Photo tiff.net.
(Guns Save Life) – The news has come fast and furious these last few days and if you listen to the mainstream media, you would think the Armageddon is upon us.
A couple of U.S. Senators who were formerly fair-weather pro-gun senators have come out saying it’s time for action on guns, stores stopping the sales of America’s favorite rifle, mainstream TV cancelling gun-related shows, politicians trying to make hay with gun bans and a constant drumbeat of doom and gloom aggressively fed and watered by gun grabbers who were formerly on the ropes.
The tragic deaths of those children and adults at the school in Connecticut hurt us all, as if we’d taken a punch in the gut. What happened to those innocent children, struck down by an evil man-child on powerful psychotropic medications, is a nightmare none of us should have to endure.
The adults lost, some selflessly shielding the children in their care with their own bodies, were good people. Some were tempered with tremendous courage and bravery under fire.
It is our very nature as Americans to work to figure out what happened to prevent something like this from happening again.
People bring their own biases to that analysis. Some blame the tool used, in this case a firearm, ignoring that greater public massacres have taken place with other tools used for evil. Others blame make-believe protection afforded by meaningless signage proclaiming the area “gun free”. Some blame the side-effects of the mood-altering medication, while some seem to believe that having Aspberger Syndrome means the an individual is a soul-less time bomb. Video games, parenting, teasing in school, loss of a prized pet or whether his daddy spanked him as a child may all be components of the evil in the mind of the perpetrator.
None of us needs a PhD to know and understand the killer was an utterly and completely evil man, devoid of decency, compassion or love.
For many in America though, guns are an easy target to blame.
Many people don’t understand how guns work and what they are or are not capable of.
Many people fear guns – often because they know nothing about them or they only read about them being used in the commission of crime.
Just as people blamed witches for misfortune in the Medieval times (into the 1700s in fact), so today do some people blame guns for misfortune.
“If we only banned those handguns,” some say. They ignore the fact that criminals don’t obey laws.
“If guns were banned, we wouldn’t have all these murders!” They ignore history. Weapons were banned for the common man during the Medieval times, yet how many people were slaughtered? The women, the young, the old, the sick and infirm were all subject to the whims of the strongest males around. Governments were tyrannical and while some were benevolent, most were not.
Today, even after last Friday’s events, most Americans still support the right to keep and bear arms. Most support the right of Americans to use and own America’s favorite rifle to protect and defend families and for recreational sport. An overwhelming number of Americans recognize the right to own handguns for personal defense – defense against monsters just like this one in Connecticut.
A great many Americans are voting with their wallets, in fact, buying up guns and ammunition like they are going out of style.
While some stores have practiced appeasement to anti-gun charlatans, most gun sellers have had near-record sales in the last few days, depleting their inventory rapidly. Store shelves are literally being sold bare.
While some public figures seek to curry favor with those advocating gun bans and restrictions, there are plenty others calling for calm, and urging real, pro-self-defense measures to combat this mass public shooting violence.
Emotions are high right now. It’s part of the coping process for grief.
We all briefly denied such a terrible thing could happen when we first heard of it last Friday.
Then came the anger. We were angry at the murderer. Some folks are angry at the tools he used to commit the atrocity. They vented that anger in different ways. Some called for the murder of NRA members and their supporters in social media. Others called us and offered a piece of their mind.
Obviously NRA members didn’t commit this horrible tragedy, nor did we facilitate it in any way. But that’s how some people coped with their grief.
Bargaining is the next step for Americans and has already begun. This is where some people, in their time of grief, will offer well-meaning proposals to limit civil rights with regard to guns, magazines, etc. Again, it’s part of coping. “If we can just to X, this won’t have to happen again,” they believe.
Thankfully for freedom, legislators are on Christmas break until the first or second week of January in most places. Think of this as the “cooling off” period.
