ones in the video below and you are inspired to take action to make America a safer place.
But I hear this and the hypocrisy of it makes me sick.
These people in the videos who are begging for our Second Amendment rights to be abolished to do not have anything in common with women like you and me. They are protected by gated communities with armed patrols. They have burly bodyguards. They have monitored home security systems that would rival that of the Louvre. Many of them are insulated and protected in their homes, their cars, and when they’re walking down the street.
But are you?
Or do you have nothing more than a locked door and the hope that the police will arrive in time standing between you and a home invader? Do you put your keys between your fingers when you walk through a parking garage, hoping that if someone tries to rape you that you’ll be able to gouge his eyes with it and run screaming for help? What would you do if someone broke into your home and was heading to your child’s room with the intent of doing harm? Would you just hide and pray that the stall door of the bathroom where you were hiding didn’t get kicked open by the criminal who had just opened fire on the restaurant you were in?
What is your plan?
I believe that your premise (personal safety) is valid but your conclusion (gun control) is wrong.
I beg you to read the following with an open mind.
Hiding, calling 911, and hoping you can inflict enough damage to protect yourself from someone, bigger, stronger, and meaner than you is not much of a plan.
If you really, truly want to be safe, equal, and empowered, what you need to do is get a gun, learn how to use it, and carry it everywhere. Encourage your daughters to do the same. Treat your girlfriends to a day at the range instead of a day at the spa. Give your mom a gift certificate for shooting lessons. Campaign to banish gun-free, target-rich zones, and stop relying on a flimsy lock and 911 for your personal safety.
There is no greater equalizer against a culprit intent on doing you harm than a firearm in the hand of a woman who is trained and willing to use it.
Let me share a personal story.
I can tell you from personal experience that my daughter and I are unharmed today because I was carrying a gun one night back in 2016.
It was after supper when the dogs in the back began barking. A car had come down my long private driveway and pulled to a stop. I live way down a long country road, and my driveway is the last one on the road. Uninvited visitors are extremely rare. We’re too far out there for the usual smattering of Jehovah’s Witness, little girls selling cookies, and neighborly drop-offs of homemade jam.
I looked outside and saw that two men had gotten out and approached my daughter while one waited in the driver seat of the car. My daughter, 15, was doing some of the after dinner chores. I had a bad feeling immediately. I knew it, because I was adamantly told by that gut instinct that doesn’t just hint something is wrong, but pounds your heart like a drum to get your attention, and screams it inside your head.
I stopped for just long enough to grab my loaded Glock 19 and for the first time since purchasing it, I racked the slide and chambered a round for a reason other than target practice. For the first time, I did so because of another human being. I did so because there were 3 men out there with my child and they were bigger than both of us. They were undoubtedly stronger, and we were outnumbered, and I knew that there was the potential for something bad to happen.
I stuffed the gun into the front of my jeans, pulled my hoodie over it, and hurried out. I asked the men brusquely, “Can I help you?”
One was the talker. He was bearded, overly friendly, and ingratiating. The other hung back. He was blond, thin, and moved constantly. I never got a good look at the driver due to the tinted windows in the vehicle. But I noticed the older, beat-up vehicle had no license plate. Another warning sign that this was not right at all.
The bearded one, the talker, told me that his vehicle was overheating and that they needed to come in and make a phone call. I said, “No, you’re not coming in.”
He asked if they could at least have some water.
I wanted to hustle my daughter into the house right that moment and lock the doors and call 911 and wait for a speedy rescue, complete with sirens and flashing lights.
But they were closer to my daughter than she was to me. They were also between her and the door of the house. So that was not an option.
I let them have a bucket of water, even though I could tell that the car was not overheating. I know cars, having worked in a repair shop for ten years. There was no smoke, no sweet smell of antifreeze. The bearded one kept up a friendly patter the entire time, pretending that the radiator cap was hot, jumping back as if to avoid billowing steam that didn’t exist. While he pretended to work on the car, the antsy blond fellow was whispering to the driver. Without me bringing it up, the chatty one said, “Can you believe our license plate just fell off? If you noticed we don’t have one, that’s what happened. We just discovered it at the gas station.”
“Wow, that’s a shame,” I said, playing along. “They’ll charge you an arm and a leg at the DMV.”
I finally positioned myself to the point that I was between them and my child. Whether they’re 5 or 15, in moments when you fear for them, they are your precious child, and they are every age they ever have been and ever will be. Any person who has ever loved a child can easily imagine the relief I felt. I suddenly felt like I could breathe normally again.
I said calmly and firmly, “You need to leave.”
The bearded one looked hurt. The blonde one looked watchful. I still couldn’t get a good look at the driver.
“I just need one more bucket of water and then we’ll be on our way,” the bearded one said, putting his hands out in a manner meant to calm me down.
“No. You need to leave now.” I lifted my hoodie with my left hand and put my right hand firmly on the gun at my side, index finger safely at the side as I had been taught. In my head, I made the horrible yet practical decision of which order I would need to shoot the men if the threat of my gun was not sufficient to make them leave. One…two… then over the fence behind us in case the guy in the car stepped on the accelerator. Curiously, my hands weren’t shaking and I was certain in that moment my aim would be true…that I’d raise it up and use the sight…that I would defend my daughter with deadly accuracy.
Suddenly, there was a shift.
I wasn’t the one backing away. The bearded guy slammed the hood of the car and put his hands out to the sides, to assure me he was harmless. He walked slowly backward to the passenger side, while the blonde guy got in the back.
I never drew my firearm.
I never pointed it at them.
I never shot them.
But the very sight of my hand on the butt of it, and the fact that I was clearly determined to use it if necessary was all the deterrent that was needed in that particular situation. Maybe they could tell that I had made my decision and was not bluffing. Maybe they could see I’d chosen which of them I was going to shoot first. I’ll never know what convinced them.
Suddenly, a woman and a child were more than 3 grown men wanted to tangle with.
Suddenly, we weren’t weaker. We weren’t victims. We had the power to protect ourselves.
Did I do everything “right” from a tactical point of view? I have no idea. I don’t have that kind of training. But it was right enough that we remained alive and untouched.
We lived on a lonely country road, 45 minutes from the nearest police station and official “help” had we been forced to call 911 to protect ourselves. Can you honestly say we would have been better off if I had been unarmed?
Biological fact: due to testosterone, most men are physically stronger than most women.
Obviously, there are exceptions, but if you were going with percentages, they’d be on the side of this fact.
As equal as people would like to say the sexes are, biology defies the politically correct ideals. If my daughters were to ever find themselves in a position where they had to fight to save their own lives, I would far rather they be armed with the handgun of their choice than any number of weekend self-defense classes. Nothing is going to empower them more than a firearm that they can use with comfort and accuracy.
Nothing is going to be more likely to end a conflict before it erupts into violence than seeing that the person you thought was going to be your victim is willing to fight back with deadly force.
Anyone who is against the idea of women learning to handle a firearm cannot truly call themselves pro-woman.
The idea that we all need to hand over our guns and then the world would be a safer place is nothing but a silly, rose-colored daydream. If that offends you, then you need to sincerely think about the fact that under your guidelines, the smaller, weaker person will always be the victim.
We all have the natural right to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Why are some people so terrified of the idea of taking control of their own safety?
There is no way to guess how many times a firearm in the hands of a would-be victim deters a criminal and saves a life. I would hazard a guess that situations like the one that happened to my daughter and me are not unique. The mere sight of the firearm at my side did not cause violence. It prevented the violence that was brewing.
If you call yourself a feminist, why in the world would you be against the one thing that could keep you the safest and empower you the most?
And while I’m at it, any person who feels marginalized or vulnerable to hate crimes should be there lining up at the shooting range with me. If you are a gay person, a minority, a transgender person, or of a religion that is being persecuted, you, too, need to take the power into your own hands to defend yourself from the bullies and villains of this world should they physically attack you.
Instead, all I see are examples of hatred for those who promote real empowerment.
Dana Loesch, the spokeswoman for the NRA, had to move to a secret location a couple of years ago because her life and that of her family are being threatened in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting.
This is the “side” you are supporting. This is the side that wants to ban guns or deter national reciprocity.
I had a similar experience years ago in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting when people fervently wished my children dead in the “next school shooting.” Every time I post something pro-gun, some impotent little man who claims to be a “feminist” emails me or sends me a private message about some horrific brutal rape fantasy he’d like to carry out on me because I am an advocate of the Second Amendment – the threats generally involve power tools or rusty implements.
Yeah, that kind of message really going to make me want to give up my guns.
For some reason, our ability to be supported by other women stops cold at guns. If we arm ourselves, it’s open season for threats of harassment, violence, brutal rape, and against the safety of our children.
If you agree with the following statements, then you cannot logically agree with gun control.
- I have the right to keep my family safe.
- I have the right to protect myself against someone bigger and stronger than me.
- I have the right to protect myself when traveling.
- I have the right to be safe in public places.
- I have the right not to be raped.
- I have the right not to be beaten.
- I have the right to have my own power instead of waiting for the police to rescue me.
Most of us are on the same side. We want to be safe. I urge you to take that safety into your own hands.
Women, please empower yourselves.
Get a gun.
Learn to use it.
Carry it everywhere.
Stop relying on others to protect you and learn to protect yourself. You could be more empowered than you ever imagined if you’d just stop begging the government to take your power away.
Please think about this.
Love,
Daisy
Way to go Daisy!! Everything you said, except being sexually assaulted, applies to men too. Especially us older guys that no longer have the strength or endurance to fight or run.
This is absolutely true! Thank you for adding this.
Everything INCLUDING being sexually assaulted applies to men too. And to the LGBTQ community. There’s a reason I support Pink Pistols and similar groups. There’s a reason I worked to pass concealed carry reform in my home state (MN). Unfortunately, where I live now, it’s a problem.
I agree with pretty much everything here, Daisy! Nice to read.
Men also get sexually assaulted.
Anon, sexual assault happens to men also. It just goes unreported even more.
Thank you. I’ve been trying to talk to my wife about this for a long time. I will show her the article and, perhaps, she’ll reconsider.
She needs to reconsider since women ususally outlive men and live alone later on.
Well said Daisy! I agree 100%.
A similar incident happened to my sister,who lives in LasVegas. She was shopping at WalMart and there was an accident in the parking lot with a lot of lookie loos so my sister drove around the back of the store to get out of the parking lot. There she encountered 3 men in a car blocking her way. She thought they were more than likely dealing drugs. She asked them to please move their car so she could get by. One of them approached her driver window and she asked him to please move his car, again. As he glanced at her and around her car she finally pulled out her licensed gun, not pointing it at anyone and said ok this is enough and made like she was getting out of the car. They then decided to leave post haste. Had she not had a weapon this very well may have not ended well for her.
Excellant job Daisy, how anyone regardless of gender could read your great article and not agree, is beyond belief.
The very people urging you to disarm PROFIT by glorifying the gun, sex ,and physical assaults through their media,
It is the LIBERAL MSM & Entertaiment. Movies & Video Games, that romanticize violence.
Why let the MSM that is the cause of the violence ,,,,, set the discourse ?
The MSM IS the cause of the violence.
It is not “GUN” violence it is MSM-PROFITEER violence.
It is the deliberate destruction of the CULTURE that is at fault. Now who has been corroding Christian values for decades? Who has been PROFITING off glorifying violence? Who has been “teaching” that you can commit murder with NO Consequences?
CULTURAL VIOLENCE
Who has polluted the American “Mayberry” culture with “THUG GANGSTA” songs, games, movies, that glorify violence and promote violence with NO consequences, as the ONLY way to deal with problems?! Yes, WHO ?
It is the CULTURE, STUPID ….. What has been done to Our culture by Media interested in PROFIT and “SOCIAL ENGINEERING” (just WHAT are they “engineering”?) NOT in creating a solid prosperous SOCIETY. WHO indeed?
MEDIA-ASSAULT-THOUGHTS. There is no action that is not preceded by the thought and idea of the action, and MSM has immersed America in violent anti-social thoughts. and been publicly proud and boastful of their ANTI-heroes. The immersion of a society in the thoughts and ideas of senseless violence unaccompanied by consequences. The flooding of Media venues such as music, movies, video games, TV, with thoughts and ideas designed to induce violent behavior. If purveying ideas through the media does not work ….. why are $BILLIONS spent every year on advertising and political propaganda if spreading “thoughts” does not matter?!?! Hillary is spending $HUNDREDS of MILLION$ on ADVERTIZING to try to INFLUENCE ACTIONS.
What are the anti-Freedom activists doing except SPREADING anti-gun THOUGHTS hoping they will lead to ACTIONS?
————————–
Where are the MANDATORY firearms safety classes for Children? “They” insist mandatory sex education is indispensable.
They sure are obsessed with CHILD SEX but have no concern for CHILD SAFETY.
To protect YOUR child …….ALL children should be vaccinated?????? WELL ……
To protect YOUR child …….ALL children should be firearm educated.
………… Our “Great Educators” push MANDATORY sex education in all schools as the cure for teenage pregnancy and STDs among the young. Where are their strident voices demanding FIREARM SAFETY EDUCATION in all schools !?
but, but…..when SECONDS count, a cop is only MINUTES away……well said daisy…well said….you too eddie!
If there is one thing in addition to the above, as a prepper, I recommend every women that values their life or safety is to learn a martial art!
I can not stress this enough, learn something that will keep you safe, whether it be kick boxing, grappling, or simple boxing. This, in my opinion, like learning how to handle a firearm, should not be put off until later in life, learn it now.
You can start by either going online courtesy of YouTube, or going to a dojo. Learn what ever works that will keep you safe. Right now, I am learning American Kenpo Karate and I’m also learning Wing Chun Kung Fu. Also, make sure you spar as often as you can, within reason, so that you understand yourself most importantly and how you will react when you are hit.
If it were me, I would make martial arts as part of junior high school and high school curriculum.
Just a thought, and stay safe out there!
would beat the hell out of jumping jacks in gym!
Martial arts are highly over rated, especially for the average person.
Many black belt instructors get beat up in a street fight.
There are a lot of difference in training in a Dojo and fighting in the streets. Most martial arts are taught with competition skills, not hard core fighting skills, in mind.
That makes all the difference, The street fight has no honor, no tapping out, no place for pulling punches and no excuses for being weaker. It is hard, mean and dirty.
