By Susan Callaway, Editor
I carry a gun. All the time, just about everywhere I go except to bed and the shower. Even then, a gun is within a foot or so of my hand all the time. An occasional trip into the disarmed victim zone of the post office, and my last (and I do mean last) trip to California to visit family are the extreme and very temporary exceptions.
So, why do I carry it? I’m asked frequently, so much that I printed up cards to hand out to the curious. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to explain the most important reason:
I own my life and am the only one responsible for that life and my safety. I can, and do, work with others – including the local sheriff’s dept. – for mutual defense, but in the end it is the responsibility of each person to guard their own safety and that of their legitimate dependents.
No, I’m not paranoid or afraid.
The fact that there is little crime where I live is not relevant because there is no place where the risk of attack is zero. So a gun is simply insurance. But, unlike an auto policy, it can’t do me any good in an emergency if it is locked up and unloaded. It has to be instantly available, in my hand to be effective. And, just as with my auto insurance, I sincerely hope I never have to use it.
Of course, free lance criminals and maniacs are not the only, or even the most dangerous threats. The entire history of the world demonstrates clearly that those who desire to own other people and control their lives never cease their efforts to render them weak, helpless and unarmed in every way.
Genocide examples from all over the world: Russia, China, Germany, Cambodia, Guatemala, Uganda, Rwanda and more. Examples showing how disarmed people in America have suffered persecution, mass murder, slavery, and terrorist attacks.
A fast-moving, modern production, Innocents Betrayed presents the entirely true accounts of how civilian disarmament made possible the killing of millions. The point is made sharply, clearly, unforgettably. It’s the factual counterpoint to the lies in Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine.”
Then there is the endless mantra of those who think they should decide who, where and how a person prepares to defend themselves, if at all. They can’t seem to get past the rather obvious fact that anyone who actually cannot be trusted with the ordinary tools of life should not be loose in the first place. Anyone who can’t or won’t use a gun (or a knife, matches, a car, etc.) without deliberately harming others needs to be in a cage or a padded room – or dead at the hands of their intended victim.
Unfortunately, often it’s impossible to know who those people are before they hurt others, and most of the time they are left free to harm others again and again even when they are apprehended. The insanity of passing preemptive “laws,” attempting to restrain the vast majority of peaceful people in a vain hope of preventing these crimes, is obvious to anyone who gives it any rational thought.
Politicians and “authorized journalists,” among others, don’t seem to be capable of much rational thought, of course.
But, in the end, I live and therefore I am. I don’t need any other person’s permission to live or defend myself. I don’t need anyone’s vetting of my intentions or sanity, nor approval for the self defense tool I choose or how I carry it.
I don’t NEED to explain myself. I don’t NEED any reasons at all.
The Price of Liberty 
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Mamaliberty,
Again, thank you for responding to me and especially for the copy of your book. I have only read the first chapter, but it was not only interesting, but well written.
I do indeed shoot. I grew up here in MI around long guns, and hunting and fishing. I had never been a member of the NRA until Obama was elected president, at which time I immediately joined.
Quickly after that I got my ccw permit here in MI and started to carry, first with a 9 shot H and R .22 cal. revolver, and when I was able to afford it, a p64, which is basically a military copy of a PPK in 9 x 18 Makarov.
I lost my job of 35 years to a big corporation, due to them saying I was drunk at work, which they refused to show proof of, and which of course, I had no alcohol in my system, which the state of MI even said, but as a little fish, I can’t afford the same lawyers as they can. The end result was that I had to sell my beloved p64.
One good thing that has happened is that my wife and I are now completely debt free and have no credit cards. I am able to work a part time job for now. I have been able to buy a Taurus p111 gen 2. It is not an expensive gun, but for now it is what I carry. I also have a dreaded hi point c-9. That sits loaded in my dresser drawer covered up with my socks and underwear. I know, tmi, but it is my home defense gun for now. I am planning to buy some more firearms in the future, I do have an old bolt action shotgun, an old .22 semi auto rifle, but I want a more modern pump shotgun. I do have a 12 ga. and prefer that for my next one. I also have my eye on a 1911 in a commander version. It sells for only 325$, but since my wife and I live frugally, it is something I have to save for.
