If you carry a weapon, always be prepared to use it!
Last week in Bend, Oregon, a 16-year-old forced his way through a deterrent door at Silver Rail Elementary and murdered three children, ages 5, 7, and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher. A child in a wheelchair was shot in the face. Federal investigators are now examining whether he was radicalized by “764,” a network the Justice Department describes as a nihilistic violent extremist enterprise. It grooms minors into sexual exploitation, animal torture, self-mutilation, and mass violence. That link remains unconfirmed. But the network is real, its leaders have been federally charged, and it recruits through the same Discord servers and gaming chats our children use every night.
No one should pretend otherwise: some people are genuinely wicked. They act without conscience, they intend harm, and they may live on the next street.
Scripture does not counsel naïveté. Ephesians 5:11 commands, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Reproof is active. It means exposing evil, guarding the vulnerable, and refusing passivity. That is the stewardship we owe the society God has placed in our care.
The tactical outfitter 5.11 sums it up in its slogan: “Always Be Ready.” Take it literally. In Bend, the killing stopped because a passing father grabbed his pistol, followed the gunman inside, and ended the threat while a teacher’s aide wrestled for the weapon.
The Moral and Legal Line
Carrying a firearm is a moral responsibility, and its use is a grave one. Deadly force is justified only when a reasonable person would believe it is immediately necessary to protect self or others from an unlawful threat of death or serious bodily harm. Four questions frame that judgment:
- Ability: Can the attacker actually cause death or serious injury?
- Opportunity: Can the attacker do it now?
- Imminence: Is the danger immediate rather than past or speculative?
- Proportionality: Does the threat match the force used against it?
When the threat stops, the justification stops. Anger, fear of property loss, and verbal insults never qualify. Arizona law addresses this in A.R.S. §§13-404 and 13-405, and other states differ on duty to retreat and defense of others. Every carrier must know the statutes where he lives and travels.
Training Is Part of the Obligation
A permit is not proficiency. Responsible carriers commit to ongoing training:
- Fundamentals: Practice safe handling, grip, sight alignment, and trigger control until they are automatic.
- Draw from concealment: Practice a smooth, safe presentation from the holster you actually wear.
- Decision-making: Use shoot/don’t-shoot scenarios that test judgment, not just marksmanship. Knowing your target and what lies beyond it is non-negotiable in a school hallway or a crowded store.
- Stress and movement: Practice under time pressure and while moving to cover.
- Legal education: Take a qualified use-of-force law course.
- Trauma care: Carry a tourniquet and learn Stop the Bleed. You are more likely to save a life with a tourniquet than with a trigger.
- Awareness and avoidance: The best fight is the one you see coming and leave.
- Secure storage: A firearm left unsecured at home can arm the very evil you hope to stop.
Vigilance is not paranoia, and readiness is not recklessness. Be watchful. Train seriously. Carry responsibly.