A little over a year ago a new family moved into my neighborhood. They are a super-friendly, attractive young couple with four very young kids and a very old dog. What a handful! They seemed nice enough, although busy with work and the kids, and we had a few short conversations in passing, but that was it.
About a month after they moved in, I saw a security sign outside their front door. It said “Warning Protected by 2nd Amendment Security” and had the image of a handgun. My first thought was “how cool!” My second thought was “how brave!” Strange that I should think it is brave for a homeowner to proclaim that he is exercising a right considered so important by the drafters of the Constitution that it is enumerated in the Bill of Rights before other important rights such as due process of law and protection from unreasonable search and seizure, or cruel and unusual punishment for crimes.
I reached out to my new neighbors and we became friends. Turns out they are both smart, interesting professionals who share many of my beliefs and values. How refreshing to meet people in Seattle I could talk to openly about politics and world affairs without fear of retaliation or ostracization. They are (obviously) not from here.
The reality is that it is brave to publicly display such a sign in Seattle. Although the recently passed city budget cuts 15% from the police, and members of the City Council and their allies continue to call for deeper cuts in law enforcement, the majority of Seattleites I have talked to about this issue consider guns evil, or at least unnecessarily dangerous. I find it ironic that these people believe the government should have a monopoly on gun ownership while at the same time are working to negate the ability of the police to actually fight crime.
When I lived in North Seattle a few years ago, my house was broken into on the night before Christmas Eve. Fortunately, nobody was home, but the thieves stole some jewelry and – to add insult to injury – a few wrapped gifts from under the Christmas tree. When the Detective from the North Precinct arrived (five hours later – they were grossly understaffed even then) he inquired whether we owned a gun. He suggested that if we didn’t own one, we should get one because the neighborhood wasn’t safe. In fact within a year of our break-in, nearly every house on our block had been burglarized at least once. It was this break-in that eventually prompted our move to a “safer” neighborhood in Seattle.
All that notwithstanding, if I were to put a sign like this in front of my house, I have no doubt that many of my son’s friends would no longer be allowed to visit our home. Their parents would be too afraid. The prejudice against guns and gun ownership in Seattle is so strong that a person who owns a gun for any purpose is considered strange and deranged, and the gun itself is considered more dangerous than a poisonous snake. Better, then, to keep it quiet to avoid the public scorn. Again, how brave to place a sign like this in front of their house.
Seattle progressives and the politicians they elect like to talk about “gun violence” as if the gun is the problem. I’ve heard that in England, where strict gun control has been in effect for a long time, they are now talking about “knife control,” as if the knife is the problem. In reality, the problem is the violence itself, not the tool used to perpetrate the violence. If we confiscate every gun and every knife, people of bad intent will still kill, injure and threaten with whatever tools are at their disposal. They will do so with increased confidence, knowing that all of the decent, law-abiding people have been disarmed by the very government that was entrusted to protect their lives, and their rights.
Instead of the gun, perhaps, we could focus on the crisis of mental health and social alienation that is tearing our country apart. We could start acting like each person matters, and that each person is important. We can start welcoming people into our circles instead of excluding them as “other”. We can reach out to friends and neighbors in need.
I’m not saying whether you should own a gun (or guns) or not. I am saying that this right – the right to self-defense – predates the Constitution and is enshrined in our Bill of Rights and in our nation’s history. It is the exercise of this fundamental right by good, decent, law-abiding people across our country that helps keep each of us safe. And before you judge the person with the 2nd Amendment sign in front of his house, keep in mind that he may save your life one day.
And how sad that it takes that much courage to simply place a sign in front of your house that says: I am prepared to defend my life and the lives of my family members and I am prepared to defend my property from evildoers. Intrude at your own peril.