Weekly Post – Page 27

To Each His Own

As always, the world of self-defense and firearm training is a varied one. There are those who take the profession seriously, and those who do not. A recent addition to the drama was a so-called ‘instructor’ who’s methods and instructional techniques went beyond unsafe and straight into gonna get someone killed. Ever defiant of the establishment, even after his training credentials were yanked by the NRA, he perseveres since he, and only he, knows better than the rest of the industry. He really IS that good, just ask him.

Some say firearms in general and firearm training is inherently dangerous. I disagree. It most certainly can be, but it is not without something specifically added to it to make it so. The most common additive is of course human error. And when the errors occur, lives can be lost.

First, and foremost, let’s talk about what is considered safe. Those of us in the training industry LIVE by the Four Basic Firearm Safety Rules:

Treat all firearms as if they were loaded.
Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
Never place your finger on the trigger until your sights are on target and you have made the decision to fire.
Know your target, what is in front of it and what is beyond it.

No matter what you do after that, if you follow those four rules you and the people around you won’t get hurt.

Like many instructors, some of the training sessions I facilitate are designed to nudge people outside their comfort zone both physically and mentally. But that doesn’t mean they are unsafe. You never push anyone past what they are capable of and never, ever cross the line of safety. Yes, we may walk right up to that line and swear at it, spit in its face and beat it like it owes us money, but we don’t cross it. The line IS the line.

Firearm safety like most things is progressive. Things the industry used to do 30, 20 or even ten years ago we would never do today. Why? Because people have been hurt and killed in training. Fortunately, the industry learned from its mistakes and we’ve all become safer as a result. But not everyone buys into this way of thinking. There are some instructors out there who think that because nothing bad has ever happened to them doing things this way, it never will. They are above it all and say to each his own.

For example, force-on-force training is an incredibly valuable tool to prepare for real life encounters, yet every year a number of law enforcement officers and civilians are seriously injured or killed while doing it. It’s not because the training itself is dangerous, it’s because someone violated the rules.

Instructors who conduct this type of training are fanatical about safety. Even the slightest violation of the safety zone is enough to shut everything down, re-search everything and everyone, and then start again from scratch. Often the students or observers see reactions like this as unnecessary, but experience in the industry has proven otherwise. Regardless of how valuable the training is; it is not worth a human life.

Quality, cutting edge training doesn’t have to come at the cost of safety. And anyone who believes they are above the standards, knows better than everyone else in the industry or has a lackadaisical attitude towards safety is playing a very dangerous game. Maybe nothing will happen and nobody will ever get hurt doing what they’re doing… maybe. But if you play that game too long it will eventually bite you, or shoot you, right in the ass.

If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. If your firearm instructor doesn’t take safety seriously and only responds to industry criticism with flippant remarks and boasts of their own tactical prowess, then it might be time to find a new instructor.

Train hard, but train safely.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #SecondAmendment, #Safety, #Training, #VodaSucks!, #YouKnowWhoYouAre, #patriotpatchco, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

Your Life Is Not Worth Defending

Every so often we get to hear politicians non-wordsmithed views on a given topic. Away from the speechwriters and handlers, their comments lend insight into how little they really care about their constituents. Thus was the reply of Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting representative of Washington DC, to a question of allowing District residents to defend themselves with concealed carry permits in the wake of the shooting of Congressional members in Virginia.

The delegate’s at times laughing response on July 10, 2017 was:

“The city has taken the position that the best way to defend yourself is not to be armed. So, your notion…is an insult– quite an insult to the wards that have greater crime. They have not come forward to me and say, ‘Congresswoman we want to conceal and carry.’ So, I suggest that you approach the people you’re talking about.”

Washington DC has among the strictest gun control laws in the nation. It was the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller which overturned the District’s complete ban on handguns and the requirement that lawfully-owned rifles and shotguns be kept “unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock” when in the home. How strict was the law? The subject of the case, Dick Anthony Heller, a licensed special police officer for the District of Columbia was allowed to carry a firearm for work in federal office buildings, but was not allowed to have one in his own home.

What exactly was the District saying? Is it that the officer who is trusted enough to protect employees and visitors in a federal office building with a firearm isn’t trustworthy enough to protect his own family and home with one? Or is it what and who is being protected? A federal building and federal employees are worth protecting but an individual’s home and family isn’t.

