Do the two mass shootings realy represent gun violence here?

 Would someone please shed light on this for me, because I'm having trouble getting the impact of the two shootings in Ohio and Texas on gun violence in general in the US.

Homicides and gun violence of this magnitude takes place every weekend in Democrat-controlled Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, and New Orleans, so how is this different? Chicago is not even listed!
Oh gosh. Now I get it. It's a white Supremacist guy shooting people of color! Never mind that "people of color" regularly slaughter each other with total abandon in our big cities...

My bad. Move along. No news here folks. Here are the stats: Of the 36,383 Americans killed with guns each year, 22,274 are gun suicides (61%), 12,830 are gun homicides (35%), 496 are law enforcement shootings (1.4%), and 487 are unintentional shootings (1.3%).

- Firearm violence: Nationally, about 12 people are killed with guns for every 100,000 US residents.

- Vehicle accidents: Nearly 1.25 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled. More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among young adults ages 15-44.

- Choking: In the United States, the odds of one dying from choking on food is around 1 in 2,696. These odds are greater than the odds of dying from an accidental gun discharge or as a passenger on a plane. In 2017, there were around 1.6 deaths from choking per 100,000 population.

- Prescription drugs: More than 70,200 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids—a 2-fold increase in a decade.

- Marijuana overdose: “We know from really good survey data that Americans use cannabis products billions of times a year, collectively,” argued Keith Humphreys, a former senior policy adviser at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, “Not millions of times, but billions of times a year,” the policy adviser said. “So, that means that if the risk of death was one in a million, we would have a couple thousand cannabis overdose deaths a year.” Clearly this is not the case as there has only been ONE unexplained marijuana overdose in recorded history in the US.

Is Border Security really all that?

I am not going to interpret their response to what the president said about Border Security, but to me it sounded as if they wrote their rebuttal without hearing what he said.

 I have an alarm system on my house. I also have 8 cameras plus a motion detector at my driveway that sends a signal when anything crosses the beam including squirrels and birds. I’ve became very well acquainted with a black and white long-haired cat because of this. Yesterday it caught and killed a baby squirrel and all of it caught on the edge of one of my camera views.

I have 4 sets of solar lights that are tripped by motion. I have a lock on my back gate. I have 2 very bright high pressure sodium lights that shine on the trail behind my house and illuminate my large back yard. At any given time I have access to a number of loaded weapons inside my house and regularly carry a firearm that shoots a heavy hollow-tipped bullet specifically designed to kill military targets. My perpetually loaded 12 gauge shotgun fires 9 triple-aught buckshot shells before I have to reload from my 50 shell bandoleer and yet, I do not live in fear of being attacked.

Why all this security which sounds overboard and unnecessary? Is there a caravan of ruffians on Massey Tompkins headed my way? Has karate training turned me into a paranoid schizoid gun-licking wannabe shooter who cleans his guns with saliva? No. I rarely even look at my weapons, which include a good number of fighting knives I’ve trained with

Here’s the crux of the matter. I have made all these precautions because I don’t want to worry. It’s the same reason that my house and vehicles stayed locked even when I am inside. If trouble arrives, my first action will be to call Baytown Police. If I am working on my computer and my alarm systems tells me a door or window has opened, I don’t panic. My heart does not raise a beat. I simply arm myself and take a look and I can assure you, I will respond in a defensive way if it is an intruder. I’ve spent a great deal of my life preparing for that moment and yet, if possible, I will still call 911. I live in peace with my environment, but in the event that everything hits the proverbial fan, I am well prepared to deal with it. It sure beats pretending it can’t or won’t happen and just maybe I will survive until my Blue brothers arrive.

I set all of this in motion for my own peace of mind and my family’s safety. Am I anti-social and unfriendly to strangers? No, I feel safe because I have made every attempt to be safe. When I am in public or driving around, I keep my eyes and mind on task and because of that, I have never had an accident I caused.

My home stays secure because my family is there and I am protective. There were no politics involved in my decision. Securing our border literally means creating a barrier. Can you imagine securing your house if you had no doors or windows? How about your car or truck that you have enslaved yourself financially to? Can you imagine how crazy that sounds? Let’s see what it looks like. “I believe in border security, but I want everyone to be able to waltz in at their leisure and everything will be okay.” Crazy and foolish.

Border security with a physical barrier ultimately says there will be a price to pay if you try to sneak in with or without drugs and children and women for sale. The price someone pays for breaking and entering my house (the last time I checked) could well mean the criminal trespasser(s) eat big lead. My family and I decide who enters our homestead, not anyone else. I have legal right to physically stop this person from entering and if it means I kill them, then so be it. Why are our borders any different? If they want what we have earned, then by all means enter legally and I have no sympathy for man, woman, or child that comes across unwanted and uninvited.

Examine why you believe what you do about securing our borders and if you think it is unnecessary, then I humbly ask you to unlock everything you own from this day forward and toss away your keys.

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April Showers bring...what?

