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Since we spend most of our waking hours outside of our homes, it is not surprising that most threats to our safety happen there. We are at our most vulnerable when outside of our homes, as we have little control over who we encounter when in public space. However, just as we humans learned to wear clothes to stay warm and dry, we have also learned to stay safe.

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Most people carry their personal protection tools out of sight. In many states concealment is required by law. Many states also require that a weapon carried for self-defense be a handgun rather than a rifle or a shotgun. For these reasons, and for comfort, most defensive sidearms are relatively small and light. They are a compromise between the ease of wear and stopping power but usually suffice for the intended purpose.

Few criminals wish to get into a fight with the intended victim. Most desist and try to flee before the lawful defender has even cleared the holster. Again, since the perps can't tell who is armed ahead of time, concealed carry affords a protective umbrella even to those who go unarmed. Note that almost every mass homicide in the last decade happened precisely in those locations where lawful carry was prohibited by Federal or local law - schools, hospitals, churches - or by company policy.

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Carrying a concealed sidearm is legal in about forty states. Most require training and a criminal background check to receive a license to carry. Interestingly, the two states which require no license to carry, Vermont and Alaska, have not had any problems due to this liberal approach. Equally curious is that Washington, D.C., where not only concealed carry but any firearms ownership is illegal, has one of the highest rates of violent crime.

Being armed is as much a part of being a civilized human as being dressed. Some people might scoff at far-away natives who go naked to the elements, yet the same critics walk through life socially naked, dependent on others for their safety.

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Because of the diligence with which the lawful people conceal their sidearms, we seldom realize just how many Americans go about their daily life armed and prepared. Unlike the victims of crimes, people who don't become victims don't appear in the news headlines. As a result, the vast improvement in the quality of life, the ability to live without fear that comes with going about protected are not as well advertised as they should be.

People in other countries often view the risk of victimization as something beyond their control. Medieval Europeans had the same view of the plague. Yet neither the plague nor criminal trespasses against lawful humans are inevitable. Proper defensive tools and prudent behavior can stop human predators, just as better hygiene and medical advancements conquered the plague.

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Use of a concealed handgun doesn't always involve firing it. In general, a verbal request to be left alone, with a gaping muzzle for a period, is sufficient to discourage most perps from further hostile actions. In the rare instances where presenting a weapon does not stop aggression, firing it does.

Real-life thugs depend on non-resistance for success. When effective resistence is offered, most retreat promptly. Promptly can be defined as the time between drawing a handgun and pulling the trigger.

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The tools for self-protection can be pepper spray, blades or batons, but firearms are the most popular choice because of their effectiveness in stopping attacks. We choose firearms for the same reason the President's bodyguards choose them: they are the most effective tool for protecting innocent lives.

No other tool, be it a taser, a knife or a can of pepper spray offers as good a chance to remain un-hurt in the face of a criminal attack. Further, firearms are extremely reliable: they are a product of over seven centuries of technical evolution.

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Some of us do not carry when out alone. We may trust in our strength, or in our ability to run away from a threat, or just consider precautions unnecessary. That carefree attitude is best evaluated once other people depend on us for their safety. A person with a child cannot run away from an attack, leaving that child in peril.

In practical terms, martial arts are of little use for a person trying to retreat from a threat with a baby in his arms. A weapon which can be effectively used one-handed is essential, be the attacking predator a rogue human or a mountain lion.

Guns have long been called equalizers. They enable almost anyone, even the aged and the disabled, to fend off aggression. In other countries, some muggers specialize in victimizing retirees on the assumption that a seventy-year-old person is no match for a strong, young thug.

In America, at least in those states where concealed carry is legal, we are relatively safe from such attacks. Every once in a while, criminals find out that people don't live to a ripe old age by being meek and defenseless.

Not all will be deterred from trying to prey on their fellow humans. Of those who will try, most would flee the moment their victims would resist. The few who would persist in trying to harm innocent people would be shot. That is a better outcome than having the predator succeed and be emboldened to attack other innocents in the future.

Humans are a social species. Psychopaths, people who harm others compulsively and wantonly have no place in it. Shed no tears for predators who become Darwinated while victimizing innocents. The choice to attack was theirs. The choice to survive that attack should be yours.

However, those who wish us disarmed don't see it the same way we do. If a grandmother protects herself from an attack with her handgun, the perpetrator of the attack would be listed as a "victim of gun violence." Criminals and their apologists dislike armed citizens. That, in itself, is a good reason to stay armed.

When a person or an organization objects to your ability to protect yourself, their motives are seldom innocent. Some of them wish to attack you outright, others hope to pass "protective" legislation after you are victimized, under the guise of ensuring your safety in the future.

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From the viewpoint of violent criminals, concealed carry is bad news. Attacking innocent people becomes a hazardous undertaking. When such people argue for gun control, they are advancing their self-interest, not yours.

The mere notion that a permit is required before a person can legally defend herself against aggression is outlandish. However, we can at least recognize those permits as a distasteful political compromise. The idea that a state can prohibit effective self defense outright is even more ludicrous. Yet several states and many municipalities prohibit guns, tasers, pepper spray or even sticks!

One state in the country, Vermont, does not require a permit for concealed or open carry. No problems have resulted from that. The claim that people carrying without the approval of the government are somehow less responsible and less safe just isn't true.

They may claim that it is for our own good but that isn't true. The idea is analogous to saying that losses to predators will be eliminated if only all animals have their horns and other means of defense removed. Some politicians say that permitting lawful people to protect themselves would somehow harm other lawful people.

Prohibition of self-defense is evil and people who support it are no different from rapists: they get their jollies from controlling and harming others. Such sadism by proxy must be stopped.

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The prohibitionists don't offer to safeguard people they wish disarmed. On the contrary, they use the time and resources of police to make sure that everyone law-abiding stays an easy target for predators.

If people can fend for themselves, they won't trade their rights for the illusion of security. After all, how can a politician show compassion for victims if people refuse to be victimized? The more cynical of the elected vermin admit that their opposition to legal self-defense has nothing to do with crime prevention

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Amazingly, organizations like NOW also come out against legal carry of sidearms. They bemoan the high probability of violence against women and then lobby to deny their own members the means of repulsing violent attacks. Just how ironic is that?