Today I carried my gun.

I tried to carry a police officer today.

It didn’t work out too well, so I carried my gun instead.

Just like I did yesterday and the day before. Tomorrow I will also carry my gun. Every now and then someone will ask me what I am so afraid of, but I tell them “I’m not afraid of anything, I have my gun.”

It is easy to slip into a false sense of security, some have gone their whole lives without witnessing or experiencing something terrible happen. Others vehemently preach that something terrible can happen to anyone, at any time, anywhere, for any reason. This begs the question, what should we do about it? Some do nothing, some get pepper spray, some take self-defense classes… and some get a gun. I am a part of the latter.

I carry because I love myself. I tell those who I love that they should carry a gun, and I also carry a gun because I would use it to protect the ones I love who don’t carry a gun. The first time I set foot outside my home with my gun concealed carefully, it was exhilarating and terrifying! What if someone saw?! What would I say? What would they say?? Still, I couldn’t help but feel 10 feet taller, more confident and like I had a juicy secret that I wanted to shout to everyone around me (which would have been totally inappropriate). Over time, it has become a routine. The confidence and feeling of fearlessness though, has not gone away.

Sometimes people ask me “Would you carry your gun to the ___________?” [insert routine destination] It’s always a yes, unless it is explicitly illegal, or it is just not possible to safely conceal it. I’ve never been very good at predicting the future, and I must admit that crazy things always happen when I am least expecting it. So, the question has become “Why not carry a gun?”