Cedar Waxwing birds migrating north

Holy Toledo, have you ever experienced an April with these temperatures? I've been living in Texas since 1970 and I can't recall it being this cool. I've almost broke out my long handles. In a confession to my advanced age, I have actually owned long handled underwear with the flap in the back. I am not old enough to have wore the red wool variety though. I had a couple pair as a kid living in Michigan. Looking at the weather in the north, I imagine a lot of folks there are wishing they had a pair.

Even though we are having much cooler temperatures than we normally experience, seeing the snow still falling in Colorado, the Dakotas, and Montana makes me appreciate living on the Gulf Coast all the more. One reason I love our current cool days is because for the most part, we are experiencing humidity below 50%. On top of that, who can remember temperatures in the 40's in April? Where are the April showers that bring May flowers?

Don't get me wrong, I am loving this weather - much of the time. I feel like a caged animal if I am stuck inside and for the most part, unless I'm working on one of my many projects, I am outside on the patio or working in the yard. Our yard is showing how much it enjoys these better temperatures also. Seeing everything is growing very fast, my chipper/shredding machine has already paid for itself. Everything I trim goes through it, cutting and chipping the green and brown refuse to look like oatmeal.

I put it right back in my beds and hit it with a liberal amount of 10-10-10 fertilizer. Of course I would like Mother Nature to lend a helping hand so I don't have to use drinking water to wash it all into the ground. Question: does it bother anyone else to use precious potable water to feed our shrubs and lawn? When a large population of earth have little or no drinking water and we throw it on the ground and simply pay extra, it seems terribly wasteful.

My neighbor collects all of his A/C condensate in a large tub and uses it to water his many container plants. I'm thinking of doing the same. All you have to do is plug the drain hole in the A/C pan and let it overflow out the side of the soffit. He extended the drain pipe with PVC to direct it into a 50 gallon poly tub. It makes me wonder how many other little projects we could do that will recycle waste. Maybe we just have to let younger generations handle it, right? Scratch it off the list as a old dogs, new tricks, kind of thing. Anyway, its just a thought and probably a paradigm shift we all should make.

I like to keep the house cool and it stays on 69 degrees most of the time. In winter, we let the house temp fall to the low 60's or even the high 50's before we fire up the furnace. Now, I'm trying to wean us off the 69 by raising the thermostat to 71. I know. Its hard and a true sacrifice. After all, we are Americans. We want what we want and that is that. Come take my guns, just leave my thermostat alone! Yes, that is an unrealistic compromise, but just as passion-filled.

All too soon, these perfect temperature days will give way to high humidity and a sun that will bleach our bones. Then we will be back in hurricane season and torrential downpours and these days will be forgotten. However, they are not gone yet and if you love being outside as much as I do, please take advantage by eating outside and just sitting on your patio and basking in our great outdoors.

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The anti-gun movement myth

 It appears to me the anti-gun violence protests are a total manipulation of logic by some group wanting to disarm America. The 2nd Amendment is to protect us from our own government, so why would anyone want to give up this liberty? Didn't Hitler and Stalin disarm their citizens before taking complete control? Does anyone believe North Korean's are allowed to own guns? In Cuba, only the state is armed. How has that worked out for them? Well, we know how it turned out for Germany and Russia.

Any possible legislation will have zero effect on mentally unstable individuals, anarchists, neo-Ludites, religious zealots, terrorists, and criminals. Law-abiding gun owners are not guilty of a danged thing. Protesters are registering to vote and one declared they would vote out anyone supporting the NRA. Let me see. How many NRA members have been guilty of shooting up a school? Please cipher that one for me. I'll dig it up for us. None. "Worthy of note is that the victims of mass shootings constitute less than one half of one percent of shooting deaths."

If laws stopped people from committing criminal acts, why are our roads littered with beer and alcohol containers? Think about it. Law-abiding people do not drink and drive. Should we pass more laws that say that you cannot have more than a 6-pack or a pint of adult beverage in your refrigerator? Will this stop criminals from drinking and driving?

"In Texas the "total costs of a DWI arrest and conviction range from $5,000 to $24,000 for a first-time offense. In the Austin area, offenders can pay $6,000 to $21,000 in fines, fees and other costs." I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of stash setting around marked "disposable".

I have guns... a lot of guns and carry one most of the time and have for many years. I am not a threat. I am the opposite of a threat. I may just save your life. It wouldn't matter if I was carrying a bazooka or dressed like Arnold in Commando with an M-60 and grenades hanging off my chest and belt. Logic, folks. Criminals will be criminals and if a misguided zealot wants to kill people, no law is going to stop them. Only another law-abiding person with a gun can do it.

I am always reminded of a true story of a young couple who moved to Los Angeles from Boulder, Colorado. Both were very educated and had extremely strong anti-gun philosophies. One month after arrival after she was mugged and their apartment ransacked, they were both carrying guns and taking firearms training. Their philosophy did not protect them. It is all relevant. This story is true. Hunkering and cowering down in a corner will only get you killed.

