Fight The Good Fight

On the verge of something great and terrible, at the precipice and upon the ledge we stand.  We are so very near to the end game, that payoff for all the discord sown in our homeland. I pray for those lost souls who have bought into the lies spoon fed the masses.  The violence we see now is but the beginning and it is only a taste of what those playing this game wish to see.  For the great power grab to take effect we must become embroiled in a war against ourselves.  And it is happening.

My heart is breaking at the deaths of warriors at the hands of those using sheep’s clothing to blend among those we protect.  Dallas, Texas has seen one of the worst attacks on police I have seen in my time in law enforcement.  And I fear this is only the start of something some very intelligent and calculating people in power wish to see.  The end game is not yet clear, but it is always about power and control.

Pray if you can, if you will, if you believe.  And if you are one of the wolves who believe the attacks are warranted, woe unto you.  Though my heart breaks now, I am still resolved to fight unto my last breath.  I know that I will awake in the morning and continue about my day and still hold my head high for I and my brethren are honorable and live by a code only few comprehend.  But tonight I go to sleep with the heaviest heart I have had in a very long time.

I have shed tears sporadically throughout the evening as more news has come out of Texas.  I have had to hold them in while in the presence of my children for I do not wish to frighten them.  I have looked upon them and wondered at the cost to them should I meet a similar fate as those who have already made the ultimate sacrifice.  Too many people make too much noise about too many things they know so very little about.  This electronic age has given a voice to some with exceptional insight and really great ideas about everything .  But it has also given voice to idiots and those who would bring out the worst in those who feel anything similar to their despicable beliefs.

I am experiencing so many emotions right now: pain, heartache, sadness, anger, rage.  I have read some of the most hateful comments in the wake of several black men killed by law enforcement over the past few days.  And I have read vile comments made by some people in respected positions in society over the past few hours following the ambush attack on officer in Dallas that so far has resulted in four deaths with others still in critical condition.  I cannot even put into words the vitriol that comes to mind when reading such hate.  But I do not hate.  No, not hate.

I pity such useful idiots.

They are but idiots and are useful to those powers pulling their strings.  This is far from over, friends.  Far from over.  The thin blue line is strong and will continue, thank God!  But beware, those who applaud or even just condone and make excuses for such attacks on my brothers.  Those hands that attack the sheepdog will have no qualms about slaughtering the sheep.  And then what?

There is an end game.  There always is.

Hug and kiss those you hold dear: parents, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, lovers, all family and friends.  And pray.  No day is promised, and each day could be the last.  Use that time wisely and courageously.

Stay extra frosty brothers.  Watch your six.  Watch each other’s six.  Be extra vigilant.  And don’t ever stop fighting.

 

Why Do You Need A Rifle Anyway?

I recently got pulled into a social media discussion on friend’s feed regarding the great gun debate. I do have some rather strong views regarding guns, as do most, but I also tend to use a lot of factual data when commenting on those arenas that I work. Being a long time police officer and a firearms instructor gives me somewhat of a platform, but even that platform begs for data when taking either a pro or con approach to the question of guns and gun violence in this country.

So, I joined in the commentary and relayed some information regarding FBI statistical reports, Harvard studies, buried news stories, lies and misconceptions from politicians and media outlets, etc. But after a while I began to think a bit more on the lack of concept of death by some and how the focus seems to always come back to legal gun owners, law abiding citizens, having to explain their need for rifles, shotguns, handguns over and over and over. There is no need to explain such things. The right is there. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America describes our right to arms.

But don’t guns, specifically those nasty “assault rifles” or “assault weapons,” don’t they pose more of a threat to the safety of people in general? Why do regular people need to have access to such “military style” weaponry? What is the point? They are only used to kill people anyway. That’s what they are made for. Right?

Well, there are some problems with this type of thinking. Once again we are being asked to describe a need for a particular type of weapon because a segment of the population has been led to believe a particular type of weapon is worse than others. Their belief is based on myth, not fact. It is based on misinformation fed by a great many politicians and regurgitated by media outlets nationwide. The irresponsibility of those in power in using tragedy to push for control of the populace via gun control measures in appalling to many of us who see firsthand the deception. The statistical information is there for many of the unknowing to read and digest, but most are unwilling to do so. Even in the face of such information they remain bent on disarming people due more so to their dislike of guns in general rather than on any information verifying their stance that access to guns increases violence and murder.

