Why do you carry?
- Thread starter researcher
- Start date
What I was trying to say was that general support by our state/federal governments for private militias has diminished since the Revolutionary War meaning of the term.
For example, a section of the Washington State Constitution:
SECTION 24 RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS. The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.
This is in contrast to the present trend in increasing recognition of the right to self-defense, and the reversal of laws that were heading in the opposite direction.
As an aside, I sometimes wish the authors of the Second Amendment to our nation's constitution had used the language that Washington State chose. Pretty darn clear it's an individual right, isn't it? And why the individual can bear arms is also clearly stated.
I understand that, at the time (1700's), there were concerns of the right to possess arms as the means of ensuring liberty, i.e. a government that degenerated into tyranny. But present law is unlikely to spell out a roadmap for that process. In fact, Washington State pretty much makes militias illegal.
IMO, "militia" should be buried in the past. It is all too likely that someone will tie "bearing arms" and "militia" together again, then happily dismiss the need to bear arms with the lack of a need for militia.
If I am in a place where some one walks in and starts shooting I would like a chance. If I am the first person he shoots then I didn't get much of a chance. If I can get me and my family out without firing a shot I will. I don't want the law suit from the persons family. I am not there to save anybody else just mine. I always make sure nobody knows I have a gun. I see a lot of people carrying. I think they should conceil better. But then that's me.
Now, now. I thought politicians weren't supposed to be attacked here...
My authority for such an outlandish concept, that politicians might be "bad guys", is no less than Mark Twain, who said, "No one's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session."
Last edited:
Uncle Buck
New member
Not to sound snarky, but because I can. I have been in a few situations where I feel a firearm has saved my life, or at the least, saved me from a severe beating that I may not recover from.
I never really thought of them symbolizing anything, but if I did have to symbolize them, then I would guess "Better Times." Better times being when I was a kid and did not have a worry in the world. Going shooting with my father and uncles. Hunting with my friends.
I would use them for self-defense (and if need be, defense of others).
I use them to socialize. Friends and family get together, we talk, shoot and have a good time.
(I also use them to get info from nephews! I never realized how much a kid could talk and let his guard down on the firing line.)
I use them to hunt with.
They can be a tool when I am working on the farm.
I haven’t read all the replies so if you run into a similar response, it is what it is...
I carry a gun because I have the right to do so... I cant predict what any other person is going to do... no crystal ball to tell the future so despite the remoteness of needing to employ deadly force I at least have the option if needed.
Most criminals don’t care about laws and many don’t care about human life and I cant tell the bad guy he or she needs to wait until the police arrive before they proceed to potential endanger my life or the life of others.
My right to bear arms doesn’t come about because of some special need it comes about because it is a natural right inherent in all humans to have the right to self defense. In the ultimate view the right to bear arms allows our citizenry the option to give the ultimate protest against tyranny.... If only the government (any given government)is allowed to have arms then what is to keep that government from enslaving its population... (See North Korea)
What does a firearm symbolize to me... It signifies my duty to be knowledgeable about my world and my nation and to not stand idly by as the forces of ignorance and darkness strive to defeat freedom....
We all have a duty to more than sound bites of some politician and we all have a duty to know that being a good citizen means we are in charge and the government serves us and not the other way around.
We are responsible to make our own way in the world and when others seek to deny us our life or liberty we still have a choice unlike others who bear no arms....
Without firearms as an individual right you have no guarntee of freedom...
I carry a gun because I have the right to do so... I cant predict what any other person is going to do... no crystal ball to tell the future so despite the remoteness of needing to employ deadly force I at least have the option if needed.
Most criminals don’t care about laws and many don’t care about human life and I cant tell the bad guy he or she needs to wait until the police arrive before they proceed to potential endanger my life or the life of others.
My right to bear arms doesn’t come about because of some special need it comes about because it is a natural right inherent in all humans to have the right to self defense. In the ultimate view the right to bear arms allows our citizenry the option to give the ultimate protest against tyranny.... If only the government (any given government)is allowed to have arms then what is to keep that government from enslaving its population... (See North Korea)
What does a firearm symbolize to me... It signifies my duty to be knowledgeable about my world and my nation and to not stand idly by as the forces of ignorance and darkness strive to defeat freedom....
We all have a duty to more than sound bites of some politician and we all have a duty to know that being a good citizen means we are in charge and the government serves us and not the other way around.
We are responsible to make our own way in the world and when others seek to deny us our life or liberty we still have a choice unlike others who bear no arms....
Without firearms as an individual right you have no guarntee of freedom...
Last edited:
It is also important to remember, in our Constitution, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) is a citizen's natural right, not one bestowed by the government.
Many of us also believe that if we do not exercise our rights, we chance losing them. There is historic evidence to support that belief.
Much of the anti-RKBA legislation and rhetoric comes from an ideological position,dressed as a safety issue. Most of us believe in some limits of ownership and have a point at which we agree in principle on some limits.
