Literally, as the title says. I got up Sunday afternoon and came up from the basement to find mom and my grandmother arguing. Turns out, someone had broken into my mom's Sedona and my uncle's Kia Soul, strewn everything everywhere in a hurry, and stolen a bag of tools and some CDs out of the vehicles. Lucky for us, the tools were dollar store fare and the CDs were from thrift shops, but the lady next door lost $60 in change she'd left in her car, and a man on the other side of her had a gun stolen. The cops were by their houses not long after and got some good fingerprints, but my mom won't report the theft, and I'm not sure why. After all, if they have prints, it's one more theft charge, is it not?

So, besides me being pretty irate with mom for not wanting to report the theft (stupid, IMO), I'm also worried about my family. Someone had apparently also unlocked the screen door and was fiddling with the wood door to my room down in the basement, and my girlfriend said she heard some tapping in the wee hours of the morning when we stayed over this weekend, like someone was testing the door to see if they could kick it in. With the guy next door having a gun stolen, I'm worried these idiots who have been doing serial breakins will get cocky and try armed robbery. And you know what they say: "Locks are for honest people, and so are gun regulations".

I wish Mom would stop laying down and taking this crap from the wannabe gangsters and get herself a gun already, speaking of. People at my school are chiming, "You live there and don't have a gun?" Yeah, I guess I never saw the need for one until now. Granted, my view has always been to arm the general public, not the would-be criminals who would take advantage of an unarmed public; I'd hate to live somewhere like London, where the average street cop is declawed and the armed ones take crucial minutes to arrive. Here, that's minutes where a criminal could have already shot and killed your entire family before you managed to dial the police, not to mention before they actually arrived. My mom is lucky that she managed to fend off her murderous ex-husband (before my dad) and keep him from his gun cabinet long enough for local police to show up, and that's with my then teenaged sister dialing them as the guy beat her face in on that fateful night in the 80's. She'd be one less facial reconstruction and restraining order if she had a gun. It's good to be armed.

Think about it. In the Paleo/Neolithic ages, we had rocks and stone tools. Bronze Age? We had spears and swords, and maybe some bows mixed in there somewhere. In the A.D. years up 'til the mass adoption of guns, it was predominantly knives and daggers involved in robberies, muggings, and plain old murder. Did anyone ever suggest then that the public shouldn't be able to bring these same tools against their assailants, unless it was a party heavily invested in keeping its potential enemies crushed under foot? No, but the powers that were sure kept pioneering better and better weapons. Shouldn't that say something to us? If those in power are armed to protect their interest, yet they seem interested in keeping us unarmed, I think that sends a clear message. Anyway, that's besides my point for the moment. It is my firm belief that disarming the public serves two purposes: arming the criminals, and arming those that would rule over them, for good or ill.

I wouldn't be worried about my family right now if every one of them had their own glock, or .38 special, or .44 magnum. Sure, you say, "Well, they might shoot someone! What if it goes off accidentally? What if children get a hold of one of your guns?" But I say, even with your gun control, what if someone smuggles in a gun from another country? Remember what happened with alcohol during prohibition days? How many people died for that watered down booze -- and what about moonshiners today? What about the war on drugs we have making the cartels fat and happy off of illegitimate funds and lives cut short -- drug debts? What if someone uses one of those illegal guns to shoot my family, full-knowing they have no means to protect themselves without having to go unlock a cabinet on the other side of the house -- and trying not to get shot in the back of the head in the process -- or worse, bringing a knife to a gunfight?

I have the feeling those pushing gun control have no idea what it's like to be confronted with actual armed criminals in daily life. Yeah, I've been shot at before. I've had a gun held to my head. I've even shot a few rounds myself. Nothing is more sobering than a cold metallic barrel to the temple, but I'd rather be able to have a gun of my own than kid myself and think that some regulations are going to stop a determined no-gooder from getting their own. I'd rather at least have a chance of beating them to the trigger, you know? I want my family to at least have that same chance.