So as a rule forget Martial arts or ” self defense classes”, most are not going to protect you. There are specialty classes that do teach street fighting they are much better.
Much of the same goes for weapons training. Shooting stationary targets, is not very useful. Combat shooting training is much better.
And in close quarters encounters in the street, using sights is a poor idea. Even most Leo’s are trained in point shooting for such emergencies.
Acquiring a sight picture takes to long. you will be overrun before you can take them down, as it will probably take 3 or more shots, just to stop one determined attacker, let alone 3 of them.
Most of the time people get lucky and they are not that determined and 1 or 2 of them will just run away instead.
But the time is coming (SHTF, Civil War), when you will not be able to count on them running away.
Tim Larkin, Target Focus Safety – you can find his videos on YouTube, he has DVDs and live training events.
Lifesaving info.
What are the steps to getting trained to handle firearms and get your CCW? It’s something I’ve contemplated doing for a long time but I honestly don’t even know where to start. And choosing a gun…whom do I trust to set me in the right direction for what’s best for me ? Any advice appreciated.
Hi, Shey 🙂
This varies from state to state, but you can go to https://www.usacarry.com/concealed_carry_permit_information.html to see the specific laws. To learn to use a firearm, I suggest finding an instructor by word of mouth. If you happen to be in Northern California, I can recommend my former instructor to you.
As far as choosing a gun, check out your local range. Many ranges have an option for you to try out different guns with the help of an instructor. You’ll need to call ahead for an appointment. Be sure to try out a variety of guns, because the one that is comfortable for me might not be for you. My good friend has an M&P Shield she loves, but when I tried it, I hated it. My choice is a Glock 19, but that gun doesn’t have a safety, so some people don’t care for it. Try before you buy!
Good luck, and let me know if I can help further!
Choosing a gun is like choosing a bra. There isn’t a “one size fits all”. Try out different ones. A good instructor will help you find the right gun. Also, check out your local DNR to see if there are “hunters” classes for free that you can take and get familiarized with guns, in general, and with safety around guns. Once you’re familiar, they can probably help you find a local person to give you a good solid foundation in personal protection and info on concealed carry in your state.
Shey,
I would highly recommend you check out The Well Armed Woman (www.thewellarmedwoman.com) and the non-profit shooting chapters program (twawshootingchapters.org) to see if there is a shooting chapter in your area. There are trained instructors who volunteer their time to help women exactly like you navigate the sometimes confusing world of firearms and self protection. We are all about educating, equipping and empowering women to take charge of their own self protection – from choosing and maintaining their own firearm to training at the range. Feel free to reach out to myself or anyone in the TWAW organization. There are hundreds of volunteer chapter leaders who would love to help you.
~Donna
Daisy, this would be a great article for Carrie Lightfoot to publish on her Well Armed Woman page. As well as for the USCCA. Beth Alcazar would welcome this piece! Please consider submitting it to both. It is. The best I’ve read.
My daughter in law was at an ATM machine one night on her way back from picking son up at the Phoenix airport. A guy came out of nowhere and demanded her money. When she reached into her purse, she pulled out a gun instead. He jumped a 5 ft hedge in hasty retreat. Dont mess with mama bear!
Look up The Well Armed Woman, it’s a national group for woman and their firearms. There are chapters in 48 states. They can answer any questions you have. They also have a Facebook page.
Also, many states now have Constitutional Carry which require no Conceal Carry permit and have reciprocity agreements with other states. You can look it up online. I know that Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma do.
Kentucky as well, it’s in the senate here in Mich but we’ll prob never get it past the Gretch.
Ohio FINALLY allowed the constitutional carry, starting next week [6/12/2022]!!
I found my handgun (Sig Sauer – I have large hands for a woman, but most guns were too big for comfort and really heavy) by asking to ‘hold for a few minutes’ the guns of those I knew. When I held this gun, I knew it was a good one for me. You can also go to a store and ask to hold the ones they have on display.Yup, they will look at you really weirdly …
My Sig is chambered in 9 mm. So I will receive as a gift/buy for myself an iTargetPro system that uses a 9 mm laser round. You put this laser round in your own gun (for a 9 mm round, it can be put into any gun that uses 9 mm rounds, a .223 laser round can be put into any gun chambered to use .223 ammo, etc.), and install an app on your phone. You put your phone into a cradle/sled that comes with the system and shoot at a special, included target. The phone makes the ‘bang’ noise when you shoot, and will show you where the laser hit on the target. So I can avoid the whole intimidating range thing and just practice at home until I am comfy enough to take a next step.
Don’t know really how to respond to this, but most of the supposition is based on False Flag, manufactured events.
Having/carrying a sidearm at ‘Vegas MAY have helped with the many-witnesses-reported “3 or 4 shooters INSIDE” the venue, but unless you’re carrying a long-range weapon of some sort, how would you engage the 2nd-rooftop shooter, or the helicopter firing, above, MUZZLE FLASHES 100% VISIBLE?
Now. While I believe SOME were shot (my deep source also felt they ‘upped the ante’ from Sandy Hoax, Boston, San Bernardino, and that phony ‘Pulse shooting’, they ARE now willing to kill the Sheep, as too many were catching on the window-dressing injuries), but, once again, much of the carnage appeared quite fake (as 2 trauma surgeons have already gone on record saying most of it looks quite fake), NO EMT, no ambulances, no paramedics, no firemen, and gunshot victims OUT of the hospital in a day (go youtube REAL gunshot victims since 99% of Amerikans believe this nonsense, and see what REALLY HAPPENS with a gunshot), so unless you’re REALLY CARRYING, and are well-enough trained to take down at least ONE of these professional assailants (you’ll find they’ll most likely be Mossad, Craft Intl, or Blackwater)) to expose these frauds….
…..THEN YOU AREN’T GOING TO STOP GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED/MANUFACTURED TERROR.
And THIS is exactly what all these events are. Some of these Crisis Actors have been busted at as many as 4 of these ‘tragedies’, AND YES, one girl interviewed in Vegas was ALSO a victim at Sandy Hoax AND one other (I forget which other event she also participated in), COMBINED with the FACT that at the end of Sept, Las Vegas Craigslist had ads seeking Crisis Actors for ‘an upcoming event’.
‘Conspiracy theory’?
Then why did CL 100% remove these ads – and 100% scrubbed the internet OF ALL TRACES OF THESE ADS? The Wayback pages are scrubbed….
My, my, my…… someone has gone to a LOT of trouble to hide that fact.
But don’t worry; You’ll completely lose this country before the sheep wake up that it was alllll a lie.
“If all guns disappeared tomorrow the world would be a safer place”.
That is true.
Unfortunately, it would be a safer place ONLY for the young, the strong, and the well trained.
For 50,000 years the world was dominated by muscle-driven weapons, and those who could use them. Fists and feet, clubs, knives, swords, axes, spears, and bows were the ultimate personal weapons. These weapons all required great upper body strength, and were primarily used successfully by young strong men. It was only with the advent firearm, particularly the repeating rifle and handgun, that the weaker members of society began to have a chance for personal defense against the young and strong.
If you want to leave women, the elderly, the injured, and minorities once again at the mercy of human wolves, then by all means take the guns away.
Personally I say MOLON LABE! (COME AND TAKE THEM!”
I can offer some tips for people that might be a bit timid about shooting a handgun.
Although a Texan for thirty years I was born and raised in NY (Law Guyland) so I am a bit familiar with the ‘fear of shooting a gun’ that exists in our society.
As Daisy mentioned a handgun is a personal weapon and what is comfortable for one person may well not be for another. My choice is the Smith & Wesson third generation autos, but then I like metal guns with firing pins…
As to how to get someone that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable even holding a handgun let alone firing one to become comfortable and confident with one I suggest the following:
When I take someone under my wing to teach them to shoot a handgun the first thing that I do is sit them down with the guns that we are going to shoot (I usually provide them).
Then we break the gun that they will shoot down to its major components and clean it – even if it’s already clean! (and if it’s one of mine is damned sure is)
I watch them go from trembling hands (oh my gosh, it’s a gun) to comfortable with it, to almost disgusted with it. The gun goes from something dreaded and feared to (dare I say it?) ‘Just another damned thing that I have to clean!’
It’s particularly effective when I teach females.
And when you get right down to it, that’s all it really is – just a collection of parts that when assembled can enable someone of lesser strength to be equal to someone of greater strength.
Try this method. You will be surprised how well it works.
Remember – You don’t shoot to kill. You shoot to live…
Steve C.
Spring, TX
Thank you! That is wonderful advice 🙂
Excellent suggestion. I learned about guns playing/fiddling with a couple of shotguns in my dad’s hardware store. No one bothered to teach me a thing about them. I figured it out by myself. It’s not rocket science.
I don’t recommend the DIY training method for anyone else; simply, it worked for me so it’s not that hard. Nevertheless, I haven’t had a negligent discharge in my life. DIY served be for 50 years whereupon I began serious training. I advocate professional training; as much as you can afford, enjoy and feel you are learning from. Best from the beginning rather than at end-of-life (as was my experience).
May I also add that if you start out with a laser-gun and laser-target you will get all the hand-eye-coordination down pat without the distraction of noise and recoil. The laser gear doesn’t cost much today and you should use it to practice regularly for a few years until the “muscle-memory” takes hold. Split the cost with a training partner. How do you get practice if your back yard isn’t a shooting range? (My childhood “backyard” was for practical purposes a shooting range and I bought my ammunition wholesale. Got my muscle-memory in a few years and it hasn’t gone away in the subsequent half century.)
Next step; a .22 revolver – with 22 Short cartridges to start with. Get used to no-recoil + low-bang sound. When you no longer are annoyed by the sound, switch to 22 Long Rifle where you will feel the slightest hint of recoil. Borrow the .22 revolver at first. Then buy one for range practice for years to come. The cost of the revolver will be recovered in ammunition savings because you won’t be buying much .38/9 mm to practice with.
Finally, buy a self-defence calibre gun. Your gun shop salesman is your friend. He can show you lots of different makes and models until you find the right feel. Go to the range on a busy day and ask other shooters to borrow their guns and shoot a few rounds with different calibres; e.g., .32; .380; .38/9 mm; .357; .45. Depending on your weight, strength and sensitivity to recoil you will learn how much gun you feel comfortable handling. (An interesting choice is a Ruger .327 LCR/x. It will accomodate 4 different cartridges ranging from anemic to .38 Special equivalent.)
Don’t make a revolver/semi-auto decision until this stage.
If you intend to retain your amature status, seriously consider a revolver. Unless you intend to “go pro” (become a combat infantrywoman, cop, security guard, professional gunfighter) it is NOT worthwhile to learn and maintain the skill of recovering from the jams semi-autos are vulnerable to. And, there are more things to go wrong in handling a semi-auto vs. a revolver. (Learning to take the safety off when you want to fire; learning to put it back on when you are done firing. Leaving a round in the chamber when you remove the magazine; you think it’s unloaded. Adopting and maintaining a carry practice: Israeli-Carry/Condition-3 vs. Condition-2/1. Choice of SA/DA/DAO. Each of these choices calls for maintaining a unique skill set which you will have to execute under stress in a self-defense situation. Yes, it can be done; but it requires a much larger commitment to practice. Great if you are undertaking to go pro. Not prudent if you intend to remain an amature.)
Read a book or take a course in the law of self-defense. Buy self-defense “insurance”. These are non-optional if you carry outside the home.
Dunno where you live, but .22 rimfire now costs more than bulk 9mm did just a few years ago, so the economics cited no longer apply. My recommendation is to use springer airguns [not CO2 powered-that’s getting spendy also!] for practice. The bonus is-they have recoil! Once you can consistently hit with a spring-air pistol the transition to shooting centerfire is not difficult.
Very well said.
I posted most of this as a reply to an individual, but I thought I’d post it generally as well.
I would highly recommend that any woman considering a firearm for self protection check out The Well Armed Woman (www.thewellarmedwoman.com) and the non-profit shooting chapters program (twawshootingchapters.org) to see if there is a shooting chapter in your area. There are trained instructors who volunteer their time to help women navigate the sometimes confusing world of firearms and self protection. We are all about educating, equipping and empowering women to take charge of their own self protection – from choosing and maintaining their own firearm to training at the range.
~Donna
Thanks for the info! Found a local chapter about 10 minutes away. This is a good first step for me. So grateful for everyone’s suggestions.
Thank you @ Donna.I read about a guy who ran a firearms training school for women in Detroit a while ago.If I find it I will post it
One of the silliest things is that many people have is an “all or nothing” attitude when it comes to gun control. You can’t say you’re for some gun control, because then you’re accused of wanting to take away people’s guns. And if you’re against some gun control, then you’re accused of not caring about gun crimes. But there is a middle section you can enter. And there is one simple way to reduce mass murders without infringing on your gun rights (too much).
Support bans on high capacity magazines. Support a limit of 10-15 rounds per magazine for all calibres (from .22 to 9mm to 5.56). This will let you defend yourself and your family and help to prevent mass murderers from being able to kill 30 people in under 10 seconds (an AR-15 shoots at 5 rounds per second, without modifications).
And consider this: most people who have to use a weapon is self defence (either with a pistol or other firearm), only use 2 rounds to neutralise the threat. Extra rounds are usually people hyped up on adrenaline emptying the magazine into the bad guy.
So, there are 4 basic firearms that have a purpose in the civilian world:
1) Pistols. Carry them for self defence. Store them at home in small safes, without a magazine in them (but with a magazine close by), to prevent them from being stolen by criminals or accidentally used by children. Threats are usually so small that a semi-automatic 5-shot snub nosed revolver is all you need (with maybe a more modern pistol as backup). There is no real need for more than 10 shots with pistols.
2) Shotguns. These are useful for hunting birds and self defence in the home. Use birdshot if confronting a criminal indoors, as birdshot will hurt without going through a plywood and plaster wall as easily as buckshot. Store in a safe without a round in the chamber. Around 2.5 feet long is good for keeping accuracy without losing power. If you don’t get a double barrel, get a pump-action, as the sound of you cocking the gun will provide a nice deterrent. A 4 + 1 (four round magazine plus the chamber) has plenty of ammo capacity to scare the bejesus out of a home invader.
