A Man With A Gun

Some people may believe that it takes a village to raise a child, or that it takes a police force to protect them. However, in two recent news stories, a single individual with a handgun thwarted what could have been far more serious situations.

In Seminole, Florida on Monday, an armed off duty Pinellas County deputy sheriff shot a 22 year-old man who was about to carjack a BMW, and most probably kidnap or shoot the two occupants.

And today an 18-year old lone gunman shot and killed five innocent people in a mall in Salt Lake City, Utah before he was engaged in a firefight with an armed off duty Ogden policeman.

Some 48 states have some sort of carry laws, but in 39 states, citizens enjoy the right to carry concealed weapons. Florida, my home state, first passed the "shall issue" carry legislation that has become the model for most concealed carry state laws. The graphic to the right shows how states have embraced armed self defense legislation over the last two decades.

Personally I have had a CCW permit for twenty-nine years, and I carry every day. Yet in all that time, I have been lucky - I've never had to present my weapon. But across the nation, a gun prevents a crime or saves a life every day. In Florida, over 50,000 women hold CCW permits, and even more carry guns in their car or purse.

In today's uncertain world, with terrorist cells in many US cities; with unprotected borders allowing smugglers, terrorists, religious radicals and other common criminals to invade our country; with sociopath youths committing burglaries and carjackings becoming commonplace, individual personal self defense is an absolute necessity. You better believe that the bad guys will have guns, and you better have one, too.

As we say down here in the South, "An armed society is a polite society."