Editor’s Note: The following is a syndicated article by author Alan Korwin that first appeared in USCCA’s Concealed Carry Magazine Volume 14, Issue 5, July 2014 under the title, “Trigger Control.”
This whole concealed carry thing is about being ready to shoot someone. Let’s not sugarcoat it in any way: You get a sidearm (or a dozen) and take at least minimal training (hopefully), or, better yet, lifelong training. And for what? So you know how to safely and accurately shoot someone, or a bunch of someones, if the need properly arises. Our laws back us up.
That, of course, horrifies the gunless, the hoplophobes, most liberals, power brokers in Congress and our enemies around the globe. Americans, uniquely, of their own volition and expense, go out and teach themselves how to shoot people. That’s pretty amazing when you think of it in such unvarnished terms.
Most of what you read in these pages, in gun books in your collection and during classes you’ve endured deals, directly or indirectly, with the art and science of shooting people, though for righteous reasons only, of course. (That last part completely escapes most enemies of the 2nd Amendment and has them perpetually fighting against us.)
If I lived in some other nation — a top-of-the-line one or the most backwater on the planet — I really would not want to attack a nation like that. I wouldn’t even want to get them angry. People who think that way and train that way, well … that’s a mindset you had best leave alone. Those folks do what they want, they protect themselves, they’re self-starters, there’s something truly exceptional about them. I might even want to go there and be part of that. It has an appeal. It’s magnetic.
So, the question must be asked: With all these people so heavily armed, ready and trained to shoot other people, why don’t they?
Why aren’t there wars between them? Why doesn’t one clan or faction rise to the top and outshoot the others for control, as is routine in some African or South American countries?
The hoplophobes — people with a medical condition that gives them a morbid fear of weapons — and power mongers, politicians and foreign entities can’t manage that here, because everyone is armed. It’s a balance of power, so no one shoots. This is one of the great secrets anti-gun-rights advocates don’t see, can’t see or won’t see.
By arming the public and the authorities instead of just the authorities (as it had been the world over before America sprang up), a balance of power keeps the peace and provides an unparalleled (if not perfect) level of freedom.
The Bottom-Line Deception
Now, the anti-rights crowd ignorantly or self-deceptively focuses on very real lethal problems occurring inside social-welfare ghettos and the drug war run by the government. They fixate on that senseless, predictable slaughter. They translate this, in an irrational way, into fearful hatred of all weapons, especially firearms in the public’s hands.
They miss that guns routinely kept by 100 million people cause no harm and are a clear crime-prevention asset. The left places blame on guns instead of on miscreants who misuse them (11,000 murderers annually in a population exceeding 300 million, or 0.000037 percent). That reveals the true demographic, geographic, socio-economic nature of the problem — a reality their psyches desperately seek to avoid. With control of “news” media, they seek to influence and control you too. After all, when did murderers become “shooters”?
So, with [more than 17.25M as of Feb. 2019] people with gun-possession permission slips (government-issued carry licenses) and the untold others with Constitutional Carry, also known as Freedom to Carry (FTC), why don’t they all start shooting each other?
FTC is now available in 14 states. The citizens who exercise that right may or may not be heavily trained, but they are certainly at least equipped to shoot each other. The media has proclaimed that by letting them run armed and free, they will do just that, especially without papers or sometimes even training required. The blood will flow. What on Earth stops them? The media has promised us action!
The people reading this right now are great people who know how to responsibly bear arms. This is another key fact the left refuses to internalize. The evidence was in their faces every single time concealed carry laws passed in another state and as the number of Constitutional Carry states grew to 14.
Armed People Don’t Shoot People; Criminals Do
It has been suggested that the left, progressives, liberals, alt-left, democratic-socialists (or whatever they call themselves this week) don’t get it because they are not adult in that way. They lack a certain maturity, stability and trust to keep and bear arms the way their countrymen do, qualities found in gun owners.
Guns aren’t for everyone and we all know it. Some groups — maybe those parading around with women’s parts as hats on their heads at the recent post-inaugural parties or approving of that behavior — are just not up to it.
Or maybe it’s because members of the left really do believe, despite the evidence, that if you have a gun, you will shoot them. Maybe that’s because if they had a gun, they know they might not be able to control themselves, and maybe they know they’d snap and shoot you. And everyone else. Unable to come to grips with their own immaturity and internal terrors, they just want guns to go away.
Discover how you can join nearly 300,000 responsibly armed Americans who already rely on the USCCA to protect their families, futures and freedoms: USCCA.com/gunsamerica.
I’m definitely an old guy, 77. I have had a military career, a law enforcement career, and concurrent with those two a teaching career of 42 years of being an Adjunct Professor (read part time, low pay and some prestige). I felt an obligation to pass along my education(courtesy of the GI Bill) and career experiences to those who might be able to benefit from it.
