With the Fourth Estate in the bag for liberal progressives you’d think the only pro-Second Amendment people were gun owners themselves and half of them were hunters who didn’t support concealed carry either. Take heart, it’s nothing more than the liberal strategy “If you say it often enough, loud enough, it becomes truth.”

A 2016 study conducted by the Crime Prevention Research Center found that during President Obama’s administration the number of concealed handgun permits jumped to 14.5 million, a 215% increase since 2007. Add to that group an unknown number of people who reside in states that allow concealed carry without a permit.

Earlier this month a Cleveland man, who defended his home with a lawfully possessed firearm, thanked his employer for requiring employees to have a concealed carry permit. The man had previously worked at a barber shop where the owner wanted his barbers to carry concealed for their own protection. Had it not been for that he might not have had a gun to defend his own home. While employers asking employees to be armed may sound unusual, it’s not all that unusual.

An aviation insurance broker in Atlanta requires his employees to be armed. According to an article in Fortune Magazine, Lance Toland, of Lance Toland Associates, requires his employees to bring handguns to work. He came up with the idea when one of his employees who served as the firm’s unofficial security officer retired and he wanted to fill the void. Toland requires his employees to get firearm training and obtain concealed-carry permits. The logic is sound.

Cops and donuts are a running gag but looking back on my 19-year association with law enforcement I understand the truth of it. Many donut shops, convenience stores, and other small mom-and-pop retailers offer free coffee or a donut for a very practical reason. They really like having a cop car in their parking lot. It is hardly a stretch of the imagination to realize that small, particularly cash, businesses are commonly targeted by criminals. Whereas large corporations probably have security officers, small businesses rarely do, making them low-hanging fruit for criminals. There are very few things more dangerous than a junkie knocking over the corner convenience store to get enough cash for his next fix. In that scenario, the company security officer is whoever is standing behind the counter at the time.

Then there is the anti-gun lie that suggests concealed carry holders are dangerous and potential criminals. Florida, one of the oldest concealed carry permit states, conducted a study to determine just how likely it is that permit holders would foray from the path of righteousness with a gun. In a video produced by the National Rifle Association, former Navy SEAL Dom Raso mentions the outcome of that study. “Since 1987, the state of Florida has issued 2.5 million concealed-carry permits. Of those, only 168 people have committed firearms crimes. That’s .00672 percent of the total amount issued.”

An old Western adage says, “God created men and Sam Colt made them equal!” It is an observation that is not lost on the public. They understand the one thing we know for sure is an unarmed person is a victim with little chance of getting the upper hand.

A 2015 Gallup Crime poll showed that 56-percent of the U.S. population felt that if more Americans carried concealed weapons after passing a criminal background check and training course, the country would be safer. Let the Fourth Estate chew on that idea for a while.