We are also building preps. That is one thing that I learned after losing my job. It is something I am more concerned about than the world coming to an end. How do you continue to feed your family if things happen to your money stream? Or the food supply or food chain is shut down for a length of time due to terrorism? I think that these things are much more likely to happen than end times.
And so that is why instead of just surfing the net and reading survival blogs and being amused by them, I really started to pay attention. I started to store food, but not like the MRE kinds that last for 25 years, but unless your wife and daughter are in the army, they won’t eat. I store food that we will realistically eat. Things like pasta, which keeps forever almost. Canned tuna, spam, etc. which my family will eat.
I discovered, as I live in a mobile home in a trailer park, that I can’t grow a garden, that I really wouldn’t make economic sense to can my own food when I can buy vegetables for 4 cans for a dollar. Fruit for 3 cans for a dollar, on sale.
I still have a lot to learn. But I have become a lot more discriminating about who I am willing to take advise from.
It seems that many of the people out there planning for their future either have unlimited money, or care more about firearms than anything else. I have to admit that I have begun to store 9 mm ammo as I am able to afford it, I think I only have about 500 rounds that I can called stored, the rest is practice ammo. I wish I had the money to store 5000 rounds of 10 different calibers. But I can’t afford to tie up that much money in ammo. In food yes, but not ammo.
I have gone long enough. Again, thank you for not only your time but also your patience and please continue to correct me and to sound off when you see me commenting on blogs. As I said, I try to be right. I try to be factual. I am sometimes wrong, and I want to be corrected when I am.
tim
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Hi MamaLiberty,
I just discovered your blog and think it is wonderful. Question: What exactly do you have printed on the card that you hand out to questioners about why you carry? This is something I’d like to do myself.
Randy
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Long ago, I printed cards that said:
Why do I carry a gun?
Because I own my life and am the only one responsible for that life and my safety.
There were a few variations, and then after I became a certified instructor, I made up business cards for that and stopped printing the others. I really need to go back to that and hand out both of them, or print the old on the back of the new. Can be done… shall be done!
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Get over it? Hell, I frickin’ love it!
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Thanks! Please help me educate more people, especially women, by encouraging them to send for my book, “I Am NOT A Victim” It is available to anyone who asks for it. Send an email to mamaliberty at rtconnect dot net (replace at and dot with appropriate symbols without spaces) and use “self defense book” as the subject. All I ask in return is your feedback.
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A year or so ago I read a fascinating short book — highly recommended. Available free from Gutenberg.org (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1201). “An Essay on the Trial by Jury” by Lysander Spooner. Nice historical references. He was writing in the context of jury nullification during the abolitionist era, but the argument isn’t specific to that case or time.
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Thanks for your comments. I’ve read a great deal of Spooner’s writings, but can’t actually remember that one. Will have to look.
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Greetings, I like your position which mirrors my position; The last time I checked I own my body! And if anyone else has a claim to my body (government) then I should know about it and have agreed to it. But the governments claim of ownership is based on fraud, lies and outright sophistry/deception through words on paper.
Please check out the fully informed jury association of Helena Montana. They have a great brochure on jury nullification. The brochure can be downloaded and printed.
I myself lived in Nevada City, California, and I can attest to the out-of-control nature of “government” after having been falsely arrested, imprisoned, and tortured over a traffic incident in which I exceeded the posted speed limit by 11 miles an hour, out in the country, coming down a steep decline with a scumbag/cop waiting at the bottom of the hill. The incident cost me two trips to jail, 2 days the first time, 4 days the second time. $330 to bail my “hijacked” car out the first time, $800 the second time. I was looking at possible prison time for the “resisting arrest” charges they tacked on, so a took a plea in which I agreed with them and payed them an addition $150 for the mark on my record. I am, or was a mining engineer. I can no longer get a job. I haven’t had a job in 3 years.
Anyway, keep up the “eternal vigilance”. Peace and blessings.
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Well darn! I’m sorry about the job thing. Come on down to Wyoming and you might be surprised at the job opportunities.
I’m the Wyoming contact person for FIJA, and well acquainted with their efforts and importance. Agreeing to a “plea bargain” is, of course, a real problem. I do understand that they can make the alternative almost impossible to endure… but it is probably worth the effort. I would never agree to one myself.
Did you see my home page? http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/?cat=5
You’ll probably get a kick out of several of those articles. Thanks for commenting!
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