Let's Get Down to Business

Now that the election and inauguration have come and gone, it's time to get down to business without the distractions of a Presidential election. The middle of a Presidential election year was NOT the time for a third party to jump into the race (Ross Perot already proved how well that works). However, with all that over for another couple years, NOW is the time to get serious.

I think most Americans are finally coming to the realization that the two major political parties, Republicans and Democrats, are only interested in "politics as usual" and increasing their own power instead of representing the people and working for the common good. If you're like me, and many other Americans, you feel completely disenfranchised from those you elected to represent you at all levels of government. Instead of just complaining about it, why don't you get serious and DO something about it?

If our country is going to survive as the United States of American and not become the United SOCIALIST States of America, like minded people must come together NOW to take charge, get involved and do something about it. We need to start talking seriously about a third party alternative to our current de facto two-party system.

One option I believe worth considering is the Constitution Party (http://www.constitutionparty.com/). According to their platform, they are dedicated to restoring the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to their proper place, limiting government and returning power to the people.

We MUST come together NOW if our Union is to be saved. You have already seen what's gone on in ONE week since the inauguration: proposal to close GITMO and bring EXTREMELY dangerous Islamic extremists to facilities in the states, implementation of Rule 13 from Rules for Radicals by Obama against Rush Limbaugh as the start of shutting down any opposing voices, passage of a bill allowing fired employees to sue companies YEARS later for supposed "wrongs" (disguised with a catchy "Equal Pay" title), and a push for more Big Unions (remember, the employer with the largest number of unionized employees is the Federal Government). So far, everything people like me and others warned would happen if a socialist was elected president are already starting to happen.

Stand up! Get involved! Take charge! We must reclaim OUR United States of America before its too late! Remember, yes, YOU can!

Are You Prepared to Prevail?

A little background for anyone not from the area: In Plant City, FL, Friday morning, 5 December 2008, around 0900 detectives were attempting to apprehend a 25-year old known gang member with a prior arrest record in connection with a daylight murder of a rival gang-banger and shooting of another on Thursday afternoon. A vehicle pursuit ensued during which the gang-banger waived a semi-automatic rifle (misleadingly reported in the media as an “AK-47 assault rifle”) at the pursuing police. The gang-banger then slammed on his brakes, jumped out of his car and began firing at the detectives. He managed to disable two of the three police cars and, most tragically, one of his shots hit a car traveling in the opposite direction, striking a passenger in the back of the head and killing him. The gang-banger then jumped back in his car and traveled a few more blocks before bailing out into a residential neighborhood with a near-by elementary school. The police reported that while the gang-banger left the semi-automatic rifle in the car, they believe he was armed with a handgun. Over 250 officers from three agencies converged on the neighborhood and spent the rest of the day searching for the gang-banger. The thug was finally apprehended late in the afternoon. See more information here:

http://www.theledger.com/article/20081205/NEWS/812050374/1410?Title=Innocent_Man_Slain_While_Manhunt_Grips_Plant_City

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008/12/6/411223.html?title=Rangel+denied+bond+at+first+appearance

This incident, along with the recent terrorist shooting attacks in India, brings up some vital questions. First, are you prepared to prevail in the face of adversity? Have you taken the time to get trained so you know how to defend yourself and your family? If you have trained, when was the last time you took a refresher or drilled your skills under the eyes of a competent instructor? Just because you knew how to do something years ago doesn’t mean you are still sharp in those skills today. Likewise, a Concealed Weapons Permit in your pocket is just a piece of paper without the training that goes along with the responsibility of carrying a firearm. Moral of the story: Get trained NOW!

At a minimum, you should know some basic self-defense skills, including formal firearms training and use of deadly force laws for your state if a handgun is part of your self-defense plan, and just as important but often over looked: at least basic first aid training. In the middle of an active shooter situation (or any kind of major terrorist attack or man-made or natural disaster for that matter), emergency medical aid is most likely not going to be able to reach you immediately. If you, or people around you, are injured, it will be up to you to provide care until more advanced help can reach you. Depending on the situation, that could mean that you are on your own for quite some time.

While Basic First Aid training is better than no training, keep in mind the major assumption for this level of training is that you have ready access to the emergency medical system (EMS). With that in mind, I strongly recommend enrolling in a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course as a minimum level of first aid training. Don’t let the “wilderness” in the title fool you. WFA is applicable anytime you need to provide care on your own for an extended period of time. WFA is generally about 20 hours of training and is based on the assumption that EMS is not readily available. The next step up from First Aid is First Responder, which is about 40 hours of emergency medical training. First Responder is considered the minimum level of professional emergency medical care certification. Beyond the First Responder level is Emergency Medical Technician – Basic (EMT-B) certification. Some states recognize an intermediate level EMT, however for most the follow on training is paramedic. Various organizations also offer both First Responder and EMT as more in depth “wilderness” programs.