3) Bolt-Action/Lever-Action Rifles. These are useful for hunting animals. Store in a safe unloaded and with ammo in a seperate safe (it’s not for defence, so it’s okay to store the ammo away from the gun). This will make it difficult for criminals to steal a gun and then use it on your family. Have the rifle as 2.5 feet or longer to provide sufficient accuracy. I recommend a maximum of 10 rounds, as it is all you need for hunting.
4) Semi-Automatic Rifles. These are best used for hunting pest animals (such as rabbits or wild pigs). Choose a hunting style rifle, not an assault-style rifle, as the extra features are unnecessary. It should have a fixed stock, a rifle grip and a scope, with a length of 2.5 feet or longer. If it comes with a muzzle flash suppressant, good for you, but otherwise don’t worry about it. You’ll be hunting animals, not people, and animals can’t pick out a shooter by the muzzle flash. Recommend max magazine capacity of 15 rounds.
These firearm types are all someone will need for civilian life. All other firearms have no real purpose. Only get them if you’re an avid shooter/gun collector and have the means to safely store them so they can’t be stolen.
General advice for all guns: store in a safe. If the gun is for self defence, store the gun with ammunition, but without a round in the chamber. If the gun isn’t for self defence, then store the firearm seperate to ammunition.
These simple steps can help to prevent mass shootings without taking away your right to be safe. Please, take this advice on board and change the way you view the second amendment. You’re a single person, not a “well regulated militia” ????
Gun control laws do absolutely nothing to prevent gun crime. That isn’t my opinion. It is what the research on the matter says. This is why the assault weapons ban was allowed to expire–the ban was found to have zero effect on crime. All gun control laws do is to render law-abiding Americans less able to protect themselves (to which purpose guns are put in the US a MINIMUM of 5000% more often than they are used in homicides, according to the CDC). Laws do not apply to criminals, because criminals do not obey laws.
500%. One too many zeroes got into my math. 10,000 firearms murders/year. Somewhere between 500,000 and 3 MILLION defensive gun uses/year
Okay. First, the CDC has been banned from researching the amount of guns and violence (e.g to find a link between more guns and less crime) since the mid 1990s. This means that any data that you have is at least 20 years out of date.
Second, states with the most guns and the most lax gun laws have, in general, more gun related suicides and homicides. While you may point to Chicago, may I state that the states surrounding Chicago have very lax gun laws, making it easy for someone to purchase a gun.
Third, I’m saying that you SHOULD be allowed a gun for self defence (see points 1 & 2). But I’m saying that unless you’re planning on being a mass murderer or shooting a large group of people by yourself (such as in a riot situation), then there is no need for a high capacity magazine.
Fourthly, there is an old argument that ‘if someone wants to kill themselves/others/a large group of people, they’ll do it anyway’ doesn’t address the fact that a gun is more likely to be lethal than a knife, hammer, car or truck. When the car plowed into a group of protesters, only 1 was killed. If that person was using an assault-style semi-automatic rifle with a high capacity magazine, much more people would have been injured.
In addition, gun control at it’s core isn’t meant to impact law abiding gun owners. IT’S MEANT TO STOP CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY ILL FROM GETTING GUNS. Currently in the US, people on no-fly lists and people with known mental illnesses can purchase a gun just as easily as someone who isn’t a suspected terrorist or mentally ill. You should support bills banning these criminals and these sick people from owning guns that they might use against you, as well as bills that expand background checks to prevent criminals from easily purchasing guns online (such as on a Facebook auction).
Another thing, the assault weapons ban expired because Republican Bush believed in NOT trying to prevent people from buying weapons that literally have no purpose other than killing people (how many people do YOU see hunting with AR-15s…). The ban didn’t expire because it was useless, it expired because Bush was useless (yes I’m bashing him, he caused the Iraq war without any proof or evidence).
Finally, the US has the highest gun rate in the world, with roughly 5% of the world’s population, but 35% of the world’s guns. It also has one of the highest murder rates by guns and has more mass shootings (4 people, not including the shooter, dead) than any other industrialised nation on earth. In countries with strict gun control (e.g England), there is massive violence and stabbings (this is cultural, not relating to gun control), but there are ZERO (0) mass shootings. More people died in a apartment building fire than ever will from mass shootings in England.
But whatever, if having over 30,000 gun related deaths a year that may include someone you know doesn’t bother you, then sleep safe, knowing others die because you want easy access to a gun that is just as easily accessible to a criminal.
Got that wrong: While the US does have the largest amount of guns (90 per 100 people), out of 218 countries, the US ranks 113th in homicides. FAIL!
Murder rates by GUNS. GUNS. What part of GUNS says to you “all weapons”? Also, it also says INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRIES. So third world conties suffering from war and violence aren’t counted, only first world countries that have moved past coal and steam power to things like nuclear energy, electric houses/cars, modern transport and having more modern views on women and the environment.
So, the US has one of the highest gun related homicide and suicide rates in the developed worlds, as well as the most mass shootings in the developed world (imagine living in a country where three people being shit and killed is the national tragedy of the past decade).
“Threats are usually so small that a semi-automatic 5-shot snub nosed revolver is all you need … .”
One of the greatest weapons of self-defense is the art of discernment. Learning to discern truth from vicious and evil propaganda can help you save your life and the lives of your loved ones. The anti-gun coward afraid to identify himself above is a perfect example. A little discernment makes it obvious that he/she/it is working to disarm every citizen, making women and children especially vulnerable. Since there is NO SUCH THING as a “semi-automatic 5-shot snub nosed revolver,” the enemy above has unknowingly tipped his hand. This is typical of the politicians and special interests who make outrageous and uneducated claims that most five-year-old children know to be lies.
If the poster (most certainly a well paid professional instigator) can’t even get the most basic information right (semi-automatic revolvers are the same as virgin whores, powdered water, and Electric Amish), absolutely NOTHING that he/she/it says is to be in any way trusted.
You want an example of a semi-automatic five shot snub nosed revolver?
The Smith & Wesson Model 642 Airweight .38 Special Revolver.
It is a semi-automatic five shot snub nosed revolver with a concealed hammer (though it does have a trigger pull weight of 12 pounds).
Also, I don’t identify myself because I don’t know who YOU are. For all I know, you may be an identity thief or someone who is trying to find targets online. Also, I don’t need to be paid by some shadowy government organisation, as I have a job. Also, WHY would a anti-all-guns person say “you should have guns for self defence”? If you need to overcompensate with your weapons, that’s your choice.
Also, I happen to live in an area with strict gun control laws, and I can tell you that it’s working. Despite a relatively high population (roughly 4 million), there has been ZERO mass shootings since strict guns laws were passed 20 years ago.
Banning all guns is plain stupid. But having zero regulations is even more stupid, as that way more people will die from criminals who stole an AR-15 from someone’s closet and then used that stolen weapon to commit a mass shooting using legally brought 30 round magazines.
So please, DON’T call someone anti-gun when they’re saying “you should be allowed to own guns”. It only makes YOU look stupid and unable to read a full sentence.
“The Smith & Wesson Model 642 Airweight .38 Special Revolver.
It is a semi-automatic five shot snub nosed revolver with a concealed hammer (though it does have a trigger pull weight of 12 pounds).”
Thank you for once again proving my point and identifying yourself as both a liar and an enemy of liberty. The S&W Model 642 is a J-Frame, Double Action Only (DAO) revolver with an internal hammer instead of an external hammer. I have owned several. Only entertainment writers and anti-gun proponents would ever refer to a revolver as a semi-automatic, as a result of reading a description somewhere online.
“Also, I happen to live in an area with strict gun control laws, and I can tell you that it’s working. Despite a relatively high population (roughly 4 million), there has been ZERO mass shootings since strict guns laws were passed 20 years ago.”
What you meant to say is that since strict gun control was enacted in your village twenty years ago, only mass shootings are now counted as murders., and the one thousand rapes, home invasions, and violent homicides are no longer considered crimes. That’s definitely one way to lower crime rates and extort more taxpayer funds from the federal government as a “reward” for safe neighborhoods.
“[Without government regulations] more people will die from criminals who stole an AR-15 from someone’s closet and then used that stolen weapon to commit a mass shooting using legally brought [sic] 30 round magazines.”
And you have data from the DOJ and FBI to substantiate this outrageous lie? And ONLY a rabid anti-gun tyrant would ever suggest that citizens protect themselves and family from armed and violent home invasion gangs by limiting themselves to an unloaded five shot revolver locked in a safe, all but ensuring the death of the homeowner and family, and possibly rape of the women and young girls.
Anyone recommending birdshot for home defense should be ignored at all costs. Birdshot is for birds, not 250lb meth heads. Anyone making the outrageous and provably false claim that racking the slide of a pump shotgun is enough to instill fear in intruders has never been the victim of a home invasion and has never been involved in a defensive gun use (DGU). The responsibility to protect one’s self, family, and home from violent invaders should NEVER be influenced by a dangerous and mentally unstable anti-gun nut who once watched an episode of Law and Order.
Listen, I’m more into skeet shooting than pistols, so yes, I’m not very knowledgeable in pistols. I’m calling a snub nosed revolver a perfect weapon for concealed carry. If you open carry, I suggest a scary looking Glock or M1911, as someone probably won’t rob someone with a gun that looks dangerous. As for birdshot, I suggest you try shooting a watermelon with birdshot, then shooting a watermelon with buckshot and telling me the difference. Also, YOU SHOULD BE ALLOWED GUNS. Listen when I say that. I want you to be able to have guns. But not high capacity magazines. Okay?
Also, a mass shooting is defined as four people (not including the shooter) being shot to death. The closest my area has come to a mass shooting is 2 dead, INCLUDING the shooter. And overall, homice and suicide rates have dropped. Also, I live in methtown. I know what it’s like for there to be methheads breaking into neighbour’s homes. But because of gun control, these criminals don’t have guns. So the homeowners aren’t dead because of some paranoid methhead.
Also, if you were sober and in complete control of your mind, coming up to someone with intent to rob them, would you keep on coming if you KNEW that person had a gun? Probably not. So a pump-action shotgun is actually quite a good choice.
Also, I happen to get information from a variety of sources and that information has led me to the conclusion that yes, firearms can prove to be pivotal in self defence, and if you legally can, carrying a concealed weapon can prove vital in a mugging. Open carrying a pistol can deter muggers altogether.
But, I’ve yet to see any evidence from anyone arguing here that someone NEEDS any magazine to hold more than 10-15 rounds. I’m not anti-gun, I’m anti-criminals-and-the-mentally-ill-from-getting-guns as well as anti-high capacity magazines.
So please, if you are to offer a retort, please let it be on the subject of magazine capacity and guns getting into the wrong hands, not whether or not you should be allowed to own guns. Because you should. Okay? Okay.
P.S And because I can’t let it go, I want to let you know that your cognitive dissonance is disturbing. My mental state is fine and my business, the the business of your (clearly wrong) ASSUMPTIONS. Also, I have only seen one episode of Law and Order, but that’s because L&O is a sucky show. I prefer NCIS for my crime drama show needs.
Also P.S Are you STILL calling me anti-gun? How many times do I have to say that people should be allowed guns for self defence? Maybe you should learn to read the phrase “people should have guns”.
For the second time, thank you for publicly proving my point that you are admittedly anti-gun. That you think that some people should be allowed to own some guns with some small amount of capacity proves that you are for gun ownership restrictions. That is an admission of being against gun ownership rights, or stated more succinctly, anti-gun. I’m only surprised that you didn’t recommend muskets or black powder rifles for defense.
For those of us who live and teach in the real world, we know that an AR15 with a 20 or 30 round magazine makes an exceptional home defense weapon, and had been used successfully many times. it is much easier for a small woman or a child to operate than a pump shotgun, thereby much safer for the operator and more dangerous for the intruder/s. And thank you for concern about your false perception of my cognitive dissonance. I’m doing just fine, Tinkerbell, but thanks for thinking of me.
I give up. None of the people refuting my arguments seem to know how to read. As for YOU, Mr. Thomas Edward Price, I seriously doubt that when you used your AR-15 for self defence, you had to use 20-30 bullets. So, your argument so far is:
1) Calling me anti-gun because I don’t think you should have magazines that hold enough ammo to kill an entire class of schoolchildren.
2) Calling me names for thinking that you don’t need magazines with enough capacity that they allowed a man to kill over 50 and injure over 500 more.
3) Belittling me because I don’t think that the mentally ill and criminals should have access to high capacity magazines.
4) Giving examples of needing high capacity magazines that are examples where people DIDN’T need high capacity magazines.
5) Saying that I am the worst for trying to provide a solution for preventing tragedies.
So please, go away. I hope you leave my comments alone and stay in your part of the country.
Please show me a semi automatic revolver I’ve never seen one. You sir are in need of training.
Webley-Foberry, LOL!
Thomas E. Price: That was a perfect reply, & true in all respects. Virgin whores? Powdered water? haha…..
First, you are flat out wrong about the CDC stat you quoted. They released a study in 2014 on gun violence. http://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dms/files/cdcgunviolencereport10315.pdf
Second, what you state about gun laws and gun deaths is at best misleading, and at worst simply untrue. Recent studies have found that in some cases, gun deaths are up, but 60% of those deaths are suicides, and really should not be lumped into gun violence statistics. Additionally, an overwhelming majority of homicides are gang related.
Third, regarding there being ‘no need’ for high capacity magazines. How would you know what kind of threat someone would face? In the story here, 10 rounds could likely not have been enough for this mother to fight off 3 men. Hits on target do not instantly neutralize a threat, particularly with handgun rounds. It often takes multiple hits to stop a threat. Meanwhile, that threat can still be shooting, stabbing or generally causing harm to the person trying to defend their self. So then how do you determine her magazine capacity need? You simply can’t. Stating you don’t need something in this general manner really provides no reason, and is foolish, because you simply don’t know what someone might need.
Fourth, you cite one time when a car killed one protester. What about Nice, France, or New York recently? Cars killed many more than one. How about the Boston Marathon bombing? Sure not as many people died, but that was mostly due to the placement of the bombs, not their general deadliness. Tons of people were seriously injured/mamed who likely would have been killed, if the bombs were placed above ground level.
