The Gun Blogs

Thinking and diversity of thought make the liberal mindset what it is. This is different than the conservative perspective wherein things are right because "it's what is right," or because it's what is traditional or what has always been done. Liberals allow for change, so today's ideas may or may not relate to yesterday's. This is why many liberals will say that the second amendment doesn't mean citizens have the inherent right to own firearms "because militias no longer make sense" while many conservatives indicate, "It's a right, it's always been a right, so it is my right." It's also why liberals often will look to international trends rather than the constitution alone.

So, what makes a gun-rights liberal? The same components that make an anti-gun liberal can make a pro-gun liberal. Those components include: critical thinking, knowledge, and careful thought.

For me, this critical thought appeared at several times in several capacities. As a teen I was in the Police Explorers and I wanted to be a cop to help others and to stop crimes. When I was sixteen a friend of mine was coerced by a parent into shooting someone they lived with. Thankfully, the victim lived, but I was left in confusion. How could someone who seemed more mature than the other students be coerced into that? If this person was coerced, could I not be coerced?

As a teen I walked away from shooting, a sport that I loved, locked up the .22 and shotgun my mother bought to teach me to shoot, and didn't think about guns again until I was in my 30's.

In 2002 I decided I needed to address that question in more detail. Could I be coerced into harming another person? I went to an indoor rental range to shoot so I could experience what I grew up loving once again.

I walked away from that experience with a few observations.

1. I'm very different than a person who would use a weapon to attack another
2. My friend was set up to be manipulated by others through bad parenting
3. I can see crime as a social response to social harms that can be treated on the larger level through social programs
4. In the moment of an actual conflict, when someone is attacking my family, or me social programs won't help
5. The realities of physical conflict are harsh
6. Clear self-defense laws must be maintained to allow citizens to use a legitimate escalation of force guideline and the best defense weapons to protect themselves
7. Firearms, specifically handguns, are the best defensive choice for many people against attackers with greater numbers, greater mass, force, or training

Furthermore, these guidelines extend to international human rights issues that I am deeply concerned about as a liberal. In countries like Darfur gun "control" laws have been used to disarm a population so that those in power can kill them without risk of harm to themselves. A liberal response should include arming and training victim populations in defensive techniques.

To promote gun rights and gun ownership in the liberal population, our arguments must take on the critical thinking, research and informed debate that engages the liberal mind.

More at Grapplingwithguns.com