This Is Us
I Bought a Gun Because I’m Terrified of What Will Happen After Election Day
Fear won, and I can no longer afford to hold onto my anti-gun ideals
“There is no such thing as paranoia. Your worst fears can come true at any moment.” — Hunter S. Thompson
There’s nothing fancy about it, but it’ll kill if I ask it to, which I suppose is the defining characteristic of a gun. In that sense, it’s perfect. If the shots are well placed, it can kill 18 times before it asks for any assistance in continuing. Ruthlessly efficient and rightfully terrifying, it represents protection in the most dangerous way possible. I hate that I had to buy it, but my fear of what could be coming won out over my ideals.
A year ago, I wrote an article about my struggle over buying a gun. The decision to buy a gun is not one I’d have made if I still lived alone; more accurately, it’s a decision I wouldn’t have had to consider. As a white man in the United States in the year 2020, I face no more threats than I did in 2019, 2009, or at any other point in my privilege-filled life; but I don’t live alone anymore.
