Put Warnings on Every Gun

Warnings Should Appear on Every Gun

by Greg Perry by Greg Perry

Earlier this week I told you about a warning card that came with my new gun ("My New Gun Works Far Better Than Its Warning Notice"). I explained how the warning was authored by a completely unreliable source from a state led by freedom-haters.

What I failed to do was to recommend a replacement warning. I can gripe all day about how ineffective that warning was. I can even demonstrate how special safety locks and fingerprint-coded authorization makes a gun far less safe than without such malarkey. (If I’m taken out in a gunfight, I want my friends around me to be able to grab my weapon and shoot back whether they’re "authorized" in any way to use my gun or not and no gun lock will be on my carry gun to keep them from firing it.)

But if I can’t offer a better alternative to what we have now then I haven’t solved the problem. There are proper warnings that should be on every gun.

I’m Not Opposed to Warning Labels on Guns

Certainly, all firearms should carry a warning message and possibly multiple warning messages.

It’s fine with me if those warning are engraved on the metal itself. I believe that safety takes priority over beauty.

I can suggest a couple of warning messages that I’d like to see engraved on my weapons. After reading "My New Gun Works Far Better Than Its Warning Notice" a John D. sent me this warning:

Be not afraid of any man

No matter what his size.

When danger threatens call on me

And I will equalize.

John D. told me that warning was engraved on the rail of a gun he owned 70 years ago. He implied modern weapons should carry that warning. That tells us a few things about John D.:

  1. He has years of wisdom and we should listen to him.
  2. He remembers important things in life, even those from 7 decades ago.
  3. He can appreciate and respect a good and proper warning.
  4. The verse must have been engraved in small print to fit on his gun’s slide!

Warnings Should Be for the Criminal

All weapons should carry a warning. The warning should be for the criminal, not the law-abiding, gun-carrying citizen.

I could even accept an engraved instruction on my weapon required by law, if it’s something along the lines of the following that I paraphrase from expert Louis Awerbuck:

Always fire two warning shots into your attacker’s chest area before putting a bullet between his eyes.

Another instructional message useful for any handgun would be:

This handgun should only be used to enable you to get to your rifle which you should have had in hand before this firefight broke out.

Such serve to promote user safety.

Have a Ready Answer

Every once in a while, someone will incredulously ask you, "Why do you carry a gun?"

Your answer should be rehearsed so that you say it without flinching, without boasting, and without emotion. Just a simple reply will be your most effective response. I suggest you pick your favorite from one of these:

Q: Why do you carry a gun?

A: In case I have to shoot somebody.

Q: Why do you carry a gun?

A: For the same reason a policeman carries a gun.

Q: Why do you carry a gun?

A: Don’t you?

An Australian Envies Your American Rights

I got an email this week from an Australian who said, "I wonder why it should be so easy for any frigging fruitcake to buy himself a Saturday night special."

Anyone familiar with the history of American handguns knows that is a racist statement. One could forgive the Aussie for not understanding American gun history and perhaps he didn’t mean it in a racist overtone except if he hadn’t also said in the same email during a recount of a long, boring story, "The Kentuckian husband had a workmate with around 30 guns, stored in a purpose-built cabinet…. (he was a negro to boot)…"

Once again, no matter how hard they try to mask it, liberals always reveal themselves. They always eventually show their… true colors.

Any expert writer on guns, those who are far more knowledgeable than I’ll ever be will tell you that a knife is far deadlier than a gun. Someone is more likely to die from a stabbing than a gunshot. A knife can be wielded far more effectively in close quarters than a gun. Hopefully that Aussie protested both Crocodile Dundee movies as they serve to make Australians look like a bunch of frigging fruitcakes with knives.

I Hang Around Gun Owners

I don’t seek out other gun owners. Yet of many of my closest friends own guns. A surprising number of them carry. Oklahoma is not an open-carry state, just one of its many disadvantages. Oklahoma is a state that allows concealed carry with a permit, however, and a huge number of other states honor Oklahoma’s permit.

I want to stress again that if you refuse to get a permit, you have my top admiration as long as you carry concealed anyway. If you get a carry permit, obviously I respect your wisdom there too almost as much. If you don’t carry you are foolish.

It amazes me how many people that Jayne (my bride of 16 years) and I get acquainted with only to find out later they’re active gun owners.

We joined a little church about 4 years ago. Only after we began attending regularly did we find out that 100% of the families in the church own guns. All but one of the men carry concealed firearms everywhere they go. More astonishing, two of the grandmothers there carry in their purse and in their car when they travel! We always eat before Sunday evening church. God, grub, and guns… what a church!!!

I must brag some more about our church. 100% of the families have homeschooled or sent their children to private schools. They don’t want the government to steal money from you and me to train their children. You’ve got to admit, we found a really good church. They all agree with Max Belz who said, "I don’t want my children fed or clothed by the state, but I would prefer that to their being educated by the state."

I suggest that you begin learning who in your circle of friends does and does not understand the need to protect their loved ones. I suggest that if you attend any group regularly, such as a church, that you attend only groups that are gun friendly. Is the world getting less dangerous or more dangerous? You know the answer, right? What are you waiting for?

All this extends to the places of business that you frequent. Eat where they don’t restrict your freedom to carry with a sign on the front door. If I see a sign on the door that has a gun with a red slash through it, I don’t eat there. (Fortunately, many of those signs have pictures of revolvers on them; I work on the assumption that they allow me to carry my 1911 semi-automatic.)

Safety Quiz

The more I talk about my life, the more lefties such as the Australian consider me an evil fruitcake. You can tell more about a man’s character by his enemies than his friends.

Let me clarify you why you should be offending the same people that I do and why you should befriend the same kinds of people that I do. Take this quick safety quiz. There is only one right answer.

Two restaurants sit next to each other. Both compete for the same high-end clientele. Manny Mullet needs a fix and decides to rob one of them. Restaurant A has a NO GUNS sign on the door. Restaurant B does not have such a sign.

Which restaurant does Manny Mullet rob?

It’s Time to Stop Talking About Your Freedom and Do Something About It

Once you’re trained in proper firearm safety and usage, and once you arm yourself, you need to seek out like-minded folk who honor your freedoms as much as you do. You need to patronize only those businesses that allow you to defend yourself. You’ll find after a while that you naturally are drawn to like-minded people as yourself without knowing in advance that they respect the same freedoms you do.

You can read LewRockwell.com and Ayn Rand and Rothbard and von Mises, but there comes a time when you must act on your freedoms. If you don’t act, someone else might act on you and you won’t be ready to respond accordingly.