As I mentioned over the weekend, my recipe for grilled chicken with a cordon bleu-like twist was in the latest Carnival of the Recipes. I saw the biggest one-day spike in reader traffic in as long as I can remember. Now, I am not as driven by stats as I used to be (a phase all Bloggers go through), but a little positive reinforcement is always a good feeling. So you can bet your assets I've already submitted my shrimp taco recipe. Heck, if I ever post ANYTHING that's remotely related to a Blog Carnival, I'm submitting it!
Well, today I got even more of the same kind of attention. Last weeks post on Britain's proposed knife ban, and the connection to gun control, made the latest Carnival of Cordite (if only with a cursory Reynoldsesque "heh"). This is not normally a topic I Blog on, but not because it doesn't concern me. In fact, I'm quite a staunch supporter or the Second Amendment. But prior to last week, I didn't feel I had anything useful to add to the conversation.
One of my readers, and a dear friend, suggests that my views will changew as The Lad gets older. She may be right, but as it stands now, I highly doubt that. In fact, if you read the comments to this old post, you'll see that it has been fatherhood that has changed me from being a supporter of the Second Amendment to considering actively exercizing my rights under it. As I told my friend Vulture Six on the phone this weekend, if it became necessary, I would end the miserable existence of anyone who tried to harm my child.
I suppose my friend's concern has to do with the possibility of a gun in the house itself being the danger posed to The Lad. To that, my response is to remind my readers about my main annoyance at the article about knives in Britain -- Personal Responsibilty.
For the record, I grew up in a household which contained firearms, and yet I am here today having never shot anyone or been shot by anyone as a result of a tragic accident. In fact, the only life I ever ended with any of those firearms was that of a harmful four-legged varmint damaging farm property. The secret? I was taught at an early age not to go anywhere near those guns without my father's supervision, and when I was old enough to handle them, I was taught HOW -- never point a gun at anything you don't intend to shoot, always treat every gun as if it is loaded, keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to fire, store guns and ammo separately... if you have guns, you'd damned well BETTER know what I'm talking about.
To be fair, I do intend to practice even more stringent safeguards in my household than my father did, including keeping the guns locked when not in use. I most certainly don't want my son to be put at risk as a result of MY negligence.
But by the same token, I am painfully aware of the numerous and growing thrats outside the home, and refuse to limit myself to the options available to me to protect him from them.
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