This I Believe - Personal Experience Essay

Jeff lener

Professor Rome

Freshmen Seminar

October 8, 2018

This I Believe

        Firearms are tools that have been around for hundreds of years used for hunting, militarization, self-defense, and sports. I grew up with firearms and became very familiar with them and how to use them. The first rule when ever handling a firearm in my household was safety. At a very young age I understood the severity of firearms but also the benefits and that was the goal of my parents. When I was a little older I noticed on news networks and through some people’s personal opinions that people perceived firearms as scary weapons of war and they believed that the less of them in civilians hands the better for everyone, but I completely disagreed. I believe that the more firearms in homes the safer people will be. If guns are abolished or very restricted, the good people will be hurting because their rights to protect themselves and their families will be limited. If a criminal knows a home is unarmed they are more likely to break in to that home versus a home that is filled with guns. Many people dislike guns because of the lethality they have upon use against another person however alternative methods such as pepper spray or a taser is not always a guarantee to protect yourself or family. When my dad sees people push for heavier gun legislation he always tells me that no one will ever tell him how he can protect his own family and that is also a strong belief I carry with me now.

        According to fbi.gov, nationwide in 2016 there were an estimated 367,832 robberies. According to Gary Kleck, Ph.D, a professor in the school of criminology and criminal justice at Florida state university in Tallahassee and author of “Point Blank: Guns and violence in America” conducted a survey by telephone sampling of 4,798 households in all the states except Alaska and Hawaii. Results indicating that American civilians use their firearms as often as 2.5 million times a year defending against a confrontation with a criminal, and that handguns alone account for 1.9 million defenses per year.

        My family and I had a personal experience with a home invasion once. I was 14 at the time home from school staying up a little late doing homework and for some reason I felt uneasy because I thought I saw someone walking in my backyard. Sure enough I did, as soon as I heard a door creak open with footsteps I ran upstairs to let my parents know. My dad grabbed the AR and he walked downstairs and encountered the intruder. When the intruder saw my dad aiming right at his chest he dropped everything in his hands and stayed on the ground while my mom called the police. Fortunately for us this man was unarmed and did not have the intention to harm as far as we know but it could have been worse. I am just glad my family was prepared and I believe everyone else should too.