As I Age....

I find that I am becoming less and less tolerant of the evil I see around me in the world. I see how it affects others, and think how easily it could affect those I love and respect.

A friend emailed me to tell me that a man was assaulted and stabbed in his home by thugs looking for his supposed pain medications. No mention was made about whether the man actually had pain medications, just that they were looking for them.

My friend then pointed out that people wonder why he always carries, even when he is alone in his own home. Now he has a newspaper article to hand them!

Another friend emailed me this piece:

Why I Carry a Gun

My old grandpa said to me, "Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin'."

I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the
world.

I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to Heaven, I want to be a cowboy.

I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I AM inadequate.


I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

Author Unknown

I would add a paraphrasing of something I heard a long time ago and for which I don't remember the source:

I don't carry a pistol because I expect trouble, IF I EXPECTED trouble, I would carry a rifle!!