Time and time again, gun control elitists have made it clear there is a caste system in place here. There are people worth protecting with firearms (them) and there are people who are not (everyone else).

Politicians and the economic elite work tirelessly to eliminate your right to self-defense, while simultaneously exempting themselves from any new restrictions they come up with. They say you don’t need a firearm to protect yourself while they are surrounded by heavily armed men and women who are expected to lay down their lives to keep them safe. In the Heller case, they denied the very people who are protecting them the right to protect themselves, right along with everyone else.

Concealed carry permits are now technically possible to obtain in the District, thanks to years of lawsuits and legal decisions against them. However with each step forward, the District raises the bar for demonstrating sufficient need even higher and enacts more costly, time consuming and discriminatory administrative practices to keep them from actually being issued.

So what does the District’s position on unarmed defense mean? It means you have a population with no effective means to fight back against armed perpetrators. That’s right, I said armed perpetrators. For all the effort the District puts into disarming law-abiding citizens, they still have yet to make an impact on those who are actually committing the crimes. Washington DC consistently ranks on the list of highest murder rate and highest violent crime rate in the nation. In other words, a District of victims.

I have no idea where Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton lives or what she has for personal security. Outside her secure federal workplace, her minimum Congressional salary of $174,000 is certainly sufficient to provide her a safe lifestyle. However that lifestyle sets her far above and apart from the average District resident she is supposed to be representing. I also don’t question that nobody is asking her for concealed carry permits. Like all good elitist politicians, no doubt she keeps herself surrounded only by those who think the same way she does.

Now take a look at your own congressional representation and see if they are doing the same thing. Are they working to keep you from defending yourself while enjoying the security and benefits of the office you elected them to? Is your life worth defending to them?

Bob

#oddstuffing, #SecondAmendment, #2A, #BillOfRights, #SelfDefense, #DCGunLaws, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

Shall Not Be Infringed

Time for a little rant. The last four words of the Second Amendment are “shall not be infringed”. Pretty simple and plainspoken, as are all of the Amendments comprising the Bill of Rights. Yet somehow, this clear and distinct phrasing has been bastardized by government entities small and large around our country in the name of ‘reasonable regulations’. If nothing else about the gun control elitists bothers you, those two words should. And it should scare the hell out of you.

Just to make sure we’re clear on the context, this is the text of the Second Amendment:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It is short and sweet at just 27 words. Like all other parts of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment is not a limitation on what “the people” can do, but clearly states what the government cannot do.

So where does ‘reasonable regulations’ come from and why is it so important? It stems from the Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller case which reaffirmed the Second Amendment protects an individuals right to own a firearm outside of military service; the militia noted in the prefatory clause of the Amendment. But at the same time, the ruling held that like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. This is what has become known as ‘reasonable regulations’ or ‘reasonable restrictions’ and is now the mantra for every gun control / gun ban scheme being formulated.

As we saw in the 2016 General Elections where gun control elitist candidates were so proud to say that they ‘respect the Second Amendment’ but in the same breath say they also supported ‘reasonable regulations’. Naturally, it was a political ploy to convince those who were not paying close attention that they wouldn’t come after their guns. In reality, that’s just what their so-called ‘reasonable regulations’ intend.

What sort of ‘reasonable regulations’ do they support? Forced government confiscations colloquially know as gun buybacks, banning newly created categories of firearms by their cosmetic features as so-called “assault weapons”, restrictions on dangerous levels of magazine capacity, limitations on the type, make and model of firearms you can purchase as well as strict limitations on how many you can purchase at once, and how long you have to wait to purchase a firearm, regardless of how many you currently own.

The latest insult to reasonableness is restrictions on ammunition purchases. Even though they have been shown to be wholly ineffective as a means to reduce criminal activity, new licensing of buyers and sellers are being put in place. While initially just a simple license to allow purchases, this system also enables the long sought after mechanism to restrict the quantity of ammunition purchased as well as limit the purchases to only those calibers of firearms that have been registered with the government. In other words, it forces a complete gun registration system.

You have to wonder why the Supreme Court didn’t answer what was and wasn’t a ‘reasonable regulation’ as well as the question of bearing arms outside the home at the same time as Heller. To be fair, that wasn’t the case that was handed to them and the Supreme Court doesn’t always resolve cases to the degree we’d like to see. In limiting the scope of the ruling, the Court virtually guaranteed decades of conflict and litigation against unreasonable restrictions around the country, as we’ve already seen since Heller.

