Tag: constitution

Life Changing 3 Seconds

I am an avid believer in the 2^nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, actually I’m an avid believer of all the Amendments. I have a legally issued Concealed Carry License and pretty much everywhere I go, that allows legal carry, I am armed and I am vigilant. Vigilance, not to be confused with paranoia, is a state of mind, a constant awareness of your surroundings and looking for those things out of place or those actions that might shed light on a potential lethal threat. I take this right, and the responsibility it represents, very seriously.

The right to carry a concealed weapon is accompanied by a significant expectation of responsibility and associated risks, and by that I am not talking about just the risk associated with someone looking to put a bullet in your nostril. I’m talking about your actions just prior to, during, and after a lethal force encounter. Let’s look at four risks, one at a time; keeping in mind each of these risks would need a 100 page book to adequately explain.

1 – Shots on Target: If you are not extremely proficient with your weapon of choice you may open the door to not only serious litigation but also present more of a threat than the initial reason which precipitated you drawing your weapon. If you draw your weapon and expend 5 rounds at the threat and miss, you have endangered the lives of anyone in the vicinity not to mention you have just openly, and with great flare, identified yourself as a prime target to the initial threat. Even if you hit the aggressor 1 out of 5 times and eliminated the threat you have still greatly endangered the lives of innocents; and the courts will make you pay dearly for your lapse in proficiency. If your skills are not sufficient enough to end the threat with expeditious efficiency then you have become a 2^nd and equally dangerous threat to innocents within 200 yards of your mussel. That 3″ shot-group on the range at 30 feet becomes a 6″ shot group during a gun fight; and that increase only jumps 100% if you are really good and have nerves of steel.

2 – Ammo on Hand: If, after the encounter and after the local Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) has confiscate your weapon (and they will) they find ball ammo in your magazine you could find yourself in serious trouble. Especially if an “innocent” behind the aggressor is hit with your round after it passed through the active shooter. Be mindful of local laws pertaining to the type of ammo that is required, or even suggested. A suggestion on a quiet and uneventful day becomes a requirement during stormy litigation.

3 – The 3 Second Event: Let’s explain this in a hypothetical scenario. You’re at the mall, minding your own business, you hear shots and screams. Being a conscientious minded person who has a legal carry permit and armed, you run toward the commotion, with weapon drawn, to protect innocents. A police office, or armed security guard, hears the same shot and they too run, with gun drawn, toward the sounds of hostility to protect innocents. Senses are heightened, adrenaline is pumping, and tunnel vision has set in. The LEO sees you running with gun drawn and shouts for you to stop, but the adrenaline in your system, the hysterical screams and shouts, and the plethora of activity associated with an active shooter encounter overload your senses and you do not hear the warning to stop. If you are lucky you only feel the pain of the bullet entering your body after the LEO has stopped what is perceived as the threat. If you are unlucky, meaning the LEO is very proficient, you won’t feel a thing but rather drop to the floor and are dead before you do. Keep this in mind—if you are perceived as someone worth shooting, you are worth shooting twice, or probably three times. The truth is, there’s nothing hypothetical about this; this real life scenario played itself out at a mall in Hoover, Alabama over the Thanksgiving weekend of 2018.

4 – The Aftermath: If you survive the initial encounter there are significant chances you will be taken into custody. During the investigation, if anything is found to be “questionable” or a statement you make contradicts what others say, the chance of being arrested are high. Let’s say everything was textbook. You saw, you acted, you ended a legitimate threat, and the District Attorney shook your hand as you walked out of the courtroom; all is good with the world. Not really. There will, more often than not, be a civil suit against you from the family members of the person you shot, or the person you shot if your shot was not as precise as you would have liked. Even if found innocent the legal fees along can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. The prospect of being found guilty are too pricey to even contemplate.

Like I say, each of these four aspects would require a book to fully explain so don’t hound me with, “Well, what about this, and that, and that and this…” Also like to say these are only 4 of probably 227 other risky aspects of lethal force encounters, maybe 228.

Recommendations:

1 – Train, train, practice, practice, and practice some more, and when you have done all of that and feel good about your level of proficiency, train and practice some more… and train with a professional, not that old retired Vet at the VFW down the block and around the corner. Do not think a 3” shot group at 30 feet at the range is a measure of your proficiency under high stress.

2 – Know the law, it can help you or it can bury you. Don’t assume, just because you are in the right, that you are right. Say nothing to nobody until you have a lawyer at your side.

3 – If you feel a need to run toward danger, be smart, be aware, and take nothing for granted. You might be the good guy but you might look like a bad guy with a gun.

