Right to Opine

That may sound callous, but as we “celebrate” the ten-year anniversary of the murder of 12 students and a teacher at Columbine, make note that their deaths resulted in absolutely zero improvements in the safety of our children at school. Think about it for a moment then send a letter to your state representatives and school boards. What, exactly, have they done to make our kids safer?

I should note the single exception, at least as reported in the American media: Harrold Independent School District (Harrold, TX) has changed their policies to allow teachers who have a CCW and who have taken specialized courses to carry concealed weapons on campus. Sadly their lone example of clear thinking doesn’t appear to be contagious.

Make sure to hug/kiss your kids goodbye before school each morning. There are a couple dozen parents in Columbine who can’t enjoy that simple pleasure.

Domestic, Education, Gun Rights culture, Domestic, Education

Mexican authorities have arrested a woman in possession of an anti-aircraft gun, grenades and a grenade launcher. Not surprisingly, the article eventually gets around to the usual lefty bashing of America’s lax gun laws being responsible for arming the Mexican drug cartels. You can be sure that the AA gun, grenades, and launcher weren’t purchased in a gun shop here and smuggled across the border. Weapons of that type simply aren’t available in stores. So where did they come from?

Authorities did not release any other details about the gun, including its make, where it was manufactured, or where it was sold.

But of course. We can blame America for smuggled small arms, but can’t identify the origin of heavy weapons. Guess what? If the drug cartels can get their hands on arms like these, it really doesn’t even matter if we completely seal our border with Mexico—they’ll get their small arms elsewhere. The real problem is a dysfunctional Mexican government and until that fact becomes a regular headline, and is dealt with, the cartel violence isn’t going to end.

Gun Rights, International International

After a brutal attack which left a man dead and his wife in serious condition in a hospital, the residents of a northern Virginia suburb held a march to…well, I’m not sure about the purpose exactly.

“We’re taking our neighborhood back,” said Lansdowne resident Beverly Bradford, who sent out a notice to residents last week calling for the gathering.

How they intended to achieve that goal wasn’t entirely clear. Marching with candles and flashlights is nice, but it doesn’t do anything to make your area safer. The goblins who perpetrate these kinds of beatings don’t really care how many verses of Kumbaya you sing even if, as in this case, you throw in an original verse for good measure.

Arm yourself. Get some good training and a CCW permit. Works better than candles and choruses.

Domestic, Gun Rights culture, Domestic

Of course that’s not what the headline reads, but it’s the underlying truth. Authorities in KS are warning college women of a possible serial rapist suspected of 13 rapes during school breaks over the past 8 years. All the usual precautions are urged, but of course we won’t allow these vulnerable young ladies to do the one thing that would significantly reduce their likelihood of becoming victims: arm themselves. That would be too logical (and effective).

Domestic, Gun Rights culture, Domestic

As in, gun control means hitting your target. There was another terrorist attack by a nutjob plowing a bulldozer through a couple police cars and into a bus full of schoolgirls. What slowed the goblin down long enough for the police to finish him off? A civilian taxi driver carrying a concealed handgun.

Self-defense works, folks, because even when the police are present, they sometimes can’t respond as quickly as an alert, armed civilian.

Gun Rights, International culture, defense, International

A student at a Connecticut college was called in to the police station for questioning after giving a classroom speech advocating concealed carry for students and staff. The cops were called by the class professor, who seems to believe the speech was somehow threatening. No surprise that neither the prof nor the university would comment on the situation, as moral cowardice runs rampant in our institutions of supposedly higher learning.

At too many of our universities free speech is only encouraged when it agrees with the schools’ liberal agendas.

Domestic, Education, Gun Rights culture, Domestic, Education

A gun store owner in Phoenix has been brought up on a number of charges related to fraudulently selling guns and helping the buyers smuggle them into Mexico. Looks like the BATFE has the goods on him, including the direct involvement of undercover officers in purchases the owner believed to be fronts for smugglers. If true, this is exactly the kind of operation we honest gun owners want shut down.