At the core of our argument to protect our rights, we have to go back and look at the Second Amendment and determine the intent of the Founding Fathers. Yes, it is a decidedly originalism form of interpretation and is something the gun control elitists abhor. But how else can you claim the rest of the Bill of Rights applies to modern day society as it did when it was written if you say the Second Amendment does not.

And for those working in back rooms hidden away from public scrutiny concocting the next set of ‘reasonable restrictions’, I have just one question. What part of SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED do you not get?

Bob

#oddstuffing, #SecondAmendment, #BillofRights, #RightToBearArms, #originalism, #reasonableregulations, #Heller, #ShallNotBeInfringed, #TheCheapPlace, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

Gun vs. Firearm

When you hear the word ‘gun’, what do you think of? Depending on your political leanings, you may think of very different things. If you absolutely abhor guns of every type, shape and form, you probably only envision an object that kills innocent families and children. At the other end of the spectrum, you may envision a tool for empowerment, self-defense, hunting or sport. What if I had asked you the same question about ‘firearm’? Odd enough, the answer might be a little different.

Both words describe the very same inanimate object; the difference is the emotional tie to the word ‘gun’. Of course, there are many different terms that also describe the very same objects. Firearms, guns, arms and weapons are generic terms whereas pistol, revolver, rifles, shotgun, or hog leg are more specific. Some, such as ‘weapon’ are positively associated with military or police service. It is also negatively associated as belonging to a class of objects supposedly too dangerous for the public to own as the politically defined ‘assault weapon’ or ‘assault style weapon’.

Look at how those opposed to Second Amendment rights and ordinary citizens owning and carrying firearms describe them. The articles they post, the speeches they give, the so-called research they present; all emphasize how dangerous and deadly ‘guns’ are. They continuously blame the deaths on “gun violence” to the point where anyone listening to the message is going to naturally associate anything ‘gun’ with ‘violence’ and ‘death’. They are trying to make the word itself synonymous with something evil and dangerous.

All of this is why many of us in this industry, myself included, prefer to use the term ‘firearm’ generally or ‘pistol’ or ‘rifle’ specifically in our discussions, writings or when we teach. The rational behind it is simple. To present the most positive images of these inanimate objects, the people who own them, and the right to do so.

If you’re thinking this is pretty damn dumb; you are of course correct. It is dumb. It’s semantics at its best and political correctness gone wild. It’s a bit insulting to think that simply using the word gun vs. firearm changes the definition of what you are talking about. But it’s also the realty of the world we live in where far too many people listen blindly to the headlines and never bother to read the fine print.

Before you think about banishing the word gun from your lexicon, understand that it isn’t as simple as using one term for another. You would be hard pressed to find a firearmsmith instead of a gunsmith or try to buy a firearm sock instead of a gun sock. I even have the ‘g’ word in my company name because other more politically correct terms just didn’t make sense.

Of course, the point that tends to get lost in all of this wordplay is what are you doing with your firearms/guns? Are you a responsible firearm owner? Do you live by the four basic firearms safety rules like your life and everyone else’s depends on it? Have you taught your children about firearm safety? Do you store your firearms safely given your life, family and living situation? Have you trained with your firearms? Do you properly maintain your firearms? Are your firearms for the defense of your life and your family’s lives?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then I don’t give a tinker’s damn what you call that thing that goes pew. You are living proof that the term means nothing. What matters is intent, and yours is steeped in American tradition, family values and the Second Amendment.

I only ask that you be aware of the context of conversations and realize that there are those who wish to use every means at their disposal to portray firearm owners – gun owners, as negatively as possible to achieve their goal of denying our Second Amendment rights, even if it is simply using the word gun vs. firearm.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #gunvsfirearm, #secondamendment, #gunsvsfirearms, #responsiblefirearmowners, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

Made in the USA

Independence Day is tomorrow, July 4^th. It was on this date in 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and thirteen former British colonies became the United States of America. 241 year ago, our nation was made. This year, I’m celebrating Made In USA.

Recently I needed to buy a rather pricy piece of equipment for my business. As with most things these days, there were many options from all over the world. Capabilities, reliability, options, support, price and reputation all played a part in my decision. I chose the product made in the USA.