Next, people with known mental illnesses are supposed to be barred from buying guns, but the government has not operated the database efficiently enough to prevent this from happening in all cases. The no fly list is problematic because it requires no due process, and denial of rights granted by the constitution can only be achieved through due process. It’s not that we want terrorists to buy guns, but we also don’t want rights trampled and taken away without due process. Finally, guns cannot be purchased online. Any gun that is shipped to a person has to be shipped to an Federal Firearms License holder and a background check is required for transfer. This ‘online sales’ garbage is a steaming bag of BS.
Your thoughts about the assault weapon ban expiration are cute, but unfounded. Gun crime literally did not go down during the ban, that is why it was allowed to expire. Second, I know a ton of people who hunt with AR-15s. They are common for deer and hog hunting all over the United States. It’s nice to have plenty of rounds to put down a hot before it puts you down.
While the US has a high murder rate by guns, does it really matter what you get murdered with? Our overall murder rate is middle of the road, and our violent crime rate is much lower than many other countries that have total, or near total gun bans.
I carry a gun every day, wherever I can. I was in the crowd at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest festival on October 1st. You don’t have to lecture me on getting shot at, or my friends dying. But lets be realistic about gun deaths. Suicides shouldn’t be included in your 30,000 gun related deaths number, as that is a different problem altogether. So then we are left with ~10,000 deaths by gun other than suicide (11,994 in 2013, 11,208 were homicide). Approximately 8,000 of those were gang on gang violence. So if you’re not going to shoot yourself, and you’re not involved in a gang, your chances of being murdered by a gun in the USA is .00097%, or almost 1 in 100,000. Perhaps we should deal with the the cultural problems that account for the 28,000 deaths before stripping rights away from the people who are acting overwhelmingly responsible with those rights.
Finally, we are on the precipice of not being able to ban these things anyway. Complete guns have already been 3D printed in their entirety using metal media. Magazines are made primarily of plastic, and are easily 3D printed with minimal investment today. We are probably 10 years away from millions of people having the technology in their home offices to print guns at will. The cat is already out of the bag, and can’t be put back in.
Well then, if someone breaks into my house and wants to rape or kill me, I guess I will just stand there and let him or her kill or do whatever else he/she wants to do, including maybe going after my kids!!! REALLY!!!! Guns do kill people, but it doesn’t do it on it’s own, it has to be picked up by a human being and used by that human being. Even if you take away all law-abiding citizen’s guns, there will still be people who aren’t law abiding who will be able to purchase a gun and kill whoever they want to. Give a solution to this problem without taking the right away from people to be able to defend themselves and their family!!!!
AR platforms have become a “go-to ” platform for varmint hunters. I know people who have used them for 20 years.
Do your research before pretending to know it all.
Actually Britain still has mass shootings every once in awhile.
“Since Dunblane we’ve had 2 further mass shootings, Cumbria 2010 and Plymouth 2021 both perpetrated by offenders with legally held firearms. We may have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world, but there are still issues here.”
UK government figures showed crimes committed using a knife – the most common weapon in the British capital – rose a staggering 21% in the 12 months to September 2017.
But using Britain is not a good comparison, because of their lack of racial mix, compared to the US. the same goes for most European countries or wealthier ones.
Instead we might better look at places like cape town – Nearly 600 people have been shot dead while more than 1000 were wounded in 442 mass shootings in just 30 months in the province.
These figures reported between June 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021
They have extensive gun control restrictions, but they don’t solve the problem. Just like the have not solved it in Britain.
Could you explain what exactly an automatic revolver is? I kinda think if you’re confused about something that basic, you’re probably confused about a lot of things.
SEMI-AUTOMATIC. Do people even read comments BEFORE commenting on them?
There is almost no such thing as a “semi automatic” revolver, which means the hammer is cocked and the cylinder is rotated through the utilization of recoil. They exist, but they are ultra rare. It’s called a double action revolver.
semi-automatic 5 shot revolver? Your argument would go further if you displayed actual firearms knowledge.
Yes, indeed, on #2. My DIL’s dad scared off a home invasion by staying hidden in the dark and cocking his shotgun.
Limiting magazine capacity is a limit on 2A. You only cripple the good guys who obey the law. If you are taking on numerous foes you are at an even greater disadvantage with a limit. In this case it was Daisy vs 3. She should be able to carry what she wants and is comfortable with. You think these thugs aren’t willing to break the law? (License plate – hello…?!)
As I told a coworker it is all in the individual. We had some rounds over who doesn’t “need” what. I set up two scenarios, the next door neighbors to his grandkids: an older vet with an impressive arsenal- down to a bazooka and an anti-aircraft gun on one side, and a ‘rehabed’ child sex offender with kitchen knives on the other…
Read the 2nd A – a single person is MEANT to be part if a ‘well-regulated’ militia.
Remember- in Daisy’s case her daughter could have been GONE by the time she got to the safe, opened it and loaded her gun. In many cases a locked up, unloaded gun is unarmed.
If my post were going to be that liberally stupid, I’d want it to be anonymous as well. Yes guns should be kept out of MOST kids reach, however, when parents aren’t home and the child is, and a burglar decides THAT is when to bust in your door, then THAT is the time your child needs full and immediate access to everything they can get their hands on to protect themselves as well. LIKE THIS ONE: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-carolina-boy-13-fatally-shoots-burglar-wounds-second-suspect-n462006
Perhaps you should look up militia before saying I’m not a part of it. US code, chapter 21, I believe.
Go to the range with many magazines; borrow from a friend. Each magazine has 10 rounds. Set up your targets. Start a timer for 10 minutes. Fire at your targets at will; at a brisk pace.
How many rounds were you able to fire? Did you run out of magazines before you ran out of time on your 10 minute timer? Borrow more magazines and repeat the exercise until you have enough to complete the 10 minute exercise.
Remember, each time you repeat this exercise your manual dexterity in changing magazines, establishing a beed on your target, getting back-on-target between rounds, will all improve. You may find that you have to repeat the exercise several times, each time borrowing more magazines, because you can fire more rounds in 10 minutes with practice.
Now, go to a print shop and order hundreds of Gun-Free Zone signs. Distribute them to the schools, shops, churches, and malls which you frequent.
Feel safe!
Where to start? An AR-15 can NOT fire 5 rounds per second. A fully automatic (machine gun) variant has a rate of fire of about 650 rounds per minute–which means your standard-capacity (not high-capacity) 30 round magazine is empty in literally 2-3 seconds. Few civilians own these rifles. An autoloading, aka semi-automatic AR-15 can only fire as quickly as one can squeeze the trigger, then release the trigger and then squeeze it again. The same rate of fire as a double-action revolver. Banning magazines of ANY capacity will have no more effect on the actions of spree killers and mass murderers than laws forbidding murder have. It’s just a self-deluding “feel good solution” that will have no effect other than to turn tens of millions of gun owners into felons with the stroke of a politician’s pen. The country–and the world–is awash in billions of such magazines already in circulation. If you could magically seize every standard-capacity magazine in the US, the grinning, latin banditos that sell you weed, meth, cocaine and Chinese-made opioids will ALSO be selling magazines, of which there’s no shortage south of the border. I know of no firearms instructor that supports your “double-tap” theory as being all that’s needed in every situation–particularly if being forced to defend against multiple assailants. More ammo means more opportunities for you to survive. Storing weapons separate from ammo means you’ll have to ask your home invasion robbers to give you a few minutes to kit up. If I may quote one of my heroes of the American Gun Culture as we are derisively called by anti-gun politicians, Elmer Keith: “All my guns are loaded…”, and if I may add: …at all times.
Actually, every armed person is a part of the “well regulated militia”, based upon the Founding Father writing’s. Besides that the 2nd amendment was made for both self defense and National defense. You cant separate one from the other.
So although what you mention sounds good it is not. Laws don’t matter to criminals and murders. The Buffalo shooter proved that. He modified the rifle and magazines to defeat your gun control ideas and he did it in one of the most heavily “gun control” states in the country.
So your ” Gun control” ideas and programs, don’t work, never have and never will. Most mass shootings occur in “gun free” zones or in “gun control” states. So it is time to rethink the “gun control” lies you have swallowed and start understanding the Truth.
Mass murders still occur where they have “gun control”. They just use other tools; knives, manchettes, bows and arrows, etc.
Metal health issues drive all of these shooters. But there is no outcry for more mental health funding. Lets attack the root cause – Mental Illness, not the tool they use. Remove one tool(guns) and they will just find another tool, usually one that is more devastating, like explosives.
Conveniently all gun control advocates forget the carnage of the Boston marathon bombings. Which rivaled that any mass shooting. But using explosives are illegal, so surely that would have stopped them, but it didn’t.
No. Thank you for your advice, but no. Your advice could work for you, but we’re currently living in a place where Law Enforcement response is likely over 30 minutes. We don’t have children in the house and we’re both qualified on every weapon we have. It’s not your place to limit anything we or other law-abiding Americans do, and nothing you suggest will keep criminals from getting what you think you’re banning. You believe robbing me of my legal property will somehow better protect me when you have zero chance of taking the same type hardware from criminals. I don’t believe in rainbows and unicorn farts and I don’t believe some new law aimed at the machinery instead of an understanding that “leaders” and society have failed in the raising of a couple of generations of children. It’s not the guns and there are already plenty of laws that should stop any killings. You can not stop this trend by outlawing weapons and magazines and you’ll never get all the weapons and magazines out of the hands of real criminals. I’m not the problem. 99.999% of gun owners are not the problem. All you will do with this is turn people like me – law-abiding gun owning citizens – into criminals, but if that’s the path that comes, then I will become a criminal. I will not surrender my weapons, magazines or freedom. Nothing you nor anyone else can say will change that.
Scary But True Facts About Firearms!
Brought to you via the Babylon Bee:
Guns are scary. This is a fact. They commit terrible crimes of their own accord, without any kind of input from an evil human being at all. But it’s important to know the facts about guns, since we live in a society.
Here are some of the scariest – but true – facts about firearms:
A 9mm bullet can blow a lung right out of your body. – Fact-check: true.
An AR-15 weighs as much as ten moving boxes. – Wow, that’s heavy!
A ghost gun is completely invisible and can fire a 30 magazine clip in half a second. – Where’s the lie? (this is Anonymous knowledge of firearms)
Fully-semi-automatic rifles with extended clip triggers and shoulder things that go up are 3.5x deadlier than regular fully-semi-auto rifles. – That’s over 3x deadlier. (again, Anonymous knowledge of firearms)
Guns are 3.5 times more deadly when wielded by a cis-white male. – No surprise there.
The average American male owns 471 guns. – And sometimes, they CROSS STATE LINES!
The smell of gunpowder is scientifically shown to make people more racist. – That explains a lot.
The dreaded Gauss Cannon in Doom Eternal propels metal spikes from a magnetized chamber at extremely high velocities causing demons’ heads to literally explode in giant torrential downpours of blood. – Thanks to the NRA, these are actually legal.
Bullets emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. – Guns are killing people, but more importantly, they’re killing the PLANET.
Many guns are made out of the exact same metal used to build Trump Tower. – Coincidence? I think not!
12 million sea turtles are killed by assault guns every minute. – This is so sad.
Abraham Lincoln was killed by a gun. If guns didn’t exist, he’d still be alive today. – He could’ve banned racism.
Bob Gun invented the gun to kill deer in 1704, and Hitler adapted them for killing humans in 1935. – Before that, nobody had ever been murdered before.
Alec Baldwin still has access to guns. – A terrifying thought.
32% of self-inflicted wounds come from Bugs Bunny bending back the barrel of the gun to point it at the shooter. – And if Bugs Bunny ties the barrels of your shotgun into a bow, it could blow up in your face! Not good!
Democrats claim black guns are much more dangerous than other races of guns. – Sounds kinda racist, bro.
Guns are referred to as “magic fire sticks” by Native Americans. – And Elizabeth Warren.
If you shoot a red barrel with a gun it will instantly explode. – Every time.
Guns can be used to overthrow governments. – Why would we ever want to do that? We can totally trust the government!
https://babylonbee.com/news/the-scariest-true-facts-about-firearms
After 25 years in the military I’ve never heard the term assault style rifle. Also, an AR cannot shoot 5 rounds in a second unless you Jerry Miculek.
This information may work for you but does not work for many others.
The previous assault weapon ban or limiting magazine capacity has done very little to reduce crime or gun violence. (Check the FBI stats)
BTW racking your shotgun does nothing but allow the intruder or multiple intruders to know exactly your location. A well thought out home defense plan and training is best in this case.
While I appreciate your post and your position on gun control and home/self defense it seems to parrot much of the anti gun jargon and contains half truths and false information.
Last point, yes I am only one person but I’m the ONE and Only person responsible to protect myself, family and my home.
In response to the latest mass shooting massacre, the left is once again pushing for more gun control. I believe it is very important to inform the public about just what kind of impact guns and gun laws actually have on violence in the US today. And what better way than by showing how states with a minimal amount of so called gun control laws are impacted by violent crime. I have assembled the facts and figures for the 3 states with the lowest total violent crimes rates in 2016.
NH, VT, & ME all are “Constitutional Carry” states; which means no permit is required to carry a concealed handgun.
According to the FBI’s Annual Crime Report (2016), NH, VT, ME, are the 3 safest states, as relating to violent crime. And, the only 3 states with a total violent crime rate of under “200 per 100,000 people”. ( https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/tables/table-3 ). I have been checking these annual ‘FBI Crime in the US’ reports for over a decade, and the total ‘Violent Crime Rate per 100,000 inhabitants’ for these 3 states is always low.
In 2016, New Hampshire’s total violent crime ‘Rate per 100,000 inhabitants’ was 197.6. Maine’s total violent crime ‘Rate per 100,000 inhabitants’ was 123.3. And Vermont’s total violent crime ‘Rate per 100,000 inhabitants’ was 158.3.
On top of that, NH also has almost no gun control of any kind to speak of. Open Carry of handguns is legal. There are no state mandated assault weapons, magazine capacity, or ammunition restrictions. No state mandated card or permit is required to purchase handguns, rifles, or shotguns. The only waiting period is however long the required federal background check takes. To sum it all up, NH is a very “Gun Friendly” state. And yet, rather than making NH a very dangerous place to live, just the opposite is true.
