When I first put on a police uniform some thirty-five years ago, what no one told me was that there was an invisible sign across my back that read “Complaint Department.” It seemed to be visible to anyone with an ax to grind or a complaint that they felt sure I needed to hear, regardless of whether I had any control over said problem.
It had to have been my first year in uniform and I was out in public. A gentleman, who didn’t seem much older than I, approached me and began to tell a tale of prowlers or burglars on his property. As he described the situation, he lived out in the county — not my jurisdiction — and a few nights prior, two or three men (he wasn’t sure how many) were outside his home. He was alerted by his dog and told me how he called 911.
The dispatcher kept him on the line and told him a deputy was being sent. The story continued with the prowlers breaking into his attached garage, all while he was on the phone with dispatch. Something happened and the intruders got scared off and left, probably because of the dog, but we’ll never know. The man went on to tell me how he had a wife and two small children and that he was afraid for their safety when the burglars got into the garage.
Then he got to the nut. He wanted to tell me how upset he was that it took the sheriff’s deputy fifteen minutes to arrive. That was unacceptable. He pays taxes, he told me. He went on and on. When he finally paused to catch his breath I asked what I thought was a logical question. “Did you have a gun?” His response upset my OODA loop. “No, I don’t believe in guns.,” he righteously proclaimed.
Being young and relatively new on the job, as Doc Holliday once opined, self-control got the better of me. Rather than ask this dude if he believed in having his head caved in by said intruders after his wife was raped in front of him, I calmly explained that in our rural area, with a population of fewer than 35,000 citizens, there were only two deputies on duty in the entire county during the hours he described. Depending on where the nearest deputy might have been, a fifteen minute response time wasn’t out of the question.
Homeboy didn’t appreciate my answer and muttered something about Why do we pay for police? yadda, yadda, yadda. I related my citizen interaction with a more seasoned law enforcement officer and my comrade’s response was a bit more to the point. “You should have told him to go f*#k himself…or words to that effect.”
No, You Don’t Live in a Safe Neighborhood
The previous story took place well over thirty years ago. In that time, we’ve transitioned from a majority “may issue” CCW permit situation to a majority constitutional carry country. You don’t need a government permission slip in most states any more.
Access to professional firearms training has also expanded dramatically and, while hardware is not the answer, reliable firearms are more than reasonably priced and available to all responsible adults.
With all of that said, it pains me to relate a news report that I saw yesterday. The headline read; ‘Beloved’ North Carolina teacher killed by intruder while on phone with 911; suspect charged.
A North Carolina schoolteacher was killed Saturday morning after a home break-in turned deadly, police said.
Officers responded just after 6:30 a.m. local time to the 800-block of Clay Street and found a woman critically injured.
Zoe Welsh, a teacher at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, was given aid and rushed to a hospital, but died from her injuries.
Like clockwork, the neighbors appeared on the street to tell the TV camerals how shocked they were and how they couldn’t believe that such a crime would happen in their neighborhood. Note the time. It wasn’t late at night in a bad part of town. It was dawn in a place described by residents as a “good” or “safe” neighborhood.
What should be all too obvious is that if you have time to grab a phone and call 911, you have time to grab a firearm to defend yourself. I’m sure that officers from the Raleigh Police Department arrived as quickly as they could, but that didn’t matter in the end. This poor woman wasn’t shot, she was beaten to death. Sadly, since the murderer didn’t use a firearm, few news outlets outside of Raleigh will notice as it doesn’t help them to push their civilian disarmament agenda.
The Raleigh Police Chief praised his officers for rapidly apprehending the killer to which I say, Whoopdy-do! Who freaking cares, Chief? Is that going to bring back the dead woman?
What should the Raleigh police chief have said? He should have done what former Detroit Chief of Police, James Craig, did. Remind citizens that when seconds count, the police are minutes away. At best.
