Afraid vs Prepared
South African criminals, like all criminals, are driven by their greed to maim and kill and their tool of choice is either the handgun or the assault rifle. Many of these weapons are smuggled in from Mozambique, weapons caches left over from their devastating civil war which ended in 1992. Many of these weapons are the ever popular gangster’s favourite, Soviet made Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947, also known as the AK47 and many varieties of handguns.
Now, criminals like using guns because people are afraid of guns and, when fired in the air for effect, they make a lot of noise. Undoubtedly, some criminals have a rudimentary understanding of gun maintenance but, for the most part, criminals use guns mainly to cash in on people’s fear of guns.
Well, there’s no reason to fear a gun if you understand what it is, how to use it and how to maintain it, is there? With that knowledge, the big bad criminal’s scary gun becomes what you know it to be, a tool; probably poorly maintained but just a tool, nonetheless. You’re not afraid of the chainsaw you store in your garden shed, are you? Of course not, it’s just a tool. Well, so is a gun. Granted, a gun is certainly a lot more extraordinary tool than a mundane chainsaw but the analogy works because essentially they’re both tools. Your gun is different because it’s a far more intricate tool.
To the criminal, however, the
gun is a way for him to get what he wants. He banks on your fear
of his gun. He doesn’t know the first thing about you and he couldn’t know if you’re either a person
that doesn’t understand guns and are afraid of them or that you do understand guns, most likely a lot
more than he does and you have a loaded Springfield in your purse.
If you’re the latter type of person then you’re already prepared, No need to be afraid.
