Today, there are WAY too many families in Connecticut grieving over losing their children and their family members. The press is saying that fear, anger, and confusion are the only way to describe how the people in Newtown, Connecticut feel right now.

Those feelings are completely understandable. I cried, and I don’t know anyone directly who died. The fact that someone walked into an elementary school and killed 27 people, most of whom are children… That upsets me.

Having so many people immediately start yelling about how we should control guns and take them away from law-abiding citizens… That pisses me off!

The mother LEGALLY owned her weapons. She’s not the one who went on a killing spree!

Connecticut already has the toughest gun laws around. It didn’t stop this tragedy!

Gun control advocates say that those of us who choose to carry weapons do so out of fear. Yet the ones who are now scared are the ones screaming about gun control.

This may come as a shock to those who choose NOT to carry, but those of us who carry don’t live in fear.

We sleep well at night knowing that if someone breaks into our home, we don’t have to frantically search for something…anything…that might serve as a weapon to protect ourselves or our loved ones. We know we don’t have to crouch in a corner somewhere hoping that an intruder, probably armed, might find us and end our lives.

What we know is that we have the ability to reach for a loaded weapon, stand across the room as far from the intruder as possible, take aim…and fire.

End of story.

Yes that sounds harsh to those of you who choose not to own or carry a weapon. But that’s YOUR choice. Gun owners like myself and my son have gone thru the scenario in our heads thousands of times. We’re ready to take a life. We’re ready to live with the fact that someone may make us choose between their life and ours.

What gun control advocates miss is the fact that we don’t WANT to take a life.

If I could go through my entire life without ever firing my weapon I would be perfectly happy. You’ll find very few police officers who won’t tell you the same thing about their careers. If they NEVER had to fire their weapon at someone in their lifetime it would be ok.

But we don’t live in that world.

We live in a world where mentally ill people and angry people and those without a conscience will find a way to get a weapon in their hands when they want to hurt someone. They don’t care if there are laws or waiting periods. They’re not going to go take a safety class to learn how to handle a weapon properly.

They’re going to find a gun, a knife, explosives or something else…and they’re going to go murder people.

It’s not just about my right to carry. It’s about my right to defend. And I will defend that right, violently if ever necessary, in order to sleep well at night and know that if my loved ones are ever in danger because of someone stupid enough to think it’s ok to enter my space and threaten me or mine, they will die.

Does that sound cold? Maybe. But if it keeps me from having to bury my son, I’m good!

Warm regards,

p.s. Regardless of what side of this issue you stand on, feel free to share your opinions in the comments. I would appreciate it if everyone remains respectful of others’ opinions… In other words, I’d love to hear from you as long as we can agree to disagree. =)