A week from now, or maybe two at most, the depression stage will have set in. This is when the final stage of the healing process begins. Sure, it’s depressing that these innocents were killed by an evil man, but folks will recognize that evil people are out there. Sure, senseless violence is sad. They will eventually accept that while it’s sad, it’s part of life.
You can’t get rid of lunatics any more than you can purge the world of cockroaches, flies or mosquitoes.
Emotions that are inflamed today will calm tomorrow with the passage of time. Attitudes will return to a normal, something very akin to where we were at in the days before Sandy Hook was burned into our psyches. Tomorrow’s headlines will replace Connecticut in conversations and newsprint.
Sure, the Brady people, and the ICHV people will try to fan the flames and remain relevant while dancing in the drying blood of innocent victims, but in the end, two or three months from now, they’ll be back to their same old tricks of obfuscating the truth and demagoguing the issue of guns. Their shrill voices, few and far between, will rely on crass and craven stunts to capture the media’s attention as their financial resources continue to wither.
Overall, unlike the Brady Campaign, we’re in good shape.
We’re coming off two favorable landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions and a third Appellate Court case here in Illinois striking down Illinois’ prohibition on right-to-carry.
We’ve got pro-gun majorities in both the Illinois House and particularly the Senate.
Federally, we’ve got a majority in the House and Senate. A slew of Democrats in the U.S. Senate are up for re-election in 2014 and many of them are highly vulnerable (Al Franken, for instance). Those who were marginally pro-gun in the past can be reminded of their vulnerability if they get squishy on us.
Some companies that have practiced appeasement are already feeling the wrath of gun owners.
A software company has walked back a proposal – with profuse apologies – to have a one-day gun sales moratorium by federally licensed gun dealers using their software later in January.
Cheaper Than Dirt is walking back some ridiculous price increases, but retains their moratorium on mail-order gun sales. We’ll see how long that lasts – or how long they last. Their social media “likes” are plummeting like a lead balloon as gun owners and now former customers react.
As gun owners, we have to be patient and be calm as we gently push back against the idiocy coming out of the mouths of folks like Obama, Bloomberg and others of their ilk who would like nothing better than to pass gun bans and take our guns while they give guns to Mexican drug cartels and fighter jets to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The NRA will release their proposals at Friday’s press conference. Rest assured gun banners have sat up and taken notice. They’re running scared as the mama bear has awoken from her respectful time of silence following this national tragedy in Connecticut.
You can almost guess that one of the proposals will be to curtail the make-believe protection gun-free zones afford for innocent people and allow good guys the ability to carry for deterrence. Gun-free zones are indeed lunatic magnets and we need to do away with them. Every last public shooting since 1955 has occurred in a gun-free zone, save one.
The most important factor we as gun owners have in our favor is that our position is not fueled by emotions, but upon logic and reason.
So, in summary: take a deep breath and be calm and stand steadfast. Turn off the mainstream media and savor life. Get involved and become more active in the never-ending battle we have to recover our lost freedoms and civil rights. And don’t forget to live life.
One of the questions which has not been answered for me is whether the kook used an assault rifle or not. Initial reports said the rifle was in the car and that he had a brace of pistols. Then the examiner announces that the wounds were from a rifle and explosive ammo. Any clarification on this?
The story I’ve seen is that he shot out the glass at the entrance with the AR, but it malfunctioned and he went in with two pistols.
Thankfully stupid people don’t know how to make an AR run.
Amazing how that happens much of the time in these mass shootings, we should be *encouraging* them to use them!! Let’s start giving them some HK91’s and see them try to work the charging handle with those prissy fingers.
The problem is that when the anti’s say “assault weapon”, they really mean anything magazine fed that can put rounds down range quickly, many of them want handguns gone too and he either used the rifle or the handguns. We have to be vigilant either way.
It was a semi automatic rifle, not an assault rifle.
As you say; initial reports said the killer used two handguns, then this changed to he only used the rifle.
This leaves me a little uneasy as to whether we’re seeing facts or something else.
It is rather convenient.
