Celebrating five years of CWP

It’s been 5 years since I took the decision of obtaining Florida’s Concealed Weapons Permit and started to carry every day. I take a moment to reflect and share on what I have learned while carrying a handgun on my side for 1,825 days:

1) I am thankful to God that I have never had to use my gun to defend myself or my family. I am thankful to the Founding Fathers for inscribing the Second Amendment to the Constitution and I am thankful to all the individuals and organizations that fought the good fight to keep my right to carry arms.

2) I have learned to be patient, to be in control and to ignore Life’s little abuses. The idiot that cuts me off in traffic and flips me the finger is just that, an idiot. I smile at the thought of his blood pressure rising and his heart working closer to a heart attack. Who would have thought that a gun is better than an antidepressant or valium?

3) I was never the most disciplined person in the world and still ain’t for the most part. But concerning to my guns and my carrying I am inflexible. And somewhat that discipline is translating into other aspects of life. You just don’t screw around, deviate or forget yourself around guns. It can get you killed.

4) I have learned to see through the Anti-Gun agenda and learned that demagoguery is alive and well and holding hands with stupidity. I am even starting to think that Anti-Gunners do want to become outright dictators and fear an armed population that could put a stop to their dreams.

5) During these 5 years, I have not been involved in any OK-Corral-type shootouts, nor had an episode of road rage in which bullets flew all over South Florida or saw somebody being shot by a CCW owner because he wanted in the local Home Depot first. I have seen none of the above played in the News or printed in the paper. It must not be happening, contrary to what the Anti-Gunners predicted. And I wonder, if they are so wrong about CWP, what else are they so wrong about?

6) According to statistics, my fellow CWP owners and myself are almost five time more respectful of the law than the average Floridian. Which is amazing considering we are branded as blood-thirsty Vigilantes by those who seek to control us.

7) I belong to a shooting club that is populated with others as hardheaded and opinionated as I am. It makes for interesting times. But my club is not filed with toothless rednecks chugging beer with one hand and shooting his gun careless with the other. Our club is a Rainbow Coalition of races and attitudes that would scare the hell out of Jesse Jackson. And no wonder, we are armed and we do not tolerate bullshit.

8) I see now that an unarmed citizen is just a subject waiting to be ordered by whomever he chooses to be his dictator. How much suffering could have been avoided in this planet if people were given the tools to defend themselves.

9) I depend on myself for my defense, nobody else. If I get help from Law Enforcement, I will gladly take it. But at the end I am the one responsible for staying alive.

10) I need to get some more practice and shoot more!