Is there evil in guns, weapons?

I was asked by someone a few weeks ago how they could feel safe in their home when the people living right next door to them owned guns. This person had just learned that their neighbor had purchased a firearm for home protection.

I was confused for during the first part of the conversation because I was assuming the neighbors must be some kind of troublemakers or doing something illegal if the person I was talking to was so upset about it. After talking to them a little longer, I realized the neighbors had just moved in and there was no apparent problem with them.

This person just did not like guns and did not want them around their neighborhood.

Our conversation, of course, turned to guns in general and the pros and cons of owning such a weapon. I told the person my view on guns and why I would have congratulated the neighbors in making the effort to obtain a firearm and to protect their family and property. The person I was talking to did not agree.

I am finding more and more people that believe owning a firearm is the cause of much of the crime and violence we have today. They associate a gun with violence, because after all, that is what you see and hear about most of the time.

School shootings with a gun, murder with a gun, suicide with a gun, robbery and assault with a gun. Just watch any new movie for 10 minutes and you will probably see some type of crime committed with a gun.

What you do not see every day on the news is the crime and violence that is stopped because of those same guns. It does not make as interesting of a movie, I guess. How many crimes never took place because of the presence of guns?

I mentioned last year a house I went to for a follow-up with someone and saw a sign on the door that read "this home is equipped with a 12 gage security system." My first thought as I knocked on the door was, "I hope I do not spook whoever lives here."

If I were the would-be burglar, I think I would move on to the next house. There is a popular saying that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." I have yet to find someone irate about the amount of cars being sold even though thousands of people die each year in vehicle accidents.

Sometimes the presence of something that can be used to cause such violence, as a firearm, is also the same tool that can stop the violence. I believe the people of this country should be ready and willing to protect their family, property and their freedoms. The Sheriff's Office will do everything in its power to protect those same rights, but the first line of defense for your home and your safety is you.

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."

-- George Washington