Have you heard this one before?

Recently heard the following things from various coworkers and family members, and I feel this is as much a cultural / social problem as it is a legal one. <br><br><br>“Why do you even need a gun? Police officers are here to protect you.”<br><br>When I said, “OK, we’ll talk about police response times, then?”<br><br>They interrupted me with: “I don’t care how long it takes, I’d rather wait for the police than take it into my own hands!”<br><br>So I told them the following words: <br><br>“I’m not going to wait for the police to come save me, oh wait, they already have. Police in my state, especially in my area, have a response time of 20-30 minutes. If someone breaks into my house, do you know how much they can do in that time? They can steal everything I own, hurt my family, hurt my dogs, set my house on fire, and I won’t be able to stop them. Not only that, but police are often very late to the party. They won’t prevent a break in, they won’t prevent a mass shooter from shooting, and they can’t be everywhere at once. What they can do is pick up the pieces after a tragedy, and look really cool doing it on cops. <br><br>If my house ever gets broken into, I’m in control. I can protect my family, my dogs, and my belongings. Not some State employee hiding behind a mound of dirt a mile away from my house 30 minutes after I call them because they are stuck in traffic. If you don’t want to protect yourself, that is your decision. But you can’t make that decision for me, or take away my right to self defense.”<br><br>Then they said: “But what about all the mass shooters? They had AR-15s.”<br><br><br>“Well, they were often mentally ill in some capacity. Does a shooter going on a rampage not justify the need for self defense, rather than justifying an AR ban? The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. You know who mass shooters don’t like? Armed people. If I ever encounter a mass shooter with an AR, I’m not going to throw rocks at them. I’m going to fight back with a firearm. If you think you wouldn’t do that, it’s because you’re playing by the social contract, and they’re not.” <br><br>They looked at me with blank stares as if I was talking in a foreign language, and that was that. They didn’t have anything else to say.<br><br><br>Pretty damn frustrating. Not only this, but when I was in college, a mass shooter went on a rampage at the college I attend. It was a very large college with 30,000 students spread across 4 campuses. One campus was in a very safe area, another in an OK area, one in a dangerous area, and the other out in the sticks. Guess which one the shooter attacked? The one in the sticks with no one around to stop him. It’s been 5 years since that shooting, and nothing has changed. There are no armed guards, no more police, nothing. Because of that, I carry whenever I can. Not only because of the shooter, but because I had several cars stolen, and many more break ins when I lived near that campus. <br><br>There is a common theme in this story, and that is that police can’t be expected to protect you. So protect yourself. <br><br><br>If you made it this far, thanks for listening to my ramble. Stay safe out there, and stay vigilant!<br><br>Edit: Holy shit this blew up. Thanks so much for my first awards!<br><br>Edit 2: Took out the recoil joke in the title, because while it may have been funny, it didn’t really make much sense.