You are all murderers! 33gun deaths a day in the USA! 3000 a year!! No other civilized country would put up with this! What’s wrong with you people??!?
Mass shooting in schools did not start until after the 1996 gun free school zone act was passed.
It is those who pass these insane laws who have blood on their hands.
amen!
People might pay more attention to you if you could do simple math. If guns are so evil, why do police have them?
Marge where did you get your numbers from? Since the 1st of January 2012 there has been 2,345,241 instances of where decent people have used guns to protect themselves or their loved ones or total strangers from harm by a criminal. Although I do feel bad about your numbers I like mine a lot better.
I’ve never killed anyone and I carry a gun every day. Cars kill more people than guns, maybe you should walk to the grocery store next time.
Marge is looking for a date with the ban hammer with that libelous trash.
No, don’t ban her. She’s just the kind of non-sensical, PuSH’er (Pants Sh!tting Hysterics) that GSL members need to see. They then know what they’re up against when they get into ‘conversations’ w/ these nitwits.
Please don’t ban her, she needs to learn some math though, because 33 deaths per day per year equals 12,045 dead people not the 3,000 that Marge cited. Marge needs to get herself a nice gun and learn how to use it so that she doesn’t become one of the 3,000 or the 12,045 ( take your pick )it’s still too many people dying without defending themselves. Come on Marge, join those of us who don’t hide under the bed, we know what to do in the presence of danger. Come on Marge, we know you can do it.
Marge, please take your midol.
Marge 2100 children a day are killed in abortion mills, where is your out cry for those inocent children? No children should be killed any where. Abortion dosen’t just elimanate a pregnacy, it makes you a parent of a dead child!!!! A gun is only a tool, cars kill more people a day than guns, I hear no out cry to ban cars.
shove it you cow! if you drive a car or drink alcohol, are you to blame for the death from auto accidents and drunk driving? how about cigarettes and second hand smoke? over-eating and poor health habits ? these all kill more than guns you ignoramus . look it up on the center for disease control web site. murders has dropped out of the top 15 causes of death( and that’s a combine stat for ALL murders) i have carried a gun for over 20 years on my person and not one person has been shot or killed with it. let’s talk about the 56 million people murdered in the 20TH century by the gun control movement world wide…who has MORE blood on their hands?
Historically, Whenever The Government Grabbed Guns, It Went Bad for the Peeps
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
You won’t see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.
Take note my fellow Americans, before it’s too late! The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson. With guns, we are ‘citizens’. Without them, we are ‘subjects’.
During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!
these all were so-called “civilized” counties too!
If you scroll to the bottom of the typical MSM press story crying for more gun contol, there will be a list of other stories you might like to read, based on the fact that you clicked on that one. Try it; you’ll find stories and columns wailing for more controls… after Aurora, after Gabrielle Giffords, after… every horrific crime. The stories are almost the same. It’s hard to avoid being depressed, but make the decision NOT to be. If you give up, the gun-banning statists win.
Gun free zones are a blatant lie and a killers wet dream. If cops neeed AR’s and high cap mags we need them more. We are the first responders to single and mutiple assailants. Stop the illusion of false safety and eliminate gun free zones. As in Israel when they armed their teachers and their flight crews school shootings stopped and the same for hijackings. Lets hope the NRA does not compromise one bit. If gun control worked Chicago and Mexico would be a paradise of low crime. The same for England where their violent crime is now 5x ours. Look it up.
I am a retired law enforcement officer(29 years of service),I more gun control is not the answer to the violence today. FACT, less than 1% of law abiding citizens have misuse thier firearms in criminal acts. FACT, all the mass shootings in the last 20 years have taken place in gun free zones( places where law abiding citizens cannot have thier licensed firearm with them) and the criminals know where these gun free zones are and therfore they can kill as many people they want because they are the only with the ability to kill and there is no risk to them.I was a correction officer and spoke to thousands of criminals and they all said the same thing.They will rob and kill in those places where law abiding citizen do not have the ability(tools) to protect and defend themselves(they are the wolves and the unarmed citizen is the sheep.The above facts are are based on years of personal experience and training.Therefore I am against gun free zones for the above reasons. Secondly the AR15 and a standard hunting rifle operate and function the same way,the only difference is the physical(appearence) of the firearm,therefore I would not ban firearms like the AR15.
