I took my 6-year-old son with me to church early this morning where I sometimes serve on our Incident Response Team. Like all little boys, he loves flashlights and knives and radios and all the tools he thinks “big dudes” get to use. So, it was a treat for both of us to have coffee together (milk for him) while I fitted my radio, got my ID lanyard, fitted my firearm, pocketed an extra magazine and checked proper concealment in the mirror. He checked the radio frequency and followed me as we made our loop around the building and greeted our friends for the morning. The church photographer by chance, caught us walking up the kids’ corridor, please ignore my emerging bald spot…

Church service was great and afterward, my son again wanted to hang around with Dad while I caught up with some friends and he waited very patiently, eventually rewarded with a couple cookies on our way out.

As we pulled out to head home, he asked “Daddy, why do you need a gun?” I think he was asking mostly about why I needed a gun at church but I simply asked back, “Why do you think I have a gun?” He wasn’t sure. He told me bad guys aren’t “really real” because Thanos is “fiction”. So, he’s not sure what we’re protecting against. The mention of movie characters steered the conversation away from firearms and self defense and we talked about all of the things as we drove home.

I’m thankful that my 6-year-old can’t come up with a reason that Dad has a gun. It’s not uncommon for him to see me wearing one, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to him, but he’s not been exposed to things in the world that would make such a tool necessary outside of hunting. I pray that all little boys and girls could spend their childhood unaware of the world’s dangers or violence but that’s not the case for too many of them.

It is important though, for me to be reminded why I carry, why I train, and why a part of me is always working to be aware, even vigilant.

  • One Chance – I may only get one chance to test my preparedness. As a father and husband, I’ve got to do what I can to be here for my family and that means being around for all of the life we have to live together.
  • Mindset – When you carry, your obligation to others increases exponentially to keep a cool head, to diffuse conflict and to stay out of trouble. That mindset goes on with the gun, the commitment to find every possible way not to unholster it.
  • Community – Physical training, self defense training and concealed carrying isn’t for everyone but it’s an easy, and fun, way I can contribute to hardening my small community against being targeted for trouble.

Shooting guns is a lot of fun but when I train and when I carry, I’m choosing to be a deterrence for a few things in the world that God willing, my son will never know.