Concealed Carry vs Evil
By Clive Bishop, July 3rd 2014
JPFO writer contributor, © 2014.
Do you believe in evil? Perhaps you do! Or at least maybe appreciate that not all people have conscience and thought for others - despite perhaps feeling so very safe within your own seemingly safe life and where you live.
The thrust here is towards encouraging the beneficial uptake of concealed carry (or responsible open carry) - based on the premise that not all people are good and imbued with altruistic intention, contrary to much popular and naive belief. Evil in some form exists and may present itself at any time, at any place. This requires that law abiding individuals have the means to respond in order to survive and live another day, however remote the statistics might make it seem to the optimistic as well as the gun-grabbing masses.
Let us look at the criminal mind and motivation from a few angles.
To rob is easier than earning a living? Yes, for some that is certainly very true as the easy option. Why sweat in a job when thievery can achieve results faster and with a potentially much richer return? Add to this the almost inevitable present day scourge of drug useage and there is the problem of how to finance that habit. It has been said that one "good day" of heroin abuse can cost as much as $200!
Well - the average person can probably in no way earn through honest toil enough to get through even one day of a drug habit - and, pay the bills. We will not explore the semantics of drug control here but, suffice to to say that those with a serious habit will rarely if ever be able to support their habit by legitimate work alone, even if so inclined - apart from which a drug habit will probably ultimately lead to being fired from employment! The options inevitably boil down to finding money or goods through crime, from which funds can be gleaned to achieve the next fix.
Maybe we should somewhat downplay the "evil'' element a moment and just concentrate on what addiction does to people. It makes for a mindset of "must have" ....... at all costs. Perhaps not immediately evil and obvious per se but, enough to rob that individual of reasonable consideration for others and their property. Once "need'' takes precedence we can often justifiably consider including a label of "evil". Take this a step further .....
Beyond the achievement or gain of monies to support a habit, are the physiological and psychological effects of drug usage. Even someone "high" on a Marijuana session might feel empowered enough to take a chance and rob someone. If the drug of choice however is perhaps methamphetamine or PCP - then we have a whole new ball game, as the individual is possibly spaced out to such an extent that even rational thought and pain are sublimated. A potential adversary who could be very dangerous - fearing no consequences, legal or physical -- drug induced evil. We should not forget either, things like severe bi-polar condition and paranoid schizophrenia for example, which without any assistance from drugs can independently produce possible threat behaviors bordering on evil.
Is evil acquired from birth or learned? Hard to say and perhaps it is a matter of semantics and debate, as well as perspective. There is little doubt however that there are those who through behavior certainly demonstrate minimal regard for others, to the extent that they can inflict all manner of depraved actions.
Let's now bring into this equation, a weapon of some sort - either a knife or just as likely a gun. What is the criminal's mission? To gain money or goods at all costs - including the potential taking of a life if compliance is not met. Perhaps the thinking is based also on not leaving any witnesses - just as possible however is the simple thinking that if someone does not comply then, they have quite simply rescinded their right to life - they represented a barrier to the required result. Quite simply, life can be very cheap.
What does this mean when considering a citizen's option to carry a concealed weapon?
It means quite simply that, if confronted one day by a criminal with evil intent, they have the means to answer back if no escape possible ... a means to defend the self and/or loved ones and live to see another day. An option to respond immediately and not become a statistic which might otherwise simply be written up by law enforcement - the cops who arrive after the event, powerless to turn the clock back and able only to draw body chalk lines and start an investigation. This does not save lives, it only "solves cases" if lucky - very poor substitute!
We hear often in CCW circles of "taking responsibility"...with regard to looking after oneself and those in the family. Is it far fetched? To many gun-haters who look at gun carriers as paranoid freaks maybe, but to those with a sense of realism and a clear view of present day society - not so. If we accept that even in a best-case-scenario, law enforcement might exhibit a 2 to 4 minutes response time (on a good day, if at all) - what happens during that time we might ask? A potential minimum 30 to 60 seconds at least during which an attack might take place, and victim injury or death ensue - plenty long enough!
Some criminals if perceiving success will make their escape and be satisfied enough not to harm victims - others will still choose to inflict harm - it's their way. The more so perhaps in cases where the end result was seen as unsatisfactory, perhaps a failed mugging or rape, and so retribution is sought against the unarmed victim. 
Are we to tolerate these odds? The answer should be "no", but then comment here is based on the ability to carry a firearm all waking hours, and in all places legal in one's own state - not always easy for some, or even impossible sadly where states dishonor the 2A. The chances are that by the time we leave this mortal life (hopefully by natural means), we will never have had to employ the final sanction but, at the very least having had that option (and right). The option not to become a statistic wrapped in a body bag.
This has been covered before but we'll reiterate ... who has the precognitive skills to predict what will happen at any time and place in a day's events? Uncertainty is a fact, and not dreamed up as a nebulous minuscule possibility. What about the next time we fill up with gas and go into the office to pay, or drop by a 7/11 - that some evil low life will not be deciding that day to rob the establishment, with us a prime obstacle to success? Do we know for sure? Next to impossible.
The message is clear it's to be hoped - the acceptance that not all members of the human species are full of altruism even if not perhaps all considered truly evil, and some just might be bent on achieving their ends through armed crime, with you as the barrier to their success. Is carrying a firearm such a big burden? Well yes, to some it would seem so even if an option - but if logic takes center stage and it is realized that trouble can find us, however much we may try and avoid it - then the option to have a personal means of self defence seems totally sensible, plus it conveys a message to criminals that not all potential victims will always be an easy mark.
We do not by carrying a firearm suddenly become vigilantes or spoiling for a gun fight - far from it, despite what the antis try to say. We are however, empowered with a means of solving a threat situation such that we survive to live another day. We have truly taken the responsibility for our own protection and that of our loved ones. QED.
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