To paraphrase “If you don’t do it the way I want you to do it you hate children!”

The gist has been for many many years that because I don’t want to give up my rights, because I don’t want to give up my freedom, because I don’t want to give up my firearms that I am an evil, hateful person that wants children to die.

We did the annual firearm inventory the other day. This is the time when I lay hands on each and every firearm I own. I verify that the serial number is properly recorded and check for any maintenance the firearm might need. Like cleaning and oiling. As an example, my oldest AR-15 style firearm doesn’t get taken out very often. It was cleaned and oiled after that inventory was completed.

Am I fearful of any of those firearms? No. Do I respect them? Yes, I do. I treat each and every one of them with respect because each and every one of them could kill me or a loved one dead if I am not careful.

So how would one of my firearms become involved in a death?

1. It could be stolen and used outside of my control
2. There could be an accidental discharge
3. There could be a negligent discharge
4. There could be an intentional discharge with intent

I have reasonable precautions in place to protect my firearms from being stolen. Are they perfect? No. Are they as good as they could be? Again no. Those are decisions I’ve made.

Could there be an accidental discharge? By accidental I mean things like racking the slide and the gun goes bang with out my finger on the trigger, or the firearm is dropped and goes bang when in a safe condition, or if somebody without knowledge fired the firearm. For example my grandchild.

My grandchild doesn’t visit very often. When he does visit the firearms are more securely stored. This is because he could do something accidently. For the rest, following the safety rules pretty much prevents a death due to accidental discharge.

At one point I looked at the possibility of a negligent discharge as “ain’t going to happen to me”. It did happen to me. I have a Marlin 3082 with scope. In order to make it “easier” to manipulate the hammer the former owner put a hammer extension on it.

I was at the range and preparing to safe the weapon. With the firearm pointed down range I attempted to lower the hammer. The hammer slipped from my thumb, hit the firing pin and fired the weapon. The round went into the ground, all safe.

I’ve since changed the way I lower the hammer on any of my external hammer firearms. My left thumb goes between the firing pin and the hammer and then I manipulate the hammer to lower it. If the hammer falls it hits my thumb, not the firing pin.

Regardless, using the four safety rules solve the problem of negligent discharges. They still happen but that is life. We do the best we can to reduce the time it does happen.

Finally, there could be an intentional discharge. This is the case where there is justification for the use of deadly force and I choose to use it. At that point somebody is going to be stopped. They might die.

In not one of these situations is there a single law that can be introduced that would stop “bad things” from happening. A safe storage law wouldn’t solve the problem entirely and it means that the state is deciding what is best for my family. To have no ability to defend my family or to have a very low risk of a minor accessing a firearm and something bad happening.

If I decide to use deadly force it is a decision I make fully understanding the consequences of that decision. No law is going to stop it.

Chris Murphy acts like a spoiled petulant child. He has his toys (security guards) and if you don’t do what he wants he’s going to throw a fit.

I do give a crap. I don’t agree with his solution. That doesn’t make me evil. It doesn’t make me a bad person. I’ve stood between an aggressor and a loved one ready to go to jail if need be. I’m pretty sure he can’t say the same. I doubt very seriously that he has done the calculus on use of force to defend himself or others.

Chris Murphy has others he pays to make that hard decision.