Nina Gilfert | From the Porch Steps: State of the world
You would be very disappointed if you looked to me to understand what Is going on today right here in our good old USA, much less in the whole wide world.
Most of us are gratified to see that we know most of what is happening in our own households. Yesterday (Sunday) my daughter-in-law Linda hosted a happy little close family gathering for husband Tom. I had a difficult time following what we were celebrating. It was either Father's Day or Tom's birthday. It turned out to be a very nice picnic with her sons and their family including the family dogs.
Today it is very quiet with just Linda, myself and the one family dog at home here on our little mountainside residence. (Guess I should include the chickens in the chicken yard and the new little peeps, about seven of them peeping away in their cage in the garage.)
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Television does a very good job of insinuating the rest of the world into your domain, whether you even want it to do that. I am personally anxious about our open borders. Does the number of people slipping through our southern border illegally bother you when you see them pictured on television?
I am also anxious about the illegal drugs that are being brought in and the number of Americans affected by them. Yes, the world is very much with us. We may close our eyes and listen only to the friendly sounds of our family and the neighbors and feel safe, but are we really?
You would probably be shocked to know how many people that you meet around town are armed because they don't feel safe in our society today. Would you be shocked to learn that many churches have armed men acting as ushers to safeguard their parishioners?
If you think that most Americans are complacent today, ask them. Ask the ushers at your church, at the movie theater. Check out the police at the mall where you shop.
At the last school shooting there were armed men there but they were blissfully unaware of what was happening. Hopefully one of these days we will get it all together and have the necessary protection at the right place and time to protect the innocent.
By the way: Congress passed a historic gun safety bill. Only 1 Florida Republican voted for it
I remember trying not to laugh when a neighbor told me that she had shot herself in the foot when she unlocked her door while carrying a loaded gun in her purse. Yes, we need to think about protection, but we need to be informed about the safety concerns of carrying a loaded weapon.
Casually carrying a gun in your purse is dangerous. You need to consult an expert and have the proper holster, one that is safe and one that you can reach when an emergency happens.
We need to be informed about safety measures whether at home or when we are out and about.
Do you ever watch "Gunsmoke" or any other Old West programs on television? You may have seen some segments where a young man is practicing his fast draw. We understand that that was a different day and time when the law was much less around to safeguard the unarmed. Even women learned to use a shotgun to protect their home from home invaders or wild animals.
In today's more or less civilized society we don't often think about carrying a gun or keeping a gun for protection unless we are in an especially remote area where we only have ourselves on which to rely.
If you are considering the need for a weapon for your own safety, be sure and get some good advice from a knowledgeable source. Know how to carry it safely and be sure it is available if you ever do need to protect yourself.
The world of today is not your mother's world. Like my friend who shot herself in the foot, we need to learn to protect ourselves but with safety. We will talk more about that.
Nina Gilfert can be reached at ngporch@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Nina Gilfert column: Stay safe out there, people