When I received my shipment, I noticed a particular line on the packing list. It was Item # 14-1035-00 Label, “Made in the USA”. Sure enough, that label was prominently, and proudly displayed on the front of the product, the very one in the image that accompanies this article. The equipment, software and all the trimmings are from a company in Arizona that has been in business for over 30 years. All of the company’s engineering, development, assembly, training, support and operations are in this same location and always have been. Best of all, they are great people to do business with.

The United States used to be the world leader in innovation and manufacturing. We are still leading in innovation, although more and more of that is being outsourced offshore. Manufacturing in the US is now only a fraction of what it used to be. Why is that?

If you ask the big corporations, they say they need to outsource work and production out of the country in order to effectively compete. They say doing the same work and building the same products in the US would make their products and services more expensive and nobody would pay that amount. I say that’s a load of bull.

The real reason is profit and greed. When is the last time you saw a company drop their prices on a product because they moved production off shore? Their price to produce that product dropped by X% and no, that savings wasn’t passed along to you. Simply put, if you can make $5 profit on a widget made in the US vs. $10 on the same widget made outside our borders, they’re going to go outside every time. Is $5 profit a bad thing? No, of course not. But $10 is twice as much as $5. Greed is good, or so they say.

Companies also complain the American worker is overpaid and lazy. While this may be true for some individuals, as it would be for any civilization anywhere in the world, I don’t believe it to be a valid assessment. I think it’s an excuse. Does it cost more to pay American workers? Yes, but that’s the price we pay for a robust economy. And it’s not like those dollars don’t get spent. If American workers have become obsolete it is because the companies that employ them no longer see them as an asset to the company, only pricey liability on the company books.

Was my purchase decision influenced by the location of the company? Absolutely. Now does that mean I would have purchased an inferior piece of equipment just to have a “Made in the USA” label on it? Of course not, I’m patriotic, not idiotic. In this case I was fortunate to find an American company that is doing it right. Products and services made in the USA have to compete favorably with the world on all facets of what they make. You can’t just put an American flag on a piece of crap and expect people to buy it based solely on national pride.

During his inauguration speech on January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” It was a call to action for the nation, to do what is right for the greater good. The most interesting thing is that the greater good for individuals very often correlates with the greater good for all. You just have to make the right choice.

As you are celebrating our nation’s birthday this week, I invite you to not only think about how the USA was made, but what is made in the USA. What can we do individually and as a nation, to make what is made here, even better.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #July41776, #IndependanceDay, #declarationofindependance, #MadeInTheUSA, #patriot #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

To Serve Man

Ever since individuals came together to form societies, they have called upon some of their members to serve the public interest. Those who have heeded the call have provided everything from basic services like water and roads to safety and representation in larger groups. Public service was considered a calling and was never considered a lucrative life since they were paid by some kind of tax or assessment on the people they served. But what happens when those who serve do so for their own greed?

Every so often we’ll see a story about someone who has been living in the wilderness alone. These few hardy individuals are probably the only ones who are able to do everything for themselves. The rest of us rely on public servants for the essentials of modern living and beyond. For that mutual benefit, we pay a portion of our own earnings in the form of taxes. The more people, the more taxes, the more services needed and supported.

Our representative government used to be made up of citizen volunteers who served part time while continuing their regular jobs or businesses. When you look at our nation’s agricultural background, you can understand why legislative sessions traditionally run in the fall/winter months vs. the spring/summer growing seasons. Many state level governments continue to meet part-time and some not every year.

Somewhere along the line, the system was changed and those who serve are now taking the public for everything it can bear. Instead of representing the interests of the community they serve, they seem to primarily represent their own interests. How? They specifically exempt themselves from the laws they create for everyone else. They ignore rules, regulations and laws that do not meet their own immediate needs and create others that help them retain control and power.

If you need a current example, look no further than the California Legislature. The latest budget bill includes new requirements for qualifying a recall petition for ballot, specifically intended to help delay the recall vote of a member of the ruling party. This same budget bill even expands California’s list of persons prohibited from owning firearms. But then California is notorious for finding inventive new ways of sneaking law changes without public input or comment, a fact Second Amendment supports are well aware of. So-called ‘gut and amend’ laws completely change a bill at the end of the legislative cycle to bypass public hearing and comments. Rules for comments during hearings are suspended or ignored when dissenting opinions are brought up. Dramatic changes to statutes are submitted as administrative ‘file and print only’ regulations.

