Would you like Freedom with that?

 

This weekend while out and about with my family I had a unique experience. We were out shopping and had stopped at a well known fast food restaurant to have a quick and cheap bite to eat. Well, as the good father I am, I bought my son a kid's meal which of course came with a toy. As we were walking out of the restaurant, he dropped his brand new toy and rolled right under a car. Of course, this was a disaster. Well, with my bad luck, it rolls squarely in the middle of the car in between the front wheels and I am left to belly crawl under this SUV to get it...

At this point you are probably like "Where the hell is he going with this?" Patience my young Padawan. So as I am under this stranger's SUV, army crawling to retrieve a 10¢ toy made in China, one of the employees comes out to ask if he could help by getting me a broom. At this point, I was already under the car, so I politely declined. As I emerged from the underside of the SUV, toy in hand my son gleamed in joy. Turning to the nice employee to thank him, he motioned at his shirt and stated "you might want to pull your shirt down." Apparently while retrieving my sons toy, my firearm that is carried IWB on my hip had come exposed. Dang it. So I promptly pulled my shirt over my gun and readjusted myself as to not expose the world to it. Then the nice employee leaned over to me and said "Don't worry, you're not the only one" as he lifts up his shirt exposing a firearm underneath his uniform.

Needless to say, I was a little taken aback by this! Here I am, all paranoid that some anti-gunner would have seen me and called the cops for "violently brandishing" my firearm. Then the next second, I'm being flashed a revolver tucked in the waistband of a fast food employee's pants!. What a Saturday! But this goes to show you, more people concealed carry then you realize. In the great state of Florida, as of October 31, 2013 there are 1,186,457 active CCW permits issued. To put that into perspective there is 19.32 million people in the entire state. That's over 6% of the entire population that is a concealed carry holder and that number is growing rapidly everyday. And that's only those who carry a firearm with them, not those who own firearms strictly for home protection use. So we aren't a small fraction of paranoid people who live in bunkers under ground and wear aluminum foil hats. We are fathers, mothers, neighbors, church goers, blue collar, white collar and everything in between. We believe in right of self preservation and self reliance for your own safety. We do not want our right to protect ourselves stripped away and we will be heard.

So next time you take a trip to your favorite McTuckey Taco Burger Shack, remember the fast food guy I met this weekend. He may be the guy that saves your life.

Zoned for Disaster

If you hadn't figured it out already, I carry a firearm everyday. It goes as follows: Watch, cell phone wallets, keys, knife, gun. These things offer consistency and security to my day-to-day life. So you can image I was a little perturbed today as I went about my errands, I had to disarm myself twice. Once at the local college, as I was attempting to register for classes. The other at the IRS building downtown. Both of these places fall under what is called "gun-free zones." Don't get me wrong, I semi-understand why each of these establishments are banned from list of places you can carry. Traditionally schools are meant for children and, at one point in time, this was a safe place. The IRS is a federal building, so carry is off limits there as well. Actually, I don't really understand why I can't carry in the IRS building, its not like its the FBI. It was just a bunch of paper pushers who looked like they hated life. But I digress. However, these gun free zones are part of the gun problem here in America. Sounds weird, right? No guns means we are safer... Right? Wrong.

First, a little back story. Guns have not always been banned in/or around schools as some people believe. In 1990 a federal law was passed called the Gun-Free School Zones Act. This made it illegal for any individual from knowingly possessing a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a "school zone." Ask your parents if they ever saw a firearm in their school. I bet they did. There was actually a time where firearm safety was taught in schools. So this is a relatively new type of restriction on firearms. Now I want you to take a minute and think about were a lot of these active shooter (aka mass shootings) scenarios happen. Schools (Columbine, Va Tech, Sandy Hook, etc) are at the top of the list. So let me ask you,  do you feel it's working?

Other places are also sought after for active shooters. Recently  the Navy Yard shooting, which as you know, is federal property. Public places like malls and movie theaters have also seen active shooters incidents. What's the common theme? Path of least resistance. These places allow for the largest amount of carnage with the least amount of interference. With that in mind, did you know that in the 2012 Clackamas Mall shooting, a concealed carry weapons holder drew his weapon against the shooter which forced him to retreat and commit suicide? So in these zones, where law abiding citizens aren't allowed to carry firearms, who is going to be there to defend against the people who don't care about those laws and are hell bent on destruction? Go ahead, I'll wait...

