We’re Not Safe Anymore

 

At first, I was going to entitle this post, I don’t feel safe anymore. But then I realized that relying on feelings can be a risky business. We may react to situations based on our feelings, but when it’s time to make decisions, we should also trust our rational minds. And my rational mind told me it was time to act.

A few years ago, my husband and I purchased guns, were trained in their use, and even practiced on the range every two weeks. Over time, I became more confident with the gun, and at the urging of my husband, I agreed to become qualified for concealed carry, and he did the same. As a small woman, I decided to buy a special purse that would not be as convenient as wearing the gun on my person, but at least I wouldn’t have to change my whole wardrobe. (It’s important for the gun not to imprint on your body.) I carried the gun a few times, but then my serious health issues got in the way. We stopped practicing and carrying.

But once I recovered, I realized that I wanted to practice at the range again, and my husband was delighted. We’ve been going every couple of weeks pretty regularly. But I still had not started to carry again.

Something changed this week, and it was more than the Trump trial.

I had to acknowledge that we were living in dangerous times.

Ironically, I live in a gated community. My larger community is conservative and blue collar, with a renowned Sheriff, Grady Judd, and a governor, DeSantis, who repeatedly enacts legislation that reinforces our constitutional rights.

I also realize that the country is changing. And not in a good way.

I’m concerned that this fall, even prior to the presidential election, there will be disturbances cheered on by the political Left. Once the election is over, and my hope is that Trump will be elected, I suspect that all hell will break loose. We’ve already seen emotional, irrational protests in the last few years. This time, the Left will also be enraged. It will be prepared to destroy anyone or anything that has supported not only Trump, but traditional values and the rule of law. In past protests, the rule of law took a beating by people who felt they had the right to not only ignore the law, but to violate it repeatedly, whether it was the 2016 election or the death of George Floyd. They ignored boundaries and borders and traveled freely all over the country.

So, I will continue to go to the gun range. I will be practicing drawing my gun from my purse with dummy bullets. Then I will begin to carry my gun with me to prepare my mind for the need to observe my surroundings, wherever I go. I will also go over the safety measures that I have learned in the past and make sure they come naturally.

I hope I never have to use my gun.

But I will be prepared.

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  1. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    I fear it will be trouble no matter which way the election goes now.  They broke something yesterday.  I don’t think that anyone knows what happens next.  I think we all need to make sure we have prepared ourselves for eventualities, including dire ones.

    • #1
  2. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Raxxalan (View Comment):
    They broke something yesterday

    The power and simplicity of this statement…thanks.

    • #2
  3. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    • #3
  4. Annefy Inactive
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    I fear it will be trouble no matter which way the election goes now. They broke something yesterday. I don’t think that anyone knows what happens next. I think we all need to make sure we have prepared ourselves for eventualities, including dire ones.

    I hated when everyone was encouraging people to “make a plan” for election day 2020. But that’s exactly what I’m encouraging people to do now, especially my children with small children and my two single sisters. I can envision no scenario where there will not be violence when the election is called.

    Were JY and I still in California, I would have “made a plan” to be far, far away. As it is now, we have two choices: Utah or Texas.

     

    • #4
  5. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Annefy (View Comment):
    Were JY and I still in California, I would have “made a plan” to be far, far away.

    I am SO glad that you aren’t in CA anymore, Annefy!

    • #5
  6. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    Annefy (View Comment):

    Were JY and I still in California, I would have “made a plan” to be far, far away. As it is now, we have two choices: Utah or Texas.

     

    Either way I would not want to be in a city even in Texas or Utah.   Hopefully the suburbs will be fairly safe.  There is exponentially more risk for the demonstrators in the suburbs.  I suspect they know this and will stay clear.

    • #6
  7. Annefy Inactive
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    Annefy (View Comment):

    Were JY and I still in California, I would have “made a plan” to be far, far away. As it is now, we have two choices: Utah or Texas.

     

    Either way I would not want to be in a city even in Texas or Utah. Hopefully the suburbs will be fairly safe. There is exponentially more risk for the demonstrators in the suburbs. I suspect they know this and will stay clear.

    I agree. Fortunately, our locations in both UT and TX are rural.

    • #7
  8. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Congratulations. Good to know you  procured the gun and have developped the skill with which to use it against a criminal. (I hope you never have to do that of course.)

    My hands are too shaky to wield such a thing, so I suppose I will rely on a baseball bat or hammer if an intruder breaks in.

    Of course if the intruder is successfully dealt with and ends up dead, I will then have to have friends bury the body, as here in Calif no one has the right to protect their home from a home invader.

    Hopefully should that case come about, no one will ever know where the body has been laid to rest.

    • #8
  9. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Congratulations. Good to know you procured the gun and have developped the skill with which to use it against a criminal. (I hope you never have to do that of course.)

    My hands are too shaky to wield such a thing, so I suppose I will rely on a baseball bat or hammer if an intruder breaks in.

    Of course if the intruder is successfully dealt with and ends up dead, I will then have to have friends bury the body, as here in Calif no one has the right to protect their home from a home invader.