Here are some statistics and their sources for any who would take time to read and enlighten themselves:

Per the FBI’s yearly crime report in 2014 there were

• 14,249 murders reported in the U.S.
• more than 8,000 murders were committed with firearms
• handguns accounted for more than 5500 murders
• rifles were responsible for 248 murders
• shotguns, 262 murders
• unknown type of firearm, 2052
• knives or other bladed weapons were used to murder 1567
• other blunt weapons (hammers, pipe, baseball bats, etc) murdered 1610
• hands, fists, feet were used to murder 660

The number of murders was a decrease from the previous year, and the number of murders per capita continues to decrease each year as it has since the FBI started compiling these statistics.

“In 2014, the estimated number of murders in the nation was 14,249. This was a 0.5 percent decrease from the 2013 estimate, a 3.2 percent decrease from the 2010 figure, and a 14.9 percent drop from the number in 2005.

There were 4.5 murders per 100,000 people. The murder rate fell 1.2 percent in 2014 compared with the 2013 rate. The murder rate was down from the rates in 2010 (6.1 percent) and 2005 (20.8 percent).”

In 2007 the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy published an article regarding an extensive study of firearms and their relation to murder and suicide rates. This study used available data from the U.S. as well as other nations the world over. The findings as reported were again contrary to the information being put out by many politicos and many in mainstream media. Civilian gun ownership does not increase violent crime and murder rates. On the contrary, such legal gun ownership tends to correlate to a decrease in violent crime and murder rates. And to go even further, restricting gun ownership tends to correlate to an increase in violent crime and murder rates, and complete bans increase those numbers even higher.

“If more guns equal more death and fewer guns equal less death, it should follow, all things being equal, (1) that geographic areas with higher gun ownership should have more murder than those with less gun ownership; (2) that demographic groups with higher gun ownership should be more prone to murder than those with less ownership; and (3) that historical eras in which gun ownership is widespread should have more murder than those in which guns were fewer or less widespread. As discussed earlier, these effects are not present. Historical eras, demographic groups, and geographic areas with more guns do not have more murders than those with fewer guns. Indeed, those with more guns often, or even generally, have fewer murders.”

To contrast the more than 14,000 deaths in this country due to murder, I also looked at other data regarding deaths in this country that can be prevented. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) collects data regarding motor vehicle involved deaths. This includes passenger in vehicles, on motorcycles, in commercial vehicles, in transport vehicles, and pedestrians. In 2014, IIHS reported 32,675 people had died due to traffic crashes of some sort. That number seems high (and it is) but it is important to note that even that is lower (per capita) than the previous year. As a matter of fact, based on the data collected by IIHS, there has been a fairly steady decline in the per capita death rate due to motor vehicle crashes.

Even with that knowledge we still need to look at the number of deaths. More than 32,000 people dead due to traffic collisions in 2014. Well, of course the auto industry is doing its part with the advent of ABS in the 90’s, airbags, crumple zones, and now automatic braking in some newer models, and a host of other safety features coming to a dealership near you. And still with these safety features people die in motor vehicle crashes. A lot of people. Every year. More than twice as many than those murdered each year. And about four times as many than those murdered by firearms.

Quite possibly the scariest death monster out there is the one we go to for help the most often: the medical profession. That’s right, medical malpractice causes more death than either of the means so far listed.

In 1984 The Institute of Medicine conducted a study of New York hospitals and based on that limited information concluded that up 98,000 Americans die due to medical errors each year. That number seems outrageously high. And the number of deaths from auto related crashes and from firearms pale in comparison. But a more recent and in-depth study was conducted in 2013 and published in the Journal of Patient Safety. The study found an alarming number of deaths are attributable to preventable harm to patients, i.e. medical mistakes. The data points to an astounding 400,000+ deaths each year in the U.S.

“There was much debate after the IOM report about the accuracy of its estimates. In a sense, it does not matter whether the deaths of 100,000, 200,000 or 400,000 Americans each year are associated with PAEs in hospitals. Any of the estimates demands assertive action on the part of providers, legislators, and people who will one day become patients. Yet, the action and progress on patient safety is frustratingly slow; however, one must hope that the present, evidence-based estimate of 400,000+ deaths per year will foster an outcry for overdue changes and increased vigilance in medical care to address the problem of harm to patients who come to a hospital seeking only to be healed.”