Over the years I saw our system of education-all of it, become more and more left wing, and I mean FAR left. I observed the “Ivory Tower” concept become reality. People with absolutely no concept of reality become besotted with the idea that they and only they and their follows knew what was good for all of us. And of course in cloud cuckoo land, there was no violence and only cretinous persons would want an implement that could levy violence on another person. The general idea being that without weapons there would be no violence, and of course no criminals.
And those educated by those persons became” journalists”, activists, “community organizers” and other squeaky wheels who put forth noise out of all proportion to their actual numbers.
I am still a working cop, although at a different level than the streets of Chicago, and the folks I hunt are terrorists.
I have been carrying firearms since I was 17(when I took my first oath to defend this nation), and I will not stop till I am too weak physically, or simply die, or run into the bullet addressed “to whom it may concern”.
There are lefties(some of whom are acting in good faith) and there are Lefties, who are acting with malice toward everyone and this nation. I believe in the following(among others):
“Folks were much more polite when everyone went heeled”
“The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants”.
I will not label either our president or his successor with preconceived sobriquets; I will wait and see what they actually do…………….
Not to disagree with your excellent article, your math on the murder rate is a little off. To get percent you have to multiply by 100 as part of your calculation.
11,000 divided by 300,000,000 is 0.0037 percent, not 0.000037 percent.
Not according to my calcator, .0000367.
KurtW show us the proof that he POTUS is a FASCIST. He didn’t run as a DEMONCRAT! Hillary Clinton broke the law, but we can’t indite the queen-elect! Government emails on a private server is against the law! The Democrats don’t believe in freedom of any kind! They want open borders, guns to be confiscated, all of your paychecks, baby killing,in or out of the womb! Basically total control of the American people. We arn’t citizens to them. They want us to be slaves, to do with as they please. They can rot in Hell as far as I’m concerned! Trump says a lot of stupid things, but I haven’t heard anything from him like from the left wing nutjobs in Congress. They have called American ‘s everything from “deplorable “”not enlightened “to “domestic terrorists “. So get off the Trump’s a fascist bullshit!
You should be cloned Sir, and exchanged on a one for one basis with all other journalists.
One of the biggest reasons we don’t go around shooting each other is because we have a functioning justice system that makes justice available without shooting.
You’ll notice that most murders occur where there is some perceived lack of or failure of justice. These are situations like dealings between criminals involving contraband and illegal activities where no legal dispute resolution is possible, and cases where the law is perceived by one or more parties as having failed – child custody cases are a ready example. There are situations where it’s impossible for legal dispute resolution to be made in a timely manner, such as during robberies and assaults.
Mr. Korwin’s idea isn’t new. In fact, it is more than 50 years old. As a pre-teen, commensurate with the Cuban Missile Crisis, I first learned of official U.S. policy – M.A.D. – mutually assured destruction. You had an atom bomb or a gun, and so did your neighbors and/or enemies.
The gun issue today really isn’t any different except that our government – local, state, or federal – wants to limit our access to firearms. In some cases we’re dealing with so called assault weapons, other semi-automatic weapons, machine guns and short barreled rifles, and a few other categories of weapons.
I’m a bit less concerned with criminal acts than those of a tyrannical government. My local police department has full auto weapons and certain types of grenades – not the “pineapples” but rather smoke, tear gas and flash bangs. I don’t have access to that. But, in Texas, you can own and shoot a machine gun assuming you meet the requirements for same. Essentially, $200 and a clean record.
Today, the government has already reached tyrant status. We were forced to buy government insurance or suffer fines, we pay taxes to support all kinds of governments across the globe – and many are nothing more than “benevolent” dictators at best. Land previously granted to individuals or groups has been reclaimed by the federalies.
This nation – the only truly free nation in the world – was established at the tip of a gun barrel in the late 1700’s. and old King George learned a valuable lesson. An armed citizen can bring about change, an unarmed man is relegated to being a subject.
Am I desirous of an armed uprising, certainly not but I can see that there is a future potential for one. I firmly believe in parity of weaponry by citizens and their governments. Think about this! I’m an old geezer approaching 70. I’d fight to the death to ensure the safety of my children and grandchildren by any evil doer. We now live in an age where millennials now outnumber boomers. We fought all of the wars since 1945 to preserve democracy and our homeland as well as defending others. Do you expect those millennials to pick up arms to do similarly. I don’t feel confident friends. Heck, I saw a number yesterday where 70% of millennials are more than 90 days behind on car payments.
