How to become your own worst nightmare

Getting the Gun | The Huffington Post:
(2013)

Following the Newtown massacre in December the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre, told the country, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” I wondered what would it be like to be that good guy with a gun? What would it be like to get that gun, live with that gun, be out and about with that gun and finally, what happens when you don’t want that gun any more? I decided to find out.

The author of this article, Heidi Newman, goes on to describe how EASY it was to "get a gun", despite the facts that she had never had a gun, had no idea how to use it, and it scared the pee-wadding out of herself to even hold it in her hand.

She had become a gun owner, she was eminently unqualified to own one,  and apparently wrote the article to illustrate how easy it was for an ignorant (not stupid, just not knowledgeable) person to "Get A Gun".

This is what I love about the Huff 'n Puff Post; there is no limit to the extremes to which their contributors will go, to prove their political point.  In this case that guns are evil and unqualified people shouldn't own one.

Or two.  Or heck, why stop there?

Actually, I agree with Heidi.   If you aren't trained, if you are afraid of guns, you probably shouldn't own one .... unless, of course, you make the basic minimum of finding a qualified trainer who will help you decide if  'having a gun' is right for you.

In much of America, it's not difficult to find training.
My local club (Albany Rifle and Pistol Club) provides regular classes for new gun owners.  And some classes for experience gun owners, as well; I teach one of them.  

In Oregon, gun laws are what Heidi and her Friends would call "Lax".  I would call them "Constitutional".  
If you're not a convicted felon, or an alien, or legally insane, or under the age of your majority --- you're assumed to be a legal  ADULT citizen.  Yes, the second Amendment applies to you!

So the experience that Heidi describes is something of her own making.

She hadn't purchased a firearm because she wished to exercise her Constitutional Right to be armed; her goal wasn't hunting, home/self defense, or competition.  

She was making a political statement, which the Leftists among us typically describe as: "I have a right not to be frightened because people around me might be carrying guns, and I don't trust them to have the sense to not be a jackass while they are armed!"

Given the details of Heidi's private experiment in exercising her civil rights, there's some justification to that attitude.

Heidi, you're a jackass.

You were sold a gun without training (although I'm quite certain that you had to pass an FBI Background Check proving that you're not legally insane or a felon or an alien) and you frightened yourself.  And you did so deliberately, for the SHOCK VALUE of creating a "publishable article".
 (Read: you could sell it to the Huffington Post)

You frightened me, too; you were irresponsible and inexperienced,  Those were not what frightened me; you put yourself in that situation deliberately, to provide material for a "Scare Article" in order to undermine the freedoms guaranteed to you by a bunch of privileged white men hundreds of years ago.

I'm pretty sure the Founding Fathers had weak-sister women (and men) in their community, and their fair share of idiots and crack-pots.   I'm not sure they had so many as to combine all three in-admirable character flaws in one pamphleteer;  on the other hand, in the 18th century it generally required that a pamphleteer pay printing costs, and publishing this article cost you no more than your monthly internet access ... which suggests that you took advantage of both the 2nd Amendment and the 1st Amendment to publish your screed.

Sigh.

It doesn't matter.  I happen to support your Second Amendment Right to own a firearm.
I also support your First Amendment right to write and publish an article intended to undermine the Second Amendment under the protection of the First Amendment

"I do not agree with [or "I disapprove  of ... "] what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!"

That statement is commonly ascribed to Voltaire, but it was probably penned by Evelyn Beatrice Hall; and the gender of the author is unimportant but noticed.

I think, Heidi (may I call you Heidi?  You may call me Geek!) that you have demonstrated bad judgement in your constitutional experimentation.   The fact that you voice discomfort is not proof that American Constitution Law is not sufficiently cognizant of the fact that some people are frightened by Too Much Freedom.

It's proof  that you have exceeded your natural good judgement in order to write a publishable article.

That you couldn't get it published in a more responsible venue than The Huffington Post suggests that you either couldn't get adequate readership through your own blog, or that you deliberately chose a venue which you knew would agree with, and publish, your article because it supports their anti-constitutional opinions.

Heidi ... you're such a rebel.  I like that.
I don't agree with you, I don't support your political views.

So, you want to go out for a cup of coffee some time?

(You won't have to 'carry'.)