Gun Control & RKBA

...you are a mixed ethnicity hetero couple?

My apologies if I am wrong.

I have no idea of the background of your premise 'same as an AR-15' having only been here for 2 months.

I assume you mean that people have treated you worse than gun owners expect to be treated when they carry in public.

I cannot account for Chicago, never having been there. I was to Niagara falls twice. Not impressed by the people (the merchants) but the falls were fantastic.

I do not know the location of the incident in the diner, the cliff rules out the incident in Nassau County, NY about 30 (??) years ago in which two criminals with guns took over the restaurant and brutalized the patrons.

Your essay is very moving, and I will respond with two separate thoughts:

1) If you have been mistreated due to being a mixed ethnicity couple, I would like to welcome you to my area of this beautiful state, the Catskills region of upstate New York. From Niagra Falls, head east to Syracuse, south to Binghamton, and about two hours east from there. It is beautiful country, and was the east coast home to the 'peace and love' revolution of the 1960s. You can still hear the music echoing across the hillside.

2) As for criminal acts, these people were criminals. Plain and simple. They used guns. So did many people who were on the wrong side of history - the British during the Revolution, the Nazis during WW2, the Viet Cong, the Taliban, etc.

Firearms can be used for evil purposes, the same way technology can, religion can, nationalism can, and so on.

I am not going to trot out worn tired cliches, and no, I do not believe that one lone good guy with a gun can reliably stop a bad guy with a gun, unless he is extremely lucky. He will probably be killed in the process.

I carry a sidearm (one that is considered by many to be obsolete and ill-equipped for the modern world) only after years and years of training and periodic re-qualification. I am trained to the level of a police officer, know the laws of legal carry and of deadly force better than most cops, and meticulously mind my own business.

I don't know if I will ever be in a situation again in my life in which I have to come to the aid of a civilian that I do not know.

I do not want to sound brave, I don't want to sound macho, but as the carrier of a licensed handgun, I believe that I am part of a social contract. Some may disagree....

I believe that if god forbid I am somewhere where I can make a difference, I will be running toward the problem, not away from it.

If it costs me my life, then that is the price I pay for living in a society whose rules and laws are more important than myself.

Best wishes;

CFS