So what we have here is a lack of so-called ‘gun control’ laws on the books, yet we also have very low violent crime rates. Hmmm? According to the liberal mindset, this should not be the case. If you believe the rhetoric from the likes of Pelosi, Schumer, or Feinstein, these 3 New England states should be awash in violence. Such easy access to firearms, with little to no restrictions on their purchase or ownership. The ease with which people can walk the streets ‘packing heat’. It’s enough to make a ‘Hoplophobe’ run for the safety of California, the gun control capitol of the USA (California’s 2016 violent crime rate was 445.3 per 100,000). BTW: with all those firearms restrictions and outright bans that are supposed to make everybody so “safe”, why doesn’t California have the lowest total violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants?
The US Department of Justice (BATFE) every few years publishes the “State Laws and Published Ordinances – Firearms: 2017-2018 / 32nd Edition”: a publication that lists each of the 50 State’s gun laws and statues, listed state by state ( https://www.atf.gov/firearms/state-laws-and-published-ordinances-firearms-32nd-edition ).
Vermont ‘s gun laws and statues takes up 5 Pages, while New Hampshire’s takes up 7 Pages. Remember, they have the 2nd and 3rd lowest violent crime rates in the US. In contrast, California’s gun laws and statues takes up 158 Pages. And what does California get for those 158 pages of gun control; a violent crime rate of 445.3 per 100,000.
Point I am try to make here is that guns, in and of themselves, have little to do with how much violence a society inflicts upon itself. Humans were committing terrible acts of violence long before there were firearms. Fact is, more guns can equal less crime! These 3 New England States prove this to be a fact. And these low violent crime rates are not a one or two year ‘aberration’. They remain consistently the lowest in the country, year after year. (NH;s rate in 2006 was 138.7, and in 2007 was 137.3; while Vermont’s rate in 2006 was 136.6, and in 2007 was 124.3. Like I said, I have been keeping track of these numbers and commenting on them every year for over a decade).
Lastly, you might ask; who has the highest violent crime rate in the USA? Well, once again, as is every year, the highest total violent crime rate per 100,000 goes to: Washington DC at 1205.9 per 100,000. Our nation’s capitol, once again the most violent place in the USA. What does all this mean? Perhaps that it is people, and not guns, that are the cause of violence. That easy access to the purchasing and carrying of guns, or the restricting or outright banning of guns, has no effect whatsoever on the violent crime rate. Otherwise CA would be a place of peace and tranquility, and NH, VT, and ME would be cesspools of violence. The FBI’s own numbers show that this is not the case.
Great comments, Steve! Good to see opinion based on facts, NOT emotion! Great to have people like you and Daisy around here!
Thank you for laying this out. I am a former police officer and Army MP (female). In spite of my training and experiences I cannot go one on one with the majority of the male population and come out on top unless I am armed (which I am).
GUN CONTROL: Being able to hit your target.
Daisy,
Thanks for sharing your story. I have 3 daughters and 2 granddaughters…we live in rural Texas, out of the city limits.
I carry everywhere I go.
Never turn your back on a stranger.
Take care,
Dave
For those who believe there are no recent statistics on gun control, a quick search brought me to this link: http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp. I did not read the whole article but what I did read made me feel that it was a fairly unbiased representation of the facts.
I would be one of the first people to argue that any and all appeals to the Constitution are pointless, since it is no longer the supreme law of the land and hasn’t been for many years. I would also point out that the Constitution doesn’t GIVE us our rights but GUARANTEES them – a very important distinction which I will not elaborate on in this post.
However, were I to invoke the Constitution, I’d probably point out that the text of the Second Amendment concerns a well regulated militia and it’s importance to the security of a FREE state and, for this reason, our right to keep and bear arms shall not be interfered with. I’d also argue that the crux of this amendment is for protection from tyrants – little tyrants; that just want to take our things, violate our person or kill us individually, and big tyrants; who want control over our lives and our things collectively and without question.
While I can’t personally justify the need for a fully automatic weapon, a bazooka or a tank, the real question that must be asked is this: Who should make the decision over what we can or cannot own?
I would prefer not to have the sociopaths that we continuously put in positions of power – our elected rulers – make that decision. Nor do I trust the tyranny of the majority. And, as far as education goes, it also seems that most “well-educated” people develop a sense of superiority that clouds and limits their judgment, so I really don’t want them telling me what I can and cannot own either – besides, the policies of the educated mostly reflect the opinions of their teachers, which reflect the opinion of their teachers ad infinitum.
Frankly, I don’t have an answer to that question. Maybe the answer is that nobody has that right. Maybe the answer is that each individual has to make that decision for themselves. Maybe the answer is that human beings have to put away the idea that they have the right to tell other people what they can or cannot do, either individually or through the group violence of law enforcement i.e.: government. Maybe, if people would stop trying to force their way of life on others, we wouldn’t have to fight over who can or cannot own a gun.
I believe in gun control. That is why I hold it with both hands.
@Sharon, lol that was a good one. I’m stealing that phrase!!
Love it!
To whom it may concern:
The second Amendment:
is NOT about personal protection.
It is NOT merely a “right” which embodies some serious dangers.
It is NOT about appeasing fruitcake, militant wannabe’s.
It is NOT about gun collectors
It is NOT reserved for a separate class called the “militia”.
—————-
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
—————-
to paraphrase:
“because we must rely on the government to control a vast military in order to secure our state of freedom, The Right of the people to remain able to resist the government’s control with armed force shall not be limited in any way.”
It is not only a right but a DUTY to remain armed at all times.
ANY limits the government places on arms and ammunition is overt and absolutely illegal.
When ever man has depended on any government for anything at all, the vast preponderance of results has been utter failure and systematic tyranny every single time.
This would occur here in the United States.
PERSONALLY, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE ALL WOMEN ARMED TO THE TEETH. If that were the case, you would seldom hear of females being raped any more or worry about abusive husbands… we would finally be free…
P.S. I am Not a republican, I KNOW global warming is occurring and I voted for Trump… I’m just a concerned citizen of planet Earth.
Having a handgun and being prepared to use it saved my life. It all happens to fast, the only answer is to be prepared to stop an aggressor. You don’t get another chance to do it over.
Your personal story is really compelling. Happily, nothing that the “gun control” advocates you’re criticizing are arguing for would have any effect on your ability to keep a Glock on your property for home defense. Please don’t mischaracterize the calls for reasonable restrictions like mental health and background checks as efforts to “disarm” law abiding citizens. We Americans can all get along better if we stop misrepresenting and demonizing each other.
“Gun free zones” are the WORST idea to ever come to pass. Every mass shooting except for ONE have happened in these so called zones. I too have had to present a firearm to prevent a crime. No shots were fired, no one (including the criminals) we’re hurt. But the thugs ran away which was fine with me. Always remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. Well written article. Thumbs up.
“Gun-free zones” are nothing more than hunting preserves or live first-person shooter games for the criminally intentioned.
I agree. It isn’t like criminals are going to say, “Well shucks, I can’t take my gun in there so I guess I won’t.”olO
Those that dont believe that their life is worth protecting should not expect anyone to endanger their life to protect them
Daisy, an excellent blog. Everything you said is the absolute truth. You did well to be prepared to defend your daughter. Even though I am a male of the species, I would have prepared in exactly the same way to protect my children, grand-children, wife, or anyone else in need. Like you, I have never had to kill anyone, but I have been ready, should the situation demand. I believe your, “gut” instinct, was right on. I have had a CWP for as long as I can remember, and even had an Open Carry Permit while I was working as an armed, Bank Protection Officer. I will agree that we have a tremendous responsibility when it comes to protecting our families and police are great to come by afterward and write out a report, which somehow doesn’t seem right because it means the crime has already been committed. I know your daughter learned an important lesson that day and that she will ever be thankful that her mom was there to protect her.
Hi Daisy! You have so many amazing articles. (Love your books too!)
I am slowly introducing my elderly parents to prepping. They aren’t very web savvy and I end up printing off the articles from your site for them – which they are actually reading.
The issue is that there isn’t a print option or a print style sheet on your site so it can be a little time consuming to reformat your articles for my parents. Any chance your web guru might consider installing a print button or print style sheet?
Many thanks! Keep up all of the amazing work.
I am working on a “Vault” for subscribers only. All the how-to and prepping articles will be in the Vault in printable PDF format. (Subscribing is free!) https://www.theorganicprepper.com/sign-daily-newsletter
Women are biologically made to not defend themselves. This is why they are weak and are inclined to seek out men for protection. This makes it hard when trying to convince women that they should be able to defend themselves since naturally they will prefer to seek out men for protection instead.
I am guilty of depending on the men around me. But more grandkids keep coming into the picture with baby sitting, etc., I realize how much the world has changed since my own kids were little. My DILs are absolutely scared spitless for safety. I never felt that kind of worry when raising kids. Grammy is too far behind and must get up to snuff. Evil has begun to outstrip the good. I am not ready enough if it gets close and personal.
Your story has convinced me Daisy. Thank you!
Women’s bodies are not designed for action but LOV’N! :p
I’m a firm believer that – structure describes action.
I am SO lucky that I have a husband who insisted I learn to shoot guns. He taught me beginning with the most basic
gun safety, and always assume every gun is loaded. Now I have a hand gun, a bolt action rifle, and an AR15 of my own. We practice OFTEN at the gun range and I carry my 9mm at all times. The particular guns that anonymous suggested are not appropriate for someone who is 4 ft 10 and over 65. Yes, my husband had me try the shotgun. Not only is it heavy, it kicks like a horse! It’s not great for self defense for a little woman. The AR is much better. Also, what anonymous is not taking into consideration is that we don’t know if, when the SHTF, we will have to defend ourselves from our home against marauding gangs looking to steal anything and everything. We may need high capacity magazines; it just might turn into a war. The AR is great for that purpose – a 9mm hand gun, not so much. If someone is a meth-head, a 9mm may not stop them – a 45 would be better (husband has 2 and I can shoot them). We are not hunters, we are practicing for dangerous situations that we hope will never happen. It’s just part of being prepared.
This is a good article. I once was followed home by a stranger who ran away when he saw my husband but later that night my husband went to work. I stayed up late as usual but as soon as I turned out my lights that same guy started knocking on my door nonstop, hubby worked close to home so I tried calling him first but the call wasn’t going through, then the guy started trying to break into my kids bedroom window so I called the cops and thankfully they got there quickly but after talking to me and the strange guy the female cop blamed me for this mans behavior! Even though they found out from him he was on some kind of mental medication! All because he claimed i invited him suddenly the guy off his meds makes sense while the terrified mother makes no sense! So in short my husband decided to get a gun, we both have our license and if anyone tries to break into my house again I’m not staying quiet and hiding. That was one of the longest and scariest nights of my life. With that being said it seems to me that some areas of the US are more suited for a second amendment culture than others, the right mental and cultural attitude is needed, like what’s going on in Chicago is not the right culture or attitude for second amendment rights. But I’m a Texan so ‘nuf said.
Why is there such an insistence that “Gun Control” = “Ban Guns”? I am a woman. I am a gun owner. I see that the lack of regulation of firearm ownership is a huge problem.
Cars are usually brought up by friends and and family when we discuss gun control, as in, “WHen here is a fatal car crash, nobody suggests taking away all cars.” No. But to legally drive a car, one must pass a written and practical exam proving one knows the rules of safe operation and can show competence in operating the vehicle. To legally drive a car, the car must pass safety standards inspections and be registered in a state, as well as have property tax paid. The vehicle must also at least have a liability insurance policy attached to it, just in case the driver has an accident.
I have a keen understanding of the desire of some gun owners to keep their names off of lists. My dad was one of those, so I was raised seeing reason in that view.
There is no quick fix for our gun violence problem. There is a way to move toward less gun violence. This problem has been decades in the making. It will not be resolved overnight.
The 2nd Ammendment gives us the right to bear arms. As with all rights, those exercising this right also have a responsibility to no time infringe on the rights of others.
Beginning your letter with, “I am sure that your heart is in the right place when you tell us that guns should be banned for the good of humanity.” shows a lack of understanding on the subject of reasonable gun control. “All or Nothing” attitudes seem juvenile and are not helpful in problem solving.
this is disengenuous. well intentioned, but a logical falicy. You are fighting a straw man argument, because no one is seriously suggesting gun control equals disarming america, except for the NRA. If you want to engage, you need to engage with the actual arguments of a movement, not the caracterizations of those arguments by your own side. This is an argument pandering to your base, so as someone who is “for” gun crontrol, I gave it an open minded reading, and would love to have an actual conversation when anyone is ready to deal with the actual arguments happening around gun control.
Great article, Daisy! Unfortunately I live in a state where I cannot carry. However, I’m very involved in our county firearms training facility. It is one of the best things I could have done for myself. As a young 63 year old grandmother I can’t defend myself as I could when I was 30. I also have my grandkids who I need to protect when they are in my care. I joined a national group called The Well Armed Woman a year ago, another big plus in my favor. These women are the best!
This really talks to me today… guns scare me but a man/men attempting to kidnap my daughter scares me more.. I have asked my husband to let us make a plan to get me a gun and teach me how to use it. Thank you Daisy.
Outstanding article. It’s been twenty-nine years in the making, but I finally got my wife to touch (and rack) a pistol for the first time in her life. She is anxious to learn how to properly use it.
Anyone reading this needs to understand the importance of education and training. No one ever wants to have to use a gun on another human being. It is imperative that you learn everything that you can possibly learn so that if you ever have to, you did so for the right reasons and as safely as possible.
Guns are dangerous, but only by intent and carelessness. If you practice safety and arm yourself with the knowledge necessary, you are more valuable to yourself than a policeman with a gun. Even the best cops will tell you that when seconds count they are minutes away.
Sheep can outlaw teeth and still be eaten by wolves.
We need more Gutsy Women like Daisy that will take matters into their own hands. One must protect their family and themselves. In cases as stated above, Take NO Prisoners when your life is in danger. Nice folks come in SECOND. ( DEAD ) God bless all y’all. BE SAFE !
It’s not just testosterone, men are made stronger. My former son-in-law, a golf pro, explained to
me why women can’t usually compete with men in golf, due to the differences in upper body strength.
It is usually true. Men and women are made differently. That some men want to use their
strength to overpower or abuse, hurt or kill women, children, animals, shows a serious deficiency in their mental abilities and upbringing.
I do understand the gun control issue, have heard a lot about it from both sides. My daughter believes in
self-protection, but thinks there must be more we can do to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally imbalanced and some of my sons believe that background checks will not help, and that the government might have an ulterior motive to take away our guns.
