Firearms are useful for so many different things. In my own life, I’ve done some recreational target shooting, shot in competitions, hunted, and trusted my gun to protect myself and others. Many people use them for even more than I have in my 52 years on this planet, which is amazing.
All lawful purposes for firearms are wonderful, though I do wish we didn’t need them for protection. Not because I think it’s an invalid reason to own them, I just wish we lived in a world where that was no longer necessary.
But the Second Amendment was never about the outdoor or competition stuff. The Founding Fathers were concerned about their new government becoming tyrannical. They created what checks they could, but they also knew that it would be implemented by men, and we humans are terribly flawed creatures at the best of times, and downright evil at others.
So, we protect ourselves.
Now, a lot of new gun buyers are picking up guns because they’re fearful about the world around them, and some people seem to think this is a bad thing.
The findings show how deep the concept of armed violence has infiltrated everyday American life. Gun ownership is no longer seen chiefly through the sights of sport or tradition. For 54.5% of respondents, firearms are now primarily for personal safety; just 30.5% still associate them with hunting or recreation. Only 9.25% cited tradition. Just 5.75% saw guns as a marker of community or cultural identity. Even in states with strong hunting traditions, such as Texas and Pennsylvania, the dominant reason for owning a gun is no longer leisure but protection.
The rise of the gun as a defensive tool reflects both cultural and economic divides. Women and city dwellers were the most likely to link guns to personal safety, as were households earning under $60,000 a year. These groups, the report notes, tend to feel more exposed to crime or unable to rely on public institutions for protection. In poorer neighbourhoods, guns are seen not as political statements but as necessities.
Anxiety has become a defining feature of public life.
The survey’s data suggest that mass shootings have created a climate of chronic fear, reinforced by near-constant media coverage. “Every public space now feels potentially dangerous,” said one respondent, reflecting a sentiment that has become national in scope. Events like the July 2025 drive-by shooting in Chicago’s River North neighbourhood, where four people were killed and 14 injured, intensify this sense of vulnerability.
However, let’s keep in mind that much of this anxiety is driven by the media, which reports on these kinds of incidents and hammers them into our heads at every opportunity, making them out like they’re incredibly common and that it’s just a matter of time before you’re impacted by one.
As for the rest, the truth of the matter is that “sport or tradition” might still be valid reasons to own a gun, but those reasons are typically vulnerable to anti-gunners who will attack certain categories of firearms based on the idea that they’re not useful for hunting. Not only are these attacks wrong in more cases than I care to count, but they’re also irrelevant.
The Second Amendment doesn’t mention hunting a single time. It doesn’t mention tradition, either.
None of that matters.
What matters is “the security of a free nation,” which also means the security of the people within that nation.
I hate that people are afraid. I wish they had no reason to be, but many do. Others are afraid because of what they see on the news and don’t want to be a victim, even if they’re unlikely to be due to where they live in town.
It doesn’t matter.
No one should be required to become a victim. If people don’t like that, they can learn to deal with disappointment.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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