The Application of Precedents (or, Be Careful What You Wish For)

Police action against demonstrations in the US is beginning to concern me greatly.

Forceful police action against the people we perceive to be enemies of the state has a long and glorious (sarcasm alert) history. The latest round of demonstrations, and the police reaction to it, sets a dangerous precedent. When the police grow accustomed to using riot gear and pepper spray to disperse a small crowd, and the public grows accustomed to seeing it, it is not a long stride to the point at which ALL public disturbances have a strong possibility of forceful dispersion, even peaceful ones. It may be the Occupy movement today, but what would happen if the next Tea Party movement, or Student movement, or Labor movement, or Religious movement were next. When we allow actions such as this, we allow precedent to be set; there is no guarantee that we will approve of the next place this precedent is applied.

The PATRIOT Act is a good example of this. A lot of people were strongly in favor of the PATRIOT Act when it was first introduced. It was advanced as a tool for the suppression of Al-Qaida type terrorist groups in the US. Sweeping powers were given to the FBI and the newly created DHS to find, identify, and prosecute people who were deemed terrorists. Today, of course, those agencies are under the administration of a different group than when it was first applied. DHS has issued sweeping statements regarding domestic terrorists, including attributes such as food stockpiling and pro-gun tendencies. This has spawned a backlash on the Right saying that this was not the original intent- too bad, you put it in place, so you can't complain now. The same group of people that was perfectly happy to let the Bush administration snoop into people's lives without warrants has misgivings about the Obama administration doing the same. On the flip side, groups that were extremely vocal regarding the Bush administration's military policies are content to let the Obama administration undertake similar policies. It is important to remember that when a person votes to allow certain powers and policies, the person put in charge will not always be there. Power is ceded to the position, not the person in it.

Two Wolves

I don't link a whole lot. I do this so I can ramble on about things I think are important.

Sometimes, though, I have to send you elsewhere.

Here, then, is the story of the two wolves inside you.

I have no idea if this is a real Cherokee story, but its damn good nonetheless.

Tip of hat to Barron Barnett

New Year, New Look

I've changed some things up around here, to lighten the mood a bit. I'm still looking around for a background picture I want to use, but that's pretty immaterial with this template. Also swapping some fonts, sizes, etc. The orange lettering is from Ubuntu- I just switched to it, now I think everything should be orange.

I tend to post epic rants, which get a little text heavy, so I'm going to try to break those up a little, so they're an easier read. I can't help it, though, I got into this stuff when I found Kevin Baker at TSM. I studied at the Überpost School of Blogging.

Anyhow, I've gotten over 1000 hits here (most of them are my own, so it wasn't that exciting) and I got my first follower! Thanks Pioneer Preppy! So someone seems to be perusing. Stats read from Facebook, so most of you are family. Anyhow, let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

I am a Gunnie

There has been a great deal of outrage in the past few days, in the wake, as it were, of the one year mark of a terrible day in Tucson, AZ. Certain people, or groups of people, attempted to capitalize on the tragedy, suborning the day to push their personal views. A very disparate group of people took umbrage at their actions, and staged a counter protest, mostly on the internet, but in some cases in person, both privately and publicly.

The truth, as usual, is down a few more layers. The Brady Campaign staged a candlelight vigil to... well I'm not sure. Certainly to draw attention. Ostensibly to combat violence through legislation. Possibly to bid for a shred of legitimacy, as their movement seems to be faltering, based on record gun sales and the plethora of new shooters we have seen in the online gun community. That very same gun community responded with a counter vigil; many shooters posted pictures of the candles they hold against the dark. That is to say, photos and messages about fighting back.

There are people in the world that intend ill things happen to good people. There are two ways to combat this: 1) remove the ability to do harm and 2) make the situation untenable for them to continue. The Brady Campaign believes in the first. There is no level of stricture too extreme to endorse, if it 'saves a single life.' The problem is, it doesn't. Even were the law of the land to remove all private gun ownership, then all knife ownership, then all bat, ax, and stick ownership, they will not have removed the impulse to do harm. What they will have destroyed, however, is the ability to pursue the second option. To make the situation untenable is to fight back, to defend; to deny, in the moment, their ability to victimize.

A person who intends harm trains for the moment. They make themselves into a weapon, and avail themselves of the tools of their trade. If not a gun, they rely on a knife; if not a knife, they rely on a bat; lacking that, their own muscles. A person who would defend must train just as much, with the same tools. The best way, the safest way, is to carry the finest of them, the tool that requires the least strength. That tool is the great equalizer. The one tool, of those listed, that can enable a physically weaker woman to defeat a criminal in his prime. The gun.

