Why I keep guns in my home.

[spin]

214. If I had an reliable app for this iPad that would remind me that today was a day ...

where I would need to carry a firearm while in public I might leave my weapon behind on the other days. Unfortunately none exists.

In my 67 years of existence on this planet I have learned a few lessons. One is that life comes at you very fast and often you have no reason to ever expect what lit will throw at you. While you can never be prepared for everything there is some wisdom in being ready for the unexpected.

I lived in a very violent neighborhood in Tampa for many years. I've watched cops chasing suspects on foot with drawn firearms several times in walking distance of my Tampa home and even right in front of my house.

I broke up a daytime robbery of my neighbor's house and chased four much younger men off. I'm not bragging about the incident as while I was successful I could have been shot. One thief had my neighbor's Colt .45 ACP pistol and tried to load it by racking the slide when he seen me coming. Fortunately he wasn't experienced with the weapon and had a misfeed. I should note that while I had firearms available I wisely left them behind in my home during the incident.

I have a concealed weapons permit but I carry because I didn't take the time and spend the money for this license to show it off to impress others. A carry permit in Florida is hardly unusual. Over 800,000 Florida residents have one.

You might argue that I should only carry when I go into a dangerous area but when I first got mine I did live in such a place. Several clerks in various establishments within a mile of my home were shot dead during store robberies. A young woman was raped and killed in a hurricane canal behind my house.

There was a drive by shooting two houses from mine but the shooters merely hit a tree and the porch. A year later the police arrested an occupant of that home, who was a gang leader, for the murder of his girl friend. He placed a .38 caliber snub nosed revolver to her head and ended her life. There were witnesses to the incident but they were so afraid of the gang leader that they refused to testify on what actually happened. He claimed the incident was an accident. Convicted of manslaughter he spent a couple of years in jail.

Fortunately I have never had to use any of my firearms for self defense. However my daughter found an intruder breaking in our Tampa home when she walked into the living room to reset the burglar alarm which was sounding. The man was halfway through the slidinf glass door when she drew down on him with one of my large caliber revolvers. He ran.

Some would say that I should have moved to a much safer neighborhood. Maybe I am stubborn or perhaps stupid but I don't let fear rule my life. During the time period when my neighborhood degraded I was closing into the point where the mortgage was paid off. A new home in a much better area would have required far more money than my house was worth. I planned to leave Tampa after I retired so I made the decision to stay in my home until that happened.

Now I live in a much smaller rural town in north Florida. The crime rate is fairly low but still exists. I can walk two blocks from my home and buy any illegal drug that I want on the street but I have no interest in doing so.

A couple of years ago I was out walking a Boston Terrier when a much younger fellow with a limp approached me and asked if I had any money. I felt he was sizing me up so I merely looked him in the eyes, laughed and told him. "I'm just walking this dog. I don't have my wallet on me so you are shit out of luck." Of course I was carrying a .38 snub nosed revolver. The incident ended peacefully.

Since we had a local cop rooming with us I described the individual to him. He replied, "Oh, that guy. We arrest him every time he gets out of jail and put him back in for a couple of years. He'll steal anything of value that your leave outside and has mugged people to get the money to get high." As far as that limp you would not believe how fast he can run when we chase him."

I really do not believe that I will ever have to use my weapon in legitimate self defense and pray that I don't. However having a carry permit and not carrying might tempt the gods above to teach a person a valuable lesson.