Why I Own Guns

Recently, I got into collecting and shooting firearms as a hobby. This has been a fun hobby for me, and it has taught me a lot about responsibility and safety. It is one of the few things I've felt passionate about in my life, and hopefully it will be a lifelong hobby.

However, when I first got into firearms, I had to overcome a lot of the misconceptions people have about both firearms and firearms owners. I'd like to use this blog to go over some of those misconceptions, explain why they are wrong, and also to explain why I own firearms.

First, the misconceptions...

The first misconception I've run into is the idea that guns kill people. While this is an easy misconception to have, it is entirely untrue. Never in my life have I seen a firearm jump out of a case, load itself, aim itself, and fire at anyone. Guns don't kill people. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. A gun is just one of a million tools a person can use to kill another person. This leads to the second misconception that I always face.

A lot of people are under the mistaken understanding that if you own a firearm, especially a handgun, you want to kill someone. This is a misconception brought on by the media, who portray most firearm ownership in a negative light. The day I brought my Beretta 9mm handgun home, my grandma (who was in town visiting) asked me if I had anyone I wanted to kill. Now I have no desire to use my firearms to kill anyone. Almost 100% of other firearms owners have no desire to kill anyone either. I would be willing to use my firearms for self defense, but God willing that will never be a situation I will find myself or my family in.

I will most likely address more misconceptions about firearms and firearms owners in the future, but these are the two biggest that I have faced up to this point.

A question I get a lot when people first find out about my firearms is "Why do you need those guns? You can't hunt with them." I have tried to condense my reasoning for owning the firearms that I do into the shortest, easiest to understand explanations I can.

I own my firearms for the following reasons.

1. I respect law enforcement agencies and thank them for their dedication to serving and protecting the people. However, no matter how efficient the police are in my area, it is still going to take them anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes after a 911 call to get to my house. A burglar can kick the door to my house in in one second. I would rather have the ability to defend my house until the police arrive.

2. The United States was set up on a system of checks and balances. One of these checks and balances was the 2nd Amendment, which gives us the right to keep and bear arms. This amendment was added in the constitution so that in the event that the government starts abusing its power, the people of the United States would have the ability to overthrow the abusive government and set up a fair, responsible government in its place. I feel that it is really every American's responsibility to be able to violently resist an abuse of power by the government if that resistance becomes necessary.