And what of our legislators themselves? Gone the way of the Dodo are the part-time, representative members of the community. Replaced now by full-time, professional politicians who have precious little in common with the people they are supposed to represent. This is especially true at the Federal level where our members of Congress enjoy salaries, benefits, retirement packages and perks of employment very few of their constituents can even dream of let alone acquire.

Our President campaigned on a platform to fix the federal government in a number of ways, including to “drain the swap”. A laudable goal, but I don’t believe he quite understood how strong the Swamp Side is. At the first sign of a sump pump, I fully expect the residents of the swap to simultaneously declare their swap a protected wetland as well as a National Historic Landmark. The residents, as the swamp’s indigenous inhabitants and preservationists of the swamp’s native culture, would be immune to any outside drainage.

This is of course our own fault. All of us, as the citizen, the taxpayer and the voter, have allowed the system to become so bastardized, so blatantly corrupt and so unaccountable to anyone. It didn’t happen overnight, but slowly, one little piece at a time so nobody would notice. Does all this sound familiar 2A supporters?

Can it be turned around? Can we return our government to the hands of the people? I’d like to believe so, but it’s going to take a lot more people caring about their country to make it happen. Even if we can’t drain the swamp, keeping it from getting any bigger would be a step in the right direction.

What happens if we don’t get involved? One of these days we’re going to wake up and realize they’ve really been writing a cookbook.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #toserveman, #corruptgovernment, #secondamendment, #draintheswap, #2A, #itsacookbook, #twilightzone, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

Time & Video: What Is A Life Worth?

You undoubtedly heard about the shooting at a Congressional baseball practice in Alexandria VA last week injuring four people, two critically. The entire incident is reported to have lasted less than 10 minutes. Putting aside all of the politics and who’s to blame for the attitude and violence, I want to take a look at this from what was seen and heard on a cell phone video taken of the incident.

This is the link to the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHM73eJCa7k It is 5:45 minutes long. I encourage you to take a look at it then come back here.

First, let’s talk about time. The video is reported to have initiated at some point after the shooting started. You can clearly hear the rifle shots in the video. At about 50 seconds, you can hear someone giving commands to “put the gun down”. This is presumably the Capitol Police who were on site. Alexandria Police were reported to be on site within three minutes of the first 911 call.

Witnesses on scene said their lives were saved because of the presence of the Capitol Police security detail, which was only on site due to the Congressional leadership position of one of the participants.

I’ve written about police response times before and how the saying “when seconds count, the police are minutes away” is true. It’s unknown how long it took for the 911 call to be placed to get Alexandra Police responding. But very fortunately in this incident, the police were already on site acting as the security detail and able to pin the shooter down before he could shoot anyone else. The shooter was eventually shot and killed by the Capitol Police.

Most of us are not fortunate enough to have the police on site to protect us as part of our daily lives. Most of us are not in a financial position to have armed guards protecting us. Most of us have nothing but what we have on us as our protection. Think of what the death toll would have been if there hadn’t already been someone armed on site to engage the shooter. The time between something bad happening and someone else getting there to help is all about you.

Following this incident, there were simultaneous calls for tighter gun control and for concealed carry reciprocity for congressional members. Several congressional members and staffers have concealed carry permits in their home states, and while they may or may not have reciprocity in Virginia, they were all from the District of Columbia where they have some of the strictest gun laws in the country, there is no reciprocity and they very rarely issue concealed carry permits.

It is of course lunacy to think tighter gun control will prevent anyone from inflicting violence upon another, either with firearms or any other tool. And while our Congress considers increased levels of armed protection and reciprocity for their own, the remainder of the country is left to fend for themselves.

Now, let’s consider the video. Too many people seem to want to have one of their eyewitness videos go viral so they can bask in the requisite 15 minutes of fame. So what of the guy with the dog who took this video? About two minutes in you can hear someone off camera asking if he has called 911. The cell phone camera guy’s reply: “I assume people have been calling 911 already”.

Here’s my response.

1) Turn off the F’ING camera and call 911! You have NO IDEA if anyone has already called for help. You may be the 1^st person to call or the 100^th. You may have a perspective on what is going on nobody else has. Assuming someone else has called so you can continue to roll video is arrogant and stupid.

2) Help others who can’t help themselves. Others may already be injured or paralyzed in fear and not able to move. If you still have your wits about you, do something to keep others from dying.

