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The NRA, Remington and Designer Gunwear.

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Remington, the gun manufacturer, announced today it is coming out with a concealed carry line of  clothes. The company will lend their name to “gun jackets” and a “Double Derringer” line of vests. (Reuters, Nov. 3, 2013)

Greed is good, right? Why not make more money off the gun fad? So what if gun manufacturers sell designer clothes to gun-toters to make them feel even more important?

Handguns kill people. That’s what they are designed to do and they do it very well. They are also expensive and make immense amounts of money for gun manufacturers. Now, the manufacturers want even more.

I’m against pointing a loaded handgun at someone and pulling the trigger. I would ban concealed-carry weapons in an instant. I would ban assault rifles of all kinds for the same reason: These weapons are for hunting humans. I don’t care about gun manufacturers and their profits.

This is not to say that I am against possession of firearms.  I think hunting with a rifle or shotgun is an acceptable way to harvest deer, turkey and other wildlife. At least, hunting game provides food for our tables and encourages sportsmanship as an outlet.

I believe, too, that  the Second Amendment supports defense of our freedoms by empowering militias and that the amendment was never intended to support individual hand-gun ownership.

Twice I have had handguns pulled on me.  One was by a drunk who showed me a blunt nose revolver which he kept in a handkerchief in his front pocket. The other guy wanted to impress me by the size of the hand gun which he pulled out of a holster which was under his vest.

I showed the door to the drunk. I simply walked away from guy number two. And, in neither instance was I brave. I am not a courageous person. I was just so disgusted that I wanted to distance myself from them as quickly as I could.

I have listened to conversations between handgun enthusiasts who laugh when describing how
important they feel as Americans when they carry their guns and intimidate others. Apparently, they think the rest of us are wimps compared to guys with guns. Those men inspired fear in me not because of their guns but because they were so casual about “carrying.”

The National Rifle Association is run by gun manufacturers.  It wants every American to buy a gun and to carry a gun, as if all gun-toters are mature, responsible people. I know enough about good people to know that sometimes they are bad, real bad. Or, are we all supposed to think that all those who carry concealed weapons are good people who would never use an available gun to do anything bad — the real Americans who own Remingtons?

I’m a Christian but not a pacifist. I can imagine taking arms against someone in self defense or in defense of my family. But, I want the NRA to stop acting as a surrogate for gun manufacturers. I will defend myself as I see fit.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins.  The others are pride, anger, lust, envy,
gluttony and sloth. I think you’ll find all seven wrapped up in the soul of a violent, hand-gun-toting America.

 

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The National Rifle Association, the right not to bear arms.

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The second amendment assures every citizen the right to bear arms. With this right comes the reponsibility to be careful with those firearms.  To its credit, The National Rifle Association sponsors classes in gun safety.  For this reason, I have no problem with hunting, and with hunters owning and using rifles and shotguns. But, because the NRA advocates handgun posession and helps train hand gun owners,the National Rifle Association is not an organization I would belong to.

 Sure, if I lived in the country and not as I do now, in a great metropolis, I’d likely belong to the “Rod and Gun” club. I like to fish and you could probably talk me into a trek through the Northwoods during deer season. But, I draw the line at handguns, a line behind which stands the National Rifle Association.

Handguns are for killing people. I don’t want one in my house and I don’t want you sitting at the next table in a restaurant with your 357 magnum hanging at your side as if you are somebody because you carry a gun. I don’t want to assume that the bulge in your coat pocket is a gun, either.

I think the second amendment was intended to assure that a militia could be raised if and when it was necessary to defend American territory. With this idea in mind, the National Rifle Association has turned the second amendment into a mandate to carry arms for personal defence. Instead, I want to see that right curtailed as stictly as possible. Yes, I’ll defend home and turf but in my own way.

In my lifetime, I have asked two people to get out of my car because they flourished handguns, neither was a member of the National Rifle Association. One was a salesman-friend who carried his hand gun in his front pocket wrapped in a thin white handkerchief. He said he just wanted to show it to me. He was chuckling as he brought it out.  Even though I knew him well and we were not near our destination, I pulled over and quietly asked him to get out.  He thought I was joking. I wasn’t. The NRA would not have approved.

When I needed directions in an unfamiliar city, a man, dressed in a nice suit volunteered to direct me to my destination and I let him get into the back seat of my car.  I’d offered him a ride of a couple of blocks.When he brandished a handgun and asked me what I thought of it, the following words ran through my head: “Why did I let myself get into this situation?”

Fortunately, the man did exit the car without further incident.  I concluded he wanted to show the gun to me because in his eyes it equalized me with his condition. I had an impressive brand new car, he had a big, shiny handgun. The National Rifle Association  would have supported this show-off.

I’m glad that in each case I did not reach for my pistol, simply because I didn’t have one with which to threaten either of these guys.

I can think of a hundred different ways to counter an intruder.  The last thing I would do is go run for a handgun. I’d use my head and not try to blow his off.

 

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