Another thing I learned years ago in marital arts training is if a person wants to unexpectedly strike you, they can pretty much do it. If a misguided or deranged individual decides to target a school, or a group of people, they will do it, even if it is in a military installation and the victims are soldiers. The only thing that will stop them is a person with a gun.

I suspect many of the protestors in the anti-gun movement are in it to be part of something they feel is honorable and "cool". I also wonder what they will do when faced by someone with a weapon who intends to rob or do them or their family harm. I can pretty much tell you that being armed with a philosophy as your main weapon is going to be a rude wake up call. If you survive, I would also bet that more laws are the last thing you will want. You are going to want a gun, because laws don't stop the people who prey on society.

As a veteran, a black belt, and a graduate of the Baytown citizen's police academy I have never attacked anyone and I carry a large caliber, one shot, one kill gun. One officer summed it up very well. "If you have a permit to carry a firearm, by all means carry it. My life may depend on you being there for me." 

The more we learn, the less we know

If I have seen it once, I have seen it repeatedly. A Ford F-250 was used to crash through the front of a business to steal an ATM. I can't recall seeing any other truck used, but I am sure there are other brands and weight class trucks and cars used for this crime. It is so frequent and deliberate, that even our top cop had his truck stolen from his driveway. I asked one of our police lieutenants why they steal Ford trucks and if I remember correctly, they learn how to grab this specific truck in prison school. I say school, because that is where criminals learn their tricks. By the way, our prisons are full of guilty criminals, contrary to what some would like the general population to believe.

"What should I do if I own one of these Ford F-250 ton trucks?" I asked. "Sell it," was his immediate answer. The truth is almost no vehicle is exempt from being stolen if the criminal has done their homework and is devious enough to take on the task. However, for arguments sake, let's play with this a bit. What if the media stirred up the public over 3/4 ton Ford trucks, but took it a step further and demonized all 3/4 ton trucks and the companies that build accessories for them. They push it to the point that if you own one, you are part of the problem. never mind that the only crime you have on record is slow-rolling through a stop sign.

It goes without saying that Ford and possibly Toyota, Nissan, GMC, and Chrysler would have their lobbyists in full combat mode to fight any legislation and anti-rhetoric the media (and Alec Baldwin, Jimmy Kimmel, and the entire gaggle of The View honkers) righteously bellowed. FOMOCO (body by Fisher) would organize incentives to get more people into their high dollar pick-em-up trucks and happy Ford owners would be depicted as flag-waving skinhead rednecks on the youtube channels. Most likely they would also be homophobes and racist too.

There would be a flurry of marches by the various liberal groups demanding justice and somehow somewhere one of these trucks would run into a playground or school and kill some innocent chirren. It would not be noted by any news source that the driver of the truck was a criminal fleeing from law officers. The cops would be portrayed as racist and heavy club wielding incompetents and more fuel would be thrown on the fire.

All across the country, high school and college students would stage mass protests over the use and ownership of not just Ford F-250 trucks, but all 3/4 ton trucks and being easily persuaded and inexperienced, they would feel a sort of liberation and this would give them hope. First and foremost, they would demand softer bumpers and trucks with less carrying capacity. Second, they would want a bill passed that forced current owners to remove the ability of these trucks to carry a 3/4 ton load. "Who needs a truck that can carry 1500 pounds? That is ridiculous! Trucks kill"

One 31 year old bussed-in "college senior" screams at the camera and shouts, "Do you even realize that during an average ATM heist, the truck and damage estimate is almost $150,000 and you idiots can't see that the Ford truck is to blame?" There is an immediate loud chorus of cheers and one student throws a rock and busts out the window of a police cruiser. The angry crowd has signs condemning violence, but is seriously getting rowdier by the moment.

Two months into this media frenzy, counter claims begin to surface on youtube where Ford owners talk about never using their truck to crash into buildings or to steal ATM's. Sadly, the media has saturated the collective consciousness of the country and everyone is sick of hearing about it. But the damage has already been done to many easily impressed people. Their conclusion is that all 3/4 ton trucks are the real bad guys, not the criminals that used them. Happy truck owners never bought into the negativity, so nothing changed there. Six months later another Ford 3/4 ton truck used to steal yet another ATM, overshoots a corner and plows over tiny babies at a day care center and the whole outrage starts again. The message here is all 3/4 ton trucks kill people, not just Ford's.

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Is owning a gun really a bad thing?

Come and take it.

I grew up in a gun-owning family.  As far as I know, I am the only one of us 7 who has ever pointed a real gun at someone with the intention of pulling the trigger. My first firearm was a single shot 12 gauge Savage shotgun my Dad or Mom won at a turkey shoot in Woodstock, Georgia.  I was 14. My brother Gordon was one year younger than me and they bought him one identical to the one I got.

At the onset I want to clarify something. If you are anti-gun and agree that Americans shouldn’t have the Constitutional right to own a firearm or form a militia, then this column won’t change your mind. However, if you sit on that one inch of board and could fall to one side of the voting fence or the other, then read on.

