After yesterday’s post went up, I went to my Facebook page to do a little promotion about it and the Gun Digest site and on-line store. I got some pretty nice feedback, but one Facebook friend in particular struck a chord in me.
The fellow was a South Africa resident, and he wrote to tell me that he liked my post and the GunDigest.com site, but that he wished folks where he was were more enthusiastic about such subject matter. I replied that surely there were plenty of folks there who loved to hunt and had as much appreciation for guns as we Americans did. His reply to that came back immediately:
There are quite a few people with a real interest in firearms, but not remotely enough, especially in the 18 – 30 age group, and the government and our new gun laws make it extremely difficult for first-time gun owners. Some folks wait up to two years for their licences/permits! That, in its own right, discourages people to own a firearm. We're having a serious and ongoing battle in SA!
I won’t soapbox this too long, but that kind of input should stop all of us U.S. gun owners in our tracks occasionally and make us take a solid look at just how good we have it. How good? When you open up your mail tonight and see your new concealed carry permit, remember just a few night classes and a 20-minute range test gave you the ability to legally protect yourself away from home. And when you go to Wal-Mart to buy this year’s hunting license, remember that it took a “whole” weekend of hunters’ safety instruction to grant you that privilege. And, finally, the next time you buy a gun, even if you have to wait five days or seven days or 30, remember you’re not in South Africa and only hoping your permit might show up in the year or two. ‘Nuff said?
Exercise your rights and carry a gun! The author recommends the following:
Self Defense Bundle—includes The Gun Digest Book of Personal Protection & Home Defense, Armed for Personal Defense, and Personal Defense for Women.
Welcome and next post some real world info about england and their persecution of gun owners (even the classic sporting doubles). Nephew was stationed there and said that he had to leave his firearms on base. Rubber hose with couplings for home defense!!
I really appreciated my Mossberg 500 with self defense 00 X (5) as a closet gun after hearing that!
PS Since hearing that I have changed from 00 to #4 x (2) and 00 x (3) as standard loading (and a match grade 9mm with (18) HP + loads as backup!
We are in a rural neighborhood and until recently did not even lock the doors. Now I appreciate the heavy cable with built in combo lock to keep the above guns from unauthorized access but readily available to me.
“Guns are not always the right answer, but they may buy you enough time to find out what is!!”