Mark Gillespie
F**k the Law: Illegal Concealed Carry
I will admit openly that I carry weapons, both openly and concealed. I will also admit to having done this most of my life. Even as a child, I carried knives, sticks and even homemade nunchaku to defend myself. I grew up in a housing project in Kansas City , and while violence wasn't necessarily more prevalent there, it happened often enough to warrant protecting myself.
More recently, I acquired my first firearm. As a new weapon owner, I didn't even think twice about carrying it on my person. It was a matter-of-fact thing to me. I have never and will never ask anyone's permission to do what is perfectly natural for me to do. However, most Libertarians and ignorant anarchists cheer when the state passes a concealed-carry law. 'A boost for freedom-lovers everywhere,' 'The state finally respecting the Second Amendment,' et cetera, is what I am hearing on a daily basis. Silly fools . . . .
In the last year, my home state of Missouri has become one of a group of states that has passed a concealed-carry law. On October 11, this law came into effect. Now, never mind the fact that there is no way to acquire a concealed-carry permit, and never mind that in the larger cities, people are already banding together (in violation of the law) to prevent you carrying anywhere other than inside your house. Let's look at the idea of a concealed-carry law. The principal idea behind the concealed-carry law is that the State can determine what level of protection you are entitled to. After all, don't they have their different security apparatuses like the police and the various alphabet soup agencies? Why does a 'citizen' need to avail themselves of personal protection, is the question foremost on their minds. The idea of someone taking their protection in their own two hands either is anathema to them or something that they cannot comprehend. They also don't realize that there could possibly be a deeper agenda to the whole gun control idea. So, they sheepishly continue to follow the gun control nuts to their doom, while criminals get bolder and bolder.
The fact is that, as an anarch, I don't feel that any other individual or their chosen tool, the State, has the right to tell me how much protection and what form of it I may have. Sure, I could see everyone's nervousness if I was nuclear armed, but a pistol? So, I say, f**k the law! Until the state can guarantee with 100 percent certainty that they can protect me from all harmful individuals (and they never will), I will carry, regardless of their 'law.' It has always been possible to have your weapon stolen (confiscated) and your ass locked up. However, you may find, like I did, that the police might be more on your side than you think. I have never been arrested or had my weapon confiscated. I attribute this to more luck than anything else, but it does prove a point. If the person on the frontlines of fighting crime feels safer with you carrying a weapon, then what the hell does your couch potato, 2.2 children-having, statist neighbors have to say about it?