    Hopefully should that case come about, no one will ever know where the body has been laid to rest.

    I wish you the best, CarolJoy!

    • #9
  10. Annefy Inactive
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Congratulations. Good to know you procured the gun and have developped the skill with which to use it against a criminal. (I hope you never have to do that of course.)

    My hands are too shaky to wield such a thing, so I suppose I will rely on a baseball bat or hammer if an intruder breaks in.

    Of course if the intruder is successfully dealt with and ends up dead, I will then have to have friends bury the body, as here in Calif no one has the right to protect their home from a home invader.

    Hopefully should that case come about, no one will ever know where the body has been laid to rest.

    A great way to find out who your friends are. In a favorite movie of mine, Just Like Heaven, one character says to another (paraphrase): The only reason I’m helping you steal this body is because someday I’ll need you to help me bury a body. And when that happens, I don’t want to hear a word.

    • #10
  11. Lunchbox Gerald Coolidge
    Lunchbox Gerald
    @Jose

    Despite the eager anticipation of the left, there will be no violence until Trump wins the election. 

    • #11
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Lunchbox Gerald (View Comment):

    Despite the eager anticipation of the left, there will be no violence until Trump wins the election.

    Or maybe until the verdict is reversed, if that can somehow occur before Election Day.

    • #12
  13. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Lunchbox Gerald (View Comment):

    Despite the eager anticipation of the left, there will be no violence until Trump wins the election.

    Or maybe until the verdict is reversed, if that can somehow occur before Election Day.

    Good grief. It won’t matter when it’s reversed–they’ll riot.

    • #13
  14. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Lunchbox Gerald (View Comment):

    Despite the eager anticipation of the left, there will be no violence until Trump wins the election.

    Or maybe until the verdict is reversed, if that can somehow occur before Election Day.

    Good grief. It won’t matter when it’s reversed–they’ll riot.

    Probably so, but if it’s not reversed until after Election Day, then the (post-)Election Day riot will happen first.

    • #14
  15. Chris O Coolidge
    Chris O
    @ChrisO

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):
    Hopefully should that case come about, no one will ever know where the body has been laid to rest.

    Waiting for someone to comment, “I may know a guy…”

    Digging moats…

    • #15
  16. drlorentz Inactive
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    Annefy (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Congratulations. Good to know you procured the gun and have developped the skill with which to use it against a criminal. (I hope you never have to do that of course.)

    My hands are too shaky to wield such a thing, so I suppose I will rely on a baseball bat or hammer if an intruder breaks in.

    Of course if the intruder is successfully dealt with and ends up dead, I will then have to have friends bury the body, as here in Calif no one has the right to protect their home from a home invader.

    Hopefully should that case come about, no one will ever know where the body has been laid to rest.

    A great way to find out who your friends are. In a favorite movie of mine, Just Like Heaven, one character says to another (paraphrase): The only reason I’m helping you steal this body is because someday I’ll need you to help me bury a body. And when that happens, I don’t want to hear a word.

    Friends help you move; good friends help you move bodies.

    • #16
  17. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    One of the things I put in my Friday meme post today was this:

    Do all three before November

    • #17
  18. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    One of the things I put in my Friday meme post today was this:

    Do all three before November

    I dunno, early voting may not be a great idea, it gives them advance notice of how much cheating they need to do.

    • #18
  19. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    If you live in a gated community in Florida, you’re probably doing ok.  Most riots occur in the same neighborhood as the rioters.  Any unrest will not spread to gated communities  — at least it will be rare.

    Ironically, though I qualified expert in the Coast Guard, I’ve not been that interested in firearms.  I know how to breath and squeeze the trigger, etc, but after my military service, I just wasn’t interested.

    Added to the irony, Alaska has no licensing requirement to carry, either open or concealed.  I’m surrounded by people who are carrying themselves, so I don’t worry about it.

    I subscribe to The Telegraph, a British conservative newspaper.  But occasionally, I run accross a column where a Brit swears they won’t travel to the U.S. because with all the shootings, it’s unsafe.  There are big city areas where if you’re an outsider, you are not safe.  But mostly you are.

     

    • #19
  20. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    Situational awareness is your best friend. Most people get hurt in the time it takes to process “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”

    You know this, of course. 

     

    • #20
  21. Macho Grande' Coolidge
    Macho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    If you live in a gated community in Florida, you’re probably doing ok. Most riots occur in the same neighborhood as the rioters. Any unrest will not spread to gated communities — at least it will be rare.

    Ironically, though I qualified expert in the Coast Guard, I’ve not been that interested in firearms. I know how to breath and squeeze the trigger, etc, but after my military service, I just wasn’t interested.

    Added to the irony, Alaska has no licensing requirement to carry, either open or concealed. I’m surrounded by people who are carrying themselves, so I don’t worry about it.

    I subscribe to The Telegraph, a British conservative newspaper. But occasionally, I run accross a column where a Brit swears they won’t travel to the U.S. because with all the shootings, it’s unsafe. There are big city areas where if you’re an outsider, you are not safe. But mostly you are.