Chief Craig famously told Detroiters that his officers couldn’t possibly be everywhere at once. They should purchase guns and get training to defend themselves. Raleigh’s chief put on his politician hat and spewed worthless crap about thoughts and prayers and how great his cops are.
“If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore, what he must be taught to fear is his victim.” – Col. Jeff Cooper
Stop Talking Yourself Out of Being Armed
Are there areas that have lower crime rates than others? Of course there are. Bear attacks are relatively rare, but such a statistic is cold comfort while a bear is tearing your face off. Mountain lion attacks are “rare” but a Colorado woman died last week after being killed by one. Her family isn’t going to be comforted by statistics.
As a person who has been encouraging his fellow citizens to become armed for decades, I’ve heard all the excuses.
“I don’t want to seem paranoid.”
“I live in a good neighborhood.”
“I don’t go places that I shouldn’t go.”
“I carried for a while, but I never needed a gun so I stopped.”
Most of those rationalizations can be chalked up to the weakness of the human psyche. It makes humans psychologically uncomfortable to think about bad people doing bad things. Carrying a gun is a constant reminder, at least initially, that there are bad people out there. Weak minds can’t handle that reality. It’s easier not to think about it and just whistle past the graveyard.
As a small arms and tactics instructor, I have listened to other trainers pontificate about how responsible gun owners don’t go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things. That much is true.
You know what? Who cares? Was the dead woman in the story in a stupid place?
Several years ago, at 10:30 am on a Wednesday morning, a deranged ex-husband walked into a Biloxi, Mississippi grocery store looking for his ex-wife. He was armed with a rifle and a couple of handguns. If you were standing at checkout #3 paying for your grapes when he guy walked in, were you wrong because you were doing stupid things?
The point is that it’s hard enough to convince otherwise responsible people to become armed citizens and do the mature, responsible thing and be armed all the time. What the stupid places, people, and things comment does is give the those who are hesitant a mental out. An excuse not to carry. They tell themselves they don’t do any of those things, so they don’t need a gun. That statement makes them believe that needing a defensive firearm or not is dependent on their behavior.
What we attempt to remind citizens as often as possible is that you can’t control the behavior of others. You can’t stop a killer from walking into a church, a mall, a school, or a grocery store. You can’t stop a thug from trying to break into your home or assault you on the street. However, what you CAN DO is make a determined effort to be prepared to deal with those things if they happen. I can’t stop a moron from running a red light and smashing into my car. I can carry a traumatic medical kit and have the training to stop-gap a life-threatening injury.
When I wore a badge, I did so in a rural community with small towns. Yes, the crime rate was low, but it wasn’t non-existent. While I was there we had murders, robberies, and rapes. It didn’t happen every day and it was rare. Nonetheless, the statistical rarity didn’t do much to help the victims.
What if you carry your gun faithfully your whole life and never need to use it? Great, you win! What if you decide that you don’t need a gun, but find yourself in a situation in which you need one? You lose.
Get realistic and practical training. Carry your gun and stop letting other people talk you — or talk yourself — out of being an armed citizen.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.
One day I was watching a class at the range, it was a class that was a little advanced but would also satisfy the carry permit requirement so had new people going to get their carry permit. This was the only class time open that day and it cost a little more than the standard carry permit class but these people had signed up anyway and that’s all that was in the class, 6 of them. But they had to do the course of fire the class required and the longer more in depth class so they did not get the standard, much easier and shorter, carry permit class.
I was waiting for them to finish. They were using the lane I wanted to use because it had pop up targets out at 50 yards and they had it set up for their class with silhouette targets closer for the class at 3 – 7 – 10 -15 – 25 yards. It was the firing phase of the class so they would be finished with the lane when this was over. The instructor told them to take a short break and he stepped away a short distance talking to the RSO. A guy in the class was talking to a lady who asked another if she should worry a lot about someone attacking her, the guy interjects himself into their conversation and says …”Responsible gun owners don’t go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things, so as long as you don’t be stupid you will be fine.”