These are but numbers, facts, some data for you. I didn’t pull any of it out of the air or from some other less savory location. I just used my fingertips to find it. Got it from reputable sources on the interwebz. It is available to the masses, but apparently it is far easier and more enlightened to use social media and the words of those wonderful agenda benders in the positions of power and in the mainstream media to turn us against one another while those hands of theirs work on something else. I mean, why in the hell is there not some outcry for reform of medical care? More than 400,000 killed each year due to medical mistakes or negligence!

At the end of the day, people are going to have their opinions regarding any and everything. They are entitled to their individual opinions. But so too are the rest of us. I choose to base my own opinion on the things with which I am very familiar and on those things I have taken some time to actually study so as to have a somewhat educated view.

Enjoy your day, everyone. I think I need to do a little shooting. Pew!

Applies To Dogs, Old and Young

I wrote the majority of what follows while seated on an airplane, flying back home from a week-long trip to Nevada for training. The training was exceptional and kept the majority of my mind occupied during the week; it was the downtime during my trip home that allowed me some mental space in which to operate and put into words some of the extraneous thoughts that had been swirling about my head during the week. 

I began this trip to the Las Vegas area with some excitement and even posted a few photos during my first day seeing a few of the sites. I had no commitments on Super Bowl Sunday and was able to visit the Hoover Dam and even see a show following the Super Bowl.  The show was nice, though a bit raunchy for the likes of the family I was seated with. The week continued into the first day of the week-long class I was attending.  And my excitement was curbed not only by the amount of work we had to put in to prepare for our end-of-the-week test, but it was also greatly diminished by the ongoing news of police officers being gunned down nationwide.

Perhaps the most difficult news came regarding the news of the Riverdale (GA) Police Major who was shot and killed on Thursday.  I was in class when I began getting text messages regarding his death. I was a bit shaken to say the least. The class I was taking is put on by Force Science Institute, and it is not an easy course. It requires a lot of concentration during class (several of the presenters are college professors) and some amount of self-study outside of class. I found myself a bit stretched mentally as the week progressed.

Although I did get out a few more times during the week, I was a bit hesitant to do so. I made a few new connections with officers from other agencies, and ended up hanging out two nights with a few of them.  It was good to do so. Otherwise I likely would have found myself stuck within my own thoughts regarding the attacks on police officers that seem to continue to occur with only us making any real note of them.

The course is a full week long and focuses on the dynamics of human response to stimuli, human movement, and human memory.  All of these things are related to police uses of force and the effect stress has on the body and the mind. The cognitive processes, effects on memory, and reflex versus cognitive perceptions are also covered to a great degree.  But even so, it is difficult to process and remember so much information.  The program is but an introduction to a mountain of ever-increasing research into the processes by which the human brain functions in stressful situations and how that coincides with cognitive functions during and following Officer Involved Shootings (as well as other stressful force encounters).

I have been intrigued by Dr. Lewinsky’s work and the information I receive from the Force Science newsletter I regularly receive. This course has made me even more interested in learning as much as possible about the dynamics of motion, sight, sound, perception, and memory as they all relate to officer-involved uses of force.  The peer-reviewed research and published data do so much to disperse the myths floating around in the minds of those who rely on media and politicians (i.e., those with perceived and well-known agendas) for their information on police and our use of force training and procedures.

The amount of blatant disregard for human life is so apparent to me and my kind yet so blindly ignored by so many sheep.  So many people would rather believe something with no evidence or data to back it up. If only publicly asserted facts are given weight while more important yet contradictory others are ignored, what difference does it truly make then? The blame game is a very potent one indeed.  It directs the attention of those who perceive themselves as powerless against some grand scheme set in motion to suppress them.  But because of sheer ignorance of facts those same helpless become hapless and fall prey to the true power that seeks to subjugate them.

We are not the enemy of the people.  We are its guardians at times and its warriors at others.  We are the sheepdogs who roam amongst you, seeking out the wolves who would have you believe otherwise about us. Though our teeth might at times frighten you, know this: Should you allow the greater powers to file them down or even take them from us, you will be left defenseless when the wolves show up, or when those powers that be take full hold of all you so blindly have given them domain.