I believe in self-defense, I wanted all of my grandchildren to have martial arts training and know how to handle guns. I support all women having a gun or taser and know how to be alert and ready to use it. Any woman who doesn’t understand self-protection is either in denial or brainwashed by men who fear the concept.
Please help us to find a better way to keep children safe (metal detectors?) and promote safety for women.
Yes, well-said, Daisy. I might add to the other comments that when choosing a gun, to choose one you can shoot comfortably. We have a Glock 23, 40 cal. but because of the arthritis in my hands, I couldn’t hold on to the gun well when I shot. My son took me to a range to try out different calibers and loads, but ultimately, I chose a 22 because I could shoot it with control and reliability.
I absolutely love this article Daisy, and as the father of 3 adult daughters I agree with every word.
Thank you!
Wow, what an article! Clearly and exceptionally well stated. Thank you.
Dear Locked & Loaded Mama Bear,
Thank you for speaking up and out and sharing your story. I’m firmly behind your beliefs and actions, and thankful and rejoicing that your confrontation ended with no violence needed. I believe you are 100% right that this situation didn’t escalate simply because the perps saw an armed and ready person ready and willing to stop whatever nefarious intentions they had.
It’s a shame that our society has declined to the point that law abiding folks like you and I, must arm ourselves to prevent being preyed upon by the criminally minded that lives among and sometimes right next to us, but that’s the way it is, and always has been since mankind first gathered into tribes. So no laws will change the evil that resides in some minds. Those who think it can be changed, are deluding themselves and their acolytes.
You mention a list of rights we have, and I agree with every point, but I would add one thing. As Spouses and Parents we not only have the rights, but we have the duty to protect ourselves and our loved ones that look to us for safety and security.
Every day and time I strap on my gun, I say a prayer. I pray that I’m not in the position to have to use it, but if I have to Lord, make me fast and accurate, and I ask for mercy for the miscreant I send to the grave.
Glad to see this conversation surface again, especially in light of the media focus on Gun Violence. As one of the few posters on here who has actually used a weapon and killed in anger, let me offer some brief thoughts.
First – the “correct” conversation has nothing to do with gun violence. It is a conversation about a SHTF situation, and how best to defend yourself. All the stats in the world are worthless tidbits designed to divide and conquer the population (a form of control) all the while diverting your attention from the real issues.
Second – the Second Amendment is about the US Constitution protecting an inalienable right, and therefore can’t be infringed. Regardless of what the government controllers and ill informed legislators try to do! 2A was designed to protect our right to defend ourselves against an out of control GOVERNMENT (SHTF?), which is what we appear to be manifesting now.
Third – the argument about limiting gun capacity is null & void in a SHTF situation. All the arguments only apply to a society with a very advanced and stable law & order. When the SHTF, it is an entirely different scenario. Ditto for a corrupt government (etc).
Fourth – How would you defend yourself against a group of several dozen MS-13 gang members with a small 5 shot pistol? That situation is laughable! Did I mention we are discussing a SHTF scenario, where gangs and thugs will be the norm, and law & order will be limited to small private enclaves if at all.
Fifth – the true problem with mass shootings is primarily one of Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors, not one of guns. Do your homework and you’ll discover the Truth.
Finally, back to my scenario where I found myself outnumbered and outgunned the first time I pulled the trigger in anger. I am extremely fortunate – and grateful – to have survived the process. At the first opportunity, I ditched the AR-15 gear (woefully inadequate) and went looking for a .308 with a 50 round drum! Readily available from the larger gun dealers in Texas and elsewhere. Likewise, I spent as much money on the glass (scope, night vision, lasers, etc) as I did the weapons. My experience is that if something truly wants to take you out in your home, they are most likely going to attack you at night. More so in a SHTF scenario. Consequently, there’s a lot more than just a weapon in my strategy! Surveillance cameras, intrusion monitors, night vision, well trained gun owners and dogs (etc) are just the beginning of a layered strategy. The ONLY reason I own a weapon is to protect myself from other HUMAN predators. Consequently, I want the most features and capabilities I can get! Likewise, everyone in my household is armed with their favorite self defense weapons. All of them (even the shotguns) have night vision gear installed. And we do sleep very well!
I agree with everything you said Daisy. I live in the country, and I am in a wheelchair.
The sheriff agrees with people being ableto protect theirself. There are only 5 deputys to take care of the whole county. In most instances there is no way they would get here in time. I have dogs who would try to protect me but a dog is vulnerable also.
I hope women and men consider your words and enable themselves.
This is the most recent example I know of that demonstrates the life-saving ability of concealed carry under sudden desperate circumstance. This was only possible because of a new law in Texas that went into effect just this September 2019.
Texans Swiftly Shoot And Kill Mass Shooter At West Freeway Church of Christ In White Settlement [NW Ft Worth], by Chris Menahan
Police say shooter was “relatively transient with roots to this area” and “had been arrested multiple times in different municipalities.”
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61053
Reprinted here:
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/75853/texans-swiftly-shoot-and-kill-mass-shooter-at-west-freeway-church-of-christ-in-white.html
AND
Texas Pastor Thanks God For ‘Good Guys With Guns’ That Saved His Congregation
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/texas-pastor-thanks-god-good-guys-guns-saved-his-congregation
Plus 547 comments, & counting…
–Lewis
I know I have mentioned in the past that my nearest neighbor is five miles away. The sheriff office is 25 miles away. I also am armed. Guns are not just for stopping criminals. I have used mine to kill five rattlesnakes in one month that showed up in my garden and in my barn. One was sitting just outside my house door. This was two months ago.
The land owner next to me lives in east Texas. He uses his land out here to hunt. Okay his blind is on the property line not far from my house. He has spotted mountain lions while in his blind. Did I mention not far from my house. I won’t go into the fact that Mexico is 16 miles away as the crow flies from me. For me to travel any direction means multiple miles with intermittent cell phone reception and no people or traffic for large stretches.
Where I live the question is not if you have a gun, but how many. Also 99.9 % of the time you don’t need a gun, but when you do……. well you know what the end would be without it. My husband and I are retired military. Shooting someone will not cause me to lose sleep if it saves our lives.
Regarding Mass Shootings , TPTB are quite willing to sacrifice the sheep and their own operatives if need be. See Port Arthur Tasmania
Excellent!!!
This essay should be on every news channel, and printed in every paper.
It won’t be of course..
Thanks for this excellent and timely reminder, Miss Daisy!
Great article!!!! I agree with you 100%. Too many people have been sucked into thinking the government will protect them. We as women need to protect ourselves, not be dilusional in thinking gun laws will keep guns from criminals. Or worse, not being able to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government.
Excellent! We need take responsibility for our own safety and that of our families.
Back in the day, I was a regular reader of samizdat literature from the Soviet Union. There were two types of “criminals”, the “political” criminals which included Christians. Jews, and others who didn’t care for the corrupt communist system, and the common criminals. Even though the Soviet Union had draconian gun control laws, one of the complaints of the “political” criminals was that the common criminals had their pick of guns and other weapons.
China today has similar draconian gun control laws, and like the old Soviet Union, common criminals are well armed with guns.
The lesson here is that if the U.S. were to adopt similar gun control laws, the only people who would be armed with guns are the government and criminals. There’s no way criminals will turn in their tools. The basic design of guns is little changed for a thousand years. If criminals can’t smuggle in the weapons they want, they can make guns.
Gun control will do nothing to deter crime. The main thing that deters crime is that the criminals fear their victims because their “victims” are armed.
R.O., I’d suggest gun control tends to criminalize a large percentage of the population.
“The idea that we all need to hand over our guns and then the world would be a safer place is nothing but a silly, rose-colored daydream. If that offends you, then you need to sincerely think about the fact that under your guidelines, the smaller, weaker person will always be the victim.”
Amen. Thousands of years of recorded human history occurred prior to the invention of firearms. How safe were women and how did they fare?
Xena is a fiction, and Joan of Arc was armed to male standards. History teaches lessons, but you have to be listening.
Hello, I’ll introduce myself. I live in France, a country subject to strict laws regarding gun control. However it is possible to freely own operational replicas of old black powder guns or, subject to numerous and painful formalities, modern weapons but only as a sports shooter (exclusive use at the shooting range, carry prohibited, transport authorized to the range). There is also the hunting permit, which authorizes the possession of a rifle, again subject to (moderate) regulation. I am a sports shooter. Here ‘s my 2 cents (really not more 🙂
We don’t have mass shootings here. The few that took place were all caused by people identified as psychiatric patients. So yes, restricting access to weapons to people who are unbalanced is a common sense measure and wanting the opposite is very suspect.
Our laws do not protect armed victims. Basically, to hope to avoid justice problems in self-defense with a weapon, one should be seriously injured in the first place, and be able to prove it. It sounds unfair, and it is, but the LONG-TERM consequence, added to the strict regulation of guns, is the slow disappearance of weapon-based attacks.
Daisy’s testimonial, like so many others, is about individual situations. No one disputes that a weapon can prevent an assault. The reasoning must be done at the level of the global system, the country, otherwise we mix things up.
In France, the consequence of the laws is (more or less) that only the police and the criminals are armed. As a result, street use of guns is rare. Consequently, if an assault with a weapon occurs, it will monopolize all the attention of the police and the justice which will be ruthless. As a result, the armed criminals are rather cautious, and reserve the use of their weapons to specific assaults or to kill each other, usually for stories of drugs or control of illegal activity. Street assaults are mostly done with bare hands, or with a knife.
Home invasions happen here too, but you should know that a lot of people are armed here. Despite our drastic regulations, there are a lot of old rifles and old pistols that are hidden in the homes, undeclared. These weapons remain in homes (or cars). So there is a kind of balance that is created. Here, the house of good people is rather considered as a sanctuary, even the police do not try too much to know which weapons can be hidden there.
Burglaries are often carried out by organized but unarmed offenders (usually violent) because they understand the advantages of not facing a shooting immediately, and not launching a manhunt once the police are notified.
As a result, when I live my daily life, I am not afraid at all of being shot, or of receiving a stray bullet. There are a lot of attacks, but generally with lesser consequences compared to US.
So in the street, I much prefer to find myself with my bare hand in front of a knife, than in a situation of pistol against pistol.
For women, we have over the counter pepper sprays. Sometimes effective, except on drunk idiots (globally, we have less “methheads”). But given the deplorable statistics of rapes, this is clearly insufficient and I see no solution. The violence and harassment of women suffered here is clearly horrible and underestimated, however, there is a concept of gender equality that is emerging gradually, effectively, and which is enshrined in law. It happens from the top and it will descend to the lower strata of the population, in the long term it will help the situation. Like for example much more criminalize and punish rape.
If the “good guys” could have a gun alone, that would be great. But this advantage immediately disappears when a villain can also arm himself. That’s the (sad) reality.
I am not addressing the issue of a government that distrusts its citizens and seeks to disarm them for political gain. It exists, and I think it is becoming the case here in France, but it is an even more complex subject.
In short, there is no silver bullet, moving from an unsafe world to a safe world is a slow, fragile process, which will involve less drugs, less social insecurity, a concept of added value based on human values and not only money, politicians without conflict of interest with lobbies, and the ermerging but major question of environmental security, etc. Good luck to all of us.
Happy New Year everyone.
Of the close to 330 million people in the United States, in 2018 only 14,123 where murdered. 10,265 of them were killed with a firearm (of all models), the rest with anything from knives, bat, fists & feet. 297 of the 14,123 were killed with a rifle (the things they want to ban). Most of the ones killed with handguns are inner city gang violence, something the democrats (gun grabbers) won’t address. And, trying to compare France with the United States is ridiculous. As Countries we are completely different in our Governing. We have a Constitutional RIGHT to be able to protect ourselves with firearms, yes firearms. I’m pretty sure you don’t have that.
Also, all of the “mass shootings” that have accrued here have been in gun free zones. Places where no one is legally allowed to carry a firearm, except law enforcement. Take the latest shooting in Texas. NOT a mass shooting because people in the church were also armed. Had they not been there it could have been the deadliest shooting in 2019, as there were over 200 people in that church.
So if we are going to confiscate and ban something that has an impact on such a small percentage of our population, we might as well wrap everyone in bubble wrap to protect them from life. I will not give up my right to protect myself for anyone, not even “just one life”.
“I live in France, a country subject to strict laws regarding gun control. …We don’t have mass shootings here.”
Oh? What about the Charlie Hebdo attacks? What about the kosher grocery shooting? Wasn’t there a mass shooting connected with the Bataclan theater? What about the attempted mass shooting on a train stopped by three brave Americans? We don’t get much international news here in the U.S., so how many more examples have I missed?
What about those killed by deliberately running over them with trucks? Aren’t they just as dead?
What about the “no-go’ zones in Paris and many other French cities?
When guns are banned, criminals can use other tools, like knives. That’s scarier, because knives can kill quietly, and, statistically speaking, a person is more likely to die when stabbed than when shot. London is getting infamous because of all the knife crimes.
Focusing only on guns gives a distorted picture, all sources of violence need to be considered. For example, twice I’ve been mugged, both times in cities with strict gun-control laws, both times with knives not guns, the third time the perp who was coming at me with a broken bottle ran away when he thought I was ready to draw a gun. Both Japan and China have had instances where there were mass killings using knives.
This boasting about being safer because of no guns doesn’t seem to add up, does it?
Thank you Daisy for so eloquently expressing my feelings exactly. I understand that emotions are very powerful and they rule a lot of people’s minds when it comes to gun control. I can tell you that as a victim of an armed robbery at my workplace at 16 years old, the feeling of Fear and being under someone else’s total control is one I will never forget, nor am I willing to feel that way ever again. You are 100% correct ma’am, guns ARE the great equalizer. Thank you for being the voice of reason.
“…like the Pulse nightclub shooting and the concert in Las Vegas and school shootings and you are horrified. I am too.”
I’m not.
Staged events with fake injuries, ‘victims’ posing and laughing, caught off-guard, not ONE hospital in ‘Vegas reported treating ONE gunshot wound, and not ONE Vegas’ ‘victim’ could be traced/tracked to a living human being – save for the several murdered AFTER, who began to form a group to speak out about what REALLY happened….
No. What ‘horrifies me’ is that people believe this nonsense.
‘A nation with a collective, room-temp IQ’
As long as ‘alt-media’ goes along with patently absurd and easily proven lies, well……we’re exactly where we are, right now, because all the stagings were EXACTLY for this purpose.
