I have been blessed to live the majority of my life in a relatively “safe” environment.  My Dad was in the Army and the military bases that we lived on were more secure than the general communities where we lived, which were also for the most part “policed” and quite secure.  Dad was from the mountains of PA and our family was regaled with stories of hunting from his youth – both bow and guns.  BC – before children – Dad and Mama participated in rifle competitions.  We were raised in a culture of guns and were taught a healthy respect for how they were to be handled, cared for, cleaned, stored securely, etc.  My earliest memory of shooting a hand gun was around sixth grade with my Pastor’s family and I took a handgun course in college to further supplement my knowledge and skills.  When we moved to Douglas County in the 1980s, Earl Lee was the Sheriff and many in our neighborhood didn’t even bother to lock the doors on their homes because the community was secure and safe.  It wasn’t until I moved to New York City in my 30s that I was a victim of gun crime on a weekend visit to San Francisco, which as it turned out was a fake plastic imitation weapon but felt real enough at the time and resulted in a restraining order against the perpetrators.

Why do we need to have gun rights to protect ourselves if our society is secure?

I own a gun and have a concealed carry permit.  At one point over a decade ago my brother had a dealer’s license and I was exposed to an Uzi, an Israeli 44 and many military weapons.  Our family had a falling out with a Pennsylvania cousin over a rifle that was owned by my Dad but in the possession of an Uncle when his son was informed that we wanted the weapon back.  Why?  What’s the big deal?  Why does it matter? 

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”  Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

The second amendment makes the other 9 amendments of the Bill of Rights possible.

Without the Second Amendment those political forces that see our Bill of Rights as somewhat a hindrance to their power would be free to slowly erode those rights into oblivion. Through world history, when governments take away the rights to own arms; tyranny isn’t far behind.

I fully support the 2nd Amendment and when elected, will resist any attempt to limit the legal ownership of firearms. I further support the reciprocity of firearms licenses from State to State.