To go armed or not to go armed? That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows… OK, enough paraphrased Shakespeare. It’s common knowledge that more and more Americans, including Democrats, are becoming first-time gun owners. Federal background checks have numbered more than a million per month for more than five years. Since each check can encompass more than one gun, and they don’t account for private transactions, we can be sure Americans are buying more than a million guns every month.

There are signs the pace of gun buying is slowing, as one might expect with Donald Trump’s reelection. Americans not worried about federal agents busting down their doors at 3 AM, another “Summer of Love,” or relentless and potentially successful attempts to obliterate the Second Amendment tend to relax a bit. Whether he’ll be able to convince Congress to do much to restore and expand Americans’ Second Amendment rights is an open question. During Trump’s first term, when Republicans held the Congress, they decided the time just wasn’t right to affirm that portion of the Constitution.

Even so, gun ownership and daily carry are rational and emotional issues. Rational because there can be no doubt that evil exists and can confront anyone anywhere at any time. There are very few police officers, and they’re virtually never there when and where they're needed. They love to catch bad guys in the act and save the day, but they just can’t be held legally liable for failing to protect anyone. We really are on our own.

Unfortunately, even people sufficiently rational to arm themselves and obtain training sometimes still have emotional worries, like this Reddit poster:

Graphic: Reddit Screenshot

Obviously, we’re speaking not about someone carrying a handgun for self-defense, an inherently rational choice. “Awkward” has made a home defense choice, but buying a gun safe suggests more than a little emotion overcoming reason. There’s certainly nothing wrong with leaving a shotgun loaded with an empty chamber, but hopefully Awkward will be able to get to that shotgun more or less instantly when it’s needed, and hopefully, it will never be needed in that way.

No, Awkward, you’re not doing anything wrong. You’ve made a rational, responsible choice, and you’ve made at least the beginning steps toward ability and confidence. You’ll need to continue regular and correct practice, dry and live fire, to maintain and build that ability and confidence.

You are, however, partially allowing emotion to overcome reason. Surely you’ve discovered anti-liberty/gun cracktivist claims that guns in the home are certain to injure and kill occupants are lies? Were they not, we’d be daily deluged with such reports. Even the Clinton Administration, among the most anti-gun in history, did a study that revealed Americans use guns in legitimate self-defense up to 1.5 million times every year. They tried to suppress those results, but they leaked.  

Armed citizens shoot and kill far more criminals than the police. That might seem counterintuitive, but the police are virtually never there when a criminal attack begins. If they get there in time—rarely—they’re running into ambiguous situations. They can’t be sure who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. Citizens there from the beginning don’t have that problem. As a result, police shoot the wrong person at more than five times the rate of citizens.

Your reason keeps asserting itself. Power tools, kitchen knives, hammers, screwdrivers, all manner of inanimate objects at hand in your home are deadly weapons, yet you have no unreasonable fear of them, as you shouldn’t.

Are your qualms moral? Self-defense is an unalienable, God-given human right.

The correct translation of the Commandment is not “thou shalt not kill,” but “thou shalt not murder.” The scriptures clearly recognize justified homicide. That’s the basis of our deadly force law. Are the lives of those cruel and vicious enough to unjustifiably kill others of more value to society than those of the innocent? Is your life of less value to you and those you love than the lives of such monsters? 

Arm yourself, too, with intimate knowledge of your state law of self-defense. That study should include Andrew Branca’s indispensable The Law of Self Defense.

Jeffrey R. Snyder’s classic 1993 essay, A Nation of Cowards, may help to clarify your concerns. So too might my AT essay, “Why I carry a handgun,” and my more in-depth essay on the same subject at my home blog, Why I Carry A Concealed Handgun. One additional resource that might be helpful is this AT article on Shotguns for home defense. 

Awkward, you’re almost there. Work through your worries, let reason prevail, and welcome to the ranks of Americans taking responsibility for their own safety.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.