It isn’t rocket science. ‘They’ even TELL YOU; ‘Create events where the people demand disarmament for ‘safety’ ‘
Sorry, Daisy. I have WAY too much real world experience, and my contacts/sources run deep, and too many GOOD people are tearing apart these stories with facts – yet Amerikans continue to believe these ‘stories’.
Alt media knows MSM is lying about EVERYTHING – yet when one of these so-called ‘tragedies’ occurs, YOU ALL RUN TO ‘YOUR’ MSM AND BELIEVE EVERY LIE THEY’RE FEEDING YOU!??!
Seriously? PLEASE! It’s NOW OR NEVER!
So the lady I know who was at that concert,
got shot, survived, and is back in town, is just your fantasy?
really? You are LYING!.
Very well written. Thank you. Going to show this to my mother and sister, who are somewhat anti-gun.
I don’t typically post comments, but this story is so compelling and has left me wondering about what happened afterwards.
Personally, I would be concerned in the immediate or short term aftermath if the visitors came back, started secretly scouting the property, or tracked your arrival and departures and am wondering if any of that crossed your mind and how you handled it.
As I see it, you provided strong evidence to not be messed with, and the visitors left. Did any of the above concerns cross you mind and what did you do? I would imagine you would need to leave the property for groceries, work, and any other reason – and some of these times you might leave your daughter at home while you were out. Also, you need to sleep at night and can’t be watching out for the hoodlums 24/7. These provide opportunity for the hoodlums to regroup and plan another visit.
What happened? What did you do?
Hi, Non-Poster.
The first thing I did was call the local sheriff’s department and report the incident. The dispatcher could not have been less interested.
The second thing I did was hire a crew to put up a gate at the entrance to my driveway. The gate was posted with a warning that our property was protected by dogs that would attack. It also had an alarm on it that chimed inside the house when the gate was opened. Sure, someone could climb over it and walk a quarter of a mile, but anyone driving through it gave us a warning.
Third, we got that same crew to enlarge my fenced area so that it went all the way around the house. Extending the fencing all the way around the house meant that my enormous 150-pound Great Pyrenees could patrol the entire circumference of the house and not just the back where the livestock was. As an outside dog, he was available day and night. It also meant that when we were out feeding and watering, we never had to be outside the area patrolled by our dogs.
Fourth, we installed game cameras up and down the driveway in obvious places that anyone coming down the hill to the house could see. Due to blackberry bushes and thick brush, it was virtually impossible to get down there without taking the driveway.
Fifth, I enrolled both my daughter and myself in more shooting classes. We began practicing weekly and attending instruction regularly. If she was home alone, I wanted her to be comfortable protecting herself, too.
As far as a predictable schedule went, at that time, I was self-employed and my daughter was homeschooled so we had no real time that we were “always” away.
None of these things is infallible, of course, but it was a good wake-up call that our level of security was not sufficient. Thank you for the excellent question!
Daisy, that was AWESOME!!
I’m only bummed that VERY FEW of the intended audience will actually read it and digest it. But you are awesome!
You could not possibly have been more correct or relevant on any point in this piece. Magnificent! I will certainly share this link on my facebook page, and I would also like to share it on my own blog, rebsarge.wordpress.com. I cordially invite you to check me out there, to see if you’d care to be associated in that way. In fact, here is the link to a very similar post I wrote back in April of 2019.
Best wishes. Sit light in the saddle and keep your gun hand clear, and may God bless you with perceptiveness and courage.
https://rebsarge.wordpress.com/2018/04/21/two-paths-lay-before-you/
I’d be delighted if you shared. Thank you.
As a Police Officer in a specialised unit in South Africa, arguably one of the most dangerous places in the world, I have received numerous death threats against myself and my family, both my wife and 15 year old daughter are well trained in the use and safe handling of firearms, and won’t hesitate to use them if necessary, I’ve seen the worst in humanity, and will never allow them to become a statistic, well written article, keep up the good work.
As the brother to 5 sisters, husband to an amazing wife, and father to three extraordinary young ladies, thank you for writing this. I agree 100%. My oldest daughter is now old enough to use the indoor range near our home. I am planning to take some classes there with her and spend enough time with her there practicing until gun safety is 2nd nature to her and she feels comfortable using one. I don’t expect her to be a gun enthusiast, but I don’t want her to have an irrational fear of guns either. I want her to be able to have a conceal carry permit and carry a gun if she wants to when she eventually moves out of our house in a few years. I will do the same with her two younger sisters when they are old enough. That is unless Virginia laws change so much this year it is near impossible for us to own a pistol amd/or use the indoor range near us. Two bills have been propossed in VA that if both pass basically outlaws indoor ranges for anyone not in law enforcement or a security guard.
I believe a lot of gun control supporters advocate out of fear because they have never been taught how to safely shoot a gun. Sure there are exceptions, but they are few. In my experience, once a person has been properly trained in how to safely store, carry, and use a firearm they recognize it as the dangerous but useful tool that it is and are less inclined to want to restrict the use of that tool by law abiding citizens.
Your experience reminds me of the saying, “The best weapon is the one you never have to use.” That weapon has to have sufficient lethality and you have to show sufficient resolve to frighten any attacker(s) away before trouble can start. Brava for having the right weapon and the right attitude. I am so glad that your encounter turned out as well as it did.
If that doesn’t silence the ‘gun control’ crowd, I don’t know what will. This applies to so many other areas where our rights are threatened, as well.
Some items that you may find of interest:
https://bongino.com/concealed-carry-law-that-stopped-texas-church-shooting-just-took-effect-recently/ AND I am reminded of a quote that I just love: God did NOT make women equal; Samuel Colt did!
II think that you could get a lot of publicity with the following: However, I am aspergers so what I think the neurotypical person may find interesting is often way off:
Run a contest: Charge a fee to enter. As you are aware, when people speak of gun violence they almost always say that the government should “do something”, without ever even hinting at what that something is. I have never ever seen any specific suggestions as to what this “something” should be. So, I suggest that you run a contest where people would submit their ideas for gun laws. The submission would include exactly how their particular law would comply with the 2nd amendment as well as speaking to which mass shootings their gun law would have prevented had it been in force at the time, as well as how it would have worked to prevent the shooting.
People will be asked to submit critiques for each suggestion (no fee required), and will, after a suitable time, be asked to vote on which law is the best. One vote per email+phone number (for verification purposes) and a nominal charge of, say, $1.00 to vote.
By the way, I think that I send you a kind of homage after reading your bio info. I was really hopping to hear back. I believe that I mentioned that I authored orwells boot https://factotum666.livejournal.com/829.html which for over 10 years was #1 on all search engines with the terms orwells boot. Alas, it is now #3 🙂
Some items that you may find of interest:
https://bongino.com/concealed-carry-law-that-stopped-texas-church-shooting-just-took-effect-recently/ AND I am reminded of a quote that I just love: God did NOT make women equal; Samuel Colt did!
II think that you could get a lot of publicity with the following: However, I am aspergers so what I think the neurotypical person may find interesting is often way off:
Run a contest: Charge a fee to enter. As you are aware, when people speak of gun violence they almost always say that the government should “do something”, without ever even hinting at what that something is. I have never ever seen any specific suggestions as to what this “something” should be. So, I suggest that you run a contest where people would submit their ideas for gun laws. The submission would include exactly how their particular law would comply with the 2nd amendment as well as speaking to which mass shootings their gun law would have prevented had it been in force at the time, as well as how it would have worked to prevent the shooting.
People will be asked to submit critiques for each suggestion (no fee required), and will, after a suitable time, be asked to vote on which law is the best. One vote per email+phone number (for verification purposes) and a nominal charge of, say, $1.00 to vote.
By the way, I think that I send you a kind of homage after reading your bio info. I was really hoping to hear back. A search of my emails under organic or prepper or daisy or luther found nothing. If I were not aspergers, I am sure that I would be disappointed 🙂
Anyway, I believe that I mentioned that I authored orwells boot https://factotum666.livejournal.com/829.html which for over 10 years was #1 on all search engines with the terms orwells boot. Alas, it is now #3 🙂 I think that you would like it, as it appears to have been somewhat prescient. Close to the end I wrote:
Most people — think of them as the middle of the normal distribution as well as food/targets for those competitive psychopaths — just want to be left alone and prefer not think for themselves. They are uncomfortable with an absence of patterns and will follow someone (an authority) who claims to see the patterns. Nature is continually dropping psychopaths into the mix of any given population.
thus, in the future, our written rules, to wit the constitution of the US, will eventually be completely trashed, and we will find ourselves under the rule of a despot as bad as any in history. I see nothing that will limit the size of government, nor do I see anything to prevent psychopaths from ending up running everything — except maybe other psychopaths.
702 457-3089
Way to go. There are so many pussy cats in this country. It’s making it unsafe for everyone except the bullies.
Good article! You don’t have to sight the gun, though. Just point it at the center of mass (chest- the biggest area) and shoot. Shoot as fast as you can in a pattern going from one side to the other, moving the gun just a little each time. Keep shooting until the threat is eliminated (don’t stop after just one shot). You’ll hit something.
I think I would have had the gun out of my jeans, because in the time it takes to draw it, after showing them you had it, the guy could have been on you. Dr. Ron Martinelli, a forensic criminologist and former cop, says it takes only a few seconds for a guy at 21 feet away to run at a person and be on that person with a weapon or their hands. (drronmartinelli.com/published articles/21footrule).
Now if the men are armed themselves, it’s a different story. (You’re lucky they weren’t.) In that case, chances are good you would have been hit, too. I would have been a moving target, shooting as I moved, and telling your child to run. (Lord have mercy.) I’m glad you survived and scared them off.
Thank you Daisy for the great advice. This is very well-written and absolutely correct for today.
Keep up the good work!
I am glad you re-posted this. Couldn’t come at a better time! Thanks!
Dear Daisy,
Being a single dad myself, I can say that every working woman should carry.
No matter what country you live in, be a fancy developed one, or any European utopic paradise. It´s that simple. The world NEVER has been a safe place like some people wants to make us believe.
I´m a pacifist? yep. Specially when someone threatens to harm someone close to me. I will do my best to provide that threat with eternal peace, and make the world a better place to keep my own peace of mind.
Those whose live have NEVER been endangered are the only ones who want everyone else disarmed without realizing that real bad people, real felons, REAL THUGS, REAL CRIMINALS WILL BE ARMED NO MATTER HOW MUCH GUN CONTROL LAWS ARE PASSED.
And this applies for EVERY country with “gun control” laws. They just screw the people using them for self-defense.
Sorry but them antiguns surely won´t read smaller fonts.
Daisy, I agree with you 100%, we need to be armed to protect ourselves. Unfortunately some of us due to past issues can’t get a gun. 10 years ago a “friend” had me committed to a mental institution and now despite the fact that according to my doctor, I am in remission, I still can’t get a gun to protect myself. I live alone in a not great neighborhood. My son took me to the gun range and with a 9mm I shot the heads off my targets, this while never holding a gun before. I think there should be legislation that we can contest the right to have a gun if we can prove we are not a danger to ourselves and we would only use a gun to protect ourselves. I fear for my life every time I go to sleep at night. But I can’t afford to move. Going to try and buy a hunting rifle from a friend. No license needed for one here where I live. Who knows, it might just save my life one day.
Most of “them” could care less about guns. I believe the root of their angst and pleas and exhortations are a vehement disdain for anyone that doesn’t share their social views, anyone that aspires to self sufficiency and anyone that doesn’t fall in line with what they believe is consensus. The fear they express about firearms is actually their fear of anyone that isn’t steeped in their religion of conformity-for-conformity’s-sake. Consensus is a powerful force for the weak-minded.
Wow – just wow! The most common sense explanation of why everyone needs to be armed I think I’ve ever read. You just separated the Hollywood fantasy from the reality of what life actually can throw at you. Use common sense and prepare accordingly….or become a corpse. Your choice.
They still believe in guns, it’s just that they are letting their body guards pack instead of themselves.. BTW, Ms. Feinstein packs a 9mm.. So much for anti gun eh…
VERY well written. Thank you! I support your view 100%…
Rural Oklahoma, late 1950s. My father liked to take Sunday drives with the family, wife, 4 daughters under age 6. He’d pull over at a scenic spot and chat with Mom, watching the sun set…
Once such time, two men came bursting out of the woods, rushing my Dad’s door, ordering him to get out and leave The Women in the car. They were crazy laughing in a menacing way -think dueling banjos, Deliverance.
My Dad, a ‘coon Hunter and WWII vet, calmly reached under his seat, slid it across the arm crooked out the driver’s window asking “ What did you just say, feller”?
The two turned tail, flapping arms and hats flying off, running back into the woods…
I’ve been a staunch pro 2A woman since that day. I was 4 years old and remember every detail…
Excellent article. Being forewarned is being forearmed, literally.
So good to see that many more are in support of carrying! Here in Central Florida, I have noticed a lot of stores are posting signs at the entrance saying, “Concealed Carry Welcome Here!” I don’t carry but my husband does, I have other defenses on my person at all times. Great Article!
Right on, Sister! You rock!
Non illegitimi carborundum est!
Love this post! Very glad you were armed and trained and empowered!! And safe as a result! So sorry you and others have been ‘threatened’ so violently by those who are against violence! So sorry for all of us that THEY can’t see how flawed their arguments are!
Outstanding article! Makes my heart glad when I see other women taking their own protection seriously. Always carry, become proficient, become truly empowered.
Interesting that there are threats of violence, incl threats of “shooting” innocent people that come from the pro gun control side. Hypocrisy goes hand in hand with anti freedom beliefs.
Not too long ago in a nearby city there was an 80+ woman who stopped an intruder by shooting him. Probably thought she was a weak old woman and easy target. Also a 12 year old at home alone with his younger sibling shot an intruder. Kudos to the parents for teaching him how to handle a gun if needed. If the news covered more stories of perpetrators being stopped by armed individuals it may deter a little. Of course the majority of the criminals are cowards and want to target people they see as easy targets or known gun free areas. For example, last year there was a rash of muggings outside of our MLB stadium. Criminals know the stadium is gun free and people leaving the games are easier targets. Also if you have guns and kids in the house don’t hide them and assume they’ll be safe. Teach the kids the proper handling and dangers when misused. With anything, kids are naturally curious especially when they find something new.
