Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. should be an example of how we all need to finally see the reality in what is out there. He recently released a speech urging citizens to learn gun safety and consider arming themselves for protection, both in the home and possibly conceal carry.
Sheriff David Clarke Jr. is a hero here and others that are mangling the words he used by saying the Sheriff says NOT to call 911 and just grab a gun is ridiculous. The Sheriff is saying, call 911 AND if you have been trained, protect yourself.
I cannot belief that the Dodge County Sheriff came out and said that they are more experienced in their response times and what was said it out of line. Really? Population of Dodge County is 88K. Milwaukee County is 952K? How is that a comparison? Sorry Dodge County Sheriff man but you are the one in the wrong here.
Thanks to David Clarke Jr. for not sitting back, worrying about re-elections and saying what really needs to be said.
People really need to open their eyes and see the issues around us. Yes, if you have a solution to all of the crime out there, take it on. Please!!! We need a solution but for now, we need to protect ourselves because there is simply no physical method for law enforcement to respond in seconds when seconds are the difference between being harmed or worse, your family being taken from you.
In regards to the constitutional right to bear arms, I hear often, “Well, I’m sure our forefathers didn’t expect or consider the technological advancement in guns so we shouldn’t really abide by it as we once did”
I’m not going to flame this. What I will do is allow for a comparison and what is so drastically and damaging about that statement. Let’s think about it this way.
We have a constitutional right to free speech. Which means we can protest under the restrictions of the laws in place. Just the same case as we can own guns under the thousands of laws in place. We have the right to protest, which in the history of this country has caused death and mass riots, which have led to personal property loss and historic changes in the values of some cities.
Now, if I have someone that states the concept that our forefathers didn’t think of what a gun may be in the current day and would absolutely not have written the 2nd amendment as it was, if they did. Let’s think about the protesting and freedom of speech. Would our forefathers have written the 1st amendment if they had foreseen the death and property loss we’ve seen from riots caused by protests? Would you give up the 1st amendment as quickly as the 2nd amendment?
No, they would not have changed the way they wrote what this country is founded on, fought for and still protects and I’ll tell you why. The constitution doesn’t segregate or discriminate. It is written for the country as one nation with all in mind.
If we can say that it is easy to change that this country was built off of simply because half the nation believes so, or a democratic party says so, we also open the fact that we can change other areas or, completely remove the constitution and allow the government to control us. That is not what this country is. If we keep going this direction, you can easily see how this could lead to just that though.
Think about it. Think about why you would fight for maybe the 1st amendment. It’s the same reason others fight for the 2nd amendment. Just because you don’t like one part of the constitution doesn’t mean you can so easily dismiss it without handing over your own valued rights.
Gun bans have been proven ineffective and are a path to a complete ban of guns. It has always been a battle. If some get certain bans through even while we abide by the thousands of laws already in but the criminals all continue to go their own way, it will lead to nothing more than more gun violence while we are unprotected as well as throwing your constitutional rights out of the window.
I typically don’t listen or put much credit into what other countries say should be done about gun control, or much else, in America. Let’s face it, this country is unique and has been for a long time. Things that may or may not have worked in countries like Japan or Australia, simple have an entirely different meaning when considering America – people, manner in which we live and how we act. Not only that but the foundation of how the country was built.
In that, I was sent an article by a good friend on something a Russian writer posted recently. “Americans never give up your guns”
The writer portrays how this all went down in the SU and how that changed things drastically. Now, I still don’t put a terrible amount of weight into things like this because, we’re America and not the Soviet Union. What we can take from it is a thought – what would really happen if we gave up a large part of how heritage that is a part of who we are?
You must look at scenarios like this and think hard about the events or path we could go down. Weigh them carefully and take them beyond just an outcry to act even knowing that act truly means nothing more than, “something to do, just to do something”.
Remember when talking to others about gun control or bans that, statistics don’t lie. Some situation are unbelievably tragic but those events should be looked at as a whole, not as a means to simply go after something that really isn’t in front of us. Our actions will cause many other reactions and controls that we need to see before throwing down a judge’s mallet.
