Grace McKee over at Packing Pretty had a great piece a while back that we really enjoyed, but did not have space in GunNews to reprint it.
We bring it to you here. Enjoy. It’s well worth the read.
…Carrying a firearm is a sacrifice, a continual sacrifice.
We sacrifice money (and a lot of it): to arm ourselves with not only reliable side arms, but the many accessories that are needed to go with them. We pay for training in order to be able to use the sidearm effectively. There is the never-ending cycle of ammunition purchases that eat away at our wallets. And don’t forget all the range fees, protective gear, and targets. All in all, it’s easy to spend thousands of dollars annually on carrying a firearm.
We sacrifice time: The time we spend cleaning our guns, practicing, training, driving, researching, etc. can equal several hours. Heck, it takes me an hour and a half just to get to my range. I spend three hours on the road every time I go shoot.
We sacrifice ease and comfort: No matter how comfortable your holster is, not carrying a gun will always be more physically comfortable then carrying one. It’s a hassle, and a pain the butt. But we do it.
We make a mental sacrifice: By carrying a firearm, we have decided that we will live with the consequences of using that firearm to defend. That alone is huge. We trade our youthful naivety for the necessary knowledge and wisdom it takes to carry day in and day out. Part of that mental sacrifice is having to know and understand the law to an extent that many people don’t have worry about.
We make a physical sacrifice: Because we carry, we are held to a higher standard. We sacrifice pleasures such as alcohol consumption while carrying to keep to that higher standard. We sacrifice the freedom of going anywhere we want and doing whatever we please.
Why do we make all these sacrifices? We make these sacrifices out of LOVE. And that is the reason we carry. Not because a cop is too heavy, but because we have fierce love in our hearts for ourselves, our families and our neighbors…