Let us say, just for the purposes of this discussion, you’ve come to recognize you really are on your own. Even if you live in a red state where crime isn’t exploding, but is humming along at its normal, bit-by-bit destructive pace, you understand even if you’re not directly a victim, it’s costing you. Your insurance rates are skyrocketing, everything is more costly, and crime always plays a part in that. Above all, you realize you, or someone you love, might get hurt or seriously dead. In my not-at-all-sleepy Wyoming town, not long ago, there were two kidnapping attempts at a local store, thwarted by smart female victims.

Graphic: cover shot

The police can’t protect you. There are so very few of them, and even if you’re able to call 911, it’s going to take much longer than you’ll have for officers to arrive, even longer for them to orient, decide and act. Better yet, the police have no obligation to protect anyone, and can’t be successfully sued for failing to protect anyone. Sound crazy? If they could be sued for failing to protect people they had no idea needed protection, who would become a police officer? What city could afford a police force?

One could simply never go out in public, but then there are home invasions and burglaries, so that’s no solution. Besides, why should any American surrender their freedoms of movement and association to the depredations of criminals, particularly when the American Left is encouraging and aiding them?

On January 5, 1967, Ronald Reagan has this to say at his inauguration as California’s governor: 

Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.  And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

If we want liberty, we have to be willing to fight for it, even if that means fighting criminals one-to-one because our self-imagined elite hate us as much as they love and enable criminals.

In 1993, Jeffrey R. Snyder wrote A Nation of Cowards, a brilliant essay with which every American must be intimately acquainted.  An excerpt:

Crime is not only a complete disavowal of the social contract, but also a commandeering of the victim's person and liberty. If the individual's dignity lies in the fact that he is a moral agent engaging in actions of his own will, in free exchange with others, then crime always violates the victim's dignity. It is, in fact, an act of enslavement. Your wallet, your purse, or your car may not be worth your life, but your dignity is; and if it is not worth fighting for, it can hardly be said to exist.

Individual safety begins with preparation, with developing situational awareness, and with always carrying the means of self-defense. Pepper spray, small knives, and other tools are ineffective and require the defender to be within touching distance of attackers—always a bad idea.

The most effective tool is the concealable handgun. Particularly for women, it’s the equalizer, and despite what trans-boosters say, there are fundamental differences in size and strength between women and men. In a physical confrontation, unarmed women, even those experienced in martials arts, are at a severe, even deadly, disadvantage. 

Graphic: Glock 43, Author.

There are many excellent compact handguns, such as the Glock 43 and 43X, or the Sig P365 on the market. Light and easy to conceal, they can be easily and comfortably carried. More important, however, is obtaining competent training that will ensure safe and effective employment of a handgun. Most important is knowing the law, knowing under which circumstances one can legally use deadly force, or any force, for that matter. To that end, the best book on the market is The Law of Self Defense by Andrew Branca, America’s best informed self-defense lawyer. It’s essential.

As the ancient Chinese curse tells us, we live in interesting times. Let’s let Snyder have the last word:

This is the uncompromising understanding reflected in the warning that America's gun owners will not go gently into that good, utopian night: "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands." While liberals take this statement as evidence of the retrograde, violent nature of gun owners, we gun owners hope that liberals hold equally strong sentiments about their printing presses, word processors, and television cameras. The republic depends upon fervent devotion to all our fundamental rights.

Our constitutional, representative republic surely does. “Our democracy,”  quite the opposite.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.