The thing that bothers me about this article is its dishonest and misleading use of terminology. For example,

the owner, George Iknadosian, will go on trial on charges he sold hundreds of weapons, mostly AK-47 rifles, to smugglers

This simply is not true. An AK-47 is a fully automatic military weapon and cannot legally be sold in the US to anyone outside the military, law enforcement, or the very few people holding a special license to purchase fully automatic weapons. The rifles in question are semi-automatic rifles, the function and capability of which is no different than many standard hunting rifles. One pull of the trigger gets you a single shot…not the kind of repeated rapid fire of an automatic.

Later in the article we see

the Mexican authorities have seized seven of the Kalashnikov-style rifles from gunmen

This is, again, misleading. A Kalashnikov is a fully automatic rifle. These weren’t, but were designed to look like them. The appearance of a weapon has no relationship to its function. (Just ask anyone who’s ever driven a Pontiac Fiero…looks great, but it’s a pooch.) Elsewhere in the article the meaningless term “assault rifle” is bandied about as if it, too, has a specific meaning. Gun grabbers like to use the term to refer to any rifle that looks like a military grade fully automatic weapon, regardless of its capability. The truth is that no military on earth would use the rifles in question, as they cannot be fired in automatic mode and don’t have the firepower needed for military use. They’re no more “assault rifles” than your uncle’s Winchester 30-30.

Domestic, Gun Rights culture, Domestic

Think Daniel Pearl-style killings won’t happen here? A Muslim in Buffalo, NY, has beheaded his wife. Lest you think this is just an isolated incident, do a Google search for “Muslim honor killings in America” and browse around.

Two things I don’t get:

How is this guy just being charged with second degree murder? You don’t just happen to behead someone. It takes effort and deliberation.

Why wasn’t this woman safe? After all,

She had an order of protection that had him out of the home as of Friday the 6th.

according to local police. Oh, that’s right. Court orders of protection DON’T WORK! Regardless of what the “authorities” may tell you, you are responsible for your own safety. A nut job who’s bent on decapitation is not going to heed a court order. You. Need. A. Gun.

Domestic, Gun Rights culture, Domestic

A graduate student was stabbed and decapitated in a restaurant on the campus of Virginia Tech this week. It’s been a decade since Columbine, a couple years since the mass murders at VaTech, and just a year since the killing at Northern Illinois University. What have we done to fix the problem? Nothing. Hand-wringing and memorials to the victims don’t help protect our young students.

The whole idea of gun-free zones must be eliminated from our collective thought or we’ll just continue to see more such tragedies. We must be allowed to take responsibility for our own protection. Campus cops obviously aren’t up to the job.

Domestic, Gun Rights culture, Domestic

Today my family had an experience that should wake up other parents, as it did me.

As she does every day, my wife picked our kids up from their schools. Just after picking up my son, a 13-year-old who naturally thinks he’s invincible, they drove past an apartment complex where a rather nasty fight had erupted. My son started yelling at my wife to stop the car. He wanted to get out and stop the fight and, at one point, yelled at his mom that this was why she needed to carry a gun (she doesn’t…yet). He was rather irate when she did the right thing (in this situation), pulling the car into a safe place before calling 911 but not intervening directly. Now those of you who have been exercising your 2nd Amendment right for any length of time know the foolishness of my son’s reaction, but in his naive, “I’m Clint Eastwood” (insert whoever’s current in movies…Vin Diesel maybe?) mentality, my son didn’t. When I arrived home my wife apprised me of the situation so, after supper, I sat the kids down and had “the talk.” No, not that talk. The one I should have had with them earlier. We discussed the huge responsibility it is to carry with you the power of life and death, and how easy it can be to make the wrong decision. When he saw the fight, already in progress, did he know who started it? Who was in the right? If the combatants were armed? And so on. Anyone who has been through a basic CCW course knows the scenarios. My son, of course, didn’t. After going through a number of them with the kids, he became rather thoughtful and wanted to chew it over for a bit. I obviously have more work to do with the kids. We need to cover how they should react in a dangerous situation (e.g., don’t yell, “Dad, shoot him!”). My kids have been to the range with me often, so they have the skills, but do they have the knowledge and judgment? Nope. And that’s my responsibility. So parents, don’t put it off or think your kids will just pick it up from you automatically. You must take the time to talk with your kids about what it means to be a responsible armed citizen.

Domestic, Gun Rights culture, Domestic