Owning a firearm is an amazing right. It is not something that should be taken lightly.  A right by definition is a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.

It’s a privilege also, which by definition is a special advantage, immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all. You see, if you are a convicted felon, you cannot own a firearm, albeit with a few exceptions. But for the most part, you have lost that right and that privilege.

But let’s say for arguments sake that for the most part you are a law-abiding citizen. Occasionally you drive faster than the speed limit or jaywalk, but within the scope of this line of thought, you are not a criminal. Our constitution allows you to own a firearm and this is in the second amendment: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the Right of the People to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

The amazing thing about this amendment is how it addresses our future government’s possible ability to try and nullify it. "Any and all laws, rules, regulations, proclamations, etc., Pro or Con, which may be entered in the record, addressing these freedoms are unconstitutional". This was put into our constitution to protect us from a tyrannical government. What?

Indeed. We have finally arrived at a place where the government does not represent the bulk of voting America. Once in office, they do everything in their power to support the party they are affiliated with, regardless of what their voter’s desire may be. Donald Trump is gaining velocity because he will not align himself with this self-serving single party nonsense.

Hillary protected by men with guns, but is anti-gun for you and I.

On January 5^th, he is quoted as telling Hillary Clinton that if she feels so strongly against citizens having guns, then she should dismiss her bevy of secret service agents. She won’t do it because her life matters, but according to her, yours apparently don’t. I have stressed this same logic many times over.

Now here’s the real kicker.  All of this talk about gun ownership and whether law-abiding citizens can own and carry guns has no effect whatsoever on organized crime, common violent criminals, and people who are just angry bat crazy.  Tightening gun laws will have no effect on them and only serve to disarm those of us who want a first line of defense to protect our families and ourselves.

But let’s back up a bit.  As a long time martial artist, I want to bring out a point about resisting an attacker.  Owning a gun and having a permit to carry it is only half of the equation and the second half can’t be purchased or tested in a classroom.  This is the terrible truth of carrying a legal firearm or having it for home defense when confronted by an attacker.

The time may just come when someone will call your bluff and break into the house you’ve told everyone you will defend with a gun.  “I’ll blow them away!” may just be put to the ultimate test of taking another human’s life and folks; this is not something you ever want to have happen to you.  But if that time comes, you better make danged sure you can pull that trigger, or put that gun away right now and get a Rottweiler.

This cannot be taught and tested in a open carry, boxing, mixed martial art, or karate class.  You can either do it, or you can’t and waiting to find out when you need to do it is a might weak strategy.  Most of us live under a moral code of conduct which a crazed person or a criminal does not. In my mind’s eye I have envisioned bracing this kind of person so many times I cannot number them and I believe I can pass that horrifying test, but maybe not. I have before, but what about next time, or the time after that?

However, I still want the constitutional right and privilege to decide if I can own and carry a firearm. I do not want the Federal government making that decision for me. In the meantime I can keep my firearm safely on my hip or in my home and no one is harmed by my possession of the gun and it will stay that way.

*Quote from Wikipedia

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Goodbye Concealed Handgun Permit

Come January 1^st, anyone with a concealed handgun permit can walk down the street with the holstered weapon in plain sight. This sounds like the Wild West, right? Visions of wild-eyed Tea party radicals swaggering around daring anyone to challenge them is one image that some may conjure up. Another is a mom grabbing her child up by the arm and running from the store because “that man has a gun, mommy”.

I will share my thoughts on the first scenario. It’s scary and I hope I don’t see that fellar.  No one wants to see someone walking around with a gun on their hip acting like an ego starving lunatic. I know a whole slew of people who legally carry and I don’t think any of us plan on carrying any differently that we are right now.

Over many years I have repeated that no time in my history have I seen a time of turmoil to match the 1960’s… until now. In case you are unsure of what I am referring to, I’ll point it out in easy to understand terms and I am not inferring you are incapable of understanding big words like verisimilitude.

The Vietnam War, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., the emerging drug culture, race riots, the Yuppie movement, and the list goes on. I was a kid who witnessed the racial tension and the war on the nightly news. I was soon to enter the fray upon graduation from high school and I should have been carefree.

The truth is I felt the anxiety many years before I graduated, but being an optimistic kid, I knew I would get through it. Many years have passed between 1970 and 2015 and that old anxiety has came back. I think it slowly began to slip back in about 3 years ago.  Before I write anything else, I want to make it very clear I am not trying specifically to target and bash Obama, even though I think many of his decisions are taking us dangerously close to anarchy, but it is what it is.

I think our government has lost contact with the very people who voted them into a position of choosing what we need. They are no longer a group who is doing the will of the people. The partisan squabbling and resistance to work things out has led us to a President who appears to do whatever he wants and a Secretary of State who is above the law… and no one can or will do anything about it.

I’m not 100% sure here, but I think a great many Vietnam Veterans cringe when they think about John Kerry as the chief foreign affairs adviser. The Obama’s administrations total focus on climate change while ignoring domestic terrorism is a perfect example of the cat chasing its own tail while ignoring the rats creeping in through open holes.