To my fellow sheepdogs, be ever mindful of your surroundings and ever guarded in your steps.  Watch each other’s sixes, and stay sharpened in your skills. Be mentally, physically, and spiritually prepared for the fight.  And do not speak ill of those warriors who go before us.  Don’t be that guy who purports to know all. We learn from each other’s triumphs and so too do we learn from each other’s mistakes. Honor our brothers by learning from their deaths.  What we learn, we teach. What we teach, we ought live.

Novice Shooters Can Be The Best Students

I began my law enforcement career at the tender age of 27.  Not quite so tender, but not the green age of 21 (the bare minimum).  I had been a teacher for four years prior to joining the ranks of the thin blue line.  And I was worried about being able to learn the job.  I had not been around guns of any kind growing up in Atlanta in a gun-free home.  I was worried about being able to shoot well.  Not just well, actually.  I wanted to excel.  At everything.  But especially shooting.  Not sure if that’s a testosterone thing or a competitive thing or what.  But I wanted to kick ass, take names, all while chewing gum and blowing bubbles.

So it came as no surprise to me that I had a natural knack for it.  The first day my class got to fire our handguns on the firing line I did exceptionally well.  I remember Instructor Sullivan commenting something along the lines of, “Those people who haven’t shot before are generally easier to teach.  They haven’t developed any bad habits yet.”  So there I was, minding my own business, when I became that guy.  The student in the class to prove the instructor’s point.

I went on to get the Firearms Award for my class.  (Though I lost the Academic Award–still haven’t gotten over that one.)  That stuck with me for the length of my 18-year-long career in law enforcement.  I had accomplished something so very important.  Shooting is one of the lowest occurring tasks we perform during our day-to-day duties, but it is one of the two highest in liability (driving being the other).  It is important to train long, hard, and correctly.  And to be able to shoot well in a training environment is very important, for when the real shooting begins and bullets are coming back at you, well let’s just say performance sometimes decreases a little (a lot).

So now I work at the academy, as a firearms instructor, the manager of the Weapons Training Unit (Range Master, even!), a qualified expert if you will, and I am reminded of lessons taught me when I came through the academy.  I remember not the specifics of what was said to me while I was learning to shoot, but I do recall some of the actual thought processes I was made to endure and suffer and relate to those officers who had come before me and had prevailed in combat and those who had not and had paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The ability to shoot a pistol well is a really good thing.  It is definitely important.  More important, I think, is the understanding of what that skill actually entails.  The becoming of a sheepdog is part skill and part mindset.  The proper melding of the two is pivotal in the creation of the consummate warrior.  It is a difficult thing to attempt to explain to anyone who hasn’t made the mental decision and preparation to take a life in defense of an innocent life or his own.

To dream of a society without evil is the dream of the sheep.  To dream of the fight against ever-present Evil and to prepare relentlessly for said fight is the dream of the sheepdog.  Sharpen your physical skills as often as you can through practice, and maintain your mental edge through daily thought processes.  Stay frosty, sheepdogs.  In all ways, stay frosty.

Active Shooter Training: It’s Not Just For Police Anymore

Today I sat in two very different meetings regarding active shooter training at two distinctly different institutions: a hospital and a church.  The meeting at the hospital was in preparation for a tabletop exercise to plan for an upcoming live drill.  The hospital already has armed security (some of them former law enforcement) and part time active police officers working off duty as well.  The meeting today was more of a preparation to meet with various managers and department supervisors to make sure certain details were readily and easily explained should they have questions.  My role in this tabletop will be more of an explanatory role as far as what the police response to an active shooter will be and why it might seem counter-intuitive to those in the healthcare field.

But the meeting later in the evening at the church was far different.  Though the church has a small contingent of uniformed police officers on Sundays, their main job is traffic direction at the end of the service.  Those officers do spend time in the church proper during the early part of the actual Sunday service and through a great portion of it, but they are not in the church the whole time.

And there are members in the church who regularly carry firearms (concealed) and have expressed an interest in carrying in church with the permission of the church administration.  And thank goodness the church is addressing this issue and asked for my input.  I gave the standard answer to many of the questions posed to me, falling back on the laws regarding carrying firearms and the rights of individuals to refuse to allow church officials from searching bags/containers and up to the possibility of persons being asked to leave and even possibly being arrested for Criminal Trespass should they refuse to leave the property.

