Be polite. Be professional. But... have a plan to kill
everyone you meet.

Bring all of your friends who have guns.

Be courteous to everyone. Friendly to no one.


What in the world is all this?

Granted that there are times when there is no substitute for a gun. However,
who would fill their mind with "plans to kill everyone they meet" or even
with discussion same?

Observations:

I am fifty years old. In that interval, 1) 30 yrs. ago I saw one person who
had just been shot (they later died and it was murder over some gal), and 2)
20 yrs. ago I drove one druggie off with a gun from my place of business
after hours in a rather rough neighborhood after dark. In the first
incident, the victim knew the perpetrator, knew they were dangerous and knew
there was a motive for what they did - in short, they had a cause to carry a
gun, and it might have saved them. In the second case, I knew I was working
in a rough neighborhood after dark and kept a gun in my desk for that
reason - i.e., I also had a specific cause to know I might need it.

However, I live in a town of 30,000 people, wherein there have been 3
recorded murders in 100 years - and we don't even know for sure that 2 of
them were murdered here - in those cases, two men killed their wives who
both expressed fear of them, and one disturbed transient fellow killed his
transient buddy.

The fact is that - spectacular news reports aside - murder is not a crime
that is evenly distributed over the countryside. If you are not found in
bars after midnight, if you are not habiltually drunk and do not associate
with persons who are habitually drunk and have an actually adjudicated
criminal and mental-treatment history, and don't frequent very rough
neighborhoods where murder is statistically the most common, your chances in
one lifetime of being shot or in the presence of someone who is shot are
essentially nil.

I collect guns, like guns, and have an interest in gunsmithing issues as one
of the more elegant machine tool endeavors. I support the 2d Amendment and
RKBA. I also think that if there is a known threat in your life, carrying a
gun may be a reasonable choice for the duration of that threat. However,
there is not a reasonable case to be made that, in most times and places,
one is sufficiently likely to need a gun that they should make the effort to
carry one on them unless they have specific cause to do so.

It's certainly not reasonable to "be courteous to everyone, friendly to no
one," or to "have a plan to kill everyone you meet." This is simply and
profoundly emotionally disturbed.

I'll leave you all with one final story:

An acquaintance owns 60 acres, through which an easement passed in favor of
the adjoining landowner. The adjoining landowner was one of those fellows
who might subscribe to the Rules for Gunfighting cited above. He was always
well-dressed and well-spoken, and he always carried a .357. I had spoken
on friendly terms often with him, but he was clearly one of those fellows
who "had a plan for killing everyone he met."

This fellow developed a running conflict with his other neighbor over
essentially nothing. One day he went to the other fellow's house and began
to make some sort of dispute while the other fellow was working in the yard
with a rake. In the ensuing altercation our fellow went for the gun in his
jacket and the other fellow whopped him with the rake and grabbed him around
the neck. The other fellow strangled him to death as he fired repeatedly
trying to hit the guy.

When I heard what had happened, I was not at all surprised. I considered
this both an entirely predictable outcome and the best outcome under the
circumstances. This fellow lived a life that flirted with someone's violent
death, he created a situation wherein it was not reasonable for him to use a
gun, and his intended victim killed him precisely because of his attempt to
use that gun. Good day to him.