Yes, of COURSE that's a trite answer, EVERYONE loves their wife and daughter. Duh - I think everyone should carry, too!
:yup:
And my neighbor and the other innocent people that might be around me, and....
I voted other. I carry for the same reason I joined the USMC.
What's the connection?
I believe that I am under a Christian obligation to respond with whatever tools I have to protect the lives of my family and other innocent people.
The constitution confirms my God given/ natural right to keep and bear arms -- however it is not a reason to carry. My constitutional RKBA is a recognition of my responsibility for my own safety and the safety of others.
Also, my constitutional RKBA provides me the access to tools to exercise that responsibility.
As a Lutheran pastor point out to me, it is the absolute moral responsibility of every Christian to protect those for whom he/she is responsible. Simply put, that means that my responsibility as a Christian to protect my children and wife, from harmed, as I am charged with their well-being.
Luther liked to refer to other people as my "neighbor." In addition, when it comes to my neighbor's welfare, I am to be concerned with his/her welfare that I am willing to protect them in both body and possessions. Therefore, if someone is seeking to harm my neighbor -- whoever that may be -- it is my duty as Christian to seek my neighbor's best interests and do what is necessary to protect those interests.
From there it's not too difficult to see that if my family's lives are in jeopardy, I am under Christian obligation to respond with whatever tools I have to protect their lives.
The Roman Catholic Church has said, “In a world marked by evil and sin, the right of legitimate defense by armed means exists. This right can become a serious duty for those who are responsible for the lives of others, for the common good of the family or of the civil community.” [Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice, The International Arms Trade: An Ethical Reflection (Vatican City: Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 1994), ch 1, sect. 5, at 12.]
Theologians J. P. Moreland and Norman Geisler say "to permit murder when one could have prevented it is morally wrong. To allow a rape when one could have hindered it is an evil. To watch an act of cruelty to children without trying to intervene is morally inexcusable. In brief, not resisting evil is an evil of omission, and an evil of omission can be just as evil as an evil of commission.”
Most telling to the American conscience, the eminent Baptist Minister and the father of the American nonviolent movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., also supported the use of a gun in self-defense.
"Finally, I contended that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that ******* should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun when his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use a gun while participating in an organized demonstration." Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Chapter II, Black Power, Page 27, Harper & Row Publishers Inc., First Edition, 1967.
I voted "other" because we all have a moral obligation which that tool helps us fulfill.