This was only the first of several meetings this newly-formed safety committee has planned.  I am glad I was allowed to sit in on the first meeting and that I have been asked to participate in future meetings.  I was asked a very important question when I arrived: What do I feel is the most important consideration for the individuals who are going to carry firearms in the church?

Training.  I looked across the table at several faces and expressed my belief that proper training is the most important thing they can do to make sure they are best prepared for an active shooter or other deadly force encounter in the church. The meeting went on and I also briefly discussed a police response and the need for specific protocols for those armed individuals should they have need to draw their weapon in the church and should they be challenged by responding officers.

I was impressed with the forward thinking of the staff members in attendance.  They were in agreement with me when I stated later in the meeting that it is not a matter of if an attack will happen but when will it happen.

We prepare for the worst while we hope and pray for the best.  More sheepdogs (in sheep’s clothing) waking up and refusing to be victims.  God bless them and us.

Let The Clamor Commence

Talking heads and keyboard warriors speak loudly with proclamations of the need for more federal gun control legislation.  The false narrative of gun violence being out of control once again is being proclaimed.  Facts to refute such claims are willfully ignored and easily dismissed by those who find the gun itself as an evil to be rid of at all costs.

Well, folks, that’s just a bunch of malarky.

First and foremost, the USofA does not hold claim to more violence or murders per capita than other nations.  There is ample evidence to support that, and I have even referenced a very reputable Harvard publication to this end.  But the facts simply don’t fit, and therefore they are ignored.  A narrative in support of legislation to curb violence must be a good and sensible narrative, right?

No.  It simply is one of control.  It is one of slight of hand.  It is one meant to divide and conquer.  Beware the pundit who would blame an inanimate object for the actions of those who would kill, maim, or otherwise ravage the innocent.

Violence (to include gun violence) is rampant the world over.  Guns are simply more efficient a device, a tool if you will, at achieving said violence.  But the tool must not ever be restricted or denied, to a great extent, to the free people of our land.  I won’t get too deeply into the reasons behind the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution.  But there is great reason for us (individuals) to have access to weapons that our government has access to.  Humans do not change from age to age.

An all-powerful government with all-reaching control cannot be trusted to protect its populace from itself.  Power corrupts and so on.

And as for the need for more stringent gun control legislation, well let’s just say perhaps some people need to try to muddle through the legislation (federal) already on the books, much of which is not even enforced by our beloved Executive Branch (I wonder why):

Gun Control Act: 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44, 27 CFR Part 478

National Firearms Act: 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53, 27 CFR Part 479

Arms Export Control Act: 22 U.S.C. Chapter 2778, 27 CFR Part 447

National Instant Criminal Background Check System Regulations: 28 CFR Part 25

Nonmalleable Firearms: 18 U.S.C. Section 1715

And the rampant gun violence in cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, are more evidence to refute for tougher gun laws.  The gun violence there is the result of illegally owned guns.  (There happens to be a city in my own county which requires its homeowners to own at least one handgun, and the gun violence in that city per capita is extraordinarily low.)

China is one really great example though.  They don’t have a big gun violence problem.  It is almost non-existent.  The military and police have a pretty good lock on guns (though there are guns out there illegally).  Their police officers don’t have to deal with much gun violence (per capita).  But what they do have to deal with is edged weapons.  A lot of edged weapons.  Apparently, they like to use meat cleavers to do mass killings over there.  Meat cleavers.  They need more stringent federal legislation to curb that meat cleaver violence over there.

Oh, and let’s just keep out heads in the sand regarding the impending terrorism coming to our soil (or rather, already here).  There have been terror training facilities under surveillance here for some time.  The feds have been handcuffed in even surveilling them due to diminished resources and other weaknesses displayed from far above them.  My fears are not based on any abstract rhetoric.  My fears are based on the concrete data so many find so easy to ignore or simply dismiss.

Stay sharp, sheepdogs.  Many of us know what is perhaps even closer to being reality than others.  The rest of you (those who despise that evil gun), keep on watching and waiting for someone else to protect you.

The Beast Invited In

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” Revelation 14:13

But what of those still living and seeing the horror unfold before us?  It appears that so many are so very unwilling to call terrorist attacks what they are, especially if the attack is from an islamist.  It is amazing and at the same time necessary.  It is a culmination of a well-coordinated effort to weaken and destroy the West.  Us.

