A lot of people don’t take their guns with them when they’re doing certain things, particularly on a run. After all, even a lightweight pistol is going to cause issues with your everyday running shorts, and no one wants to wear a fanny pack, especially one loaded down with a firearm, right?

Well, Josh Williams of Austin, Texas didn’t worry about any of that. Eventually, anyway, and at least one area resident is thankful for that.

Josh Williams has been licensed to carry a gun for about 10 years and takes his Glock 43 almost everywhere he goes, KVUE-TV reported.

But on the morning of Sept. 15, Williams almost didn’t take the gun along for his weekly run on the Hike-and-Bike Trail in Austin, Texas — but a voice inside him said he might need it, the station said.

Did he ever.

It was about 5:30 a.m. and still dark when Williams heard a woman’s screams on the trail over his earbuds, KVUE reported.

So he took out his earbuds and pointed his flashlight in the direction of the screaming — and quickly realized a woman was being sexually assaulted, the station said.

“I came up, pulled my gun and told him to get off of her,” Williams told KVUE, adding that he ordered the man to get on his knees and show his hands.

The man ran off, leaving him with the victim, safe and sound.

A few days later, 22-year-old Richard McEachern was arrested for the assault. He remains in the Travis County Jail.

Williams said that he’d never thought he would point the gun at another person, but that’s how it goes. Most of us never really do, but then something happens and a number of gun owners actually do. What matters is what you do when confronted with a situation that requires it, and Williams did what most of us would have done.

He protected another.

“It’s dark, and I don’t know what’s out there, so I have it to protect myself and other people,” Williams told KVUE. “That’s what it’s all about anyway — to help other people with it, not just myself.”

For a lot of gun owners, it’s exactly that.

Most gun owners don’t want to just protect themselves, but others as well. However, contrary to what the anti-gun crowd likes to think, we’re not a bunch of wannabe heroes itching for the opportunity to pull their guns and feel like a badass. We’re just people who don’t like to see others getting hurt.

Yet some would have seen Williams and others like him left unarmed and unable to help others. They would rather see an innocent woman raped and possibly murdered than to see someone like Williams be able to step up and protect another.

They’d rather see women raped and possibly murdered than to allow women to have the most effective means to defend themselves out there. They operate under the warped belief that a violated and potentially dead victim is preferable to a live woman and a dead scumbag.