As my dad tells it, he was amid a normal service call in the fields of one of his best farming customers. This day was pretty ordinary except he had my cousin Richie, who was no bigger than a blade of timothy grass, along for the ride.

Then ordinary turned anything but.

With his focus squarely pointed toward the mechanical task at hand, a wack job with a loaded shotgun pointed it square at my dad’s head, threatening to pull the trigger at any moment. The tripped-out gunman, who turned out to be the son-in-law of the farmer, was certain that my dad was on the property stealing.

He was not.

And if the farmer wasn’t home to disarm the gunman after several intense minutes, there stands a strong likelihood I wouldn’t be here.

My dad, a concealed weapons permit holder in one of the most difficult states to be so, was able to have a weapon with him for every service call from there on out.

I pride myself on being open minded. And I’ve heard a lot in the last eight days about folks wanting to talk about gun control.

Let’s do it. I’m more than happy to converse about it. Part of engaging in the talk about gun control comes with the responsibility to get educated about the facts.

None of my arguments are new – many of them are circulating media channels and social media networks in unprecedented fashion. Very few are as powerful to me than the fact that our Commander in Chief does not spend any waking moment without armed security protecting his life.

That luxury is more than justified.

But any argument to reduce my ability to protect myself, is to say that my life is less important than the President’s. That very well could be true. My mama might beg to differ, just as I can assure you that I will utilize whatever means possible to protect my children. To me, they are the most valualbe lives on this earth.

I do not own any of the oft-reffered to “assault-type” guns. My reason is simple. The legal versions of these guns do not provide any advantage for me from several of the semi-automatic weapons I own when it comes to protecting my family. If they were to provide additional value on that front, you could bet your bottom dollar I would have one.

Why?

The evoloution of evil is scary. Anyone who thinks greater government meddling in gun rights will keep nimrods, or persons outside of their normal capacities, from performing evil acts is simply ignorant. Any further restrictions are only mandating the means for law-abiding citizens to react to that evil.

Among many of the things that still aren’t adding up to me is the fact that every single terrorist who performed the evil acts at schools in acts that are gaining media attention of late, were breaking the law the moment they stepped foot in an educational building with a weapon. THEY WERE BREAKING THE LAW. How will stricter gun control stop them from doing those hateful acts?

I’m all for talking about gun control. All I ask is that those talking come armed with the facts. Far too much is riding on it.