One of the biggest problems in the U.S.A.is that too many people don’t know or learn about history. Our present day schools don’t go into any detail of what people had to do to attain the rights they enjoy as a free people. They don’t understand how governments become the tyrannical enemies of freedom. Unfortunately, there are too many sheepeople that are more interested in what is feed to them through a biased news media which is more interested in providing entertainment than factual news. It seems to me, a good portion of people want to be taken care of instead of caring for their families and themselves.
Taking the 3 million w/ 11k killers. Change that to – If you had a city with 300,000 people and 11 of them killed people, what would you do? Arrest and keep those mere 11 people in prison for the rest of their lives. Problem solved.
If only people would realize that it really is simple.
Mr. Korwin,
You have nailed it. I have never heard it said better. These lefties, in my opinion, are narcissists with their
gas lighting and flying monkeys. They have a “moron chip” problem.
Most kind regards,
Chuck
“An Armed Society is a Polite Society”.
EXCELLENT AS USUAL FROM THIS AUTHOR!!
When I listen/get riled up over the nonsense from the anti-gunners, I read this author’s work and it puts me back in my “happy place”.
I like this perspective…
“Americans, uniquely, of their own volition and expense, go out and teach themselves how to shoot people.”
…it gave the IJA pause when considering an invasion of our west coast in WW II.
i think the quote was something like
“i would never invade the USA. there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass”
What a great article. Factual, articulate and so much common sense. It is also a bit frightening to try to understand how the “other side” thinks and the fear they possess. I’m proud to be an American and hope for great things in the future for our Country and I intend to be a legal gun owner for the rest of my life.
I am one of those lefties that people are always demeaning and I do the same toward many of the lefties. I do NOT like anti-gunners who are afraid to even pick up a weapon. When I still lived in the states I owned many weapons, including what idiots call assault rifles, oh and even had a night scope, oh so scary. Pistols oh yes, including my service revolver, I was a commissioned/certified law enforcement officer. I carried on and off duty. I owned custom long range rifles, .22s and shotguns. Do not confuse those of us that are far left and I am far left as being peaceniks. I fight and if the right wants to rise up and fight when the fascist in the white house is finally jailed, fine with me. I’ll come back and reclaim my weapons from my fellow Marines and have it, against the right. To me gun control is 2 rounds center mass followed by one to the brain pan. There are more of us than most realise.
Bring it! You little leftist POS. I’m glad you moved out of the states.
Yep, I’m little, only 5′ 7″. About the same size as Charlie was, oops he won. If need be I will. USMC Sgt-Vietnam 1966/67. Look, we are both against the anti-gun people but if you are in the basket of deplorables I feel sorry for your lack of education and ability to recognize the truth. You aren’t in the Coast Guard are you? That embarrassment to our military went down and he deserved it.
Now that you’ve rejected this country, and its Constitution and Bill of Rights ((perhaps reading them would be a good thing for you to do), you should review the definition of “fascist”, as you apply it to both our current POTUS and the tactics endorsed by your Democratic Socialist representatives. Review the previously famous Democratic Socialist party and their behavior from a few decades ago, while you’re at it.
Then, repeat my previous suggestions with all of this fresh in your mind…… wherever you are.
A pity you switched sides. No one will mourn your inevitable loss.
The thing this supposed Vietnam era “Marine” has exposed is his confession that he has broken the oath he took to “Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution of the United States.” In other words he is no longer a Marine and he is a traitor. No matter what one thinks about a serving POTUS, anyone with a mind knows that the “Left” (aka Socialist) world-view is anathema to the Constitution. It abrogates EVERYTHING the Founders stood for and codified in that document. It just so happens that THIS POTUS DOES believe in and serve the Constitution. So stop trying to frighten us, shorty. You’re a traitor and no Marine.
(sigh) Ok, another fool who doesn’t understand the definition of ‘Fascist’.
Hey fool, be so kind as to give us examples of Trump’s ‘fascism’.
Otherwise, stop using words you don’t understand, ESPECIALLY when your use of that word demeans the real definition as it relates to what true fascists have done to good people around the world.
And I would point out that many of us will immediately put you in the ‘fool’ category when you do use such words improperly.
By doing so, just about ANYTHING else you state becomes suspect, if not outright dismissed for lack of intellect.
If push come to shove, the liberals will find out the Admiral Yamamoto was right when he said ” I fear that all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”. They can count on ot.
I think that Yamamoto also said something about a rifle behind every blade of grass if there was an invasion of US territory. That would still apply today, probably multiplied by 3 or 4, and would be applicable to domestic enemies in addition to foreign ones.
Good article! The other thing that cracks me up are the contradictions anti-gun people always make: “You don’t need ‘weapons of war.'” Then, when you explain that you believe 2A stands against tyranny, they say “Yeah… like your little gun will help you fend off an army!” These same people expect me to rely on police for protection, then complain that “police shoot innocent people.” Sorry folks, I’m not a sheep. I’ll look out for me and mine.