Kalifornistan vs. Gun Culture

With the election of California’s Lieutenant Governor to Governor, we enter a new era of oppressive and draconian gun control. If you think the past decades of small, incremental Second Amendment infringements was bad, the coming years are going to make what we’ve had up to now look like firearm owner’s utopia. As always, it will be built on the lie that gun control will make you safer. But as we’ve seen over and over again, it just turns law-abiding citizens into law-abiding victims. Welcome to the new Kalifornistan.

With the Lt. Governor’s elevation to the big-boy chair, he’s already planning out how he’s going to take your rights away. Freed from the pre-election moratorium on gun control comments that might have alienated firearm owning democrats or progressives, he’s already ramping up the rhetoric before being sworn in.

Here are a couple of quotes:

“The gun violence that continues to plague our nation is beyond heartbreaking — it’s a societal failure. Simply saying, “enough is enough,” is NOT enough. We must address the root causes of these devastating acts at every level of government.”

“It’s a gun culture. You can’t go to a bar or nightclub? You can’t go to church or synagogue? It’s insane is the only way to describe it. The normalization, that’s the only way I can describe it. It’s become normalized.”

Our governor-elect has promised that he “will raise the bar” on gun control when he takes over in January, and would not have vetoed the gun control legislation the current California governor has in the past.

So let’s pick apart a few of the incoming governor’s comments.  He wants to address the root causes of these devastating acts. By that I would hope he understands that violence isn’t about guns, it’s about violence. Violence has always been committed by whatever means is available and convenient. The use of a gun has never really mattered.

The gun control elitists love to herald the success of the Australian model of gun control, until you point out the homicide rate didn’t change when they took away the firearms from the law-abiding citizens or that the violent crime rate went up. If gun control is so effective, then why did London, England’s homicide rate recently surpass that of New York City, with a population 500,000 larger than ‘firearm free’ London?

Perhaps the fact that all the gun control laws only target the law-abiding citizenry would help explain these inconvenient truths. Or perhaps in California, it’s the effects of Prop 47, 57 and other soft on criminal laws. There are laws that reduce or eliminate the penalties for crimes – or actions formerly known as crimes. Perhaps it’s reclassifying such crimes as assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer; battery with serious bodily injury; solicitation to commit murder and rape/sodomy/oral copulation of an unconscious person or by use of a date rape drug as non-violent crimes.

Our governor-elect has chosen to villainize “gun culture” as the cause of death in public places. It’s never the criminal, the person who carried out the crime; it’s always the culture of guns that is to blame. It’s too bad he doesn’t know anything about gun culture.

The gun culture I know about, the gun culture I am part of, realizes the incredible responsibility that comes along with the inalienable right to keep and bear arms. The law-abiding citizens who keep and bear arms do so to prevent violence, not to inflict it upon others.  The law-abiding citizens I know use lawfully owned firearms to prevent and stop crimes at a rate of three times more than firearms are used feloniously in this country, to the tune of 2.5 to 3 million times per year. Considering 98% of all mass shootings in the United States since 1950 have occurred in gun free zones, maybe we should be encouraging MORE gun culture, instead of less.

Here’s the depressing reality of violence. There are no set of laws that will ever prevent someone from attempting to violently subject their will on someone else. Telling the unarmed masses they will ‘feel safer’ because the law-abiding are disarmed is an absolute lie. Criminals can obtain whatever weaponry they want, they always have and they always will.

Please take special note of the word “attempting” in the last paragraph. While there is nothing that will stop an attempt, there is something that will stop the act; having a law-abiding citizen there who is armed and willing to defend his or her own life.  As Wayne LaPierre so bluntly put it, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”.

Gun culture isn’t to blame for violence, but our politicians won’t come out of their firearm protected bubbles long enough to realize that. They want to keep the real safety and control all for themselves, while allowing the unarmed masses to simply ‘feel safe’; right up until they become victims.

Hold on tight law-abiding Kalifornistan firearm owners. It’s going to be a rough road ahead.

Bob

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Who is The Armed Citizen?

I am your family, your friend, your neighbor and your store clerk. I am the person you say hello to on your morning walks. You see me in the store, the restaurant, on the street and in your neighborhood.

Depending on your political point of view, you may think it odd I own or am carrying a firearm. You probably don’t understand why. Let’s clear up a few misconceptions you have about me.

I am not a remnant of the Wild, Wild West and I don’t fancy myself a junior G-man, secret agent or super hero. I am not a conspiracy theorist and I don’t wear a tinfoil hat. I am not compensating for alarmingly small genitalia. I don’t go around trying to get into fights and I certainly don’t want to put myself or anyone else in danger.

What I have done is gone through numerous background checks, completing many Federal and state forms along the way for the legal purchase of my firearms and the ability to carry them. I have completed every required training program and have gone well above and beyond that level of education. I train and practice often and take very good care of my firearms. I keep track of the latest legal cases to make sure I do not inadvertently run afoul of the law. The absolute last thing I ever want to do is use my firearm against anyone and I will do everything I possibly can do to avoid it.

I am also very well aware in the case of a self-defense incident where I have to discharge my firearm; my life will be turned upside down. Even if fully and unquestionably justified, I will very likely be handcuffed by the police, arrested and jailed until the situation is cleared up. My case may be taken by the prosecutor to a Grand Jury to determine what charges to bring. My entire life, every social media post, every letter, every comment to someone at a party will be scrutinized for possible indications of bias or callous intent. My training and my mental state will be evaluated. Some may wish to ‘make an example’ out of me, and my actions will be used to judge other armed citizens. I will incur significant legal expenses and my family will be harassed by those who feel that I was wrong to do what I did.

Why then am I an armed citizen? The answer is as simple as simple can be. Despite of the negative that may follow, I choose to live. My family chooses to live. I for one refuse to allow a criminal or thug-terrorist to decide it is my time, or my family’s time to bleed to death on a public street or in my own home.

Are there people who legally own firearms and use them irresponsibly? Of course. Just as there are people who drink too much, drive poorly, stand on the top steps of ladders and run with scissors. They are a minuscule population within the firearm community and I have as much problem with them as you do.

It is estimated that defensive uses of firearms outweigh felonious uses by 30-80 to one or between one and two million times per year in the United States. There isn’t an accurate number since this isn’t a metric collected in police reports. Nobody from the “gun control/gun safety” movement even wants to look for those numbers. They say they are statistically insignificant or simply don’t exist.

While you may not know I am a legally armed citizen, you still benefit from me being here. We are long past the days where any criminal fears the law, the police or the courts. The only thing they still have to fear is their victim. If they believe their potential victim is armed and can defend themselves, they will move on to someone who can not. They will find an easier target. (They’re criminals, not morons.) The more people like me, the more armed citizens there are, the less likely someone will be made a victim

In case you don’t remember me, let me give you my description. I am male, female or gender nonspecific. I am young, middle aged or retired. I am tall, medium height or a little short. I have a full head of brown/red/blond/black/purple/green hair or am bald. I am thin, fit & muscular or overweight. I’ll be wearing shorts & a tank top, jeans & polo shirt or a suit or long/short dress.

I am the armed citizen.

Bob

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