You want a license to carry a gun?

When I turned 21, Mason and I decided that we wanted to get our licenses to carry a concealed weapon for protection. Let me just insert here that it has already save my life once. Anyways, there are classes required should you desire to take on such responsibilities. I used to think that these classes were a little unnecessary because other friends of mine told me that it was nothing more than using common sense. After taking this required class, I now believe that these classes are an extremely good idea.

In these classes, we learn the basics of the law, where you can and can't carry your sidearm, and basically whether or not you should actually use your sidearm. Afterwards, there's a field test to make sure you can actually hit your target.

When to use your sidearm was the funniest part of the class. The underlying idea is that you must be able to convince a jury that you were justified in using your sidearm by the definition of the law. Still, we had people in the class who would set up weird scenarios to justify using a gun. "Can you shoot them if...." Of course, the answer was always the same. "By law, ... BUT you still need to be able to convince a jury that you were justified." Then, the next question came up, "BUT, what if...., Can you shoot them then?" Mason and I both lowered and shook our heads. These people just don't get it. Eventually, the class got the message and we took the written test. Then, we went to the field test. Mason and I both passed easily. But, when I saw the results of some of the others out there, I was appalled. Some of them were amazing crackshots. Others, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Those results were scary because the paper targets looked more like swiss cheese thrown into a wood chipper. And these are the folks that wanted to carry a gun? Maybe they should've actually learned how to shoot before they took the test. Common sense?