Mr. Obama is predictably going after the guns while him and his family are guarded and will be guarded for the rest of their lives by men with guns. His life matters, but yours evidently does not. It is the most preposterous paradox I have ever seen. Why is it that they cannot see this? They are surrounded by people with guns protecting them, but Mr. Obama and all his cronies want us to give up our right to carry a firearm and protect our families. The bad guys have machine guns and travel in packs and we can only have a long gun that shoots 5 bullets? What? The President’s guys have machine guns and 30 round magazines under their coats. Our lives don’t matter.

It reminds me of the English officer in Last of the Mohicans wondering why Hawkeye can call himself a loyal subject of England and not fight for the king. Hawkeye flat told the officer he didn’t see himself as a subject to any man and that is the direction we are heading. Obama and Hillary are above the very laws they expect us to obey and I am far from being alone in this observation.  Hillary should be in jail right now.

As head of the CIA, General David Petraeus was having an affair. This, as far as I know is not a crime. His crime was that he didn’t tell anyone and this put him in a position of compromise and possibly being blackmailed. For this he was bounced out and disgraced.  “Eventually, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information Petraeus allegedly provided to his mistress and biographer.”

On the other hand, righteous Hillary has violated so many laws concerning classified material and yet is a front runner for President of the United Sates? Really? Seriously?  As an ex-First Lady, she is protected by Secret Service agents for the rest of her life and she’s going after the guns also? The idiocy of her hypocrisy is only hidden to those who blindly disregard her illegal transgressions and will giddily punch her ticket at the voting booth. I swear, the woman could come out saying she killed and ate a baby seal every morning for breakfast and folks would excuse her.

One reason the Second Amendment keeps getting so much attention is veterans of foreign wars know that arming ourselves is no fantasy strategy. War and terrorism on our soil is not only a possibility, but probably coming to our streets. Burying our heads in the sand is not only unrealistic, but living a Utopian dream. No, I will not open carry, but I won’t go out without my usual.

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People killing people

In light of the recent campus shooting in Oregon, I am reminded what a Russian truck driver told me when I asked about the many guns in America and if it bothered him seeing they can't have guns in Russia. "In Russia, when we want to kill someone, we use a hammer."

If someone is bent on killing people, they will find a way. This mass shooting in Oregon happened in a gun-free zone. No one except law officers were allowed to carry a firearm on campus and the college had voted one cop was enough.  A 30.06 sign banning everyone else from carrying a firearm insured the shooter would not be immediately stopped. All the sign does is make concealed handgun license owners as vulnerable as those that hate guns and just as helpless.

Chris Harper-Mercer

Our own police department views CHL carriers as augmentees and force multipliers in the event that the police department or an officer is overwhelmed. Look around your social group as an example. Many people you associate with carry a weapon, but you never see it and often times enjoy your own safety knowing Uncle Bob has his gun. I have carried a firearm for over ten years and I’ve never shot anyone.

When you live in a society where deranged or ideologically motivated people commit these types of crimes, putting up a sign is about as effective as swinging a feather at a cannon ball. Our President can issue a statement on his frustration over and over again and it will continue to propel the idea that guns kill people instead of people kill people.

Changing the second amendment of the Constitution and removing the inalienable right to protect yourself, is not going to stop a single deranged or misguided criminal from shooting up any place where people congregate. Here in an area where 6 million people rub shoulders, we are seeing more and more examples of CHL holders fighting back and that sure beats the alternative.

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Is the 2nd Amendment still relative in a modern society?

A well regulated militia is part of the 2nd Amendment

 The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

In a city of over 8.4 million people, “hundreds” marched this past week across New York City’s Brooklyn Bride to protest… owning guns.  It’s the 3^rd year in a row the group (Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America) has staged the march.

Let’s take a rational look at some of the info that was stated as hard fact by the media.  According to the CDC 80 gun deaths happen every day in the USA.  What?  That is a staggering number of murders!  My first impression was that we should do something until I read that the FBI stated “61% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. are suicides.”  Wait, so 2 out of 3 deaths by guns are self-inflicted?  That changes everything, right?  Danged math!

I am reminded of what a Russian truck driver told me one day, “In Russia, when we want to kill someone, we use a hammer.”  The poor security cop at the Houston area Wal-mart was stabbed 14 times by a zealot with a large hunting knife.  A Washington D. C. cop was attacked by a misguided religious fool with an axe.  The guns, the axes, the knives, and the hammers are all safe in the right hands.

I grew up post WWII in a house with guns.  My older sister and 3 younger brothers knew about the guns, where they were kept, and where the ammunition was.  I never touched them and neither did they.  My dad was a hunter and I shot my first game when I was in the 5^th grade.  By the time I was in the 9^th grade, we moved to a remote area and I got my 1^st shotgun; a 12 gauge single shot.

