I'm Bear. I'm a pastor who lives in Tennessee and preaches in Kentucky. Kind of an odd arrangement right now, but it's temporary.
I carry a Glock 27 and love military-style weapons, especially some of the great weapons my Dad used in WWII as an MP. I don't own nearly enough guns for my liking (yet), but I'm slowly working on it.
My small church is full of the greatest, most wonderful people. After church, we love to go outside and look at each other's guns, if anybody's brought something new, and go shooting in other folks' backyards when we can. For someone raised in NY, this life of good clean fun and healthy understanding of guns by the general populace is refreshing. Almost all of the men in my family were NYC cops, so guns were always everywhere. You never thought that much of it. I found out, though, that everyone around me had this terror of guns like they had a mind of their own and were out to get 'em. Bizarre.
One thing I learned from my uncles was something they said over and over: "We're not going to be able to protect you. It's everyone's job to learn how to protect themselves and to do it with the best means available. Our job is to solve crimes; we just don't have the manpower to prevent all of them. Everyone should have the means, and should have the right, to do that for themselves. Learn to defend yourself and your family."
I took their advice; I've always remembered it. And that's why I'm here and that's why this preacher packs.
God Bless all of you here,
Bear