That said, we have a camel's-nose-under-the-tent-based suspicion of those arguments. Watch the RKBA fight long enough and you become cynical of motives and exasperated with the lack of understanding by those who would impose their beliefs on us via legislation or by their favorite sympathetic judge.
Many of us also believe that if we do not exercise our rights, we chance losing them. There is historic evidence to support that belief.
Much of the anti-RKBA legislation and rhetoric comes from an ideological position,dressed as a safety issue. Most of us believe in some limits of ownership and have a point at which we agree in principle on some limits.
That said, we have a camel's-nose-under-the-tent-based suspicion of those arguments. Watch the RKBA fight long enough and you become cynical of motives and exasperated with the lack of understanding by those who would impose their beliefs on us via legislation or by their favorite sympathetic judge.
Researcher: I am a first generation US citizen, born in Canada of Swedish and German parents. I carry for my own, and my family's self defense, but also BECAUSE I CAN!!! Something not normally possible in either the land of my birth or of my ancestors.
All of my European relatives are gun owners and all compete...but that, and hunting, is all they can do. They have no right to self defence. I can legally protect my family from two or four legged preditors, and I think that is very important. I know what went on in Europe in the 20's to 40's, and the taking of the law abiding citizens weapons of self defence away was not the proper thing to do...it only added to the anarchy, and through that fear of anarchy, added to the power of the government. We all know what uncontrolled government power can lead to.
Years ago we had a young man from Germany live with us for a year...he went to school with our kids, went shooting, learned to drive a car, improved his English (the reason he was here)...did everything our kids, as americans, did...what did he like the best? Going shooting.
I have been hiking in the mountains and met tourists from Germany, the thing they were most interested in? The pistol I had holstered on my hip...they expressed a desire to do the same when they were at home, but they are not allowed (as we know). Go change things..get the laws in Europe changed so you can carry. Czech republic allows you too, why not Germany.
All of my European relatives are gun owners and all compete...but that, and hunting, is all they can do. They have no right to self defence. I can legally protect my family from two or four legged preditors, and I think that is very important. I know what went on in Europe in the 20's to 40's, and the taking of the law abiding citizens weapons of self defence away was not the proper thing to do...it only added to the anarchy, and through that fear of anarchy, added to the power of the government. We all know what uncontrolled government power can lead to.
Years ago we had a young man from Germany live with us for a year...he went to school with our kids, went shooting, learned to drive a car, improved his English (the reason he was here)...did everything our kids, as americans, did...what did he like the best? Going shooting.
I have been hiking in the mountains and met tourists from Germany, the thing they were most interested in? The pistol I had holstered on my hip...they expressed a desire to do the same when they were at home, but they are not allowed (as we know). Go change things..get the laws in Europe changed so you can carry. Czech republic allows you too, why not Germany.
• We are all by default our own first responders.
• I have been attacked three times; but, since I was younger and more vigorous, I used martial arts to defend myself.
• I am now too old and too gimpy to either fight or run as I once could. However, I am too proud and independent to give up my freedom to go where I will, to hide behind walls, and to go out only, as gun-grabbers constantly advise, in flocks of timorous sheeple — and then only to non-existent “safe places”.
• I live near, and work in, Detroit. I carry when and where legal, discreetly, but not in deep concealment.
• I like guns and such reasons as self-defense give me an excuse to carry one. If I did not like guns, I am not fearful enough to put up with the bother.
• I have been attacked three times; but, since I was younger and more vigorous, I used martial arts to defend myself.
• I am now too old and too gimpy to either fight or run as I once could. However, I am too proud and independent to give up my freedom to go where I will, to hide behind walls, and to go out only, as gun-grabbers constantly advise, in flocks of timorous sheeple — and then only to non-existent “safe places”.
• I live near, and work in, Detroit. I carry when and where legal, discreetly, but not in deep concealment.
• I like guns and such reasons as self-defense give me an excuse to carry one. If I did not like guns, I am not fearful enough to put up with the bother.
dancarpenter95
New member
I carry because it is my right. In addition I don't ever want to be in a position where my family is in danger and I just have to hope for the best.
In a word, prudence. I've been around the world, and if there's one universal language, it's violence.
I despise violence. It is the last resort of the incompetent, and the tool of the savage. It is the utter failure of negotiation or civility.
However, there are those who don't feel that way, and should I find myself being confronted by someone like that, I have to be fluent in the language.
They are inanimate objects, with no real symbolism to me. They are tools. That isn't to say I don't enjoy them; I simply don't attach metaphors to them.
While defense would be the primary reason for carrying a gun, my main activity involving firearms is target shooting. One ties into the other, but much of my target shooting is dedicated to enjoyment and relaxation rather than defense.
Though I've little interest in hunting, I have needed firearms to deal with predatory and dangerous animals in the past.
Note from the playground lady: let's not take this into Godwin territory. Look up the reference if you need to.