My younger brother, who was more mature than I, got one also.  My dad warned us to not load the shotguns until we had arrived at the place we would hunt and to “keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction” and we did.   Other than one time when we borrowed 2 “Spanish-made” double barrel defective shotguns, we never had an issue, but that’s another story.

By the time I qualified on the rifle range at Lackland Air Force base, hitting the target 86 times out of a hundred (the last 20 were on full automatic) I was well versed in the use of a firearm.  I’ve also had a concealed handgun permit for the last 10 years or so.  The weirdest thing about all of this is I’ve never fired a weapon in anger, or had a brush with the law.

You see folks; guns are not the real problem here.  People are - especially criminal people.  Criminals don’t procure their firearms at Wal-mart, Academy, or gun shows.  They get them through “fences” or by stealing.  If we disarm America, only criminals and cops will have guns and I’ll wager there are far more criminals than cops.  No thanks!

Just like the illegal drug trade, there is a lot of sweet moola to be made selling guns.  When I lived for a short spell in Highlands, I went squirrel hunting and came back and in my garage, I set 5 guns out to clean them.  I used a .22 and a shotgun on the trip, but decided I would do a once over on all my guns.  While I was in the house, someone stole all 5…

Within a month another person stole a number of firearms from my brothers locked house also.  Where did these guns go?  Should the government force everyone with a firearm to own a safe?  I think not, but both thefts woke us up.  We are far more careful now.

"We have more gun-related deaths than any other developed country. Gun deaths now outpace traffic fatalities in our country," said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY. "It may take years, it may take decades, but the tens of thousands who senselessly lost their lives at the barrel of a gun will not be forgotten."

Uh, Representative Maloney?  You do realize this is because guns are banned almost everywhere but here right?  In other countries they use tools and knives to kill each other.  And by the way, why would it take years and decades to not forget people killed by guns?  Also the claim of auto-related versus gun-related deaths is not true.  Dang math again!

I also detest the Democratic Party for constantly harping on this, when a great deal of these actual gun-related crimes happen in heavily Democratic Party voting demographics.  Do the math if you think I am wrong.  Why don’t they expend their energy on educating the public instead?  Oh yea, I forgot.  There are a lot of voters in these regions and they don’t need background checks to get all guns their money can buy. 

I have genuine empathy for those who have lost loved ones by people committing crimes with guns and as someone who lost a son due to the violence he experienced in Iraq, I can say that with conviction.  I do however believe the 2^nd Amendment of the constitution is still valid.  As a law-abiding citizen, I not only want to retain the right to arm myself against criminal intent, but also en masse (state militia) against our federal government if it comes to that.  After all, wasn’t that the original intent of the writers?

California Militia Men
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God, Guns, Self-Defense, and Oscar?

I read with great interest the letter written to the Sun by Rick Crotts and I read it about six times.  Other than a missing word, which I filled in, and the unintentional implication in the opening paragraph that a person might use the Oscar Pistorious trial to kill a person, it was definitely food for thought.   Incidentally, I am not following the trial, so I can’t answer any of the six specific trial questions Mr. Crotts posed and I am not sure anyone else can either.

For instance, the question of, “How many times did this man prevent a tragedy using a gun and how many times did he create one instead?” can only be answered by the Almighty.  I say that facetiously, as I see the points he is making in his two question sentence.  The same could be said of anyone using diplomacy instead of a “gun” however.  The answer would be the same, “Who knows?”

The letter was intended to show a parallel between using a handgun for self-defense and outright murder and of the fifteen questions raised in the letter; I am going to address the nine that would apply to me as a concealed handgun permit holder and thus most everyone else who possesses one.  Mr. Crotts’ letter was heavy on questions and equally absent of solutions, but that is my opinion and you may have felt he spoke to your heart.  I do not agree entirely and I’ll explain in a bit.

I do agree with the intent of his letter and that is the “awesome responsibilities associated with using a gun in self defense.”  Back years ago before my physical abilities began to wane, I was a proud black belt martial artist with the confidence to handle most anyone who decided I was a target, but then, there wasn’t the proliferation of armed assailants we are seeing now in the news.

The CHL permits were just becoming available and I put off getting certified for the very reason Mr. Crotts wrote about.  I didn’t want the responsibility of killing someone on my conscience.  For years black belt holders were viewed as loaded weapons, with “registered hands” and the responsibility of not using unjustifiable force was upon us, both socially, legally, and personally.  It was enough and many black belts take this responsibility seriously past the point of fighting. 

In other words, they don’t fight anymore than most CHL owners look for opportunities to “blow someone away”.

Second, I want to take time to say that anyone with a real black belt, after years of study, is fully capable of maiming, crippling, or killing another human being.  Don’t believe the hogwash you see in Hollywood movies where two or more practitioners beat on each other for ten minutes and even the mixed martial arts bouts have many rules to safeguard the fighters.  Real combat is short and swift and if both have skills, both get hurt, regardless of who wins.