3) Get your ass out of there! You’ve got hard ground and a couple of chain link fences between you and a shooter. If you’re not in a position to get involved to stop what is going on; run, shuffle or low crawl your ass out of the danger zone and get to safety behind hard cover. Those bullets are going somewhere and your soft, squishy skin is as good a place as any.

Your video may gloriously document an incident for generations to come, but at what cost? What could you have done to keep yourself safe or help save someone’s life?

More pointless laws and more gun control will never do anything to prevent violence. You are and always will be your own best first line of defense. And crying out loud, don’t be a selfish, fame seeking idiot. Put down the camera and either get involved, help others or get the hell out!

What is a life worth?

Bob

#oddstuffing, #SecondAmendment, #2A, #CCWreciprocity, #2017CongressionalShooting, #WhatIsALifeWorth, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

National Reciprocity – The Holy Grail Adjacent

One of the most significant goals of Second Amendment rights groups’ today is nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry permit holders. It’s not the Holy Grail, which would be nationwide constitutional carry, but it most certainly lives next door to it. Imagine an entire country where you can exercise your right to bear arms without having to worry about some line on a map.

Two bills in the United States Congress mean to address this, one in the House and one in the Senate. Both very similar in that they allow a permitted concealed carry holder to carry in all states and that they must adhere to the laws of the state they are in. The one major difference is the permitting authority. One version says the permit must be issued by your home state, the state where you permanently reside. The other version says reciprocity includes any state’s permit, so an out-of-state permit would be valid in all states, including your home state. Constitutional carry states just need their driver’s license. Lucky stiffs…

Neither of these options are acceptable to the gun control elitists and states where they determine who may legally carry a firearm based on nebulous and secretive criteria, and permits are only issued to the rich, famous or well connected. Political hacks posing as law enforcement heads are also up in arms about this. They contend this will allow people from all across the country with little to no training to come in to their state with firearms, putting the lives of their officers and every citizen in the state at risk. There will be ‘blood in the streets’ they say.

Of course, the visions of anarchy, Wild West shootouts and ‘blood in the streets’ have never come true, even as more and more states adopt permitless carry. Undeterred, the elitists keep pushing their false narrative to keep the people afraid while pushing for even stricter gun control laws. The truth is, law-abiding, concealed carry citizens are among the most law abiding in the nation. They carry not to cause problems, only to defend their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.

If one of the currently stalled national reciprocity bills eventually makes its way to law, we can expect a flood of legal challenges from the nanny states, propelled by activist jurists who are ready and waiting to issue their pre-planned rulings. We can also expect these non-permissive states to radically alter their own carry laws to make it as difficult and complicated as possible to comply with for anyone who dares come into their state with a firearm.

As anyone who currently has more than one concealed carry permit already knows, each state’s laws have subtle differences that must be strictly adhered to. Then of course there are municipalities who’ve decided they need to jump on the gun control bandwagon and further regulate firearms for their little slices of turf.

Among the many different regulations such as duty to inform on traffic stops, some jurisdictions ban so-called “high-capacity” magazines or anything above 10 rounds. In New York you can only put seven rounds in your ten round magazines, unless you are on a firing range. Some jurisdictions ban “enhanced lethality” bullets, a.k.a. hollow point self defense rounds, or other specific types of ammunition.

If you want to get a taste of how national reciprocity would be treated, there is one already we can look at. It’s called the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), also known as HR218. This national law allows qualified current, former and retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed firearm in any state. The NRA Law Enforcement Division has a good resource page on LEOSA. See the link below for more details.

So you would think this would be easy, right? Sadly it is not. Not only are many officers not aware of the law, some jurisdictions feel free to outright ignore it. Current and former officers lawfully carrying under this Act have been harassed, had their firearms confiscated and been arrested. Even when charges are later dropped, this type of enforcement follows the good ol’ days concept of “you can’t take back a night in jail”. It is designed to send a clear message that unless you are permitted by THEIR jurisdiction, you cannot carry there.

Consider if this is how law enforcement, a supposedly close-knit nationwide community, treats it’s own in non-permissive states, image how they’ll treat the average out-of-state concealed carrying citizen?

Nationwide concealed carry reciprocity is long overdue in our country. Your ability to defend your life and the lives of your loved ones shouldn’t be determined by the next dotted line on the map, controlled by someone who doesn’t believe your life is worthy of Constitutionally protected rights in THEIR jurisdiction.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #NationalReciprocity, #SecondAmendment #BillOfRights, #LEOSA, #HR218, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

NRA Law Enforcement Division / LEOSA – http://le.nra.org/leosa.aspx

Race, The Final Frontier

We live in a wondrous age with more personal rights than any time in history. No longer are we bound by the circumstances we are born into. More than any other nation, we are the land of opportunity and anyone can become anything they aspire to be. We can change everything about ourselves with one notable exception, our race.

