Fighting the good fight

Before I get into the meat of the post, it's no secret that I'm an AR-15 fangirl, and have been since the first time I shot one in 2009.

I don't know what made it so different from anything else I fired up until that point, but I was in love. I never had a moment where I thought of anything other than "shit, this is cool" or "I'd love to get one, but living in Massachusetts, I'll never be able to." It was such an awesome feeling to set up a target a considerable distance away and have spot on accuracy my first time handling one. And, I'll be honest, I just felt like a badass with it.

Now that I've been gone from MA for years, we have several in various stages of built lying around the house. LaWanda is my Bushmaster, and I think the best example for the rest of my post. I'll come back to her.

My friend Weerd Beard has a blog that I religiously check to see how the good fight is going in the northern states. He's also hysterical, and someone I've known since 2007-ish. I mean, come on... He let me Edward 40-hands myself at his Fourth of July party one year, then stand on his back porch yelling obscenities at the town parade in broad daylight. You know a man is a good friend when he allows you to do that. Plus, he always encouraged me to go shooting and get my LTC. That has made him a better friend.

Anyhow. On Weerd's blog, I saw this post that he referenced:

Al Franken..The latest loonbat Politician from Minnesota..
Al Franken used his time in front of the camera to say he had never heard of a single circumstance where a civilian had ever used an AR-15 for self-defense.This led me to an idea and I need your help. If Sen. Al Franken can’t find any examples maybe we could and in the process make sure Franken can NEVER again make such an absurd claim.Print out an example article or write a statement and send it U.S. Mail. A stamped letter will do, but to really make it impactful, spend an extra dollar or two and require a signature or delivery confirmation. You can send it to his state or Washington D.C. address below.
Al Franken
P.O. Box 583144
Minneapolis, MN 55458-3144
Al Franken
309 Hart
Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

What a great idea! Senator Franken doesn’t think ARs and other modern rifles are used for self defense. We know otherwise. Print up the articles or clip them from your news paper, and mail them to Senator Franken’s offices. Add in the signature confirmation and when you get the confirmation back post it and the story on a blog.

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So, I thought it would be a good idea to pitch in. There are a few examples of people using an AR-15 for personal defense in recent news, one of my favorites being the two RIT students who scared off armed burglars that broke into their house with an UNLOADED AR-15. Hell, I'd run too if one were pointed at me. So that would be my contribution, and I'd urge anyone spying to send an example along as well.

But it got me thinking about my own home.

As much as I love this rifle and would use it for personal defense, it would not likely be the first gun I grabbed. Selfishly, I wouldn't want LaWanda to end up as police evidence and never come back to me. One of the Glocks? Fine. I'm not happy, but fine. Slightly less important, she's got a 20 inch barrel, which means she's a little on the chunky side. My T-Rex arms would have a hard time carrying her around. When I think personal defense, I think of close quarters. I know how steamy she gets after two thirty round mags, so there's always the chance that if someone grabs her they'd burn their hands... But not after only a few rounds. So I'd likely use one of Joe Biden's female defense weapons of peeing my pants then grabbing a shotgun or pistol. Why? destructive power. No warning shots, though. I'd prefer to cut them off at a choke point in my home.

Now, anything where I'd need to stop someone on my lawn, the AR-15 would be my go-to because I'm good at distance with it. I'd risk turning her into evidence to protect the house.

So, given that information, I guess I would be a person that hopefully never has to use her AR-15 for personal defense.

It seems there are more of us than Al Franken realizes.