I was reading the comments from this NBC post, “Gun control offers no cure-all in America“. I like the post, even if it is on NBC. It didn’t just throw the “BAN GUNS!!!” out there. It shows hard facts. Mostly, facts that revolve around what gun related murder rates were in the 80s verses now. In fact, they have dropped drastically when you think about how large a number of 2% or 5% is to the population currently in America.
One thing I didn’t like, of course there has to be something that gets our blood boiling because it just isn’t right, was some comments stating, “Ban high powered assault rifles. It is a start and doing something”. That comment was throughout the comment area quite a bit. I’d like to talk about that a bit.
First, yes, we should do something. What?! I have no idea. Well, I have ideas but I’m a technology expert, not an expert on American human behavior. What I can speak to are the gun facts. Thinking about the ban and it just being something to do, cause we should do something; it really won’t do anything. The post on NBC really gave the ultimate statistics that show that in the fact that so many weapons and AR style weapons are out there. No one is going to try to put something in to take them away. Even an attempt to making us, Americans, register them is out there in the clouds.
Looking at the concept of banning the AR15 with capacity of 30+1. For all the people that have no clue about guns, which are the ones usually crying to take them away, 30+1 means, the magazine holds 30 and then one round in the tube (chambered). Although is it a statistical fact that the ban that was already attempted back in 1994 and was not renewed, wasn’t effective, say we do it again. There are already millions of these guns out there. In fact, since all this happened, to buy one due to sales exploding, is an estimated 3-6 months out. Trust me, I always wanted a left handed AR and I waited. Mistake! Anyhow, so these millions of AR15’s are out there. How is banning them from sale really going to help? Aside from the ease of illegally purchasing one, they are there, embedded in our cities and lives. They probably won’t be going anywhere for a long time either. Don’t get me started on taking them away because we already had one civil war and we know how many died from that.
So truly speaking, from a point of view of a person that may say, yeah, we can try to figure something out and hey, let’s ban sales of AR15s going on. Wait, will a million sales in the next 5 years help if there are 110 million rifles out there? I don’t say AR since they didn’t really say how many are AR style rifles (which is such a grey area, all us gun owners know once you get the AR, you’ll go after the rest cause it “may” be similar). So we can kind of see, this solution, isn’t a solution. It’s just something to do because hey, we need to do something. That is never a method of success. Not in business nor, in this case.
Like I said earlier, I don’t have an answer, I have ideas. Ideas that are not worth really saying in this post because, to be honest, they won’t work either. I do hope someone comes up with an idea that actually has some merit, rational thinking put into it and one that we can say, “Wow that might actually help”. And if it doesn’t in a short time, show even a small amount of effectiveness, kill it and keep working on what we need.
We, anti-gun or just people that don’t use or own guns, cry ban or take them but in reality, the problem isn’t just the gun. Notice I said just. If we see a problem, we need to find a staged process to some solution. Not a, let’s throw a stone at it even if we know it won’t work but, we need to throw things. Honestly, that just makes the people that are on your side, now against you too, along with the mentally ill people that get a hold of a gun and shoot people.
Later, in another post, I want to cover the differences in semi-auto, auto as it pertains to rifles and handguns. There is so much out there where people are yelling but not even yelling right. I don’t care if you yell but at least take the time to make sure you are yelling the accurate things. You will look far more intelligent to even, the gun owners out there.
I woke up this morning to a you tube posting of Joshua Boston talking to CNN about the letter he had written in regards to Senator Feinstein’s bill on gun control. Before I go on, I usually am not as vocal as many about gun control and, in all, politics. I have a feeling I’m one of a large percentage of Americans that do the same thing; don’t speak up and simply ramble on to people close to them how they feel. I decided this morning, it is about time I put aside the fact that others may be upset by my views, or in this case, my voice on my rights
. Rights are something to be considered here. This country was built off of them and is what sets us, Americans, apart from many countries. America was built off of rights that revolve around the concept of freedom. Freedom is an evolving concept or, so it appears to be in our country. In short, freedom becomes less of a true meaning in being free as was fought for long ago. Wars that we’ve fought as not only enlisted soldiers but civilians as well. I know many Marines and other people that have served in the military and are currently enlisted and deployed. All of them would probably agree that civilians play a large part in both war and policing the evil that is in this world. In a definition, we call these civilians militia and through history, have been in many cases, deciding factors of victory over what we can all agree, is evil. Before I write on, I am in no way trying to state or say that an American militia is needed to fix our problems. People should not ban together and form armed gangs and head off to clean the streets. We already have that in the form of criminal gangs. What I am saying is, an armed and trained civilian is an asset to our safety whether people want to agree or not.