4 – Get liability insurance. Costs roughly a dollar a day and many of you spend three times that much each day at Starbucks so don’t not do it because you think it cost too much. The alternative will cost you the price of a Starbucks franchise and then some. You may very well work the rest of your life to support the family of the person who just tried to kill you, and they may possibly laugh all the way to the bank while living in your house. Also, after the encounter, do not say a word (to ANYONE) until you have a good lawyer at your side. I know, I said this before, but it’s worth saying again. Your only initial comment to any LEO on scene should be something along the lines of, “Officer, I fully intend to comply with your instructions and answer all your questions, but I want to call my lawyer first.” Saying ANYTHING other than that to ANYONE may not end well. The dynamics of a lethal force encounter plays tricks on your memory. Give yourself time to calm down and talk to a lawyer first. Plus, keep in mind anyone you talk to about the encounter, other than your lawyer, can become a subpoenaed witness against you and what you think you told them may not be what they heard but whatever they think they heard you say is more than enough to be twisted and misquoted ending in you giving your house to a bad guy (or bad guy’s family) and you will live in a cardboard box.

2019-02-24
The Worth of Truth

A friend of mine posted a blog titled, “American Genocide and the New World Order.” I call him a friend but we have never actually met. My first introduction to his writing was when I purchased his book, “The Three Meter Zone” which became my “go-to” manual when I was a First Sergeant serving in the U.S. Army. Shortly thereafter I started following his Blog and have garnered a plethora of wisdom from his narratives.

I enjoy reading his posts. This particular post got me to thinking; sometimes my thinking is a good thing, sometimes not so much. Every word in his post is truth. The kind of truth nobody wants to hear. The kind of truth that, if taken to heart, would bring to light the fact that delusion has taken the place of reason and common sense, that compassion has been overrun by arrogance, and a truth that demonstrates, in no uncertain terms, that integrity and honor have been pushed aside for the sake of expediency and a self-serving agenda.

I commented on his post stating in part, “…and I have to wonder if we are not just banging our heads against the sidewalk.” I was referring to the daily demonstrated fact that very few want to hear the truth, so why speak it.

We live in a country that has turned its back on God, has pushed God out of our schools, our homes, our government, our lives, and even out of some of our churches. We live in a country that has willfully, expeditiously, and with a not so hidden sense of glee taken, the lives of millions upon millions of unborn children every year; this is done with no remorse, no sorrow, no regret, and is called “a god given right” to do so. We have taken steps to ensure single parent households are the norm and same sex marriage is not only acceptable but proper and encouraged. The mindset that embraces these callused attributes has been around since Cain and Able but I think in recent decades it has flourished and is driving us headfirst (with eyes wide open) into perdition. In fact it is being taught in our schools as a curriculum, either directly or indirectly.

Many will ridicule the Christian faith and claim it infringes on the U.S. Constitution and call it hate speech but at the same time hold Islam up as a bastion of hope. Many claim gun control is the answer and call guns and the people who own them evil… until the time comes when someone breaks into their house and they have no gun to protect themselves. They might have time to call 911 but they would be better served calling a crime scene cleanup crew; that’s all the police will be able to do once they get there, but nobody wants to believe that. Many want open borders and claim there is nothing wrong with illegals… until an illegal injures or kills one of their own. Many believe it is their right to murder an unborn child, but on those occasions when the parent changes their mind their life is enriched by the child, but nobody wants to believe that. Many wish to push aside our Republic and replace it with Socialism knowing full well that socialism, as a government, has never worked; how stupid is that?

So, what good does it do to tell the truth to people who do not want the truth and who will go so far as to lash out and attack when the truth is spoken. We see the attacks daily. A conservative is shouted down and buildings burned to keep them from speaking in public places, but the left (the progressive, the liberal, the socialist democrat, whatever you want to call them today) is appalled and claim the 1^st Amendment as a law that MUST be upheld when they speak. A double standard that only a few enlightened people actually see. Actually, everyone sees it, many just choose to not “see” it.

So, again, why do we continue to speak truth to those who care not? We do it because there is a hope that some will listen. We do it for that mother who changed her mind. We do it for the families that realize they have been lied to for years and they want (and need) a Godly truth. We do it for that person who grows weary of being spoon feed someone’s agenda and realize they have a mind of their own and they need a renewable energy source for that new thought process. We do it for a teacher in the classroom who is inundated with twisted social experiments from the Department of Education. We do it for those who do not know they are being lied to and are being manipulated and played the fool by the puppet master. We do it for that soldier and police officer who defend the lives of the delusional masses and are hated for it.