Now, don't take this as me saying I think every man, woman and child should be armed and every teacher should be strapped. I am not. But I do think that gun free zones are part of the problem. I think licensed, law abiding CCW holders should be allowed to carry into schools and the like. I also think schools should also have armed security and/or police officers. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if someone inside of Sandy Hook Elementary had been trained and carrying a firearm. Wayne LaPierre once said "“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” I really believe guns DO save lives.

What we need now ladies and gentlemen, is more good guys with guns.

Converts

Guns get a bad rap. We all know this. However within this last year the number of guns purchased and the number of gun owners has grown significantly. More interesting, is the number of people getting their CCW or Concealed Carry Weapons permit. Personally, several of my friends and family  have gotten theirs withing the last six months. These are people who didn't even own a gun a year go. Today I even went with a friend to pick out his new carry gun. 

I purchased my first firearm in the beginning of 2011. We were having a rash of break-ins at the apartments we were living in a decided to be safe than sorry . None of the break-ins were violent, but you just never know. Being a spur of the moment buy, funds were limited and so was my experience. My father owned a gun my whole life but I never once saw it. It was a .22 revolver stashed in the closet and the ammo was in a different place in the same closet. I had only fired a couple pistols before in my lifetime, my first being the Beretta M9 I fired in basic training. I wanted something cheap and not intimidating if my wife had to use it. So, for the bargain price of $240 I bought a Taurus TCP from my local gun shop. And for about 2 years it stayed in its case in closet, however at least mine stayed loaded.

On December 14, 2012, the TCP came out of the closet and hasn't gone back since. The shooting at Sandy Hook affirmed for me that society has hit a low point. The killing of innocent children, having 2 small children of my own, hit too close to home. I decided at that point I would not stand for this type of violence. I was going to carry gun to protect me and my family. The first week of January I took my required training course, did all of the paperwork, paid all of the fees and around March of this year I was officially licensed to carry a firearm. At this time I was the only person I knew in my circle who carried a firearm.   My TCP has become my Everyday Carry (EDC). It goes where I go. Soon to follow suit was my father. He obtained his ccw and carries a Taurus revolver.

For a lot of people, the idea of carrying a gun around is weird. They think I'm paranoid. Or crazy. One of my close friends, upon discussing carrying a gun, stated " I have lived 27 years without needing one, I don't think I need one now." My response was "We don't live in the same world we did 27 years ago." That must have struck a chord with him, as he is now a CCW permit holder too. My wife is also a recent CCW holder. At first, she just went along with me carrying it but as she began to see the way I see the world, she wanted to carry as well. Most recently, another close friend, who never owned a pistol before has purchased two in the past month and completed his CCW requirements.

So why are all of these people starting to buy and carry weapons? I think a lot of reasons. I think with shootings happening at schools, malls, and movie theaters the sense of security has been lost. Some people are concerned with the current state of our government and their constant attempt to ban, register or confiscate guns from the people. Remember our Second Amendment is there as a last resort against tyranny. The reason I carry, the reason I wear my pistol day in and day out: I carry to save a life. "Wait,"you say, "save a life? But guns are for killing not saving" I carry a gun to protect people from the evils of this world. I don't carry to just protect me or my family, but anyone who may need it. I will not turn a blind eye. I don't care if you think that concealed carry is stupid or if you think the Second Amendment is outdated. I will use those rights given unto me to save your life if you ever needed it. So, I believe the populous is beginning to see firearm ownership in this way.
People who were once sheep are now becoming sheepdogs to protect against the wolves of the world.


I am a sheepdog.

Keep Calm and Carry On

This is a new adventure for me, blogging. I've rarely even read a blog, let alone made one. I have been inspired however to create this blog partly due to my wife's blog and partly to my views on everyday life. For a little shameless plugging here: If you like cake (and who doesn't) check out my wife's blog  boldcityconfections.blogspot.com. On to the other half of my inspiration. I am husband, father, student and full time employee. I grew up in the suburbs of Jacksonville, Fl. I have a 9 to 5 job and enjoy my weekends off. Pretty normal guy right? What sets me aside from my fellow man, at least most, is my full and complete belief in the right to keep and bear arms.
I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe in Stand your Ground. I believe in the Castle Doctrine. I believe owning and carrying guns actually makes us safer. The only type gun control I believe in is keeping my finger off the trigger until I am prepared to shoot. I hope to express my views on this here. The things I like, I don't like and some fun in between.

Until then, Keep Calm and Carry On