From an early age, we teach children not to be selfish. We instruct kids to share, to consider others. We’ve ingrained it into ourselves to not be selfish in any way. It’s what we’ve done as a society.

More importantly, though, we’ve made it clear that selfish people are bad people. A charge of selfishness is often sufficient to force one to change their ways.

Which is probably why folks like you and I are being called “selfish.”

Luckily, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre is calling them out on their crap.

The national news media denigrate you. Anti-freedom, social-engineering billionaires would expunge you from their utopian society. Democratic socialists determined to seize control of the U.S. Congress would, if given the chance, destroy your Second Amendment freedom.

While our National Rifle Association remains one of the most trusted and respected organizations in the country, a massive, highly orchestrated war is being waged against us, and it has become personal.

They hate you. Just a few weeks ago, two MSNBC hosts went so far as to blame you for their inability to destroy the president.

In an interview with Tom Steyer—the billionaire who is running ads to impeach President Donald Trump and is spending $100 million to help Democratic socialists take over the U.S. House and Senate—MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle mulled over the president’s solid support as the midterm elections near.

Her conclusion? That you—supporters of the Second Amendment—are selfish Americans.

“A lot of people vote pretty selfishly, and they say, ‘What’s going to give me more money in my pockets?’” Ruhle told Steyer.

“Or what’s going to make abortion illegal, or what’s going to make sure that my Second Amendment rights stay the same, and clearly, that adds up to enough people that the president still has something akin to 40 percent of the electorate in the polls,” added co-anchor Ali Velshi. He even went so far as to call it “fascinating” that some Americans think lawmakers should follow the official amendment process when changes to the u.s. Constitution are sought!

Wow. How selfish of us!

First, I want to invite you to go and read the rest of LaPierre’s column. It’s very good and very important.

However, I want to address the charges of selfishness, the idea that by supporting the Second Amendment, we’re somehow selfish.

When I fight for the Second Amendment, I do it not just because I like guns. I do it because I’ve known people who live in awful neighborhoods who are only able to sleep soundly at night because of an inexpensive 9mm on their nightstand. I do it because I’ve read too many accounts of women being stalked and harassed by bigger, stronger men who there’s no way in hell they could fend off on their own. I do it because I’ve seen too many cases of people being shot by criminals over a pittance.

Our world is an awful place in some ways. In that world, there are actual selfish people, people who demand that you give them that which they have no right to. It could be your money, your virtue, or your life. They want it, and they’ll take it by force if they have to. The only thing that will stop them is a good guy with a gun.

Statistically, I understand that it’s not particularly likely to be me. I’ve already raised my gun in self-defense once, which means the odds of me having to do it again are astronomical.

But the chances of someone else needing it are 100 percent, and so I fight not just for my right to keep and bear arms, but for theirs.

I don’t come at this from a place of selfishness, necessarily. While I’d be upset if I couldn’t have guns anymore, I’d probably be okay in the long run.

No, I come at this from the point of wanting others to be able to defend themselves if and when they need to. I want them to have the tools necessary to protect themselves and their families because when you need a gun, little else will suffice.

That’s not selfishness. It’s altruism at its finest.