About 99% of having the ability to bring severe or fatal harm to a fellow human will be dependent on the mental state of the person with the skills or gun and their confidence level.  As an alpha personality with a black belt and a CHL, I can’t for 100% certainty say I will be up for the confrontation if and when it happens, or if I will make absolutely the right decision.

I, as a degreed self-defense practitioner would like to think I will and I have years of extensive training to possibly bolster my assertion – but I can’t say for a certainty until that time comes and I think that pretty much answers this question, “Does the average individual even act rationally when they are mortally afraid, justifiably or not?”  No one can say for sure they will do the right thing until it happens, regardless of what they tell themselves they will do – unless there are children involved.  The violence is then immediately justified without thought.

On these questions, “What do I do if I wake up in the middle of the night with a loaded gun nearby, hearing an unfamiliar or unanticipated noise? Is that a legitimate reason to shoot somebody?”  The answer to the first one is you arm yourself, hunker down, and call the police.  If it is indeed an intruder and you do not have other people living in your house and they come through the door, you shoot them by aiming for the center of their body.  If you have other people in the house, you are going to be forced to investigate exercising great control.

“If I want to be sure that I don’t make a mistake in shooting, how do I do that? Turn on the lights and get a good look? Do I call out for someone to identify themselves?”  If you don’t have confidence or the ability to identify a noise or intruder, you simply cannot use a firearm to “recon by fire”.  Call the police and hunker down.  Don’t yell out or turn on a light.  Wait for the police.  As far as waking up and thinking straight goes, that is what the hormone adrenaline is for.  It’s God’s auto-pilot to warn and equip us to run from or react to danger.

Unless you are a B.A.S.E. jumper adrenaline equals fear and it should.  Everything in you will make you want to run and this is normal.  Having a gun in your hand doesn’t negate this over-whelming feeling.

“If I observe a crime, even a violent one, out in public, do I really want to blaze away with my gun, perhaps escalating the violence or hurting a bystander? If someone else with a gun sees me firing a gun, what prevents them from seeing me as a threat and joining in, with me as the target?”  I’ll answer the first one, first.  Nope, call the police and hunker down.  Don’t do a thing unless you are personally threatened.  If the armed robber turns their gun on you, you will be forced to engage them or be a victim.

On the second question, if you are observed shooting a gun, you are potentially a bad guy to everyone at the scene regardless and will be treated as such until and when the police arrive.  Put the gun in plain sight and keep your hands out of your pockets until the police can sort it out.  Only talk when spoken to.

Like I said, earlier, I see the gist of what Mr. Crotts is writing and believe I understand he is attempting to educate by getting people to define what they would do and thus my take on it.  Your views may differ from mine, but that’s okay with me.  In the meantime, I will continue to arm myself and as always, stay out of trouble.
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I am posting a letter to the Baytown Sun published 4-15-14 for your consideration.  It poses 15 questions about gun ownership and whether a person should defend themselves.  In the following blog post, I will answer the majority of the questions.

A case study in guns & self defense

Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2014 12:00 am
Having written recently about the awesome responsibilities associated with using a gun in self defense, I note the trial of Olympian Oscar Pistorius as a case study in the associated issues. Any handgun owner who proposes to use it to kill another person when they deem it necessary should be watching this tragedy closely.
Numerous details surround any use of deadly force in self defense or to prevent a crime. One very important such detail most certainly is the probability of this type tragedy occurring from gun usage the probability that gun usage will actually prevent a tragedy.

How many times did this man prevent a tragedy using a gun and how many times did he create one instead?

Those who encourage more and more private gun ownership as a deterrent to criminally induced mayhem might consider another question right along with the one raised above. As guns proliferate for the purpose of self defense, what is the almost certain result in terms of accidental and later regretted maimings and killings? 

What do I do if I wake up in the middle of the night with a loaded gun nearby, hearing an unfamiliar or unanticipated noise? Is that a legitimate reason to shoot somebody? 

If I want to be sure that I don’t make a mistake in shooting, how do I do that? Turn on the lights and get a good look? Do I call out for someone to identify themselves? 

Do I even wait to wake up good, so I can think straight? 

So many real life questions which maybe I haven’t considered in the rush to arm myself.

Any scenario in which one might propose to use a gun to deter crime has the same issues. 

Serious considerations attach to the use of deadly force by private citizens no matter what the situation. If I observe a crime, even a violent one, out in public, do I really want to blaze away with my gun, perhaps escalating the violence or hurting a bystander? If someone else with a gun sees me firing a gun, what prevents them from seeing me as a threat and joining in, with me as the target? These questions are the essential ones.

There is no need to even worry about the actual facts surrounding the Pistorius trial. 

The issues are all there regardless of whether the defendant is a murderer or the victim of overzealous defense. The young woman remains dead, and he remains scarred for life, even if actually a murderer. 

Even if murder was committed, the claim of fear and the right to self defense, may well absolve Mr. Pistorius of legal responsibility, much as happened in the recent prominent case in Florida. 

There are no witnesses to dispute that claim, so absent some concrete evidence to the contrary, what is a jury to do? Was the defendant rightfully afraid for his life? 

