Raising Heller

To commemorate the SCOTUS ruling on Heller - which, for those of you with your head in the sand, was for an individual right (insert I told you so here) - and in keeping with the trend already started here of asking questions, I'm posting the top five questions I get as a non-law-enforcement, licensed gun toter, along with the answers I normally give.

5) Do you keep a loaded gun in your house?
- Yes. Criminals tend not to wait on you to lock-and-load before doing you harm.

4) Aren't you afraid the gun will go off?
- No. Guns only "go off" in newspapers, where people do nothing wrong but inanimate objects are evil, evil, evil. I personally have yet to hear of a gun sitting in a safe, closet, or desk drawer just magically discharge without some intervention - namely pulling the trigger.

3) What kind of safety mechanisms do you look for in a gun?
- One, and only one: some kind of "drop safety." These come in various forms; some are integrally built in to the pistol and aren't visible; others are built in to the grip or on the trigger. Most guns made in the last 10 years can be dropped with a round chambered and will not discharge. I don't care for any other safeties on a gun (1911s excluded) because they build a sense of false security; they can and will fail. Every gun comes with one safety already - your trigger finger!

2) Why do civilians need high-capacity (10+ round) magazines?
- For the zombies You're home with your family and some goon starts kicking in your door. How many bullets do you want?

1) Far and away, the question I get asked the most: why do you carry a gun?
- Because I can't carry a cop.
- Because when seconds count, the police are minutes away.
- Because a phone doesn't hurt as bad as a bullet.
- Because I don't like the feeling I get when I'm on top of a roof with shingles and nails but no hammer.
- Because someday...