Armed Civilians
Armed equates to any weapon. Gun, knife, baton and so on. There is no distinction, in my eyes as a gun owner and gun enthusiasts (and highly trained in defense and shooting). I can pull a gun, load it and place multiple bullets exactly where I want them in sub-second times. I’ve gone to great lengths to help as many people become educated and learn how to do the same in order to help them be as protected as I have done for my family. As with the distinction between weapons many are putting a label on distinguishing a type of gun from each other. Yes, tactical weapons do have characteristics that say, a hunting rifle may have. The problem is, that distinction is grey because tactical firearms and hunting or target shooting firearms all share these characteristics. Many turkey hunting shotguns have pistol grips, which is designated as a weapon marked for banning. Some rifles have the same characteristic. Tactical weapons are made up of characteristics to assure an accurate and ethical shot placement. That is why hunting weapons share these same fundamental characteristics. The pistol grip allows a maintained hold of a long gun for a steady and cleaner pull of a trigger; equating to a more accurate shot. This all leads to semi-automatic rifles and handguns. I beg anyone reading this that is anti-gun and wants them all sawed in half to please read this next paragraph and actually, read it.
Semi-automatic weapons are not automatic weapons. There are three stages of an automatic weapon – Safe, Semi and Auto. When in auto mode, you can pull the trigger and while continuing pressure on the trigger, the firearm will continue to fire. Semi-automatic means you need to pull the trigger for each shot. Now, knowing this, when you read all the articles out there that say, “They had an automatic weapon and sprayed bullets everywhere”. I don’t care much if you are anti or pro-gun. But if you are going to discuss (something I wish we would all do) firearms that people used or may use, make sure you specify them accurately. I’ve read many articles or blurbs out there by diehard anti-gun people that say we should outlaw automatic weapons. Sorry but automatic weapons have some of the most intense and strict laws around. Laws that are so strict, you have a better chance of buying crack cocaine legally over an automatic weapon.
I don’t want to single any one person out or even a group but this topic really lends itself to doing that. In my chosen career, technology, I know many if not the majority, of people that grew up with a pretty good life. Well taken care of, borderline spoiled, sent off to college, grabbed a job out of school and worked to much success. A lot of them know of criminal acts or acts of terrorism by what they see on TV, in movies and or, the games their children are playing. This is far from the way it really is. The way I grew up, which I will not go far into, put me in front of more criminal acts than I care to remember. I can say, from firsthand experience, assault weapons or any kind of easier to purchase on the streets than walking into a store and purchasing them.
Mental Health and Family Values
This leads me to a few problems I really do wish we would look at more: mental health and how we raise America. When I was younger and living on my own, far too early, I had a close friend on the streets, whose name I’ll leave out in respect of his memory so we’ll refer to him as Joe. This person was a friend because back then, we followed many of the morals that the Marines follow. We were all brothers and sisters when it came down to it. The man or woman standing next to us was worth fighting for and protecting. Joe’s upbringing was far harder than my own. His mother had passed away from drugs and his father was living off the government for mental disability reasons. What Joe was exposed to almost daily by his father is a major part of the problem we should be trying to fix or take measures to in the least, make better controlled. When Joe was home, his mentally ill father, who was allowed to be out of a mental institution for some reason, would sit in their living room and taunt Joe with an AK-47. An AK-47 that was purchased from a back ally for around $50. I knew this for a fact because Joe’s father was more than open about how he obtained the rifle. Not only was this rifle purchased easily and outside the laws already in place but it was a fully automatic weapon. After years of this, Joe ended up fairly messed up in the head as well. After Joe and I went our own ways, I later received a letter from Joe while he was in jail, for reasons I’m not sure of. Joe ended up dying in the years to follow.
