Winning The War On Fear

I read a blog post the other day where a woman discussed what she would do if a gun were lying on the ground between her child, herself, and a bad guy. Would she grab for the gun? No, she answered, she’d cover her child’s body with hers and pray for the best.

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So I tested this scenario on a couple of my girlfriends to see what they would do in a similar situation. You’re facing a threat, and there’s a gun on the ground. Would you pick it up? Several said no, but mainly because they had no experience with guns and feel they are very dangerous.

This resonated with me. I kept thinking: you have the means to protect yourself! At least pick up the gun so the threatening person can’t use it! But unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this world who would rather hope for the best against a murderer than handle a firearm. It’s not their fault.

It’s what they’ve been taught.

Melanie Fedraw of Rifle Dynamics runs a 5.45x39 AKS-74U, which has somehow become known as a "Krink" or "Krinkov" in the united States, for reasons unknown. She knows these rifles well, and shot like a boss.
Melanie Fedraw of Rifle Dynamics runs a 5.45×39 AKS-74U.

Still, I really had to think on this for a while. We (gratefully) live in a country where war happens in distant lands, and local violence is herded into city pockets away from suburbia and the land of butterflies and rainbows. Our domestic society has not been exposed to the horrors of war and violence for generations now. So the necessity for firepower and training, and therefore preparation for violence, is rarely a consideration.

At the same time, most people agree violence exists everywhere. Almost everyone has been touched by violence in some form or another in varying degrees. Pretty much any criminal activity you can think of has been found in both seedy neighborhoods and highfalutin ones. No one is immune. Guarded gates, alarm systems, dogs, bars on the windows, bubble wrap welcome mats… these sources of protection are all better than nothing, but they are only warnings, telling you to make a phone call. Quickly!

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Just half a century back, firearms were commonly visible in places like the living room, vehicles, the storefronts… Kids played Cowboys & Indians, Cops & Robbers, and fought make-believe wars. They even took their guns to school, and quite possibly drew pictures of guns on their book covers, or played with pretend finger guns at recess. Guns were normalized. Nowadays if a kid’s hiccup sounds strangely like a pellet gun imitation, they’re suspended and given a psychiatric evaluation and possibly medication. Don’t you find that odd?

This fear is unrealistic and constantly fed by the media. Subliminal messages are creeping into our conscience and changing our belief system about guns. Both sides of the media have admitted their intent to invoke fear and emotion to spur action for their agenda, whichever one they’re promoting. But fear is not a good reasoning tool at all. I believe education is the key to action, particularly for something as important as protection for you and your loved ones!

If you are afraid of guns, or think guns are evil and should be banned, grab a seat in a local handgun class and just see what it’s all about. Make the instructor aware of your anxiety so he or she will work to your level of comfort. You don’t even have to handle a gun if you don’t want to! But don’t feed your conscience fearful stories of victimization and feel justified you’ve done enough research on the subject. Take a couple of friends to the local range and educate yourself on gun safety. You just might hit a bulls-eye! Work against terror and encourage people to be their own best advocate for protection.

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The Rifle Dynamics  class crew: Billy Cho, Jim Fuller, and Melanie Fedraw.
The Rifle Dynamics class crew: Billy Cho, Jim Fuller, and Melanie Fedraw.

There is something very wrong, and very evil about a murderer executing innocent people in large numbers, such as at a school or a movie theater.

That person is a murderer. Mental illness may have been the antecedent, and the gun, knife, car, axe (name your weapon) may have been the tool, but the violence was caused by a murderer who had nothing to lose.

If a gun were lying on the ground between you and a murderer, would you pick up the gun? Or would you cover your child and hope for the best?

As for the woman in the blog post I mentioned in the beginning, she did end up getting some firearm’s training. It really decreased her fear, but didn’t do much for increasing her fondness for a gun. However, the end result to the scenario changed. She now admits she would pick up the gun, put it in her pocket, and leave the scene as quickly as possible.

And that’s pretty cool!

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