Evidently the instructor heard that too. For when he came back to the class he looked at the guy then at the lady then the class and said:
“Responsible gun owners don’t go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things, but bad people do go to places where they want to do evil things to people and you have no control over when they choose to do that. So being an uninjured or living responsible gun owner also means being prepared to pull the trigger if necessary when those bad people show up to do evil things.”
The guy who had originally said the line to the lady spoke up and asked a stupid question “So we just shoot them?”
All this had already been covered in the classroom portion, when to shoot, legalities, etc.. I knew that because I had also taken this class at one time in the past.
The instructor answered the guy with “We went over this in class.” and told him to leave, see the lady in the office for a refund. The lady the guy had said this to, when the class continued and the course of fire started and she was up, put 15 rounds in a 6 inch circle center mass, consistently, at 3 – 7 – 10 -15 – 25 yards switching from target to target, then did 3 inch head shot groups on the silhouette targets switching from target to target, then did double taps on each target switching from target to target – and doing tactical reloads when necessary – while moving to engage the targets. I think she got the point and knew what to do.
Two weeks later the constitutional carry (permitless carry) law was signed by the governor, so I imagine that stupid question guy is out there somewhere.
‘WHAAAAAAAAA! ‘But Muh Feelings!’: Liberal Woman Responds to Open Carry Decision — ‘This Doesn’t Make Me Feel Safe’
(Colion): “The federal appellate courts have recently held California’s restriction on carrying firearms openly is unconstitutional.
Just as quickly as this was decided by the appellate courts…this response appeared.
Here I will dissect an Instagram clip where a female reacts to the ruling. In the process she inadvertently discloses why most people oppose open carry. The answer is: it’s not about crime; it’s not about data; it’s not about the outcome. It’s about how you feel.
She does not say that guns in public make people unsafe. She says that seeing a gun in public makes her uncomfortable.
That distinction is important.
Feeling unsafe and being unsafe are two different things and do not justify the elimination of constitutional rights simply because you feel uneasy at the grocery store.
In this video I discuss:
Why the appellate court used history and tradition (a requirement of the U.S. Supreme Court) in making their decision
How “feeling” is becoming the replacement for fact in gun policy discussions
Why rejecting open carry and accepting concealed carry has no logical basis
How prohibiting various methods of carrying is a method of indirect disarmament
Why every time you use the “it feels like” argument you end with control, not safety.
I do not open carry.
I do not intend to.
Rights do not only exist for what makes me comfortable.
This ruling is significant because it solidifies a fundamental principle:
you cannot abrogate constitutional rights because of your fears, feelings of discomfort or political bias.”
ht* tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LydhDgql2S4
(Don’t Walk, Run! Productions) (Hypocrite stupid democrats): “Arresting Venezuelan Dictator HURTS Venezuela”
ht* tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKOiO-4KyY
The “but but but.. people who are not American citizens do not vote in elections’ left wing myth, busted again for the thousand’ish time:
ht* tps://thefederalist.com/2026/01/06/25-noncitizens-voted-in-alabama-officials-find-after-trump-gave-states-access-to-alien-database/
AWFL – Gasp! The left wing liberal white women we don’t like and justifiably so: Liberal White Women — I Hate These Broads.
ht* tps://pjmedia.com/kevindowneyjr/2026/01/07/the-morning-briefing-liberal-white-women-i-hate-these-broads-n4947948
Where Did Those Rent-a-Mob Protests for Maduro Come From? Here Are the Receipts.
ht* tps://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2026/01/05/where-did-those-rent-a-mob-protests-for-maduro-come-from-here-are-the-receipts-n4947920
A case of left wing FAFO: Hilton Axes Hotel From Their Systems After Video Shows Them Continuing to Ban DHS and ICE Agents.
“Hilton Hotels swiftly terminated its franchise agreement with an independently owned Hampton Inn in Minnesota after a video surfaced showing the hotel continuing to refuse rooms to DHS and ICE agents. …
…”