A few shots of enlightenment

In a June 11 column (“Guns, fear being stockpiled”), Nelson Graves asked to be enlightened concerning some issues that appear to be disturbing for him.

It is with the purpose of enlightening him that I now write, and while I do not have room to respond to all of his concerns, I intend to address the points where he needs enlightenment the most.

First, I would like to point out that owning a gun has nothing to do with race, color or creed. It is a right guaranteed to each American citizen by the Second Amendment of the Constitution and recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in the Heller decision.

The Heller decision affirms the constitutional right to self defense and that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, the same as breathing or how we make a living or where we live. It is called freedom and has nothing to do with the National Rifle Association or its supporters.

The purpose of bearing arms is defense, both individual and national, pure and simple. The Second Amendment states that bearing arms is “necessary to the security of a free state.” Simply put, the founding fathers of this country, having just fought a war for freedom from tyranny, understood that in order to maintain that hard-won freedom, both from the government and criminals, citizens had to be armed. Hunting, target shooting and competition are all secondary to the original purpose.

The concern over private stockpiling of arms and “private arsenals” is meant to be alarming to the uninformed and is nothing more than sensationalism at its finest. Americans are not afraid of roving bands of criminals regardless of race or religion. They are exercising their right to defend themselves, their families and property. I can guarantee that if my wife or I were criminally attacked it would not matter what the source, we would defend ourselves, regardless of the color, religion, or creed of those making the attack.

The FBI performed a study that found that a knife-wielding attacker standing 21 feet away can attack and kill in under five seconds. The national average response time to violent crimes is between five and 10 minutes, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. As you can see, the odds are with the criminal unless you are prepared to defend yourself. I submit that it is the unarmed citizen who has reason to fear for their safety from the lawless element, not the law-abiding, armed citizen. The unarmed citizen has no reason to fear those who are armed lawfully.

I can assure you that the legal American gun owner is a peaceful, law-abiding person, and most would defend the unarmed innocent citizen in the event of a criminal attack. FBI studies have shown that in areas where the average citizen is legally armed, violent crime is reduced, not increased.

The fact that firearms training is up is an indicator of a responsible attitude toward gun ownership.

The number of legally owned firearms owned by an individual is their right and has nothing to do with fear, unless it is the fear that at some point the law-abiding gun owner in this country will again be subjected to another unconstitutional ban on his rights and feels that he should collect weapons before his rights are restricted or taken away again by another administration that feels the need to “protect us” from ourselves.

Lawful gun owners should not be lumped together with criminals or criminal activity. It may be one of those lawful gun owners who save your life one day. I know I would.

Jim Horton, of Shenandoah, is a gunsmith and avid hunter and target shooter.