The quintessential reason why Grandpa carried a gun was that he wanted to live a little longer. My Grandpa lived in a small town in upstate SC. He was a simple man who had moved from the mountains of Virginia to South Carolina when he was a young man over 100 years ago. Life was tougher then than it is now, and many today may not have survived those days.
He wore many hats in his life, as a church elder, preacher, farmer, barber, multi-faceted business man, mayor, town councilman, and a family man. He was born just after the turn of the 20th century and was 95 when he ‘crossed the river to rest on the other side’.
He lived a good and long life, and at times very exciting! He lived long because he learned some valuable lessons when he was younger, and perhaps one lesson in particular. I’ll share a little with you what he shared with me about that.
My wise old Grandpa said “son, nobody likes to take a whoopin’. And there comes a time in every man’s life when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts bustin’ caps and usually it’s when he becomes too old to take a whoopin.” As I said he grew up ‘rough and tumble’ on the ‘frontier’ in western Virginia. His Grandpappy had been in the war and they had a large family who passed stories down about the war and the people and events that followed the war. Other stories for another day.
Regarding guns, he said on various occasions, “I don’t carry a gun to kill people, I carry a gun to keep from being killed.” He also said, “I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to know there are evil men in the world who will hurt me or my family to get what I have worked hard to earn.” He said at another time, “I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.” He said, “I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life regretting for failing to be prepared.”
He would tell of a time when he was challenged to a duel in the street over some seemingly minor issue that another young man thought needed to be settled on the town square. He said that, although he wanted to avoid the confrontation he showed up on the square, but the other man didn’t. No crime had been committed—yet, and he didn’t want to be the casualty of a crime. He said because of that, “I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot somebody, I carry a gun because I want to die an old man in my own bed, and not on a sidewalk or town square tomorrow afternoon because I wasn’t prepared.” He added that, “I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a big man, I carry a gun because men must take care of themselves and the ones they love.”
Later he would find out that regardless of whether he carried a gun or not that if a bad guy sneaks up on your back they may get the best of you. They did, and they stole his wallet, his money and his gun! He was fortunate to survive that encounter and said, “I don’t carry a gun because I love it, I carry a gun because I love life and want to continue to share it with the people who make it meaningful to me.”
The bad guys never stole his wallet, money or his gun again, although they did try! On two other occasions I know of his firearm stopped thugs and robbers from accosting him and taking what they wanted on the streets of Columbia. He said something to the effect of “Son, I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate, I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.”
Many people like to say, ‘you don’t need a gun, you’ve got the police’. Well, police protection is great perhaps if they’re standing right there when a crime occurs, but it’s an oxymoron if not. Free citizens, if they expect to remain free citizens, must protect themselves. Police don’t protect you from crime, they show up and investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to pick up your personal belongings and clean up the mess when needed. That’s from first hand experience with police and bad guys!
A police investigator told me many years ago, don’t be a victim! He said, ‘if you shoot a robber, make sure he is still inside and isn’t moving’! On another occasion when a robber was attempting to break in to my house and the curtain was drawn back to reveal a strong man armed at home, the would be robber fled. Thankfully, they don’t return when you let them hear the roar of the lion!
My Grandpa grew up long ago and taught me many valuable lessons as I was coming along that may not be PC today. That’s fine, I’m not PC either. Just like my Grandpa said, many people today carry a firearm because they consider themselves too young to die and too old to take a whoopin’! That’s why constitutional carry is necessary.
Michael Reed is Publisher of The Standard newspaper, print and online. You may find our videos available on Rumble. The bulk of TheStandardSC video media channel has been censored by dominant social media groups like YouTube. YouTube, owed by Alphabet (Google), removed and destroyed all of our video work without permission or remuneration. That has stopped all potential donations from our many supporters on that venue. If you want to continue to see independent thought and reports please “like”, comment, share with a friend, and donate to support The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is ignored too often by the dominant media.
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