This is a fantastic post. As a woman who has had a few narrow escapes and experienced genuine fear, danger and vulnerability, I cannot emphasize highly enough how important these points are.
Many women who have been lucky enough to not experience danger don’t truly comprehend that it can happen to them, and don’t understand just how quickly all hell can break loose.
I think many good-hearted people also don’t understand just how many predatory, violent men there are out there. There are sadly way too many in our society it’s not an anomaly. And there certainly are women too so not intending an attack on the good men out there.
Men may have more chance of size and strength equivalency but just look at the story in the news the other day about the Houston grandfather who was ambushed in his cabin and murdered along with his 4 teenage grandsons by a Mexican Mafia member who had escaped custody.
Or the three men fishing in central Florida also stalked, ambushed and brutally murdered by a random couple a year or two back.
These kind of attacks were one of the reasons, along with the rogue government factor for the second amendment in the first place.
These kind of attacks are getting worse and will only increase with everything else going on.
I’m sure most people here are in support but it is true it is fundamental to get the message out to other women so I will definitely share.
Again excellent article thank you for sharing your terrifying experience.
Dade County FL. was experiencing unprecedented Rapes and violent crimes against females…the Sheriff in an attempt to slow the carnage began offering FREE WEAPONS (hand gun)TRAINING to any female desiring to become weapons proficient. The following year Rape and domestic violence WENT DOWN over 80%! The nearby counties however, experienced 50% increases in the crimes! Let that be a lesson to all! Blessings.
It is more than just encountering with bad individuals. I have been lucky not to have to draw a weapon or shoot anyone. Out here there is the other side of the coin. Like the rattlesnake in the barn, the mountain lion that roams my area, the skunk that dug up my garden several times and the racoon that killed three hen ducks and stole eggs from several nest. There is a new guy (lawyer) that brought property out here, but does live here. He does not think we should own guns despite the increase number of illegals crossing through our county. He lost trying to run for county commissioner (out here there are no mayors or city counsel because our county only has less than 750 people in our population. My husband weighs 93 lbs and has no use of his right arm and left leg. He has used his gun to escort illegals up to our gate for the sheriff department to pick up. We don’t call border patrol because to us they are a terrorist group….long story. There is no way my husband could take them up to the front gate unless he had a gun in hand.
One of my most passionately felt areas of activism! Damn straight I and every other woman have the God-given right to protect ourselves with the best tools available! I too have done this and been there. I’ve also sat across the table from those MDA bitches and won. LOL
God created human kind. Sam Colt made us all equal.
Daisy, this is probably the best testimonials I’ve read in a long time. Thank you for sharing, and my better half appreciated it and nodded along as she read it.
I’m taking the liberty of saving this to share with anyone thinking Gun Control will make our world safer. It won’t.
“Liberty advocates will NEVER give up their guns. It’s not going to happen. We have drawn a line in the sand when it comes to the 2nd Amendment and we are not going to move, not even an inch. It does not matter what legislation or executive orders Joe Biden promotes, and it does not matter if there are future criminal events involving firearms. There is no scenario in which we are going to hand over our ability to defend ourselves and rely on the government alone. All the indignant wailing and preaching from anti-gun leftists is for naught; they will get nothing.”
From the below article by Brandon Smith.
Recent Events Only Reinforce Our Need For Gun Rights And Community Militias
June 2, 2022 By Brandon Smith
https://alt-market.us/recent-events-only-reinforce-our-need-for-gun-rights-and-community-militias/
great article, glad yall werent hurt. with the status of things nowdays, you cant be too careful in anything! there is a great problem for seniors or those who arent in best of shape, cant run, fight, limited range of motion, etc. so we have to compensate and not easy to do. but knowing my pistol is close, I will shoot if need be, ask questions later. I’m glad to see in the news of older folks taking it upon themselves to protect and dont hesitate to shoot an intruder! yay! wish I could practice more, but my area no ranges open due to covid. wish I’d stayed in WV, could shoot on own property, and trusted the “mountain boys” implicitly, we all watched out for each other. stay safe and well Daisy, hope plenty of women read this and change their thinking. banning guns isnt going to change a thing, criminals will still get them…..
While I’m in full support of the theme in Daisy’s article, there are a lot of situations where carrying a gun of any kind is either outright prohibited or inappropriate for whatever reason. So I jotted down this quickie (and likely incomplete) list of gun alternates for situations where carrying a gun is prohibited or inconvenient. Some of these items may also be prohibited in some places as well. Some are wonderfully non-obvious.
1. pocket stun “gun”
2. stun “gun” built into a fully charged flashlight
3. high powered green laser, the kind that’s a felony to point at an aircraft pilot and his eyes.
4. taser
5. tactical ball-point pen with glass-breaking point, some with tiny flashlights as well, has martial arts benefit
6. hootie — sets off loud siren and strobe light
7. some knives, but not others, but only with some training
8. some walking canes, but not others, training in self defense use is mandatory
9. pepper gel (NOT the spray which can blow back into your own eyes when outdoors)
10. you can probably think of more….
–Lewis
I fail to see how disarming the good people is going to disarm the bad people. It just empowers them. All of the recent shootings appear to be staged (by the Deep State?) with the agenda of abolishing the 2A. Why the rush? What else is on the agenda that is so sinister that we need to be helpless sheep?
Yes, do not let them disarm you. They will attack and either enslave or kill you! That is the end purpose of Josef Biden and the left or anyone that wants to disarm you no matter how “nice” and sincere they can be.
One point is, that it is TREASON in the first place to disarm you in America and guess what country is the freest? So what does that tell you in the first place about them?
Another story is how the Indians approached the Pioneers unarmed to convince them they only want their guns and would leave them alone so they naively did.
Well, as soon as they did that the Indians tied the men to wagon wheels and burned them alive, and axed their families.
Very well said! I’ve always had the philosophy of ‘better be armed & not need it than not be armed & need it’.
Well thought out letter. I remember when you previously posted the story about the three guys showing up. Hopefully this will wake some people up.
Awesome write up! I hope women everywhere take this to heart. Thank you.
New and proud female gun owner here in my 60s! Never had the desire to learn marksmanship even after a neighbor pointed out my vulnerability to a possible situation like the one in your story. Everything changed in the last two years and today I feel the most unsafe I’ve ever felt. Alas, the gun range is part of my routine now.
thank you for such a powerful article. to the “I would never have a gun,” I say, “I have a fire extinguisher in my home also. I hope that I never need it, but if I do need it, I need it NOW.” also, “will you guarantee my safety if I am attacked? that usually shuts them down. another person opined that anyone who would deny you independence or self sufficiency is not your friend. lastly, a gun does not belong in your purse or car glove box; it belongs on your person.
The feckless pile of slime Barack Hussein Obumbler once said of conservatives, “the cling to their guns and religion”. He and the rest of the left-wing nitwits that want to take our guns away had better remember that…especially the “guns” part. You are far outnumbered and far out-gunned.
WELL DAISY,its true ,ALL WOMEN should carry a GUN,the LORD says the police gangs all are part of SATANS ARMY,most women have no clue who the LORD is,and do not listen to his warnings,GO OVER TO A WEB SITE CALLED”THE MASTERS VOICE” and play the video ,”AMERICA IN CHAINS”…its about how the love of all you women are going to fall for the tricks of OBAMA,the son of perdition,HES GOING TO TAKE YOU AND SELL YOU FOR SLAVES to the highest bidder..Every woman in america should watch this video…
Very well said, thank you!
Every human being has the ‘right’ to protect themselves and those around them from others who wish to do them harm. We get this right biologically from humanity itself, not from any individual human or group of humans who seek to oppress other humans.
All I can say is…AMEN
What a wonderful post, with all gentleness and respect. I agree wholeheartedly. We in Maine have legal open and conceal carry. Maine is the safest state. Why? It’s because every potential criminal knows it’s a good possibility that every potential victim may be armed. I feel completely safe and don’t need to call on anyone else for help… true empowerment!
Thank you for reposting this important article. I admire your honesty and bravery. God bless you and your family.
My dear brother gave me a handgun for my birthday. He must love me a lot!
I’m not a woman and don’t identify as one so my opinion here might not matter. However, as a responsible gun owner and constant carry person having access to a firearm has helped me twice in my life. First time I was with a date. She and I were exiting a concert in downtown Oklahoma City when we saw three gentlemen dragging a screaming woman down an alley. I told my date to stay at the car and while everyone else in the parking lot just stood there watching this unfold, I approached the trio of men. Two of them continued holding the woman and a third came at me. I drew a pistol and leveled it at him. He stopped in his tracks and began screaming at me. When the two holding the girl saw that they let go of her and ran away. She ran to the crowd. When the one confronting me saw that he cussed me out, threatened to find me later and then ran off too. I put my firearm away and walked back to the car only to have my date scream at me the entire ride back to her house for getting involved. We never saw each other again after that.
The second time I was trying to work my way though college with a full schedule and two jobs to pay for it. Dead on my feet, I went back to my efficiency apartment room and forgot to close or lock my single entry door, leaving only the screen door closed. Later that evening two gentlemen walked in without knocking or asking. I came awake and immediately grabbed the pistol. The efficiency apartment was small. We were already in close quarters and they were already well inside my safety zone so I leveled the weapon at them. They stopped in their tracks and began telling me they might be in the wrong place. I assured them they were and they backed out of the door and ran.
Two times. No one shot. A woman wasn’t gang raped in one circumstance and I wasn’t burglarized or beaten in another. Ironically enough, the woman that told me I should not have gotten involved was later beaten and raped. To this day I wonder if she ever regretted being so angry at me for protecting someone I didn’t know.
I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the proper use of firearms. At this point if you’re going try and take mine, you better bring yours along.
Daisy, I’m sorry you had to go through this. Out of it came a very well-expressed article. Thank you.
There are VERY fundamental concepts we are guided to ignore;
1) NOT every ‘law’ applies to everyone.
2) There are two ‘modes’ of citizenship
a) one you are ‘born into’
b) one you must declare
3) EVERYTHING is voluntary
4) EVERYTHING is voluntary
5) EVERYTHING is voluntary
6) EVERYTHING is voluntary
7) EVERYTHING is voluntary
etc.
Start here:
https://castbox.fm/episode/Deanna-Spingola—Roger-Sayles—How-and-why-claim-American-National-status—02-06-21-id1463869-id352807519
and:
http://thematrixdocs.com/
Wow! I wish you were my neighbor. You should mass produce this blog/letter and give it to everyone in the government.
OMG you convinced me.
Dear Fellow gun owners, Americans & Constitutionalists.
James Madison wrote: “The preservation of a free government requires, not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained, but more especially that neither of them be suffered to overleap the great barrier which defends the rights of the people. The rulers who are guilty of such encroachment exceed the commission from which they derive their authority, and are TYRANTS. The people who submit to it are governed by laws made neither by themselves nor by an authority derived from them and are slaves…..”
The “great barrier” is our Constitution. It has been “overleaped” and we are slaves! The Republic created by America’s founders is history! It was destroyed by TYRANTS who, to paraphrase thirty governors, exceeded the clear bounds of their jurisdiction under the Constitution and thus violated Rights guaranteed the people. America is now a nation-state of the New World Order; “a world that has a supranational authority to regulate world commerce and industry, an international organization that would control the production and consumption of oil; an international currency that would replace the dollar; a world development fund that would make funds available to free and communist nations alike; and an international police force to enforce the edicts of the New World Order.” By this definition this NWO will be a global prison!
Should you doubt the TYRANTS intend to disarm us I pray this message will convince you otherwise for THEY DO! I base this statement on the following facts.
• In “Our Global Neighborhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance,” the Commission strongly endorsed the disarming of civilians!
• Though our Declaration of Independence says government’s purpose is to secure our unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty, and an opportunity for Happiness President Clinton – in direct conflict with it – said in a 1993 interview on MTV that: “The purpose of the government is to rein in the rights of the people.”
• The United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and State Department Publication7277 endorse the idea of The Report of the Commission on Global Governance to disarm civilians. Our 2nd amendment Right is missing in the UN Covenant.
• On 2-1-92 President George Herbert Walker Bush said: “it is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter to which we will henceforth pledge our allegiance.”
• The video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F9e2Q7HiOE&feature=player_detailpage describes government’s intent to impose the global prison called the New World Order (NWO).
Left unchallenged, government will disarm civilians in order to totally enslave us without resistance. As George Washington said “The crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights or submit to every imposition that can be heaped upon us, till custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves.”
Unfortunately, the history of America’s Constitutionalists is one of failure. Thousands of organizations and millions of individuals have tried to unilaterally redirect our ‘ship of state’ to no avail. This approach hasn’t worked and won’t work! As Medori Severi said: “Until we abandon our manifold private agendas and unite, we will merely be hapless observers standing at the bottom of a dark, deep pit, wistfully hoping to save the world, but really doing little more than breaking the fall of compatriots who are pushed in on top of us…”
When the British Captain of Her Majesty’s Ship SERAPIS demanded he surrender Admiral Jones said: “I have not yet begun to fight!” So it is with us. We have yet to agree our problem is the failure of people in general – and elected officials and law enforcement personnel in particular – to recognize the importance of James 4:17 and do what’s right. We have no widely accepted plan for correcting government’s unlawful acts and we have no recognized leadership; a recipe for disaster. What we should do is adopt a plan through which we can enjoy the benefits of unity on actions of mutual interest while retaining our freedom to pursue our special interests. Let’s face it: the history of America’s patriots was characterized by POGO; “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
Thankfully, a viable plan is available. It’s a product of the Constitutionalist’s Networking Center chaired by the late Governor Evan Mecham. It’s summarized at http://www.thecnc.org/Documents/RestoringGovernment.htm. A communications system through which people can locate and communicate with others in their area and others is desperately needed. I pray you see the need for “teaming up” to Take America Back to its lawful foundation as I firmly believe a failure to plan is a plan to fail; something we dare not do!!
Bravo, Daisy! This is the second time I have read about the experience of the three men in your driveway. Although the article was directed at women, every man has a beloved woman that he wants to be protected by himself or herself. What you wrote in 2017 is even more critical today, nearly five years later. Thanks for all the sage articles about planning and preparedness that you’ve so willingly shared. I’ve learned a lot from you!