Just think about the options you have in your life here. You are not bound by your geography, you may move about freely. You are not bound by your social class, you may rise to any status you desire. You can learn any skill, vocation or trade that you want. You are free to choose your religion. You may change your physical appearance. You may change your name. You may change your gender and your sexual preference. Physical or mental disabilities do not determine what you may do or accomplish in your life. Yet somehow, our race is the one attribute seen as forever fixed in place.

Again, we have marches and protests for the rights of <insert race>, where others are not allowed to join and support them in the name of unity. We have schools purposefully re-segregating education, facilities and ceremonies by race. It is considered “cultural appropriation” for any race to use another’s traditions, fashions, symbols, language, food or music in their own lives.

All of this is completely opposite of what our nation has grown to become. People have come here from every other region, every other country to make this nation, this melting pot, their home. In doing so, they have brought their culture and their way of life with them. They adopted portions of what they found here and the nation adopted portions of what they brought with them. This exchange and integration of cultures is what has made our society as strong, rich and vibrant as it is.

Yet when arguing about race and that newest, uber-politically correct craze “cultural appropriation”, we hear it is not appropriate for certain individuals to do ‘something’. They are either not the right race, or not <insert race> enough. In reality, unless you are from one of the few remaining uncontacted tribes, your DNA is likely made up of a number of different cultures. Whether determined by some arbitrary geo-political line on a map, continent or hemisphere, we are all a combination of peoples.

So what is the appropriate level of racial purity to allow you to partake in a cultural tradition? Is it 50%? 75? 90%, 99.99%? What if your physical appearance is from the lesser percentage of your DNA? Are you still allowed to participate in the majority DNA culture? Do you need to get a ‘cultural acceptance’ license that proves you are the race you claim to be?

In 2008 when the first African-American United States President was elected, I honestly believed this would finally move our country past race as a determining factor for anything. But instead we have seen the opposite. It is sadly ironic that this President who – on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – spoke from the very same location as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr did during his “I Have a Dream” speech – significantly contributed to the reversal of those 50 years of racial acceptance and progress as a nation.

I parodied the Star Trek quote here as the show is credited with the first interracial kiss on American television between Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura in 1968. For the time, this was considered both shocking and ground breaking. Today, when this episode plays in reruns; we just see two people kissing.

For the crew of the Enterprise, space was that final frontier to conqueror. For us, it is race and not only have we not conquered it, we have managed to move backwards in time. I don’t know what the answer is, but I know what it is not. It is not segregation and calling for special rights, privileges and areas based on race. EVERY race deserves to be proud of the heritage and celebrate it openly, but never, EVER at the expense of others. If we truly want to be a nation of equality for all, we all need to pull our heads out of our collective asses and dismiss race as a consideration for anything.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #nodiscrimination, #notculturalappropriation, #equalityforall, #alllivesmatter, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, the time for our nation to pay tribute to the members of our armed services who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

This year, I am very honored to have my mother, a military veteran and member of the American Legion Henry L. Danforth, VT Post 53, reading my Memorial Day post from last year along with the poem, In Flanders Field, during my hometown’s Memorial Day activities.

“In Flanders Fields” was written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae in 1915 after presiding over the funeral of a friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres during World War I. The poem, and the red poppies it mentions, has become important remembrance symbols throughout the world as nations honor their lost service members.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”

There are numerous opportunities on Memorial Day to pay tribute to our fallen heroes. You can attend one of the many parades or other organized activities occurring in large cities and small towns across our nation. You can visit one of our nation’s 134 national cemeteries, a state veteran’s cemetery or a local cemetery and witness the flags posted at the graves of our veterans. You can pause at 3 p.m. local time for the National Moment of Remembrance, a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. However you choose to do so, I encourage you to include your family so they too can learn about and understand the sacrifices given by so many for our freedom.

For all of us who live free because of your service, we celebrate your memory, we honor your sacrifice, we thank you and we shall never forget.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #memorialday #honorourvets, #AmericanLegion, #InFlandesField, #thankyoumom, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com