Joe is a story that is more prevalent in our country than we want to admit to or most people can really conceive is reality. A lot of people see what the media shows us in the form of specific mass killings. Unfortunately, the weapons used in those mass killings are guns and bombs. Recently, one of those mass killings involved children. From what I’ve read, one of those weapons was an AR15, or for anyone not educated on weapons, an assault weapon that was semi-automatic in nature. That weapon was not the gunman’s but his mothers. So he illegally obtained it by stealing it from his mother. I can pretty much guarantee, he could have gotten that weapon on the streets just as easily as taking it without permission from his mother.
This leads to family values. Even with the way I grew up, I did have years of values that I received from both of my parents that helped make me who I am. Those values were not built off religion but built off guns and a hunting heritage. I was taught early to use and respect guns for what they are. This was done because it is our right in this country to own guns and use them for sporting. Part of that education early in my helped me respect not only guns but people. It helped me pull myself off the streets and have the ambition and endless energy to form my life the way it is today. Yes, it was not just a gun that made me who I was but a concept of the values that came in part of being raised around guns. Respect of a weapon leads to respecting the same in people and values of even a job. Many of the people that want guns gone, never saw this or knew people like Joe and his situation exist. They think America is a safe place. Yes, it is. Safer than a lot of countries in this world. But it isn’t clean of what may be happening a few blocks over. That is the fact: these illegal actions do happen just down the block and in a lot of cases, in the houses while we may be blind to the situations because we simply have never been exposed to them.
Solution?
How do we control this or how do we even start to fix it? I have no idea. That’s why we elect people that are smarter and have experience enough to assure us they are being worked on. What is happening now? People that we have elected to clean the mental health issues and crime up, are going after our rights to own guns. That is not a fix. That is a way for re-election by gaining votes of the blind that have been pushed to believe it may actually do something in the form of fixing the issue. Sorry, it won’t. That AK-47 that was always pointed at Joe and threatened to be fired to end his life, will still exist because it was not part of the regulated flow of weapons.
Would banning assault weapons do something? It has to do something or make some impact, right?! It is my opinion and in some form, documented facts based on the last ban, that it will not do much if not, anything. In fact, all it has truly done is cause an explosion of assault weapon sales because Americans are afraid it may actually go through without real consideration of its effectiveness. Now we have millions of assault rifles in the hands of people that are not trained or know how to use them. They are under beds, in closets or sitting out for children to find. Many of those people that purchased them simply so they could before they were banned, may have never been raised or trained in their use for defense or securing a home. That is something that makes me nervous. I hope that we don’t see accidental deaths by guns go up due to it.
Registering your weapons: No, I will not. I stand with my brothers, gun owners and Joshua Boston on this. All my weapons are registered legally because I followed the already, some thousands of laws in place to obtain them. When we can convince criminals to register theirs or hand them over, I will follow because that will ensure my family is safe.
As you’ve read, I don’t have much for answers in how to fix things other than, where to look. This country does stand divided on the topic. What I do see with my eyes is, the anti-gun people I have heard, some close friends and I have much respect for them, either do not see that evil that I have or simply have never held a gun. The pro-gun people I know and or have read articles from, have been mostly like I. They are people that have strong family values, respect guns and use them in sport or for the same protection that I use them for. Just to clarify, an assault rifle is one of the most effective home defense weapons to have on hand, when trained and practice is always taken into consideration.
What I hope we all prevent from happening is, we remember what the constitution is and what this country stands for. Taking guns away, is not following the values we built the country on. It brings us down a path that is something I think would find itself in a state that would be as ugly as we’ve ever seen. Ask our government, like this letter does, to find ways to pull mentally ill out of the reach of any weapon and instill the family values that my generation holds, into the children that we’re raising. The same children that we’ve seen perform these acts of evil over the last decade. If someone raised briefly with those values can find himself alone, in situations like Joe was in, retain those values enough to grow and pass them to his own family, so can this country.
Morning Intake from Ted Krueger 