The other day, I saw a T-shirt that read:

Gun Control
Breathe, relax, aim, sight, squeeze.

Make no mistake: Big Mike (Mini Mike?) is coming for our guns.  He might just buy the White House or the Democratic Party and then start passing laws that ignore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Everything  has a price.

As the camel's head extends into the tent, you will hear the term "commonsense gun laws."  The implication is that if you don't agree with the people pushing these laws, you lack common sense.

There are some rules that are common sense.  Some version of these rules will come with any gun you buy.  Depending on their origin, there will be from three to ten rules.  If you follow them, you will have a much safer experience as a gun-owner.  The Marine Corps version has only four rules:

1.  Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.

2.  Never point the weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.

3.  Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you're ready to fire.

4.  Keep the weapon on safe until you intend to fire.

Recently, I had reason to review these rules before I taught a young boy the beginnings of learning to shoot.  His father was a Marine.  He never met his father.  Freedom has a price.

Here are some more rules or at the very least thoughtful suggestions.  When you carry, if at all possible, carry concealed.  Guns frighten people.  In particular they frighten Democrats.  It does not help our cause to frighten anybody.  If the bad guys can't see who is armed, he has to play some form of Russian Roulette when he picks a victim.  Many states require classroom and range training to qualify for a carry permit.  Most of these classes are excellent.  Take one even if you don't need it to carry legally.

So are we who choose to get a permit to carry dangerous?  Maybe to the bad guys, but the statistics point in the other direction.  Comparing the general public, police, and permit-holders, it goes something like this: the general public is 37 times more likely to be convicted of a crime than the police are.  And the police are about six times more likely to be convicted of a crime than the permit-holders.  These comparisons roughly hold true for DWI, assault, and narcotics crimes.  Turns out the safest place you can be is among a group of permit-holders.

So let's talk about good gun control.  Mike plows a ton of money into politics in Virginia and manages to get a Democrat governor and both chambers of the Legislature.  Nothing to stop them now — they pile on the gun control laws.  Some 20,000 to 22,000 protesters rally at the capital.  Of these, perhaps 6,000 were not armed.  A goodly number of protesters were armed, many with weapons visible and openly carried.  Thousands of armed people staged a rally to protect their Second Amendment rights.  There were no shots fired.  None fired on purpose.  None fired by accident.  The protesters were cordial to the police, and at the end of the day, they picked up their litter and went home.  That would come under the First Amendment, the right to assemble peacefully.  Now, that's gun control.

Robert Heinlein was right when he said, "An armed society is a polite society."  If you don't believe him, go to the handgun ammunition counter at your local sports store and listen to the people there.  It seems to me there are no more courteous people on the planet.

So Big Mike (or Mini Mike) doesn't think you can decide for yourself what size soft drink you should have, and he doesn't think you can decide whether you should arm yourself for your own protection.  His idea is to control your access to guns.  He can have round-the-clock armed security, but not you.  

Don't sell your rights.