I know very few read my words and that’s OK, some do. Our world is in a spiral dive and I will do all I can for those who seek the truth. I’m not saying every word I say is truth. Sometimes I will fail, sometimes I will get caught up in the foolishness, sometimes I will lash out as well… I am thankful that my salvation is based on God’s grace and is not based on a performance based requirement. A performance based requirement would certainly place me in the pit with the puppet master. When I stand before God I will have to answer for lots of mistakes, both intentional and unintentional. What I do not want to answer for are those things I should have done but chose not to.

Never let the masses silence the truth.

2019-02-12
Democracy vs. Republic

The United States of America is continually (and incorrectly) referred to as a Democracy. Even our politicians refer to us as a Democracy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Well, sadly, I think maybe we have become a Democracy through years of corruption and greed. The Founding Fathers fought for and assembled the foundation and framework for a Republic. This is fact and cannot be disputed. If you think this in error then take some time to read The Federalist Papers. Yea, I know, most of you have no clue what The Federalist Papers are. I don’t think I will waste my time explaining what they are here; if curious you can look them up. It’s not hard. Very few have taken the time to actually read the Constitution let alone any of the Federalist Papers.

What is the difference between a Democracy and a Republic? Well I’m glad you asked. A democracy can be boiled down to a single statement, “majority rules.” Meaning, the attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it is based on deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice or impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. The majority rule of democracy is destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on the rights of the individual. Whatever the majority says is law and there is no recourse. A perfect example of majority rule is a lynch mob, pure democracy in action. There is only one dissenting vote, and that is cast by the person at the end of the rope. A democracy leads to mobocracy and the communistic negating of property and individual rights. It leads to demagoguism, agitation, discontent and anarchy. Before you ask… “Yes” I had to look up the word demagoguism to ensure I was using the word correctly.

A Republic is derived through the election by the people of public servants best suited to represent the voting body. The attitude toward property and individual rights is based on respect for laws and a sensible economic procedure. Law is administered through justice in accordance with fixed principles and established evidence with a strict regard to consequences. The establishment of a Republic avoids the dangerous extremes of tyranny and/or mob rule. It results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment and progress.

A Republic is a form of government under a constitution which provides for the election of: 1) an executive and a 2) legislative body, working together with 3) a judiciary that, when combined, acts on and enforces recognition of 4) certain inherent individual rights. Take away any one of these four requirements of a Republic and you will start to drift in an autocracy; add more to this and you will drift into a democracy. The thing to take from this is, “A republic is a government of law under a Constitution.” The application here is it is the Constitution that holds the government in check and prevents the majority from violating the rights of the individual. With a republic a lynch mob is illegal and the criminal cannot be denied the right to a fair trial even if the majority of the citizenry demands otherwise; can you say Ferguson?

I’ve seen the following attributed to several people from history, so much so that I will assume whoever I indicate as the author there are those who will dispute it. So, I will just say that someone smarter than most of us said it a long time ago and I will go out on a limb here and say this individual probably lived through this transformation prior to assisting with the creation of our republic. “A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship.” Does this scenario sound familiar? We portray this trend with every election. Meaning, if you have one hundred people with 10% paying out 50% of their income in taxes and the other 90% paying 20% of their income in taxes any vote to raise taxes on the high earners will win and the 10% already footing most of the bill will pay more.

This great nation started as a Republic. Those that formed it were well aware of the destruction a democracy is capable of. They fought hard to build it and for 200+ years others have fought hard (and died) to preserve it. Sadly, it is safe to say we are now more of a democracy than a republic. Individual rights are trampled on repeatedly under the veil of progressive advancement.

We are losing our Republic and we cannot blame the politicians. We, the people, are to blame due to ignorance, blind apathy, laziness and selfish greed. Shame on us.

In case you are curious: demagoguism (dem-a-gog-ism) – the art and practice of gaining power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people. Now if that does not sound familiar than you paid no attention during that last election.

Give credit where credit is due – much of the information here came from Google searches I gathered together for my own edification of the difference between a democracy and a republic.

Edification (ed-i-fi-ca-tion) – instruction or enlightenment, especially when it is morally or spiritually uplifting.

OK, now let’s see how many tolerant, non-hating liberals call me an intolerant hater and a racist because I had the audacity to do the research and gather the facts on my own thereby setting aside the accepted method of taking someone’s undocumented understanding of it.

Very few who even started reading this little snippet made it to the end. If you are reading this last sentence then I thank you and you can be proud of yourself because you want more than can be said on a bumper sticker.

PS: Democracy vs. Republic has nothing to do with being Democrat or Republican.

2014-12-02