Personal Activism Pays Off PDF Print E-mail
Misc
Written by Catherine DeMarsh-Hellwig   
Monday, 30 October 2006 06:09

Twenty years ago I was a naive teenager. I never thought about half of the things I do today. Like most teenagers, I was ten feet tall and bulletproof… but then, who wasn’t in their youth? I had my whole life ahead of me and politics and guns were as foreign to me as the price of tea in China. Ten years ago, I met my current husband and he introduced me to a world I never knew existed. He opened my eyes to see how we as Americans have lost so many rights one by one to become a more sheltered society.

A year ago, I became licensed to carry a concealed handgun. My husband and I decided to take the class together. While waiting for our background check through the county, I started to pay more attention to the stores I shopped at and only a couple had the dreaded “Don’t Carry Here” signs. As I made a mental note of the store, I turned and went elsewhere for what I needed. The more signs I noticed, the more upset I became. I started to think about how if I am not allowed to carry in the store, criminals would know that everyone in the store would be unarmed. That sign is not some magic force field and unlike me they would not care there was a sign in the window telling them not to carry a gun. It would be more like a neon sign telling them, “No one will shoot back.”

On October 25th, I went to my favorite convenience store, the BP Goody Nook, at the corner of State Routes 104 and 22 in South Central Ohio. As I was starting to put gas in my car, I happened to notice they had posted a “Don’t Carry Here” sign. At first, I was hurt and annoyed by the sign and quickly called my husband to tell him about it. We have fed our dogs “Black Gold” dog food for several years now and when we found this store carried it we were thrilled because it was only about 50 miles from us. When we first started feeding it to our Bluetick coonhounds, we were driving almost 200 miles one way to pick it up. Yes, this dog food is that great. My husband told me to go ahead and get it this time and that we would have to find a new place to buy our dog food or change dog food. As I was pumping the gas, I became more and more annoyed by the sign and decided to give them a “No Guns, No Money!” card.

I started talking to the cashier about the sign and she said she was unsure why it was put up. She said she was not happy about the sign either because, like me, she believed it was only preventing law-abiding people from carrying. Then she said the owner of the property was there and that she would be honored if I gave the card to the owner and spoke to him about the sign.

His name is Matt. He was on the phone when I approached him. He looked like a good ole boy from down on the farm, maybe in his mid 40’s, flannel shirt, blue jeans, down filled vest, and a pack of red Marlboro’s lying on the table next to a bag of red licorice. As I waited I had no idea of what I was going to say to him. I patiently waited for him to finish the call and then asked if he had a few minutes to talk about his reasons for posting the sign. When he said “Yes” I quickly introduced myself and started by asking him why he had posted the sign. He began by telling me it was because of the drug addicts that he had seen in one of his other stores. I let him tell me about a recent robbery at one of his other stores and how he decided to post the sign because of these criminals, only to be robbed again. After this he asked why I was concerned about the sign. So I told him…

“Granted, I don’t shop at this store that often as I really only come in for the dog food, but I will no longer come to this or any other store which posts the “Don’t Carry Here” sign because it is no longer safe. The sign, to me, means this is a criminal protection zone. By posting that sign you are letting the criminals know that no one here is able to shoot back. It is like posting a large neon sign to let the criminals know that anyone here are sheep ripe for the taking. I have had my Concealed Handgun License for well over a year now. I have no felonies, I have never been convicted of a drug offense, I have no mental disabilities, and I have passed a federal criminal background check, I am a (proven) law-abiding citizen. I am proud to be a gun owner! If I had been in your store and was aware of the mortal threat to your cashier I would not think twice about trying to stop this criminal even if that means I would have had to use lethal force to protect myself and anyone around me.

Maybe that sounds heartless or maybe that sounds irresponsible to some, but I feel if this guy was stupid enough to try and rob a store at 7:30 PM, then he is stupid enough to be dangerous. By posting that sign you are not only taking away MY rights under the Second Amendment, you are also endangering the lives of anyone who works for you and anyone who comes through the doors. I grant you that criminals are not the brightest crayons in the box and sometimes they may be high on something when they try to rob someone. Even if you don’t stop them all, you can deter many from thinking about it by not having that sign. It is proven time and time again that most robberies are crimes of convenience and if given the choice any criminal would prefer an unarmed victim. It is easier to attack a sheep than face a bull with horns! So I want to thank you for your time but I feel I can no longer shop at this store because I no longer feel safe in this store, or any store that feels they need to post that sign. By posting that sign you have only taken the guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens and not the criminals. You have given them a green light to do as they please. I hope I have not taken up too much of your time.”

I gave him the card. As I started to leave he stopped me. He smiled as he said, “I am guessing you are not a Democrat?” and said I made a convincing argument. After another 20 minutes of talking he said he would be taking the sign down as long as I agreed to never come into his store unarmed. As I was leaving I told him I would make it easy for him and would be happy to take the sign down for him. When I started to hand it to him I asked if I could have it for a keepsake and he told me I could. I thanked him again, shook his hand, and told him I would be happy to be armed and protect him, his employees, and his unarmed customers anytime I was there. As I was leaving, two of the cashiers smiled. One gave me a thumbs up and the other mouthed “Thank You” to me.

Twenty years ago I never would have thought I would have taken a stand on anything other than a river bank while fishing. I never thought that I would care so much about an issue. I never thought I could make a difference. But at some point there was a line drawn in the sand, and someone had to stand on that line. I choose to stand up and make my voice heard. I never practiced what I was going to say. It was not a script or premeditated. I spoke from my heart. I listened to his reasons for posting the sign and told him, from my heart, how I felt about the sign. I am not a writer, an actress, or an activist. I am a mother of two, and there is a line in the sand. Where do you stand? If I can change one owner’s mind, then you can too. Just speak from your heart.

One down… a few thousand to go!