OPINION: Gun Owner Answers the 'Groceries Not Guns' Movement

Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor written by Donald Borsch Jr. of Bethel, Conn. and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Patch or its editor. We are publishing it on Wilton Patch because one of Caraluzzi’s grocery stores is located in Georgetown.

Written by Donald Borsch Jr., Bethel, Conn.

“On Wednesday, January 6, 2016, I went to Caraluzzi’s with my 5-year old daughter to pick up some groceries. I was open-carrying my handgun, as I have done hundreds of times, and we were shopping along when one of the managers approached me quietly and said that while he was confident I had a license and was legal, would I mind covering my gun with my shirt because my gun was making some of the customers uncomfortable.

I am writing this letter because it seems the political fussing regarding private and Constitutional gun ownership in CT demands it. I followed all mandated laws and paid all my fees to carry a gun in the State of CT, despite the glaring fact that I should not have been forced to pay for a Constitutionally-protected right. I cannot seem to recall having to pay any fees for Free Speech.

Lately there has been a dust-up about open carry in grocery stores. I wonder if the article Patch published about Caraluzzi’s Food Market had anything to do with that? Nobody cared before about Caraluzzi’s gun policy. Then for some reason, seemingly out of nowhere, the hoplophobic masses decided to target Caraluzzi’s and raise a fuss, thus drawing Caraluzzi’s into a debate they wanted no part of. And they bullied Caraluzzi’s on Facebook, using their keyboards as weapons, all because someone decided to complain and screech over seeing a person open-carrying in Caraluzzi’s.

Now that I have read about Caraluzzi’s and the follow-up article detailing the “Groceries Not Guns” movement, I see that I was sorely mistaken in being angry. That manager was put in a horrid position because of a solitary complaint from a person who fears that which they do not understand.

It seems like Caraluzzi’s is being dragged into a controversy that had been fomented by the anti-gunners, and not the pro-Second Amendment folks. Besides, the one-star reviews they had received on Facebook were not from the pro-Second Amendment folks.

If Caraluzzi’s is simply going along with state law regarding personal firearms, then why did one of their managers violate this and ask me to conceal my perfectly legal and Constitutional open-carried firearm? I had been in Caraluzzi’s hundreds of times with my gun. Not a once had anyone reacted.

As an Infantry Veteran (U.S. Army 11B), I was rigorously trained in the use of firearms. I am as comfortable around guns as a mechanic is comfortable around greasy tools and oil stains. In truth, a gun is merely a tool, an inanimate object that requires a person’s hand to make it function.

As a former grunt, I am well aware of what a gun does. It fires a hunk of lead out of a metal tube at a target at a high velocity. Guns can be used to kill, maim, and deter. This is fact. Another fact that some folks seem to overlook is that it requires a person to kill, maim, or deter using a gun. To this day, I have not once seen any gun, in and of itself, just up and shoot someone, as though it were alive and/or sentient. For guns to perform, it requires the intentions of a person’s heart. Simply put, an evil person with evil in their heart, and evil as their breath, will use a gun for evil.

I have had others use Sandy Hook as some kind of emotional trump card when discussing gun-ownership in CT, as though by doing so they will silence me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Like so many others, my heart broke that horrific Friday morning. I couldn’t believe it. Yet for some reason, since I am pro-Second Amendment, I am viewed as though I relished that tragedy, or gloated about it, or worse yet, that I was ambivalent about it.

I have heard the rhetoric of those who push an agenda and vilify inanimate objects. I have read about their quest to legally sue gun manufacturers for crimes committed by miscreants using illegal guns. I have seen how they are being used and manipulated by politicians who themselves have armed security, because they believe their lives matter more than ours. How can politicians, the Hollywood elite, pop music stars, gun-control spokespersons, or professional athletes, who have the hired guns of private security to protect them, demand I not be allowed to protect myself and my family?

Let’s be honest, folks, if you see anyone with a firearm on their hip, they are not a mass shooter. A mass shooter will conceal their weapons until needed, so they can be closer to their targets. Some guy with a gun on his hip, holding hands with his 5-year old daughter as they shopped for groceries on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 at Caraluzzi’s, is not the mass shooter you think you know about.

I have a CT Permit To Carry Pistols and Revolvers, and I do so daily, and you have absolutely nothing to fear from me.”

Donald Borsch Jr., Bethel, Conn.

How do you feel about open carry in grocery stores? Tell us in the comments or email your letter to wendy.mitchell@patch.com.

Photo by R0Ng via Flickr Creative Commons

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