From the unity and resolve shown following the islamic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to the politically correct thought police of today who are ready and effortless in their ability to strike down any who might slander anyone of a protected designation.  Lest we forget ourselves and bow down to some self-proclaimed spokesperson for the people we claim to be.  We are far too great and far too capable of righteous violence ourselves to ever fall upon our knees and pray to falsity and live in abeyance to such drivel as is now becoming the norm in so many parts of the world.

But we must be prepared for such as is now approaching.  We must be ready to fight for what we love.  And the we I speak of is not just my brothers and I, for it is a given that we will fight, it is rather the quiet and resting giant in the heart of America that I speak of.  We are a great and mighty foe to Evil.  We need to be prepared to fight.  For death is the only defeat the Enemy understands.  And for any who believe as I, we know that death is not a defeat when the fight is righteous and the cause is our life, our liberty, our culture, our family, our faith.

I pray for peace for Paris, but my prayer for peace is through an awakening and through the use of force to fight and fend off the Evil now lurking in their midst.  I fear that Evil lurks in our own midst, and the beast will likely make moves here as well.

God bless all the warriors and those they deem worthy enough to protect.

Nightmares and Fears

Have you ever had a really strange dream that woke you and then stayed with you all day?

I’m sure some of you have.  It’s a weird thing, I suppose, but not anything so very out of the ordinary.  Yet for those in my line of work, some dreams are telling regarding what fears we suppress.  I guess dreams are telling for everyone else in this regard, but when part of your job is the constant possibility of using deadly force in the course of your duties those dreams can have a really telling and potentially chilling effect on the dreamer.

I awoke in the early morning hours of November 11, 2015, having had one such dream.  Or perhaps it was a strange series of dreams that morphed into the one which awoke me.  And of course it involved the use of deadly force, but it was not in the performance of police duties.  It was simply to stop some who were in the act of killing others.  But it was so very real and surreal.  It embodied several fears that have affected me in many different ways throughout my career.  And these fears don’t necessarily affect in a negative way.

Taking the life of any person is not something I relish.  I have a distinct understanding of my duties and my commitment to them is unwavering.  That said, I am in no rush to take the life of anyone.  However, I am ready and willing to use whatever force necessary to prevent anyone from causing such harm to me, my brothers, or anyone else in the public that might severely injure or kill.  I have trained for this my entire career and have known the righteous warrior within me for much of my adult life.  But such knowledge and training does not negate my humanity.

Public safety is one of those professions that exposes its workers to all manner of injury, mayhem, and death.  We do get to see the worst in people and the worst of humanity.  We get to see the ugly side of the world in which we all live, though many refuse to accept as reality.  And that, I suppose, is a good thing.  Good in that those willing and able to work to keep such abject Evil at bay do so on a regular basis.  But we still remain human.  We still are affected.  We still must face the demons we daily push into our subconscious.

Sometimes those demons come to us in nightmares.  I’m pretty sure every cop has had the really messed up dream in which the service weapon would not fire.  Or it fired and the round just sort of fell out of the gun, useless.  Or every pull of the trigger was a simple click on a dead primer.  Or the trigger would not pull to the rear.  Or all of the above and then some.  And sometimes we dream of the instances our guns work just fine, but it is the situation we must use them that is the disturbing part of the dream.

Children always have gotten me in my work.  I do not like visiting pain on children.  I do not relish being a part of the pain any child must bear.  And I have prayed I would not ever have to use deadly force on a child, any child, for any reason.  So of course I had a nightmare about children in deadly force encounters.  Of course.

There were a few dreams that morphed into one another.  But the one that got me and awoke me was a doozy.  I won’t get into the vivid details (and if you’ve read any of my fiction you are well aware I can be quite vivid in my description of violence, gun or otherwise), but I will give a little info on the overall feel.  Active shooter type situation.  People being shot at random.  No law enforcement yet on scene.  I am there off duty.  Hunkered down and hiding a few unknown children behind me.  Of course my pistol is in hand and I am sighting in on one of the two shooters.  I am preparing to take quick and speedy action to stop the killing.

But the shooters are a husband and wife team and they have their two children in front of them.  They are crouched behind their children using them as shields.  Head shots.  Both of them down.  Then the two children pick up the guns to start shooting again.  Of course I am left with but one choice.  Remember, I dream vivid details.  It’s not pretty, but I do my duty.  I stop their killing.

