17Sept06

At this year's NTI, friend and colleague, Tom Givens, laid bare an u nsavory fact, something I've tried, but failed thus far, to express clearly. He confronted us all: "When asked why you routinely bear arms, albeit c oncealed, what is your answer?" Do you shrewdly couch your response in ostens ibly inoffensive phrases like, 'personal security,' =80=98self -protection,' or 'accessing the full spectrum of the force continuum?'" He continued, "I believe it's time we audaciously call a spade a spade! When asked that same question, my unmistakable and unapologetic responses is e'er, 'I carry a gun so I can shoot people!'"

Under some circumstances, some people need to be shot, dead, on the spot! Indeed, there are times when shooting people, while always regrettable, is still acutely necessary in order to prevent the innocent from being hurt. That' s what guns are for, and we carry them constantly, because we cannot know when the pivotal moment will be upon us. I don't keep a fire extinguisher in my home, because I harbor some secret, pestilent desire to put out fires! On the contrary, it is my sincerest wish that I never see a fire. Still, most

regard keeping a fire extinguisher handy to be a reasonable precaution. Similarly, we look upon concealed guns as an item of emergency, safety equi pment. Always ready, yet, as decent people, we wish never to be compelled by circumstance to use them for their intended purpose. We take no pleasure i n doing harm, but we have fearlessly confronted the incontrovertible fact that it m ay well be necessary in order to abrogate an even greater harm.

Tom is right! We need to stop continually driving into our enemy's strong suite, by pseudo-apologizing for refusing to be the perpetual victims that politicians and the media, at every level, so desperately want us to be. W e need to speak clearly, without apology. While I don't believe one should u se language in an effort to be deliberately offensive, we have to stop letting the enemy set "language rules," arbitrarily declaring this or th at word or phrase "offensive," and thus placing it off limits in polite conversation. In this way, they cleverly see to it that clear and uncluttered language is replaced with meaningless weasel-words and pretentious diction specifically

designed to avoid engendering accurate, stark mental images. It is all con trived to make lies sound truthful, misdeeds sound respectable, and lend an appearance of substance to pure wind. Thus, the naive among us sit back, u naware, as a flood of bulky words falls upon pointy facts like soft snow, blurring outlines and covering inconvenient details.

Weasel-words are the domain of frauds and charlatans. As righteous warriors, we need to say what we mean, and mean what we say!

/John