Wednesday, March 21, 2012

One of the most important things for a person who decides to carry a concealed handgun is to know when they are justified in using deadly force against another human being.

Far too many folks believe you can draw a gun to scare someone, or you can shoot someone in the leg to only wound them. However, none of this is true whatsoever. The only time a gun should ever leave a person's holster is when they are in immediate fear for their life or serious bodily injury.

More importantly, a person who carries a concealed handgun has a duty to act more responsible than the "average Joe" on the streets. In other words, if you're driving along the highway and someone flips you the middle finger (and you're carrying a gun) you need to swallow your pride and keep driving and let it go.

In the instance of the Trayvon Martin incident, it appears the shooter followed Trayvon even when the dispatcher told him not to follow and to let police do their jobs. In my opinion, the shooter should not have put himself in a dangerous situation and should not have followed Trayvon Martin in the dark at night.

Had the shooter listened to the dispatcher, had the shooter simply been a good eye witness, then the police could have come and investigated and could have determined if there was something suspicious going on.

Instead, the shooter put himself in a bad situation in the first place and now the life of a young man has been taken.

I'm a firm believer in the right to carry a gun and I personally carry a concealed firearm wherever I legally can. However, I don't think enough Americans truly understand the responsibility that comes with carrying concealed. I believe people need to better understand the law when it comes to using deadly force and to better understand how they need to avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations at all cost.