And I wake up nearly in tears.  Yeah, we’re all cold, heartless creatures I suppose.  I mean, who dreams about shooting parents and their kids?  Nobody but us cops, right?

God bless, warriors.

Emotions, Facts, And the Diversity Therein

“While American gun ownership is quite high, Table 1 shows many other developed nations (e.g., Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Denmark) with high rates of gun ownership. These countries, however, have murder rates as low or lower than many developed nations in which gun ownership is much rarer. For example, Luxembourg, where handguns are totally banned and ownership of any kind of gun is minimal, had a murder rate nine times higher than Germany…” -DON B. KATES AND GARY MAUSER

Last week I found myself teaching a new recruit class at our academy. Brand-spanking new recruits they are. I had them for a two-hour block on Cultural Diversity. Although my primary function at our academy is that of firearms, I am tasked with different subjects I find so very easy to instruct. Cultural Diversity is one such subject. And although the discussion during what ended up being a two-and-a-half hour session was enthralling all its own in reference to cultural diversity, as usual I found some way to tie in guns and the ever-looming specter of gun control.

The course itself is designed to not simply be a straightforward lecture, but it is rather a mechanism for involvement and exploration of the student recruits’ evaluation of their prejudicial beliefs. It is designed to encourage them to think beyond themselves and understand the need to not judge based on their limited experience and early learnings. And that inexplicably led to a discovery among one of the recruits regarding his beliefs regarding guns.

This particular recruit explained that he had grown up in Chicago. He also did not understand the concept of citizens owning and carrying handguns here in the great southern state of Georgia. When asked why he FELT the way he did, he could only respond that he was taught to believe that guns were bad. That people should not own them and that the police were the only ones who should have guns.

I had to take a moment to digest this information. And I also took the opportunity to explain facts versus innuendo and beliefs based upon opinion presented as fact. I asked the recruit if he was aware of the rate of violent crime up to and including murder by handgun in Chicago versus other cities in which citizens were able to legally purchase and own handguns. He did not. He could only re-state that he was always taught that guns were inherently bad.

I took the opportunity to explain a little of the information gathered from statistical information available in this country as well as that gleaned in the Harvard Journal article regarding available international data. I noted the confusion registered on his face. It is a very difficult thing to reconcile facts with long-held beliefs based so strongly on emotion. It is the uphill battle many of us face in attempting to educate so many who have been brainwashed into believing a falsehood presented as gospel.

For those who think it futile, it is not. Information is available and only needs to be disseminated. Take every conducive opportunity to spread facts and do not join in the debate of emotion. Arguing a feeling is as productive as emptying one’s bladder whilst facing into the wind.

The Arrogance of Feeling vs The Import of Fact (More Harvard Nonsense)

There is a compound assertion that (a) guns are uniquely available in the United States compared with other modern developed nations, which is why (b) the United States has by far the highest murder rate. Though these assertions have been endlessly repeated, statement (b) is, in fact, false and statement (a) is substantially so.

-DON B. KATES AND GARY MAUSER*

Arrogance is the killer of learning.

For so many individuals it is nigh to impossible to let go of a single, solitary position held for such a long time. Especially if emotion is so strongly attached to that mental position. Perhaps that is why so many people refuse to listen to any facet of any argument given in support of lawful gun ownership in this country.

I won’t get into much of the specifics in the Harvard piece from 2007, but I will likely spend some time in the future putting pieces of that information out there for more consumption. I find it so very interesting when I speak to those so vehemently opposed to civilian gun ownership that their biggest argument when facts are presented to them dispelling much of the misinformation fed to them by (fill in the blank), their most base thought is that they simply don’t FEEL people should have access to them. The gun scares them.

Well, the gun should scare those incapable of protecting themselves. They should rely on those of us willing and able to care for them to do so. But they should also realize that the government is not to be trusted with guaranteeing anything. The ability to defend oneself is the only way to guarantee a free society. If the governement owns all the guns (legal guns, for criminals will be sure to get weapons no matter what laws we subscribe to), then the government will have complete power over its people.

The 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution is the People’s endgame against any future tyranny in our land. It is there to protect us from ourselves, our elected leaders, those who would subvert the will of the people by means overt and covert alike.

Arrogance is the killer of learning, and the reaper of ill-sown seeds. Beware of whom you take your lessons and of whom you allow to plant in your garden.