Reposted from another site…..
It is always terrible when the innocent are killed but the sum of kids killed at the school is three weeks of “bidness” as usual in Chicago alone but that cannot be meaningfully addressed because of the glaring racial element. It is 15 minutes of medical infanticide in America but that cannot be addressed because of the glaring financial element. Unless the left concedes the slaughter of innocents on *this* scale, this tragedy amounts to less than a rounding-error in the statistics and insignificant in comparison.
There is a greater issue at stake here. Government accretes to itself power relentlessly and the fear alone, that the people are capable of mounting effective armed resistance is anathema to those so inclined. For this reason they are willing to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel with regard to homicide. These celebrated aberrations are promoted as the rule, rather than exception to promote more restrictions on liberties. One need only look to England, Australia, Canada etc. to see what is coming. They celebrate this day, crocodile tears notwithstanding. Horrible as it may be, we cannot make knee-jerk laws adverse to fundamental protections of liberty for the sake of a statistically small issue. “Well, isn’t every life priceless?” Well, apparently only when there is political hay to be made while serving the collectivist agenda. Otherwise -no. The government does not issue a personal bodyguard to every individual though this might be argued to prevent deaths by murder and suicide. We DO have limits on what society can bear. Further, this unfortunately, is just a cost of liberty. We send soldiers and sailors to die all of the time for this ethereal concept of “protecting our freedoms” from those who in fact, pose no demonstrable threat.
The misuse of tools to destructive ends is always a possibility in a free society and one that will have to be tolerated to maintain it. The gummint functionaries suddenly seized by religion and preaching the loudest about this recent incident do not truly care about death of innocent citizens. Indeed, governments are the major perpetrators of these injustices by the hundreds of millions, a self-evident history which need not be examined further here.
“Who are the militia?” asked Tench Coxe, friend of Madison and prominent
Federalist, in the Pennsylvania Gazette of Feb. 20, 1788. “Are they not
ourselves. … Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their
swords, and every other terrible instrument of the soldier, are the
birth-right of an American. … The unlimited power of the sword is not
in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I
trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”
Marge-
Yep, everyone one of my firearms have magically gone off and discharged. They’re evil, and can do things by themselves. Give me a break. More people are killed by drunk drivers than firearms. Do u want to ban all the vehicles in our country as well?
Boch-
Good article brother. Thanks for reeling in the “sky is falling” crowd. Now if I could just find some more pmags!
Brother, I can help.
http://ustacticalsupply.com/pmags.aspx
You know what happened was sad ! But if you think gang members,Crooks and thugs will turn in their guns,if they pass gun control? Then what do you think will happen then? The crime rate will skyrocket,because they know we will not be able to protect our homes and family ! Might as well ban Baseball bats,Knifes,Ropes,crow bars and Cars ! These things kill also ! People need to think before opening their mouths ! Guns don’t kill,People do !
Marge, how many school-age children have been killed in Chicago this year?
If the lunatic in Connecticut couldn’t get guns, he would have made pipe bombs… or a car bomb… or used a knife (like the guy in China did that same day).
Bad people will find ways to do bad things. Taking guns away from law-abiding citizens only helps the bad guys.
Like the sign I keep seeing on Facebook lately… “Ted Kennedy’s car has killed more people than all of my guns put together”. 🙂
Marge,
I can guarantee you this…..the day you and a loved one happens to be in a theater watching a movie and you are suddenly faced with a nut job with a gun….you will be on your knees praying to God that someone else in that theater is armed besides him. And all of these moron politicians would be on their knees right beside you.