A forwarded email on the importance of gun ownership and our 2nd Amendment rights:

Why Grandpa carries a gun

PEOPLE ASK  WHY?

Why Carry a Gun?

My old grandpa said to me 'Son, there comes a time
in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and
starts bustin' caps and usually it's when
he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin.'

I don't carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I  don't carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I  don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil.
I carry a gun  because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry.
I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend
the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed,
and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
 
I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a  cowboy.
 
I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how
to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
 
I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

I don't carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

Police protection is an oxymoron.
Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime,
they usually just investigate the crime after it happens
and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die
and too old to take an ass whoopin'.....author unknown (but obviously brilliant)

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control.
From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1911, Turkey established gun control.
From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Germany  established gun control in 1938 and
from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were
unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.

China  established gun control in 1935.
From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Guatemala established gun control in 1964.
From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Uganda established gun control in 1970.
From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Cambodia established gun control in 1956.
From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated
in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.