The second lesson from the Plant City and India incidents is the vital importance of maintaining situational awareness. Situational awareness means being continuously aware of what is going on around you. The best way to survive a hostile situation is to avoid getting into it in the first place. If something doesn’t look right, GTFOOT (Get The F* Out Of There)! The only way you are going to know if something doesn’t look right is to pay attention to what is going on around you at all times, in other words maintain situational awareness.

If you’re like so many people on the roads, driving along in your car focused on your cell phone conversation or listening to music so loud the whole car is shaking or engaged in boisterous conversations with your passengers, your situational awareness is not where it needs to be. Keep your situational awareness focused on what is going on around you (including behind you). ALWAYS leave yourself an out (for example, one rule of thumb is if you stop behind another car and can see the bottom of its back tires, you have enough room to make an emergency turn out of traffic if you need to do so).

This is not at all meant to Monday morning quarterback a poor guy who had to watch his father get shot in the heard by a vicious animal, but perhaps if the driver had noticed the scene ahead of him a split second sooner, he might have had time to bug out (perhaps and might being the key words). The bottom line is: maintain situational awareness and do whatever it takes to try to avoid a bad situation to begin with. If, God forbid, you do end up in the middle of the fight, then be prepared to do whatever it takes to prevail, which goes back to point number one and training.

The third point is: when will the politicians and anti-gunners ever accept the fact that legally armed, law-abiding citizens REDUCE crime, not increase it as those politicians and anti-gunners claim? If you look at crime statistics for concealed weapons permit holders in states like Texas which release that information, you will find that concealed weapons permit holders are involved in extremely small percentages of crimes. When compared with the whole population, the percentage of concealed weapons permit holders involved in crimes is barely even a blip. Isn’t it funny how law-abiding citizens tend to obey the law?

What happens though when you take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens? In India, private ownership of firearms is severely restricted. When the terrorists launched their coordinated, two-man team attacks, citizens were left to fend for themselves while the poorly paid, poorly armed (surplus W.W. II British Enfield bolt-action rifles) and poorly trained “police force” cowered or ran for their lives. It took Indian Special Forces arriving on scene, after the majority of people had been killed, to take out the terrorists. The average citizen was left completely defenseless. As one British journalist lamented, if he’d only had a gun, he could have killed the two terrorists he saw.

A similar situation occurred in Plant City, but fortunately with less tragic consequences. Schools in Florida are “Gun Free Zones,” so had the gang-banger decided to barge into the elementary school in the neighborhood he’d fled to, there would have been no one armed to defend the children against this animal. Besides, didn’t he realize he was in a “Gun Free Zone” and thereby breaking the law by having his firearm with him? Perhaps the reality is what most intelligent people have always said: By definition, criminals do not respect the law; law-abiding citizens are the ones who respect the law. The media of course isn’t mentioning it out of “political correctness,” but there are indications this gang-banger is an illegal alien, which means it was illegal for him to posses firearms to begin with (not to mention the fact that his prior arrest record, which included domestic violence charges, made him ineligible to posses firearms in Florida as well). There are strong indications that if the existing laws had just been enforced, this guy would not even have been in the community and able to pose a threat.

As we face the specter of the most anti-gun administration ever, we need to remember this is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We must not sit by and allow politicians and special interest groups who think they know better to disarm law abiding citizens. I for one don’t want to be involved in a situation where for the rest of my life I have to live with the lose of a loved one and hear that voice over and over in my head: “If only I’d had a gun.” Do you?

What are your action steps? First, get trained and then keep your skills sharp with regular practice and refresher training. That training needs to include some type of first aid certification and absolutely must include training in firearms and use of deadly force laws for your state if you choose to avail yourself of a concealed carry permit and go armed. Second, keep up your situational awareness. Keep yourself aware of what’s going on around you. Avoid the situation if you can (GTFOOT). If not, then have the mindset that you will do whatever it takes to prevail. Finally, be a good law-abiding citizen and become politically active. Join the National Rifle Association, as well as groups like Gun Owners of America and the Second Amendment Foundation. Then go beyond just joining and take an active role in defending our right as law abiding citizens to own firearms. Only vote for representatives who are on record as defenders of the Second Amendment (not people like Barack Obama who said in the campaign he supports the Second Amendment, but has a track record which proves the exact opposite). For the ones who are already in office, continually remind them in writing that as your representative, you demand they protect your rights under the Second Amendment.

If we fail to defend our rights, we could very soon find ourselves disarmed and living in a society where only the bad guys and the government have guns. I certainly don't think armed criminals would ever have our best interests at heart, and as for the government, we would do well to remember the words of President Ronald Reagan: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."