The Greatest Misconception About Responsible Gun Owners

One of the biggest misconceptions I see from the general public about responsible gun owners is that we all fit into the same neat little box. According to the stereotype, every one of us is a conservative, older, white male. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Responsible gun owners come in every shape, size, creed, and color. We represent every economic background, every walk of life. Some are young, some are old. Some grew up in families that hunted and shot regularly, others discovered firearms later in life. To lump us all into a single category is not only wrong — it ignores the diversity of real people who take firearms ownership seriously.

The second major misconception is this: that if people carry guns in public, society will descend into chaos. We’re told that blood will run in the streets, that every traffic jam will end in a shootout, that road rage incidents will explode. It’s fearmongering. It’s false. And history proves it.

As a student of history, I know that none of those things happen simply because law-abiding citizens carry firearms. The presence of a firearm doesn’t suddenly turn a responsible person into a criminal. The idea that carrying a gun in public inevitably leads to violence is a myth pushed by those who benefit from fear and division.

The truth is simple: responsible gun owners are among the safest, most law-abiding members of society. We train, we prepare, and we carry because we value life — our own and the lives of others. We don’t carry to cause trouble. We carry to make sure we get home at the end of the day.