I Am Innocent
I originally posted this at Kenn Blanchard’s blackmanwithagun.com in the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida school shooting. I think it bears repeating today. Consider this before vilifying the tens of millions of Americans who own AR-15s and similar rifles, and haven’t done anything wrong. We are your friends and your neighbors, and we are innocent.
I am a law abiding citizen, and I own an AR-15.
I am not a murderer, rapist, thief, or drug dealer.
I am a military veteran, a former police officer, and a former SWAT officer.
I have been through several professional firearms training classes, and am a certified firearms instructor myself.
I have passed multiple background checks for firearms purchases and for concealed carry permitting. My state even automatically runs me through a NICS background check every 28 days, simply because I have a concealed carry permit. As such, I am background checked a minimum of 12 times per year.
In the nearly 20 years I have had one, I have never had my concealed carry license suspended or revoked.
I have never intentionally harmed another peaceable human being, nor will I.
Despite all of this, there are those who would have me turn in my AR-15. They would do this because another, with a heart full of hate, used a similar rifle to murder. I have harmed no one, and my rifle has never drawn blood. But they would strip me of my liberty to own that rifle.
To deny me the exercise of a civil right for the crimes of another is unjust. The thought of it should be as repulsive as suggesting that we incarcerate all members of a group, simply because some in that group commit violent crime. It would certainly reduce violent crime, but at the cost of the liberty of the innocent.
I am one of the tens of millions of AR-15 owners in this country, and I am innocent.
I am innocent.
I am innocent.
I am innocent.
I am innocent.
I am innocent.
I am innocent.
