Guest Commentary
by David Chong
I have had several earnest inquiries in 
In our modern, civilized, first world American society, very few of us have had to literally face the threat of great bodily harm from other people. It is therefore understandable for the majority of people to develop a sense that personal defense isn’t really relevant to them, leaving the only exposure they have to guns being news stories about tragic uses of guns by unlawful people committing evil acts.
This “I’ve never needed one” attitude doesn’t work for fire extinguishers, and it doesn’t work for guns, either. Both are tools; both have been misused and employed in a manner to cause great bodily harm to innocent people. Yet the studies linked above show that every year, guns are used defensively for protection approximately one million times every year in the U.S., with some studies (with weaker methodology) placing it over three million. In the majority of cases, nobody had to be shot; the mere presence of the gun in the hands of the would-be victim(s) was enough to stop the attack.
The need for the tool outweighs the dangers of its potential for misuse. Ten times more Americans die from vehicular accidents than guns every year; automobile use is more widespread, accidents occur in both, drunk driving claims more lives than gun murders, and yet still the need for the tool outweighs its potential for misuse.
I defend the 2nd Amendment because I love people. Laws will never remove evil from the world; Cain used a rock to kill his own brother. All people deserve the means to defend themselves effectively, not just the physically powerful. Should the time come to do so, God forbid, they shouldn’t be forced to do so with the least offensive-looking gun loaded with politically correct magazines.
David Chong owns AO Sword Firearms in El Cajon, and serves as the President of the La Mesa-Spring Valley Board of Education.