I choose the gun. To defend myself, to defend my wife, to defend my family. I am a gunnie.

I am not alone. I am part of a community, a community based on shared respect. Its not just the gun that unites us. Its the worldview. The view that we are our own first responder. The view that if we can't rely on ourselves, how would anyone else be able to rely on us? I am a gunnie.

I am a carpenter. I am a husband. I am a son, a brother, an Uncle. I hope, one day, to be a Father. I am a gunnie.

We are accused of being ignorant, of being illiterate, of being fools and hillbillies. We are much more than that. We are engineers, scientists, geeks, nerds, professionals, tradesmen, librarians, soldiers, farmers, pilots, and performers. We are gunnies.

We are not always right, but we admit our shortcomings. Its easy to join us. We make it easy. We welcome new members to the community. Its fun. Its freedom. Its liberating in a way that cannot be defined. Come see. You may like it here. If you don't want to stay, that's fine too. If that's the case, just leave us alone.

As verbose as I feel...

I cannot match the passion in these words.

Go, read them, click around. Read the chronicle of her journey. People who are anti-gun assume that we live in fear. Even some who are ambivalent think we live in fear. They do not understand, and it frustrates us to try and describe it. She describes it, beautifully.

Edumacation...

This began as a comment over at Small Holding, in a post about suburban reclamation, with an education sidenote. I decided, however, that this needed addressed.

Education, as dispensed from the public school system, has become not only a joke, but a dirty joke. Excepting a short stint in a private christian school, all of my primary education was completed in a small, rural public school. Most of my LEARNING however, came during time spent reading, or was imparted during work hours; to be frank, I learned things because I wanted to learn them. When I did not want to learn, there was no teaching me. Elementary school, I believe, should be mostly spent engendering a hunger for knowledge. Even so, I'd like to stress that, although its a poor craftsman that blames the tools, you cannot give positive results without appropriate tools.

This is where I'm going to go off the tracks a bit. I'm having a hard time discerning incompetence and apathy from enemy action. I'm serious here. Somehow, the role of instruction has been shifted outside the home, while at the same time, undercutting the ability to instruct of the persons to whom that responsibility is given. Teachers make do with some of the lowest salaries in the nation, yet we spend more money per student on education than ever. Where does the money go? And how is it possible to spend so much for such dismal results? Could this be a concerted effort to ruin our youth? And, if so, by whom?

I'm going to throw in a true story. My niece goes to the same rural grade school I, both my siblings, and my father attended. This was the first year they didn't teach history in the 3rd grade. Got that NO THIRD GRADE HISTORY. Why? They didn't pass the mandated tests, so the school is not qualified... the PUBLIC school. Their math books are photocopies in a ring binder. Why? They had to spend their entire budget on administering testing so they could be qualified to HAVE math classes, thus there was no remaining budget for TEACHING THE CLASS THEY WERE NOW QUALIFIED TO TEACH. All children left behind. Somehow, with no doubt (or is there?) the best of intentions, the weight of testing and texts has now consumed such a portion of the education budget that there is no time, energy or funding for educating.

My sister has resolved to treat her daughter's school as day care, and ensure her education by other methods. I tried to explain civil unrest to her, but she wasn't interested yet. One day, she will be...

I Never thought to see the Day

That THIS editorial was printed. This ran in the Oregonian online, written by Rich Lowry of the National Review. Granted, the NR is a VERY conservative source, but that's not where I found it. I found it in the op-ed page of the Oregonian, which is just a touch more conservative than Occupy Wall Street. Sure, its a syndicated column, but it made it in. When I first started getting into guns, you could not find this sort of op-ed in even the most conservative newspaper. NRA publications were the sole source for stories such as this. To see this opinion raised, not on a gun blog, but under the auspices of the local newspaper in a quintessentially liberal town, flat gives me the warm fuzzies.

I'm not going to get much into the story behind the story, but the end result is a young mother is alive, as is her 3 mo child, and an armed home invader died on the scene. The only better outcome is for it not to have happened at all, but that doesn't make the news. Also note, the young woman had armed intruders IN HER HOME, and her 911 call did nothing to stop them. Sure the police were on their way, but it took more than the 21 available minutes for them to arrive. Think about that for a second. 21 minutes is half an average tv program. 21 minutes is a nice hot shower. 21 minutes is 157.5 bullrides. Its long enough for a lot of things to happen, and when they do, you'd best be prepared. 21 minutes was the length of time it took for a scared girl, with a tiny child, to be found in that trailer in Oklahoma. Without that shotgun by her side, 22 minutes would have been a lifetime too long.