The Second Amendment and my international friends.

I've been catching up on e-mails today, of which I'm not just behind but for the book account e-mail, I'm weeks behind.

For a novel about the inherently American Second Amendment, I'm floored over where this book has been sold and read. From the e-mails, Above Reproach has been purchased and read in the following countries since the end of April of this year:


United States
Canada
Mexico
Great Britain
Ireland
Scotland
German
Holland
Norway
Finland
Poland
Czech Republic
Italy
Switzerland
France
Belgium
Spain
Russia
Pakistan
India
Egypt
South Africa
Israel
New Zealand
Australia
Columbia
Panama
Honduras
Venezuela
Peru
Argentina
Chile

While being floored, I'm also humbled, hugely so.

The book began life as an idea a few days after September 11, 2001. I'm a well-known procrastinator, so it surprised nobody that it finally published in April of 2012. In fact, some of our friends have remarked, rather dryly, that I must've been in quite the rush to get it written and published.

But some of the countries in which it's not only sold, but from where I've received e-mails is fascinating. . . and extremely heartening.

I'll begin with Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Here in Texas, we've always felt an affinity for Australians. We were both kicked out of our previous countries, banished to some gawd-forsaken land where royalty/Washington was certain we'd wither and die.

Canada and New Zealand. . . two outstanding nations filled with more geographical beauty and awesomeness than most can behold. Western Canada is almost diametrically opposed to eastern Canada in both politics and attitude. Of course, eastern Canada has a huge French influence and is closer, geographically, to Washington D.C. so that explains that.

It is my FERVENT hope that at least in my lifetime, Canada and Australia and New Zealand would enact their own version of the Second Amendment.

Moving on to Europe, I never knew Finland was as gun-friendly as it appears to be. Several Fins have written me about that, and while I don't have time or room here in this post to go in depth, let me simply say that if I had to be on the run across the Atlantic, Finland is the first country I'd stop in. We know about Switzerland.

The Czech Republic kind of surprised me, but then I got to thinking--both of the dogs in the novel (Dak the German Shepherd and Dutch the Doberman Pinscher) are both imports from the Czech Republic. But the Czechs, lest anyone forget, have made some pretty nice firearms, too. The best cylinders for air-cooled general aviation airplanes I have EVER found have been made in Poland.

Having married a Pole and having many Slavic friends, I can tell you that you'll never make a finer friend.

Europe is a bit of a puzzle, but unsurprisingly they are in the same boat as us. The French readers all confirm that most of their problems originate from Paris. No surprise. Been there. Rudest city in the universe and not sure where their snob appeal comes from.

Some of my German friends were whizzed that I imported dogs from their arch-competitors, the Czechs. I e-mailed them back and told them to just wait: In an upcoming novel, the new dogs will be imported from Holland.

One of the readers from Israel pointed out that at the Pocatello (Idaho) incident, it is unlikely that as soon as the terrorist pulled out their Mac machine pistols that the surrounding populace would've been so kind as to have simply ordered them to the floor.

Perhaps the most frightening e-mail was from a police official who works in South Africa. He wrote about how horrific crime has become there, especially crimes against women and how politicized their courts and (so-called) ministry of justice is. Apparently South Africa has their own versions of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson over their stealing oxygen.

The best e-mail came from a young lady in Great Britain, who shoots trap and bird hunts with her father and older brothers. She finished her delightful e-mail with the following question:

"If every civilized nation had your version of a Second Amendment, do you think we would ever have had a world war--or any major wars?"

Think about that.

Evil can only flourish when good men and women do nothing. But it helps to have the proper tools and hardware to combat evil and its minions.

So is it any wonder that Evil, in the form of so many power-hungry government people, constantly strives to limit--or eliminate--our ability to defend ourselves?

Think about that one even harder.

Screw the U.N. We gun-owners of the world don't need you.