Arm Yourself


I’ve done what most everyone else in America has done—watched the TV accounts and read the grim details of the recent mass murders while wondering about our future. Our post-9/11 nation has become far more wary. But do we really think government can protect us from evil?

As a Portland, Oregon police officer, my grandpa dealt with plenty of inner city crime. After being struck down by a car, instead of going on disability, Grandpa went back to school. He studied forensics, crime analysis, and took intensive courses on sociopathic behavior. Before long he became the chief detective and handled Oregon murder investigations. His job was to find the bad guys and get enough evidence to jail them for good.


As a pioneer in fingerprint analysis, he was asked by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to do some “behind the scenes” work in post-war Germany. That was when my grandpa really began to see how evil worked. He was fairly tight-lipped over what he had learned about Hitler, Stalin and the communist thugs who carried out much of the gruesome torture and murder. After his time in Germany, Grandpa never put too much trust in the government and he staunchly believed in citizen’s rights.



But what would he say about citizens who become mass murderers? When I had to research serial killers for a college paper, I asked Grandpa how the police could better protect innocent people. He felt it was impossible to guarantee safety and there was no law that could make an evil person good. He’d been on the scene of enough murders to know that evildoers would always be with us. He'd met evil and it had a face, but it also came with a deadly cold heart.

My grandpa was always prepared to face evil. And so should we, because in today's world, evil hasn't changed. So if that means guns for you, then arm yourself. Grandpa always did, and he was an excellent marksman. As for me, I'll hold onto my faith and if I meet evil, hopefully I'll be standing behind someone with a gun. Hey, maybe I'll even learn how to use one. We don't want evil to win—but it can if we lose our individual liberty in exchange for government security.

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