I Am A Gun Owner

I am a gun owner. I am a proud advocate of the civil right to keep and bear arms.

I am a gun owner. I will not be vilified, demonized, or marginalized by those who would seek to disarm me and leave me defenseless against violent criminals and tyrannical governments.

I am a gun owner. I advocate individual responsibility. I realize my life is ultimately my own, and that neither the police nor any other party is likely to save me if I'm attacked by a rapist, murderer, or other criminal. I refuse to be a victim. I will not leave my family unprotected.

I am a gun owner. I realize that guns are inanimate objects, which can be used for good or for ill. But disarmament laws affect mostly honest, law-abiding citizens, not the criminals. I will look the purveyors of pseudo-scientific statistical lies in the eye when I defend my rights. I will not cower before those who harbor bigotry against me.

I am a gun owner. No, I don't believe the world should operate by the "law of the jungle," nor do I harbor suspicions that every person might be a criminal. Those are just stereotypes in which some take comfort as they seek to discriminate against me. Nor am I a utopian. I don't believe the world will be safe from criminals just because the anti-gun lobby passes legislation declaring "Gun Free Zones" and the like. Not only do disarmament laws not achieve their desired results, but they lead to unintended bad consequences of making honest people more prone to criminal attack. The more people exercise their right to keep and bear arms, the safer is society and the more we can forget about crime and get on with the business of living our lives.

I am a gun owner. I will not let those who would strip me of my rights forget that I keep them safer, too, because criminals don't know which person might be armed.

I am a gun owner. I will stand tall and defend the American heritage of freedom for which our forefathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.