Why people carry guns without intent to use them.

I've actually been dwelling on this line of questioning since the Rittenhouse trial and it's worth bringing up.

Thomas Binger's apparent lack of understanding as to why one would carry a gun without intent to use it doesn't seem uncommon - it doesn't change the fact that it comes from sheer ignorance.

I know a handful of people who carry guns all the time. Most of those people are women. Many of those women are rape victims who found out first hand that calling a cop isn't often a viable option. Still, the point is that anybody who carries a gun every day is doing so with a readiness to use the gun rather than an intent to use it. The people who intend to use the gun whenever they have it in their possession are the people you need to worry about - they're also generally not the kind of people who always have guns on them.

You see, the people who pick up a gun with an intent to harm somebody with it has the luxury of a plan, a time, and a target. It's the people who are ready with a gun to use in self-defense who need to be - well - ready in case a bad guy starts threatening people.

This seems like it should be painfully obvious; but, the reality is that a great deal of the laws that we pass are related to carrying guns. That means that the more often you carry a gun, the more likely you are to accidentally miss something. There have been several cases in this country in which a person used a gun in self-defense and was acquitted of all wrongdoing except for a violation of some subsection of some carry law that he or she accidentally violated.

Bottom line, the volume, complexity, and potential penalties that go along with laws against people carrying place people who carry guns in case they need them at much greater risk of prison time than anybody who picks up a gun with full intent to use it to murder people.