Momma Bear Don't Play

I’m not a particularly controversial person.  I generally stay away from politics and the discussion of such.  I do this not because I am afraid or timid in my beliefs but I find that people are awfully defensive about their own and I’d just rather see others as individuals not necessarily defined by their political leanings.  Why engage in damaging banter instead of steering away from touchy subjects and losing what might be gained from pleasant conversation?  Friends are lost and enemies are made over such things. 

Before I resume my scheduled blogs of my favorite fall things in North Texas and an awesome pimento cheese recipe, there is something I just need to say. 

Satan is evil.  Plain and simple.  If evil is allowed to take root it will grow, however subtly, like a thorny vine and choke out any good and purity.  Evil will use any weapon available to destroy whether it be someone’s mind, their fear, grief, hate, anything can be used as a tool. 

If you were truly looking at FBI statistics on violence in this country you would find people to be awfully creative and that there is all sorts of evil out there.  People hurt each other, kill each other.  They do so with guns, knives, blunt objects even their bare hands.  They’re certainly not limited to firearms.  If evil gets in and is allowed to take root, it will find a way. 

Maybe it’s because there has been a lot of racket about gun control in the past few years or maybe I’m just more aware of it now that we have our little family firearms instruction business, but I’m getting tired of all the noise. 

I heard all sorts of silly and uneducated things said after the terrible tragedy in Las Vegas, about silencers and the NRA; about the number of guns possessed about more control, etc. 

First, I want to tell you why I carry and why I think you should too.  It’s not about violence.  For me, it’s not even about recreation although I do enjoy shooting a great deal.  It’s about personal accountability.

Long ago, when our country was founded and we established our right to bear arms, it seems to me there was a widely embraced attitude of accountability; of a personal responsibility to nurture and protect what God has given you.  It was vastly an environment of self-reliance.  This extends to your loved ones, your property and yourself.  You feed your family, you protect your family, you house them, clothe them and defend them.  None of this is anyone else’s job.  It’s your job to keep your things in order. 

When we think of social etiquette of the past it wasn’t all about pomp and circumstance, poor manners were a sign of not keeping your life, your things, your gifts God gave you in order.  We’ve lost so much of that over time. 

Prior to the industrial age people were immensely self-reliant, unlike we are today. They built their homes, grew their food, made their clothing, made sure there was light and warmth in their homes.   

We pay the electric company and God save us if there’s an outage.  We go to the grocery store and rely on them for almost all our food, nicely packaged and placed neatly on a shelf.  We use the internet for everything, paying for things, communicating.  How much of our life and habits depend upon something or someone else?  I feel like the mode we’re in as a society is one of “someone else will take care of it”.  The government will care for the poverty stricken.  If I’m ever down on my luck there’s government assistance.  If I run out of something I’ll go buy more.  If something breaks, I’ll just get another one.

If something ever occurs in which I fear the life of myself or my loved ones, especially my children I don’t want to wait on someone to save me.  I don’t want to wait for the police, whom I admire and respect wholeheartedly, to get there.  I never want to helplessly watch something horrible happen that could be avoided if I only had the means to act.  Helplessness is not an option for me. 

That is why I carry a gun. I know how to use it and I practice in order to gain muscle memory so that in any adrenaline-fueled situation I might have enough good habits to make that gun do the job of protecting, of defending.  Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.  I don’t think many people even know I’m carrying, it’s not something I advertise and I hope and pray that I’ll never have to use it.  I will if I have to, though.

I have an intense desire to be as self-reliant as possible, maybe that’s why I’m a little obsessed with trying to make things that normal people just go buy. 

God gave me 3 beautiful children and it is my job to love them, raise them up to know God, nurture them and protect them.  I want to be very, very good at my job and as my husband says, Momma bear don’t play.  Momma bear will go to any means necessary to be as good at her job as possible and that’s no one’s responsibility but my own.

I know it’s a touchy subject.  People get all squeamish when we talk about guns as if they have a life of their own; as if they’re likely to jump out of a holster of their own accord and begin murdering people.  That’s just absolutely ridiculous.  The taboo lie has to stop.

I know when terrible things happen we question everything.  How could we prevent this?  What could have been done?  Blaming the guns is not the answer.  Sure, it’s an efficient means for evil to meet its ends but guns are not inherently evil.

Last week, some of my brothers and sisters in Christ were fired on in their place of worship but evil.  Evil was stopped and held at bay, I might add, by a regular person with a gun. 

Lastly, I wanted to urge you to pray.  Pray for Las Vegas and the families that are dealing with such a senseless loss.  Gun control won’t help us.  Fighting and arguing on social media won’t save us.  Only God can save us.  Pray that His Love, Hope, Grace and Mercy shine through.  Ask what your part should be in that.