I’m tired And Angry….

What I’m going to say is not going to be appreciated or accepted by quite a few, but I’m going to say it anyway.

I’m tired and angry. 

I’m tired that, more than thirty years since it was initially passed (1990) and then amended after being declared unConstitutional in its original form (1995),  people are STILL trying to convince us that the gun free school zones act actually PROTECTS anyone.  The objective data, trotted out after every school shooting by gun control advocates (as if it somehow proves their point - quite the opposite, in fact), prove that so-called “gun free” school zones are gun free to all but those who intend to wreak havoc.  They are not stopped by such laws.

I’m tired of hearing people actually argue that teaching is too noble a calling to be sullied by the need to provide for self defense and the defense of OUR CHILDREN, that no teacher should have to worry about being attacked let alone be permitted to actually carry a tool that gives her/him a fighting chance to SURVIVE.  I’ll let you in on a little secret: EVERYONE wishes they could go to work without being concerned about being attacked; I’m one of those people.  Reality shows us something different.  We keep hearing that prayers after an attack have accomplished nothing.  Well, WISHING THAT REALITY WAS DIFFERENT hasn’t accomplished much, either - except to provide psychopaths with a ready supply of defenseless targets.  Regardless of the measures we implement (even the holy of holies - the vaunted gun safe), they find ways to obtain the weapons they need to carry out their attacks - even if it means killing a parent to obtain them.

I’m angry that my wife, a school teacher, is required to relinquish her RIGHT to provide for her defense and that of her students as a condition of her employment.  I’m angry that other employers and other entities (including churches) require the same defenseless condition while insisting this somehow makes us safer.  I don’t advocate ARMING (REQUIRING the carry of firearms) anyone.  I DO, however advocate permitting people to exercise the same right to self defense they have elsewhere if they so choose.

I’m angry that people who would otherwise have a chance to survive are instead required to be posthumously honored as heroes.

I am angry at being penalized as a law abiding citizen for the actions of criminals, made to jump through more hoops and restrictions in order to exercise my Constitutional right while they do so with impunity.  

I am angry that knee jerk laws that 1) have no hope of stopping anything and 2) will not be enforced (in fact the vast majority of charges related to these laws will either be pled down or dropped altogether, as has been the case for DECADES) continue to be passed.

I’m angry that those who are most likely to carry out these attacks are given pass after pass by schools, medical professionals and law enforcement because these entities are scared of “stigmatizing” them - even after MULTIPLE ENCOUNTERS with law enforcement.  The NICS background check system is only as good as the data fed into it, which is why people who, perhaps, should not be able to pass a background check do so with little to no trouble.  

Finally, I’m angry about a president who is allowed to continue spreading his lies - lies that have been debunked MULTIPLE times - about the Second Amendment and the limitations he alleges it contains.  There are no limitations detailed in the Second Amendment: it says just what it says, and it doesn’t say what it doesn’t say.  Any limitations have been READ INTO the Second Amendment.

I could go on, but why?

I’m tired and angry.  It’s past time to concentrate on those who actually commit these crimes - and leave the law abiding alone.

It’s time to 1) stop being so concerned about stigmatizing these individuals, 2) ensure they get the mental health help we keep hearing so much about (or just lock them up), and 3) ensure their information gets added into the NICS background check system as was supposed to happen in the first place.

It’s time to stop pretending that disarming the innocent somehow makes them safe.  As one of my favorite authors put it, 

“The laws of this nature are those which forbid to wear arms, disarming those only who are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent. Can it be supposed, that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, and the most important of the code, will respect the less considerable and arbitrary injunctions, the violation of which is so easy, and of so little comparative importance? Does not the execution of this law deprive the subject of that personal liberty, so dear to mankind and to the wise legislator? and does it not subject the innocent to all the disagreeable circumstances that should only fall on the guilty? It certainly makes the situation of the assaulted worse, and of the assailants better, and rather encourages than prevents murder, as it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons”, Of Crimes and Punishments, Cesare Bonesana, Marchese Beccaria.

Bonesana, by the way, recognized this fact in 1764.

Until the ROOT of this problem can be addressed, stop pretending that defenselessness equals safety.  

“Whoever considers the unprincipled enemy we have to cope with, will not hesitate to declare that nothing but arms or miracles can reduce them to reason and moderation. They have lost sight of the limits of humanity. The portrait of a parent red with the blood of her children is a picture fit only for the galleries of the infernals… 

“…The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves”, Thoughts on Defensive War, Thomas Paine .