Friday, October 11, 2013

You Being "Offended" Doesn't Mean I Have To Stop What I'm Doing!

Jennifer Link, in a Parade Magazine opinion piece titled -  "Is Gun Play Ok?" - ruminates about her boys and the fact they like to play with toy guns.  As I was perusing the column I couldn't help but feel she was somehow apologetic, as if this form of adolescent entertainment was somehow wrong - while explaining why boys need this kind of play, how it affects their development and yet, submissively lowering her eyes when faced with those that are "uncomfortable" or "upset" seeing children play with toy guns.

In the article she gives "common sense limits" for children playing with toy guns.  One of these reads...

“My boys also know that the play must stop immediately if someone expresses discomfort with the play, or if an adult or authority figure asks them to stop.”

Why?

When I was little, my Brother and I were taught to stand our ground if we felt we were in the right and to apologize if we were in the wrong.  Believe it or not, we were specifically told to “Stick to your guns!”

Compassion for others is a good thing, something children should learn at an early age, but acquiescing to others unfounded, ignorant and fearful beliefs only validates that persons outlook, giving them a false sense of self importance and begets the belief that if you are "offended"  you have the right to demand that people conform to your sensibilities.

This is patently untrue.

We are not responsible for what offends others sensibilities. People in this country have somehow
come to believe that if they are “offended” then others must stop what they are doing. This is wrong headed and should not be tolerated. If you're “offended” that my child is playing with a toy gun, or throwing a baseball or playing tic tac toe, then go someplace else.

It's a good read and she is right in many ways, it's just a pet peeve of mine... the whole "I'm OFFENDED!" thing.

Oh yeah, and as an addition… can we all commit to stop using the phrase “common sense,” as though saying it out loud makes it so?

Stay Safe and Carry Responsibly


My book -Concealed Carry and the War on the Second Amendment, a collection from the New Gunner Journal - is now available at Lulu.comAmazon and Barnes & Noble.  If you have any questions about Concealed Carry or are sitting on the fence, this would make a nice present to learn about the lifestyle and those who live it.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Carrying a 51 Hudson on your hip...

Finally in Illinois the process has begun for legal concealed carry.  


Here in the Great State of Confusion, we are required to complete a curriculum which includes a shooting test and of 16 hours of classwork - more classwork than any State in the Union.  I'm scheduled, along with my Son to complete the course work on October 27th, then fingerprinting and finally the wait for the Illinois State Police to put applications online - though this won't start until January of 2014.  Although they're telling us the permits should be approved in 90 days, I'll believe it when I see it.  Now, approximately 16 months from the time the Supreme Court ruled in December 2012 that Illinois carry laws were in violation of the Second Amendment, those that choose to carry concealed may do so outside the confines of our homes.

In anticipation of this, I've been breaking in my IWB (Inside the Waist Band) Crossbreed holster when I'm at home.  I've never carried before and after a very short while I'm already seeing a small problem.  The gun I've chosen, the one pictured up above, weighs in at 44 oz loaded with 45 acp ammo (8+1) - or roughly 2.75 lbs.  I'm telling you, it feels like a 51 Hudson is perched on your hip!

Being - as my Brother-In-Law would say - one of the bigger kids on the block - 6'3" and 300 lbs - means I don't have much in the way of hips.  I am of the pear shaped variety of chubby and wearing my gun on my hip is like tying a string around the fat end of a light bulb... it just keeps slipping off.  I walk around the house hoisting my pants every five steps or they and the gun will be dragging on the ground... and lets face it, no one needs to see that!

So I've decided to make the ATI my home defense pistol, kept in my safe, loaded, cocked and locked, always at the ready.  What will take its place?  Right now I believe I'm going to buy a Colt Pocketlite .380 for my pocket pistol - 12.5 oz empty and 16.5 loaded - while I debate between a Colt Defender (left) or a Glock 36, both in .45. The Glock tips the scales loaded at 26.98 oz, the Colt loaded at 30 oz. - either one a considerable drop from the 44 oz ATI - while both have an ammo capacity of 6 + 1.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Colt for the simple reason that its of the 1911 variety.  Although the Pocketlite 380 is not a 1911, you can see by the picture (right) it is a scaled down version, meaning every gun I grip in a lethal force situation - ATI, Colt Defender, Colt Pocketlite - would basically be the same - an added plus when training and then using that training in the face of a dire altercation.

The Colt Defender would fit right into the Crossbreed holster I now own, so there wouldn't be a need to spend more money on more equipment.  If I choose to acquire a shoulder holster, it would fit both the Colt and the ATI, again, meaning less money spent on equipment.

Of course, all it really means is that I have an excuse to buy more guns... you gotta' love it!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

If It All Goes Bad - Be Smart, Don't Talk

This is not a knock on Police Officers.

I have the utmost respect for those that look in the mirror every morning and commit to putting their life on the line for a stranger.  It's heroic, to say the very least.  My own Father was an MP in the army and a volunteer fireman.  I have neighbors who are Police Officers and they are a credit to their brethren.  But I believe the information below is important.

There was an Officer involved shooting in my home town on September 27th - no one was hit (thank God.) The local Police Department, like most Law Enforcement Agencies, subscribes to the theory of "two sleep cycles before interviewing their Officers."  Why?  Because Law Enforcement knows that someone who has been involved in such a traumatic experience will have trouble relaying the simplest of information in a coherent form, which includes putting together the chronological order of events that just occurred.  They know the mind needs time to work through the ordeal, time to catch up.  They know you need time for the adrenaline to leave your system, time to calm down and think things through.  Time to shake off the effects of a lethal force encounter, the auditory shutdown, the tunnel vision.  They know you  need time to get over the damage done by a such a harrowing incident.  Time. Time. Time.

On the other hand, if you are involved in a lethal force shooting, you can expect to be interrogated on
the site of the shooting, pressed hard, asked the same questions over and over under the guise of "It's better to get the info while its still fresh in your mind."   Which is not true!  If it were, they would be interviewing their own LEO in the same time frame of a lethal force shooting!
 
You do have the right to refuse to give any answer other than your name, address and such.  Tell the officer interviewing you that you want to help, but at this time you are not answering anymore questions until you have talked with your lawyer.  Advise your spouse to say the same.

It would be nice if we, the citizen, were afforded the same respect as an LEO.  

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Mentally Ill, Gangs, Drugs And Other True Reasons For Violent Crime In America

The Liberals and Gun Control zealots always start the argument with the belief that GUNS are the problem.  How about we do this... take guns out of the equation and start the thought process there.  Now what do you have?  Undiagnosed mentally unstable individuals.  Unemployment.  Drugs.  The decline of the family structure.  All of societies ills are the root of this countries violent tendencies.
 

"Criminal gangs commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in many communities, according to law enforcement officials throughout the nation. Typical gang-related crimes include alien smuggling, armed robbery, assault, auto theft, drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, home invasions, identity theft, murder, and weapons trafficking."

In February 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released crime statistics that suggested as much as 80% of all crime - including violent crime - was committed by gangs!  By the way, just as an f.y.i. no where did they blame crime on guns.

So how did this tidbit of information slip through the cracks in the National debate on gun control?  Wouldn't a better question be "How do we cut down on gang activity?"  The Left needs to show that they truly care about the taking of life by trying to fix the problem, not masking the problem with the fear-mongering of guns. This is not the way to the truth.  Guns are not the reason for the violent ills in our society.

Yet the chant continues... "Take away the guns and we will be safe."

Just unbelievable.