To me, it’s easy if you look at problems clearly. The trouble is, for most people, 99.9999999% of all people, it’s hard for them to see the issues clearly because there is so much scary stuff that it distorts everything. But when it’s asked, which has come my way lately, where is our country and how can you be so calm as the world is burning around us, my reply is that our country is right here. It’s not as bad as they want you to think it is. The problems are solvable. Yet to see those solutions takes a level of fearlessness that I’d like to see everyone have. Because that’s the only way to truly solve a lot of the problems we need to be unraveling is with a traditional American attitude of fearlessness. The kind of fearlessness that founded the country in the first place. We have all become so coddled, spoiled by the richness of the past, but now that it’s our turn to be bold and fearless, we have fallen short. So much so that the kind of fearlessness that I’m talking about seems crazy and unachievable. But there was a time in America where such boldness was typical and even expected. I am a product of that kind of America; I have always strived to achieve it. Maybe it’s because I had two really good sets of grandparents from that age where being scared of every little thing was looked down upon in society. Then in my life, I took that fearless pursuit to extremes, and I have lived to talk about it. Whatever it is, I do dedicate a significant portion of my life to helping people achieve it, especially influence leaders. Ultimately if we want to solve some of these problems, we must approach them without fear to focus our attention on solutions, as I talk about in the video above.
I would offer to save a lot of time and blood, not fighting every evil creature in some noble blood sport. Instead, I would recommend getting your CCW and start carrying a gun around with you everywhere. It will make you feel a lot better about things. Carrying a gun is the best way to protect the Constitution and to stand with law and order. I don’t say such a thing to encourage you to shoot your way out of a parking lot trying to get groceries for your family. When I put my gun on every day and take it off at night, I never think of shooting another person. It is just good to know that it’s there for those just in case moments. It helps take away the fear of the unknown and allows your mind to think about solving problems because you have the luxury of surviving every day and gaining the ability to think and solve problems. As simple as that might sound, it’s rare to have people not in a panic over every little trouble. The recent Covid scare from our government could encourage us to panic into giving away our freedoms. Or it could be that our best friend is refusing to invite someone to a shared dinner party because there is a disagreement over the color of paint on a new car. Fear is usually the driver of chaos, and when other people want to control you, they use some fear to inspire your decision-making process. So, when I talk about being fearless, I mean to remove those emotions from your mind so that you can think your way out of the troubles of the day.
The foundation argument of gun control, for instance, is that we don’t need Constitutional limits on the powers of government and that we can trust a centralized authority to keep us safe and secure. Well, the argument went on like that for years until we saw the unequivocal truth in 2020 up to the present. People are scared because it’s grossly apparent that we can’t trust our government with much of anything. The government needs to be kept on its toes, and an armed public is a great way to do that. It lets them know that their powers are granted, not taken, and to remain honest, they need that threat present. Hopefully, nobody ever must use force against their government to maintain their safety in the world, but the government requires that pressure to act following the rules of our nation; otherwise, they drift into the kind of chaos they are in now. The simple solution to the problem is to remind them they are not in charge but only represent us on our behalf. And we will take that power away from them if they show they can’t handle the responsibility. The fear we have now is that we can see we must do something about these problems in the world, so now we wonder if we dare to do it. In defense of itself, the government is throwing trouble at us, hoping to derail our sense of justice, and it’s been working. Yet, in essence, it’s straightforward. They need to be reminded who is in charge, and it’s not them. And without guns or a gun culture, they have nothing to fear from the people of our republic, so they misbehave.
I used to go around willing to fight hand to hand with anybody, and there are many stories to tell over time. But once I made more money and could afford them, I just started carrying guns with me everywhere. Who wants to get all bloody in a fight when you can defend yourself with a gun? Once I started carrying around a gun everywhere, and big guns at that, I found my mind to be much calmer about things than it used to be. You no longer had to waste time thinking about fighting other people; you could shoot an attacker and get on with your life. Now the government people would say that we should not have a society where fighting is necessary. They suggest in liberal circles that we can manage conflict out of our lives. But these are the same people who will fight a dog groomer over the haircut of their little white poodles and make a big deal about it and getting so mad that they refuse to give the dog groomer a second chance. Or they get angry at the attractive woman at a dinner party that their husband looks at a little too long. So, they seek to ruin her socially, economically, and in any other way, they can get to her. When they suggest some utopia where humans won’t engage in conflict, they have never seriously moved to solve the source of conflict. And I would propose they never will.
The true answer to dealing with people and conflict is not to allow fear to enter the relationship by making it so that they cannot move against you because you are carrying a gun. Just knowing that will often resolve a lot of conflicts before it ever gets started. And in the case of taking back our government, it is the first step in defending our Constitution, which is meant to limit government power. Not to give it more. The gun and you carrying it is a proclamation that you are in charge and that the government works for you. Not the other way around. Once you start with that angle, you will find that things in the world get much more straightforward.
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 