You Carry A Gun?

“You carry a gun?...” What follows this question is what makes me cringe… or laugh. Sometimes what follows is just “Wow!” Sometimes its “Why?” I can tell a lot about someone by their reaction to finding out I carry a gun. First of all, I don’t usually broadcast the fact that I carry. Sometimes it gets out. Sometimes the carry question follows “Oh so you’re a gun instructor…” Sometimes I can’t change the subject or laugh to change the subject or whatever else I’ve tried to use. I just shoot them. I’m kidding of course. Maybe that’s bad taste humor. But often when someone learns I carry a gun all of a sudden they look at me like I’m going to shoot them! Often the next words out of their mouths is silly or downright stupid. Here are some of their responses:

“Only police should have guns.”

I sometimes joke “How do you know I’m not a cop?” But seriously, most law enforcement officers (LEO’s) I know have told me they are glad I carry. Many of them ask questions about shooting when they find out I’m an instructor. Some of them ask if I would give them some help with this or that part of their shooting. I’ve actually never met a LEO that didn’t respect what I do and recognize that they need MY instruction, not the other way around. To be honest, most of their course of fire that they must qualify with is easier than the way I train. I’m not trying to brag, I just spend a lot of time on the range because that’s what I love.

“You don’t need a gun.”

This is true. I don’t. Just as you don’t need to wear seat belts (actually it is the law). You don’t need a fire extinguisher or smoke alarms. I don’t need a first aid kit in my car. I don’t need life insurance. None of these things are really “needed” but if the need does arrive and you don’t have these things, your day can be a bad one. I have needed my gun twice. What would have happened if I hadn’t had it? Do you ever know when you’ll have a fire? But you have alarms and extinguishers in case you need them. “In case” means you have prepared for something bad to happen. I don’t have life insurance because I’m going to die today, but if I did, I’m prepared. So those who say I don’t need a gun are right. Yet I carry one anyway.

“Machine guns should not be in citizens hands.”

This one is kinda crazy to me. I carry a hand gun, not a rifle or a machine anything. Machine guns have been regulated since 1934. To buy a machine gun you must:

1. You need to be eligible to possess firearms in general.
2. You must live in a state where NFA items are permitted and machine guns, specifically, are legal to possess.
3. The machine gun you wish to acquire must have been manufactured on or before May 19, 1986. That is the cutoff date for entries to be made in the NFRTR (National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record), the registry of all NFA items in the United States including machine guns.
4. You must locate a Class III dealer (FFL01+SOT) that sells or can transfer in the machine gun you wish to acquire in your state of residence.
5. You must purchase the machine gun upfront prior to transfer and have it shipped to your Class III dealer. For a full-auto M16, this will be anywhere from $12,000 and up. Typical prices for an M16 hover around $14,000 to $16,000.
6. Once purchased and with your dealer, the dealer will fill out the Form 4 application on your behalf to submission to the BATFE and collect your $200 NFA transfer stamp tax.
7. The application will be submitted. Now you wait 8+ months for the full FBI background check and BATFE processing to complete.
8. Once the Form 4 is processed, it will be returned to the dealer along with the tax stamp which is part of your paperwork. You can then take possession of your military grade fully automatic firearm and take it home.
9. The tax stamp must be kept with the firearm it belongs to at all times! The tax stamp is your only affirmative defense to prove you are not in possession of an illegal machine gun. The tax stamp is proof you paid the transfer tax and legally transferred the machine gun. Ranges that allow Class III will want to see the stamp. If you get pulled over and the gun is discovered/inspected, law enforcement will definitely want to see it too. You may be required to present the firearm for inspection on demand by the BATFE.
10. You may not transport the fully automatic firearm across state lines for any purpose without prior consent of the Federal government. You must request this in advance and provide details on where the firearm is going, when you are leaving and when it will return to its registered location of residence.
11. You cannot leave the presence of your fully automatic firearm. If someone else is shooting it, you must be with it, legally speaking. The one exception to this is if you have formed a legal trust for the purpose of possessing the firearm, in which case all beneficiaries of the trust (usually family or employees) may have access to the firearm.

So I agree, as does the government, machine guns should not be in the average American home. But they are legal. To own one would be great, but they are too expensive and not really worth it to the average person. I know a ranch owner who has several. For a price, you can shoot them. (It’s the Ox Ranch outside of Uvalde Texas. Awesome! http://www.oxhuntingranch.com/activities/hunting-shooting/machine-gun-shooting/)

“You just want to kill someone.”

This person obviously has no idea about the costs of threatening to use lethal force, let alone pulling the trigger. Ignorance must be bliss. When I hear this statement I want to answer “Not someone, but now you…” but I don’t. I also consider this statement as the statement of a coward. I’m not saying I want to shoot anyone, but I’m smart enough to know cowering in my “safe place” will only get me killed.






“I live on the safe side of town so I don’t need a gun for protection.”

I usually hear this from a well-to-do woman and it makes me smile. Does she think criminals don’t have maps that show them where the rich people live? Maybe she thinks criminals can’t drive. The woman is obviously intelligent, but has a profound blind-spot when it comes to personal safety. We didn’t meet inside her gated community, so why does she think she is safe everywhere?

"A gun will just be taken away from you."
This is such a common myth that, if it were true, newspapers and TV shows would be featuring every such incident. In actuality, it is extremely hard to find cases where this has actually happened. I've been looking for years, and I've NEVER found a SINGLE verifiable case where a private citizen (not a cop) and had some defensive firearm training, had a gun taken away from them in an actual defensive situation.
In 75% of the cases where a gun is used in self-defense, it is never fired. That's because the bad guy doesn't want to get shot. And the most likely way for him to get shot is to continue to attack someone with a gun. Reaching for the gun is exactly the kind of attack that will bring a bullet his way, and he knows it!
Don't let this myth, or any of the other dumb things that people say about guns, keep you from learning what you need to defend yourself!
Semper Paratus
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