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Red Flag Laws and my Rights (and Responsibilities?)

Recently we have seen a lot of news about Red Flag Laws. News such as: they are unconstitutional, they are a gateway to registration and confiscation, they violate the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th amendments, and lots more.

Some of what we see, hear, and read is truth, but there’s a lot of rhetoric on both sides of this issue. I’ve reposted some news articles and blogs related to the subject and have seen a pretty big spike in traffic on our Facebook page with several comments, some private messages, texts, emails, and some phone calls discussing this topic.
I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit that Red Flag laws bother me in a foundational way. When we see the potential loss of our rights and personal property without due process, I have trouble seeing the differences between the USA and most other countries in the world who have fascist/communist/socialist governments that control most aspects of the citizen’s (subject’s?) daily life.

That being said, there are some things we can do besides wail, grind our teeth, shout down the “other side”, and hate on “them”. Do I believe that dangerous mentally incompetent people should have access to firearms? Nope, and I would be surprised if any responsible gun owner would disagree with me on that.

So… What does this mean for us?

Maybe we should first of all realize there are different positions on gun rights issues and not all of them are nefariously based and do not have the public’s best interest at heart, but some of those positions are derived from ignorance. Let’s start there.

The cure for ignorance is education. The month of August has been designated by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (nssf.org) as “Shooting Sports Month” and they are promoting the “+ One Pledge”. The pledge simply asks every target shooter to take someone new to the range with them. This is the beginning of education for a lot of people who are not gun owners.

Maybe we need to get off of our soapbox and spend some time educating. I’ve taught a lot of people how to shoot both recreationally and defensively. Some were brand new to the gun and weren’t interested to hear about 2A rights and all the potential diatribe that goes with it. They were simply interested in learning to shoot. That’s what I taught them.

Another thing that comes to mind is a phrase promoted by Rob Pincus (intuitiveshooting.com - which is a defensive shooting methodology we teach and endorse, personaldefensenetwork.com, a board member of Save the Second savethe2a.org, and icetraining.info). Rob actually created a T-Shirt with the words “Rights And Responsibilities” on the back. I have and wear this shirt because of what it has on it (nope I don’t get compensated if you buy one here).
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It promotes medical training, storage and security of firearms from unauthorized individuals, practice and training, and knowledge through continued education.

How many of us shouting about Red Flag laws have never been to a medical class?

How many of us clamoring about our Constitutional Carry rights have never been to a class on carry law dealing with use of force, deadly force, etc?

How many of us demanding to be heard about the evils of gun confiscation leave our guns available for children or other unauthorized individuals to have access to them?

How many of us carrying every day have never been to a legitimate defensive shooting course to learn how to use our firearm to protect what we love in a defensive encounter?

We unload our pockets at the end of the day to show all the things we carry “just in case”, but we’ve never been to a class, course, or workshop anywhere to learn how to use them.

Why not? Yes, I just went there.

With rights, come responsibilities. Our constitution is a two edged sword. We have these rights, but we need to be worthy of them and that takes an investment on our part to DO something besides shout about them.

Look, I get it. Everyone is busy. Life can be a struggle. We all have work to do, families to feed, children to raise, and more. BUT before you spend another minute beating your fist against a podium (literal or digital), consider these five things and what you are doing about them:

Medical
Security
Practice
Knowledge

and Teaching/Educating somebody else about these things.

The best way we can protect our rights is to be responsible with them and that is something you can do every day. Want to be an activist? Be an activist for responsible gun ownership, because being an activist for gun ownership just isn't enough.

Walk away from the noise for awhile and make a difference with your vote. Make a difference with your family, friends and coworkers. Make a difference with somebody who perhaps has a different viewpoint than you do. Proselytize, don’t demonize.

Come train with us: https://www.gettrainedbeready.com/calendar/

Rob Jennings is one of our instructors. Find out more about him on our instructors page.
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