Was he legally justified in trying to protect himself with deadly force? 

Did he exercise the good judgment of the average individual? 

Does the average individual even act rationally when they are mortally afraid, justifiably or not? 

Every last one of these questions and many more are essential to any real discussion of guns. 

As gun owners, we might do well to consider and answer them for ourselves right now instead of later, in the middle of a dark fear filled night. 

Rick Crotts

Baytown
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Gun Control? Will Criminals be disarmed? No, you will.

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I've stayed out of this from the beginning and want to make it clear that I haven't bought a single firearm or cartridge in the last year. I do however own a number of long and short firearms, along with numerous Asian weapons which I’ve studied and am skilled in their use and it is no one’s business what I've bought outside of a gun store purchase. New purchases are documented and registered if you will, but if I buy a shotgun from Joe Blow, I do not want to register it, period.

I hope, hope, hope the day never arrives when I have to defend my family against an abusive US government, but that is why our forefathers wrote in the 2nd amendment and if anyone thinks it couldn't happen, just look at the long history of countries falling due to an abusive government.

I have a clean record and a CHL, plus I am a Vietnam veteran with an honorable discharge. On top of that, I am a black belt with many years of private study and practice. I do not want to be a victim - ever and I've taken steps to secure my home and family to that possibility. No one has to fear my presence unless they plan to cause harm to me or my own.

I do not have a Class 3 license, don't plan on getting one, and I do not sit around caressing my firearms or dream of "blowing someone away". I think in many ways, I represent the average American citizen pro-gun person.

Criminals do not walk into Academy and fill out the forms to get weapons. They steal or buy them on the black market. Take away the right to purchase firearms will only result in strengthening the black market and criminals will have a secure supply, while making people like me, less secure.

In that Utopian world free of guns, someone will still have guns beside the police - so there is no Utopia. Utopia is an unachievable myth. So, in the meantime, I am one hundred per cent behind the law-abiding citizen making legal purchases of firearms, with large capacity magazines, specialty self-defense loads of ammo, and rifle stock and barrel configurations resembling military “assault rifles”, which of course, they are not.

I am also against the current administration attempting to push a long-established agenda through, using the tragedy at Sandy Hooks as a smoke screen.

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Should I be Scared too, Eddie?

Is our government driving this great country into the ditch with total abandon? Are we on a runaway train ride into destruction? Is our country is such steep decline that we will never recover our former position as a world leader of freedom? Is there a global conspiracy to combine the whole world under one ironclad fist? Should I buy up food and guns and bury them in my boat shed?


I remember years ago when I point-blank asked (in response to the many warnings) the question of "What can we do then?" and the reply from the conspiracy theorists was "There's really nothing we can do. It's too big. It’s a runaway ride into slavery."

So, since there was nothing I could do, I decided to roll on.

I continue to vote for the lesser of the 2 evils. I work the system the best I can for my family. I save what I can and I enjoy life to the best of my ability. I pursue hobbies. I try to influence my local government to improve our collective lot. I attempt through my Blog to influence those around me who actually read what I write with whatever is on my mind at the time and whatever facts are at my fingertips and this changes, so my opinion changes.

I try not to worry, but I find myself worrying.

Are we supposed to all move out into the woods, store up food and ammo and become anarchists? What, I once again ask (since so many claim to have their ear so close to the pulse of this coming dilemma) do you all experts suggest each of us do to stop it?

Can you give us clear advice? What exactly have you all personally done to change the future? It seems so many are alarmed, but no one knows how to reverse it.

Anyone can stand on a stump and yell out warnings (such as "WE NEED CHANGE!" - Barack Obama), but unless they can deliver a clear-cut message that actually answers the myriad of problems, they are wasting their breath and my time. Personally I hope Mr. Obama suddenly jerks from sleep and decides to drop all agendas except the one that will benefit all Americans, my family included.

Many mainstream American voters are sick and tired of our government in general, regardless of which party is boasting about having the answer. I can’t recall so many people being angry over all government as we are seeing right now. Usually they are mad about one party or the other, but the TEA parties are just mad at poor government period.

Ron Paul doesn’t have a chance either and I think he is true to what I believe - less government is better. I don’t even want to see the government in my business unless there is a disaster and then I want to see my government step in and help the people. I do not want to see my Government borrow 2.5 million dollars from Chinese banks and give it to Libyan charities ran by Dictator Qadaffi’s children, and thank God the State Department was denied this preposterous recommendation by our Congress.

Here in Texas folks are storing up ammunition. Some think it will be taxed it through the roof, while others think they will need it in the coming revolutionary war. I figure if it gets down to an internal war (read: war against Globalism and a One-World Government), there will be plenty of guns and ammo laying on the ground - plus, I have always believed if a person stored up enough food, etc. to hold them over for a year, it would all be taken away violently by the scavenging masses anyway, so why bother?

I wish I knew exactly what to do, but I don't, so I will continue to read, watch, eat, work and write - just like before.