Gimme Back My Bullets

According to a story in the Register, gun sale and inquiries have spiked in the wake of the Cheshire murders. Average people are looking to arm themselves for protection.

I find it sad that people have to have a deadly weapon around just to make themselves feel safer; but I'm not opposed to it. I've always felt that if the criminals have guns, we might as well have them, too.

I know about all the arguments put forth by anti-gun advocates, and, believe me, I agree with all them. Guns are dangerous -- accidents happen, people get hurt.

But, sorry guys, that's just too bad -- our society has gotten so awful that we've come to this, and trying to make laws that try and stop law-abiding citizens from having access to firearms isn't going to solve the problem.

I mean, come on, really -- anti-gun folks make it sound like if all the average citizens suddenly gave up their guns, things would be better. But how the heck does that make any sense?

The very idea that a person bent on committing a crime with a gun would (a) pay attention to gun laws or (b) suddenly decide not to because his victims would be unarmed is preposterous.

I can't stress this enough, and it's been said by a thousand people a thousand times: Gun laws only apply to people who obey laws.

My big concern about a gun in the house is getting to it when I need it. It's not like you can carry it around all the time ... I would imagine most people would keep it near the bed, but what if someone busts in in the middle of the day when you're across the house?

I guess the easiest answer is to have guns all over your house.

When I used to live by myself I decorated my apartment with all sorts of weaponry -- a crossbow, knives and swords ... even a blowgun. I thought it looked pretty cool, and having at least 1 deadly weapon within arm's reach no matter where you were in the house was pretty sensible, I thought. (I even had a really nice 12-inch dagger stashed behind the sink in the bathroom, just in case.)

And it's not because I was paranoid, even though it was a pretty sketchy neighborhood. I just figured that if you were going to have a weapon it had to be handy.

I would tell anyone thinking about getting a gun to go ahead and get one. But I think a better first step would be a super-duper house alarm system, and maybe some self-defense lessons. The gun would be a bonus, but you'd have some options and some skills that could buy you time ... to go get your gun.

It's simple: Anti-gun people should quit griping about people having guns, and put their efforts into reducing the need for the guns. I doubt they'd succeed, but at least then they'd understand what the hell is really going on.