By Pat Lefemine Founder, Bowsite.com

I don’t hunt big game with firearms. I have never shot a deer, turkey, elk or any other big game animal with a gun and probably never will. Bowhunting up close and personal is what drives me, and more than 2 million unique visitors to Bowsite each year.

That being said; we are unshakable. We stand in complete solidarity with our brothers in arms.  Bowsite stands with all defenders of the 2^nd Amendment.  We will not waver in our commitment to lawful gun ownership. We do not care if you are a hunter, a shooter, or simply a freedom loving citizen trying to protect your family.  We do not care if you shoot a BB gun, shotgun, pistol, or an AR-15 black rifle.  We stand with you and we always will.

A Message to the Opposition Hunters do not cower from your threats. We see right through your transparent attempts to divide us.  It will not work.  You may dupe the masses with your crafted sound bites and emotional campaigns but you won’t fool us.  Your anti gun agenda was not bourne from the tragic events on December 14th. We were all devastated by Sandy Hook.  I live in Connecticut. I know people in Newtown. My heart was torn apart on that day.  Those little kids were a treasure that can never be replaced. Every gun owner I know wishes he was at Sandy Hook on December 14th.  To place myself in harm’s way for a chance to protect those kids from a monster would have been my duty, my honor. Every hunter and gun owner I know feels the same.  So while you use this tragedy to push your feel-good, impotent gun control agenda understand one thing about us; we would consider it an honor to defend your kids too.  If that day ever comes, and I pray it does not, you will want us there (with far more firepower and ammo than we need to kill a deer). You will tearfully thank the lawful gun owner who stood between evil and your family.  You know this to be true, even though you will never admit it.

 

Opposed to Powerless

We don’t own guns because we are consumed by a culture of violence. We own guns because they are.  Evil is all around us. Evil is spreading. Until you are faced with a situation where you are confronted with evil you will never understand how it truly feels to be powerless. I know how it feels, I lived it firsthand.

Four years ago, while attending a business meeting in New Jersey, I stopped for gas along the Palisades Parkway in New York. Across the pump was a man in his thirties next to a truck. He kept staring at me and I could instantly sense he was unstable.  The description of ‘soulless’ and ‘empty’ is eerily accurate.

He kept trying to make eye contact.  I kept looking at the pump.  The man walked to his passenger door and opened it. On the seat was a short barrel shotgun.  At this point I wasn’t nervous.  I was simply aware of the situation.

Every instinct in my body told me to get in my car and get the hell out of there. But the pump’s printer was out of paper and I needed the gas receipt. So I locked my car and headed into the convenience store. I waited in line behind a young woman and an African American man wearing a suit. A few moments later the unstable man walked into the store.

He cut in front of the African American man who politely instructed him where the line was formed. The guy from the truck turned to face the black man and said “I’m going to stand right here - nigger.”

President Obama, no stranger to theatrics, flocks himself with children while he and Vice President Biden lay out their aggressive gun control agenda. The administration, which was curiously silent about guns until their reelection, have launched an all out assault on the 2nd amendment now that they don't need to win any more swing states. Meanwhile Obama's home town of Chicago (a city with our nations toughest gun laws) experiences epidemic levels of black on black gun violence. The President is strangely silent about that. Are those lives less important Mr. President?

Now I was nervous.  The black man was professional and intelligent and knew immediately this guy was unstable. He didn’t provoke anything. He simply said “My place in line means more to you than me, so be my guest.”

But the guy was craving attention, confrontation. He invaded his space and asked the man how he likes – “being a nigger.” The man kept his cool.

By this time, everyone was on red alert including the attendants - their eyes the size of half dollars. I moved back a few feet in case a pistol came out. After a brief, intense stare down the unstable man walked out of the store and back to his truck.

As soon as he was out of hearing distance I commanded the clerks to call the police. I explained that he had a shotgun.  Unfortunately I don’t think they fully understood English because they kept looking at me - puzzled.

The woman in front of me motioned in terror. “Oh my God” she whimpered as her eyes filled with tears and panic. I looked up and saw the monster. He was pure evil. He had no emotion on his face. No rage, no fear, nothing. He was casually walking back into the store with that short barreled shotgun draped over his shoulder. I knew he was coming to gun us all down.

I will never forget the feeling of powerlessness, defenseless. I wished I had my gun. All the times I carried and thankfully never needed it. Now I needed it but it wasn’t there (NY does not recognize concealed carry permits from other states and I follow the rules).

 Everyone was in shock. They stayed in line, frozen in fear. I moved behind the soft drink rack. While inadequate it was all I had.  The rest of them just stood there paralyzed and completely at the mercy of a madman.

The man walked up to the glass door, pointed the shotgun at the terrified black man, and yelled “Bang.” He then smiled, and casually walking back to his truck and drove away.

I know powerless. I don’t like it.

 

Not about hunting

This fight isn’t about hunting. I really don’t think anyone is coming after my 2013 Mathews Creed. This fight is about our freedoms.  No freedom is more important to me than the right to protect my family from evil. And when it comes to that responsibility I don’t want to be evenly matched. I want extreme firepower. Andrew Cuomo is right. Nobody needs 10 rounds to kill a deer (I only need 1 arrow). But this is not about hunting. Never was, and never will be. He can’t be that stupid but I’ve been wrong before.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo exclaims "Nobody needs 10 rounds to kill a deer." He then pressures the NY legislature to pass the country's most restrictive gun laws. The SAFE Act (passed without public comment in the middle of the night) was so rushed that they failed to exempt their State's own policeman. Instead of Cuomo's desired outcome (to be heralded as a crusader and progressive champion) his reckless approach backfired. Other state lawmakers, including my liberal State of Connecticut, now point to NY as an example of what not to do when crafting gun legislation.

 

Hunters understand self reliance more than most. For me, hunting is the ultimate freedom.  It allows us to divorce ourselves from a chaotic world and enter one of the only places I consistently experience true peace.  Many of us have witnessed the realities of life in the natural world. Things hunters understand yet Cuomo and Obama will never grasp. The world is not nice, it is not fair, and interaction between living beings is often unpleasant. And that is the systemic issues that divide the pragmatics from the utopians.

I watched a bald eagle attempt to knock a mountain goat kid off of a ledge in Alaska.  Its mother ferociously kicked to protect her young. She was not successful. The eagle separated them and the kid plunged to its death where the eagle feasted on the dead offspring. I’m sure the nanny would prefer a world where danger does not exist.  We’d prefer it too. But just like that nanny we know that’s not reality. That nanny will continue to use every defense at her disposal. And so will I. The only difference between us is she is not bound to rules imposed by men. I am. And that’s where our conflict begins and ends. The assault on freedom drives the beating heart of gun control resistance.

When lasting peace replaces evil let me know. For now, I refuse to be a victim. Not from evil people, or from agenda-driven political ideologues and a complicit media. I refuse to be powerless.

My fellow gun owers can count on us. We will stand together.

 

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