Our culture focuses a huge amount of time on the idea of rights and making sure that we have them. And make no mistake, this is important. Our rights are vital to both have and keep.
Having said that, our culture also focuses too little time on responsibilities. I’m not talking about when other people (typically those on the political left) try to obligate you to do something even when it isn’t your problem and isn’t really your responsibility.
No, I’m talking about the responsibilities that go along with our rights (all rights have responsibilities). For example, you have the right to say what you want in a public space (First Amendment), but you also would face the consequences of someone getting injured due to being trampled if you, as a prank, yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater. Your free speech in this scenario caused people to get hurt, and you would be responsible for that injury because of your harmful deception.
Similarly, you have the right to own and carry a firearm (Second Amendment). You also have the responsibility to avoid using the firearm against another person if at all possible (think of it as having a responsibility to avoid an unnecessary death).
One of the smartest things to keep in mind while carrying comes from self-protection expert Tim Larkin who has what he calls his “Three-Day Rule.” That rule says something along the line of “Would you have committed that act of violence if you’re sitting in a jail cell three days later due to the actions that you took?” The idea is that you would say yes if you were protecting yourself or someone else from grievous injury or death, but you would say no if it was just an argument based on hurt pride or ego that escalated.
And we have an example of a situation today that is a perfect example of when Larkin’s Three-Day Rule should have been used but wasn’t (hat tip to here for the lead). Luke McCoy writes,
A dispute over a parking space in Reading took a violent turn Wednesday night, leaving one man with a stab wound and another with gunshot wounds to the legs.
A stabbing and a shooting over a dispute over a parking spot? Yes, really.
Does anyone really think that either the shooting or stabbing were justified over a parking spot? No, no one really thinks that. I’d bet money that both of these people would have rathered that they had walked (or driven) away and parked somewhere else instead of getting injured and getting police involved.
This is just an insane situation to me. If you carry everyday, you should be the one staying calm and nice and being willing to walk away instead of getting your hackles up over something that isn’t worth fighting about.
Because you have the right to carry your firearm (and you should), and you also have the responsibility to use it against others only in the most dire circumstances when you are devoid of choice to save a life or prevent serious bodily harm.
And one of the best ways to avoid not having to unnecessarily use your firearm is to always be the nice guy (or girl). Take the ego hit and live to tell the tale another day.
