Back when they passed it, one of my graduates in Virginia called me to share his misery. He asked, “Mas, how would YOU feel if they passed a ‘one-gun-a-month’ law in the free state where YOU live?!?”

I replied, “Hell, I’d find the money somehow…”

He was not amused.

I don’t blame him. He was right and I was wrong. Arbitrary restrictions on productive members of society are nothing to joke about.

I don’t care how many firearms responsible, law abiding citizens own.  I care that evil people don’t have access to them.  And, more important, I care that evil people be put away where they don’t have access to INNOCENT VICTIMS…and that their potential victims have the wherewithal to fight back against the evil, and prevail.

This good news from The Old Dominion is the latest in a compelling history of victories for gun owners’ civil rights over recent years.  At the time they enacted “one gun a month” in Virginia, there were several states where there was no provision at law for a law-abiding citizen to carry a concealed handgun in public to protect themselves and their loved ones. Now, in 2012, just one of those remains: Illinois, which came surprisingly close to getting shall-issue concealed carry last year, and hasn’t given up yet.

We’re winning, state by state, but we can’t become complacent. The Presidential election looms…and it ain’t lookin’ good for gun owners.

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It seems than an anti-gun group has called for a boycott of Starbucks on this coming Valentine’s Day, February 14.  As Dave explains, many of us in the gun movement will be buying something at Starbucks on that day, just to make sure that Starbucks has a profitable holiday despite being boycotted by the antis.

No one put it better than Mike Crenshaw at the respected firearms forum found at www.thehighroad.org. A moderator who posts there as “hso,” Mike sent the following message to Starbucks headquarters: “I’ve just heard that there’s a planned boycott on Feb. 14 by anti-Second Amendment groups attempting to punish Starbucks for their decision to follow state and local law instead of changing company policy on law abiding customers carrying firearms legally. While I’m an occasional customer I’ll make a point of doing my share to offset any business Starbucks may lose due to this proposed boycott. I’ll see to it that my family and I are in Starbucks at least once on Feb. 14.Thank you for not caving in to the radical beliefs of a small vocal group of marginalized extremists.”  The discussion thread can be found at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=639239 .

Crenshaw, Workman, and the rest. This Valentine’s Day, I’m gonna drive my sweetie the twenty-some miles to the nearest Starbucks and scarf up a Yuppie coffee, or a hot chocolate, or a boutique muffin, or whatever. It’s about showing solidarity with an entity that stood up against an attack on our freedoms. And sending a positive thank-you email to Starbucks – thanks for that idea, Mr. Crenshaw! – makes huge sense.

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Awww…how sweet.

The 8^th, of course, was the one year anniversary of the grotesque mass murder in Tucson, Arizona by Jared Lee Loughner.  His most famous victim, left brain-damaged for life, was Arizona Congressman Gabby Giffords.  She was clearly his intended target.

The gun-banners made much of the fact that Representative Giffords was shot with a Glock 19 9mm pistol.  They neglected to mention that Gabby Giffords had, prior to the shooting, proudly stated that she owned and had a license to carry a Glock 19 of her own. The mass-murderer was put to the ground and captured by courageous citizens, including ARMED citizen Joe Zamudio, who was carrying a pistol of his own at the time, a Ruger P95 9mm.

But lighting a candle will prevent the Jared Loughners of the world from carrying out their monstrous deeds?  Good Lord…it’s like the candlelight vigils from the Take Back the Night Movement.

It’s nice to know that people care. Hell, I care. I’ve spent an adult lifetime learning how to ward off monsters such as Loughner, and sharing that knowledge with others.

Some pro-gun bloggers got together and did their own January 8 counterpoint to the Brady thing.  I wish I had contributed more to that: all I did was take a picture of some strong women with candles and nine millimeters at a Glock match in Clearwater, Florida on the 8^th. (Great match, by the way, and kudos to the Wyoming Antelope Club in Clearwater for putting it on.)

The decades have taught me that women won’t take back the night by marching with candles. They’ll take it back when those who prey on them learn – some the hard and final way – that their intended victims can be more dangerous to them, than they are to their intended victims.

Those you see below have it right.

If some monster tries to rape or murder a woman I care about, I don’t want him to see the flickering light of a candle.

I want him to see a muzzle flash, from the front.

I hate to paraphrase Al Capone, but a candle and a Glock will earn women more safety than just a candle. From left: Gail, Kitty, and Lisa Marie of the Alabama Holster Company’s all-girl pistol team, January 8, at Glock match in Clearwater, FL.

And here, more guns n’ candles…

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