There have been numerous incidents in my life where either I or a close relative have needed a gun for self defense. I related several in this thread,
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=640060#post640060and wont repeat them here, but there have been others.
One of our closest neighbors came home, smelled something funny, and became suspicious that there might be somebody in her house. She got her pistol and went to the bedroom. Whoever this was must have really smelled bad, because she became certain that he was in the closet from the smell. She yelled at him to come out, and fired a warning shot above the door. He bolted for the door and threw a hammer at here on the way out, cutting her head, but he kept on running. If she had not been armed who knows what might have happened. Again, calling the police isnt a good option when you live as far from town as we did.
As a boy, I often roamed the woods alone, it gave my parents better peace of mind I am sure, knowing that I was armed. Louisiana isnt a particularly dangerous place as far as wild animals are concerned, however there are exceptions.
Most people think of alligators, but they are mostly lazy critters, and there are only rare instances of people getting attacked by them, but I can tell you that it gives much comfort to be carrying a powerful weapon when you walk past a 12 foot long gator sunning himself on the bank of some waterhole.
We did have a lot of poisonous snakes too, and one of my best friends in college, and my grandmother both, have been bitten by poisonous snakes. I carried a gun around when hiking our land largely as protection against snakes, although a large stick works just as well for that purpose.
One of the most dangerous animals you can run into, ironically is wild dogs. There are numerous cases every year of people getting attacked, and even killed, by wild dogs. I have stumbled onto wild dogs in the woods before and have always been glad of being armed. These animals are smart, and if there are several of them, can be quite dangerous. Their fear of man is not high often times, and hunger can make them dangerous.
Even white-tailed deer can be dangerous, my junior year in college, a man was attacked and almost killed by a white-tailed buck near Minden, LA.
I frequently rode a horse in my outdoor ramblings, and after a horse fell on me one day, trapping my boot in the stirrup, then tried to drag me, I never rode unarmed again. One of the main reasons the cowboys of the old West carried pistols was to be able to shoot their mount, if their horse fell, and trapped their foot in the stirrup and started dragging them. That would be a horrible way to die.
Besides all the useful purposes of a gun in self defense from man and beast, hunting is an excellent way to provide for yourself. I didnt buy any meat all my senior year in college, due to my having a full freezer full of deer meat. When I was very young, my grandparents were about 90% self sufficient I would say. They had 3 gardens, beef and dairy cattle, chickens, and fruit trees. Thus there was never any need to buy eggs, milk, vegetables, some fruits, or meat. Deer and Squirrel meat was a common supplement to all this.
And for those people that do not need or desire to harvest their own meat, and for those that feel that they are safe and secure, in low crime areas, with policemen within easy call, target practice and shooting sports are legitimate and fun activities.
The bottom line is, people should have the right to choose if they wish to own guns or not. Just because you are afraid of guns, or do not like them for some reason, doesnt mean you should be able to dictate to others what they enjoy collecting or using for fun. And the right to self-defense is one of the most basic and fundamental of all human rights. It is an integral part of the rights to LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I am one of those that sleeps with a loaded handgun under my pillow, and have for years now. It had never really occured to me that there might be people that would consider this strange until I read some of the things I see people posting in here. I think what is really important to realize is that if you think that is strange, you probably come from a completely different background and way of thinking than I and many other people do. That is why national laws aimed at gun control are a bad idea in my opinion. Gun control laws should be set at the local level. That way people in New York, can ban guns totally if they should desire to do so, and the people of the backwoods of northern Louisiana can continue living normally with our guns.
We dont need some idiot from D.C. trying to put some one-size-fits-all solution on the whole country, in some kneejerk, feel-good reaction to some nutcase's actions somewhere.
