They All Think We're Cowboys

I lived for a year in England during the late ninties. I traveled throughout western Europe and the British Isles during that time, and I got plenty of laughs from the perceptions people had of Americans. The notion that we’re all a bunch of gun-toting cowboys taking potshots at anyone who gets in our way was one of my favorites. Much of what the Europeans speculated about our lifestyle was driven by television programs and news portrayals. George W. was our president at the time and he was considered the King of Cowboys.

It’s fifteen years later and we’re no longer cowboys to the foreigners . In their eyes now we’re wannabe soldiers buying up battlefield weaponry and shooting at everything that moves. Until we forgo television programs that feature shoot-outs and replace this with loads of gratuitous sex we will always be a few steps below them on their evolutionary ladder. 

I did some hunting and shooting while in Europe. These sports are either heavily regulated or limited to those with fortunes. Even carrying a folding-blade pocket knife in England like the one I carry here in the U.S. would have gotten me into trouble with the law.

This is the problem with Europe and even Canada. Personal protection is not an option for the individual. If you shoot or stab someone in self-defense there, you are going to be in big trouble. In England in 1999 Tony Martin shot a man who broke into his home and he was convicted of murder and sent to prison. 

Just two years ago in Ontario, Canada a man fired shots at three masked individuals who were firebombing his home. He had video of this happening, yet the authorities there confiscated all of his firearms and threatened him with jail time. His attackers were never caught, although it seems pretty obvious who they were, and now those local terrorists know their target is unarmed and vulnerable. 

Fortunately I live in America. We have a constitution that says we can own guns and protect ourselves. Now some would say there should be restriction. No large magazines. No guns that look like military weapons. Some would ban all pistols. They want these regulations to save a few lives that are tragically taken by insane individuals that can be best described as ticking time bombs. Good intentions; maybe, but the results will be do-nothing restrictions on those that would obey such regulations and opportunities for those that wouldn’t, and no killings, not a single one, will be stopped by additional laws that build on the thousands we already have on the books.

Chances of me ever having to defend myself with a firearm are miniscule. But, should the need ever arise I don’t want my assailant knowing I have a limited amount of bullets in a gun that is marginal for self defense. I want him to think I have massive magazines bulging with bullets in guns that drug cartels would drool over. And I don’t want state or federal regulations restricting my access to that which is currently legal, just so politicians can pander for votes, passing worthless legislation that will have absolutely no affect on the problem. What has ignorant legislation ever accomplished other than to create more criminals and make people less safe from criminal elements?  There are many examples of this outside our borders to take lessons from.