Anger is an emotion I rarely feel. Most of the time, I am happy and generally don’t let stuff get to me. This is not one of those times.
One of my pro-campus carry advocate friends (let’s call her Toni) is being threatened by a co-worker. Toni normally gets grief over her activism, but this guy crossed the line. This person told Toni, “I bet if I break into your house at 3AM you wouldn’t have time to get your gun let alone use it.”
Toni replied, “I bet you don’t want to find out.”
This guy then emails Toni. In the email he offers up Toni’s home address. He also explained that he obtained her address through the county auditor’s website.
Toni emailed me about this and I called immediately. The first words out of my mouth were, “I have a big couch and you are welcome to stay anytime.”
Toni replied that she wasn’t scared of this guy and could defend herself should she need to. I have heard stories about her drawing on people and successfully defending herself. I have no doubt she is rightfully confident in herself. But still, I wouldn’t want to try to sleep knowing someone has been making threats to me like her co-worker.
And let me remind you this is a co-worker! Now, Toni has to work in this hostile environment. She’s on her way right now to see human resources. I’m hoping for quick resolution.
What really has me steamed is that he is exploiting Toni’s weakness.
Toni is a disabled, small female. This guy is intimidating her in an effort to silence her because he thinks he can get away with it. She poses no threat to him. She is especially no threat to him on campus. where she can level the playing field or even walk away. Evil guns are banned on campus. She also works there and can’t just leave. He can say and do anything he wants to her and all she can do is call human resources. If he decides to escalate at work, she is helpless and there is nothing human resources or the police can do about it.
People don’t treat me like that. I can tell you why. I stand 6’3″ and weigh about 270 pounds. I sport a healthy beard. I walk tall. To the average bully, I am not weak, even without an equalizer.
I really wish I were around when he offered up that veiled threat. I bet he would handle himself very differently if I appeared out of nowhere to tell him I have personally seen Toni go from holstered to punching holes in a target as big as a human in less than 2 1/2 seconds. I wonder how he would react if I told him I helped Toni learn how to effectively use a shotgun. I wonder how he would react if I explained to him how her ability to aim isn’t as important the further away he is when she fires.I wonder how he would react if I told him I have seen that loaded shotgun next to her bed.
I wonder if he would make such a veiled threat to me.
The real kicker is that Toni does not want to shoot him.
Toni has no desire to discharge her firearm at him. When she asked me if I thought he was serious, she also said, “how could anybody do such a thing? How could he put someone in such a situation just to prove a point?
“Does he want me to shoot him? Because I don’t.
“I will if I feel like my only options are to shoot and live or not shoot and allow someone to hurt me.”
I don’t want to shoot him either.
In fact, I don’t even want to hit him. I would like the chance to embarrass him in front of all of his friends. I would like to watch him being escorted off campus by security. But I wish him no physical harm let alone deliver it despite my ability.
Contrary to the anti-gunners’ claims, neither Toni or I want to use our guns to settle this dispute. We both just want him to go away. We also want him to stay away so he can no longer threaten her. As long she doesn’t have a reasonable fear of serious injury or death, her firearm will stay holstered.
The other licensees I have met share our sentiment. I can safely say, based on statistics, that the other 300,000 Ohio licensees share it as well. Of course the anti-gunners, like Toni’s co-worker, don’t understand this.
To them, problems can be solved with intimidation, force, and violence. They allow their emotions to dictate their actions and fear that with a gun, they may settle their dispute at the expense of someone’s safety. Since they think they can’t keep their guns holstered when they are angry, that Toni and I are also not capable and should be disarmed.
Psychologists refer to this defense mechanism as projecting. I’ve written about this phenomenon before. It is what I believe to be one of the driving factors behind the citizen’s support for gun control.