     

    I guess it’s safer there, unless you count stabby-stabbings.

    Then not so safe.

    • #21
  22. Drew in Texas Inactive
    Drew in Texas
    @Dbroussa

    If you do purchase more ammo, use cash and not a credit card. 

    There is a lesson from J6 that .ost seem to have not accepted yet. Political violence is “owned” by the Left. They feel that it is theirs ans theirs alone to be used to achieve their goals. For the Left it is a dial that one turns up to a level just high enough to achieve whatever they want and then is turned back down. 

    The Right has traditionally seen Political Violence as a binary option it goes from Peace to Revolution with no in-between. J6 was a very mild attempt to use Political Violence by the Right. The reaction to it by the Left and the Right is colored by their perception. To the Left, it has to he crushed because Political Violence is their province and if the Right starts to use it, they will be less successful. For the Right, especially those in power, they recognize that for most of their “backers”, and I use that term loosely because they don’t really have the support of the base because they never do what their base desires, it still is a binary choice and when that switch is flipped it won’t be wild protests in the street until the election…it will be the govt up against the wall and held to account for their actions. They truly don’t want to be held to account for their actions and thus they also have to quash any use of Political Violence. 

    I don’t really know if the Right in the US can engage in PV like the Left, and Revolution will likely leave us with something worse, but the time is approaching when the current situation seems worse than that risk of “worse”.

    In a Political Science class I took long ago one definition of government was the monopoly on violence. Very few countries in the world allow their citizens to own tools of violence. The State owns the best and most powerful ones. The US is different because, theoretically, our government is made up of us. When those tools are taken away from us, we are no longer the government. This is the fundamental difference between the Right and the Left in the US. One wants the government to monopolize violence and the other doesn’t. Street violence is sanctioned because it scares people into wanting government power to protect them and turns them into subjects as opposed to citizens. 

    It is the duty of a citizen to be able to defend oneself, or to ensure their safety of they cannot personally do it. The government cannot, and will not do that. 

    • #22
  23. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    I fear it will be trouble no matter which way the election goes now. They broke something yesterday. I don’t think that anyone knows what happens next. I think we all need to make sure we have prepared ourselves for eventualities, including dire ones.

    They broke it a long time ago.

    • #23
  24. Rodin Moderator
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    One of the things I put in my Friday meme post today was this:

    Do all three before November

    The “I bought more guns” is silent — like the letter “g” in “fight”.

    • #24
  25. Rodin Moderator
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    If you live in a gated community in Florida, you’re probably doing ok. Most riots occur in the same neighborhood as the rioters. Any unrest will not spread to gated communities — at least it will be rare.

    Ironically, though I qualified expert in the Coast Guard, I’ve not been that interested in firearms. I know how to breath and squeeze the trigger, etc, but after my military service, I just wasn’t interested.

    Added to the irony, Alaska has no licensing requirement to carry, either open or concealed. I’m surrounded by people who are carrying themselves, so I don’t worry about it.

    I subscribe to The Telegraph, a British conservative newspaper. But occasionally, I run accross a column where a Brit swears they won’t travel to the U.S. because with all the shootings, it’s unsafe. There are big city areas where if you’re an outsider, you are not safe. But mostly you are.

     

    Al, if you are in Alaska you have an evergreen  moat.

    • #25
  26. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Susan Quinn:

    I hope I never have to use my gun.

    But I will be prepared.

    Amen!  It reminds me of two sayings:

    “When seconds count, the police will be there in minutes.”

    “I carry a gun because I can’t carry a cop.”

    I feel practically naked if I go someplace where I can’t carry . . .

    • #26
  27. Rodin Moderator
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Stad (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn:

    I hope I never have to use my gun.

    But I will be prepared.

    Amen! It reminds me of two sayings:

    “When seconds count, the police will be there in minutes.”

    “I carry a gun because I can’t carry a cop.”

    I feel practically naked if I go someplace where I can’t carry . . .

    And “Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6.”

    • #27
  28. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    Drew in Texas (View Comment):
    If you do purchase more ammo, use cash and not a credit card.

    Just don’t misfile the receipts.

    • #28
  29. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn:

    I hope I never have to use my gun.

    But I will be prepared.

    Amen! It reminds me of two sayings:

    “When seconds count, the police will be there in minutes.”

    “I carry a gun because I can’t carry a cop.”

    I feel practically naked if I go someplace where I can’t carry . . .

    And “Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6.”

    And “Avoid cities and counties where, if you are forced to defend yourself, the 12 who judge you may sympathize with the thugs.”

    • #29
  30. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    One of the things I put in my Friday meme post today was this:

    Do all three before November

    I dunno, early voting may not be a great idea, it gives them advance notice of how much cheating they need to do.

    better than not voting at all.  Plus election days have been known to have sudden power outages, or disputes in residency or other ways to sabotage voting on election day.    Key is to make sure you do vote.  This one is too important to sit out.

    • #30
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