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The Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, said, “To expect bad men not to do wrong is madness”

On October 7th, 2023, to say that bad men did wrong is an understatement. Evil men did evil things is more like it.

But I’m not here to speak of these evil deeds. The internet is awash with the undeniable evidence.

I am here to share one story with you from that day and to make an important point that although has been brought to your attention plenty of times, many of you still haven’t woken up to it.

Meet Raz Cohen. A survivor of the Nova Music Festival. Hundreds of young people from all over the world came together to celebrate life, love, and peace. They came in all colors and religions to be as one.

But their celebration was tragically cut short at dawn on October 7th when Palestinian terrorists and civilians infiltrated Southern Israel from Gaza and began slaughtering them indiscriminately

The terrorists attacked from all directions. The festival goers tried to escape. Some hid in the bushes and survived. Others weren’t so lucky.

Raz and his friends were some of the lucky ones who managed to hide in the bushes and survive. But what they witnessed will scar their psyche for life.

Raz told the story of a young woman who was captured by a number of heavily armed terrorists just a few dozen meters from where they were hiding. She was brutally gang raped, mutilated, and killed. Her deafening screams were a stark contrast to the silence Raz and his friends kept so as not to be discovered.

In his interview, he somberly said, “I wish I had a way to save her. I wish I had a gun.”

I cannot imagine what Raz, his friends, and many of the survivors of that day have to live with. The guilt. The shame. The helplessness. The nightmares.

Over 300 Nova goers were murdered and more captured and taken to Gaza as hostages.

Raz’s story is one of many shared in the brilliant documentary called Screams Before Silence. I urge you to watch it. I left a link in the description for it.

Evil men will always exist and will always do evil things. We no longer live in a world where evil is segregated by borders and only happens on TV and to someone else.

Elected officials keep making bad decisions about our safety while making every effort to convince us that they can protect us, and therefore, we need no guns except for hunting and recreation.

Meanwhile, they parade around with armed security 24/7.

They insist on Gun Free Zones, and some states make getting a carry permit an obstacle course that makes a triathlon seem like a morning stroll.

Prior to October 7th, Israel’s restrictive gun control policies were like that too. In a country surrounded by enemies of the worst kind, they failed miserably to protect their citizens and gave them no chance of fighting back.

It’s just one more example of the colossal failure of gun control and the false sense of security that comes with it.

Evil men will keep doing evil things. They will not play by the rules imposed on normal law-abiding folks.

They are not interested in negotiating, so good luck talking your way out of their grasp.

The only way, in my opinion, to fight evil is with a level of force that puts us, the intended victims, at a similar if not equal or greater level of force. That means having the tools and training to fight back.

Relying on the government and law enforcement is not an option for me.

Certainly not when I have an inalienable right that gives better more practical and realistic options.

Almost every country recognizes the right to self-defense. Not just as a nation but also as civilians. Unfortunately, however, most countries don’t give its citizens the means to do it effectively against greater force.

What good is legislation alone against evil men who care nothing for it?

Certainly, none for the victims of the Nova Music Festival and all those who lost their lives to senseless violence anywhere.

A gun doesn’t guarantee you’ll survive or win a violent attack. However, the odds are much greater in your favor when you have one and have at least a good foundation of skill. And both are so easily accessible in our great US of A.

I sincerely hope I never have to experience what Raz has, but if I am ever in the presence of evil men doing evil things, I don’t want to just wish I had a gun.