To Carry or Not to Carry a Weapon?
Me & my Friend Harry Rosado U.S. Army Reserve Circa 2001
I remember I was never a big fan of carrying a weapon although in the previous picture you might see the opposite. I remember even when I went to Basic Training I remember making joking with my Drill Sergeant on how I joined the Military to be a peacekeeper and I would not touch a weapon. I remember how quickly he changed my mind after all the push-ups andexercises he gave me in that the terrible Fort Knox, Kentucky summer heat. (Apparently he found my comment funny but in his position as a Drill Sergeant he clearly could not show it).
During my time in the military I had the opportunity to study, operate, and understand hoe multiple weapons work. I handled them with care and never forgetting how destructive they could be.
After I left the military I had a strong feeling of staying away from weapons I really could not see the benefit for carrying a weapon around. It was not until in May 2007 while I was taking my New Hire Orientation in Chantilly, VA at my new employer American Systems someone changed my mind. During that new hire orientation someone raised the question of carrying weapons at corporate facilities. The person giving us the orientation was an ex army special forces veteran (something normal for a company that did a lot of work for the Department of Defense), who clearly stated he was against the policy of not carrying weapons especially when incidents like Virginia Tech take place in many places of the U.S. At that moment there where two co-workers who had been at Virginia Tech during the terrible incident and they agreed. For the first time in many years I saw a purpose of carrying a weapon.
This morning that thought came to my mind when I saw the following video on someone randomly taking people hostage because his wife got fired.
On my side I was amazed at some of the heroics of the people involved how they kept calm and thankfully no one got hurt. I remember how I had been against my brother getting a license for a weapon while he was living in CT but every time I see these type of situations I think it might not have been such a bad idea.
A few months ago I went with my brother to the shooting range and I convinced myself (or got a message from the heavens) that I should stay away from weapons. I had not touched a weapon since my last weapon’s qualification while I was in Drill Sergeant school when I was in the Army Reserve. To make a long story short when I was shooting my weapon down range one of the bullet casings actually started a fire in which I ended up burning part of the firing range down. You can take a look at the pictures below to get a better idea.
Fire Trucks Arriving to Put out the Fire
My Brother's Charred Weapons after the fire (Rumor was going around that since I over protect my brother I did this on Purpose, that rumor is not true)
It annoys me when people comment on how Puerto Rico has a high crime rate without understanding our environment completely. In Puerto Rico the nature of the beast is very different. Most victims of crimes where in some way or another linked to the person attacking them. While reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success
(Amazon Affiliate Link) it help me understand how the Puerto Rican Culture is more aligned towards victims having some type of relationship with attackers . On very few occasions will you get a murder or someone shooting at someone without the following factors but not limited too ( I really think these are horrible situations, I don’t want you to get the idea that I support any of these):
- Domestic violence
- Linked to Criminal Activity
- Being at the wrong place (like hanging out where the wrong crowd is at).
I have not heard of a situation where a random person walks into a place and starts firing at random people here in Puerto Rico. I still don’t think it is ok to carry a weapon here in Puerto Rico since for the most part you are even safer without a weapon than with one. Although everytime I visit the states I would not mind legally carrying one to defend myself from the higher probability of a situation similar to what happened in VA Tech and in the previous video.
I applaud the heroics you can clearly see in the video by a few it takes some real guts to put yourself in harms way to save others.
Have you been in a situation where having a weapon made you feel safer or more vulnerable?
Once, long ago I considered getting one to protect my family, in case someone breaks in or anything, but the thought that one of my children would accidentally shoot someone or themselves upon finding it by chance, has changed my mind about it. Also, I think that having one close by, will soon give you a reason to use it. After all why have something if you’re not going to use it.
Great post, Raúl.
I could not agree more thanks you for your post. And thanks for the great job you did on the Logo’s they look great.
best regards,
Raul