"Tell me, would you kill
to save a life..."
30 Seconds to Mars - Hurricane
This is a question all police officers have to face on a daily basis. Every day, when I strap on my "sword" and pin that symbol of the public trust on my shirt, I have to steel myself to the fact that today could be the day.
Today might be the day someone forces my hand. Today might be the day I come upon someone holding a gun to the head of the convenience store clerk demanding he empty the register. Today could possibly be the day I meet the guy who is bent upon self destruction but hasn't the "courage" to do it himself, so he has chosen suicide by cop. Today could even be the day someone has decided I am a target worthy of their anger.
I any case, I will have to decide if I will kill to save a life. Whether it be someone else's or my own.
In my mind and in my heart that decision was made long ago, and I hope I will never have to put it into action. The notion that police officers ride around all day looking for someone to shoot is asinine and makes my blood boil.
Those who would "Monday morning quarterback" the decisions made by my brothers and sisters in blue, tan, grey or green have probably never even had to think about the possibility that they might have to use potentially lethal force against another human being. These are the folks who rely on us to save their ass, then they bitch that it took us too long to get there. Then when we save someone else, or God forbid ourselves, from death or great bodily injury we used too much force.
To those people, there is not much I can say to change their minds. They have already made their decisions that all police are corrupt and "trigger happy". No amount of talking will convince them otherwise.
It is a sad state of affairs when our actions are judged by those who have never walked an inch, much less a mile, in our shoes.
Do you think I get paid too much? Do you think I don't deserve the retirement plan I am working toward? Do you think being a police officer is an easy job?
Then think for just a minute and tell me...
Would you kill to save a life?
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Damned Youngins...
Dear young and impressionable officer,
If a more senior officer takes you aside after an incident and tells you what you were doing was unsafe, gives you alternatives, and suggests you don't do it the way you did it, that does not qualify as failing to treat you with respect.
On the contrary. That officer is showing you great respect by talking to you as an adult, and doing it out of earshot of others. That senior officer could front your stupidity out in front of everybody, but chose not to because he felt you could learn from your mistake rather than learning from being shamed by your peers.
The fact that I don't have chevrons on my upper sleeve or bars on my collar does not mean the hash marks on my cuff mean nothing. Those marks represent experience. They mean I have been there and done that.
The FTO pin on my shirt means the department trusts me to be able to train new officers, but it also means I have shown the good judgement not to put myself and others into unnecessary peril.
The next time you decide to run ahead of me into the forest, which by the way contains ample ambush sites, in pursuit of a violent felony suspect who is at least five minutes ahead of you, and in a car to boot, and you don't listen when I tell you to slow down and watch out, I will not "disrespect" you by taking you aside and speaking to you privately. Instead, I will let your sergeant deal with your carelessness.
Yours,
"Smith"
P.S. You don't get respect by demanding it. That's a gang banger tactic. We have to earn it.
On the contrary. That officer is showing you great respect by talking to you as an adult, and doing it out of earshot of others. That senior officer could front your stupidity out in front of everybody, but chose not to because he felt you could learn from your mistake rather than learning from being shamed by your peers.
The fact that I don't have chevrons on my upper sleeve or bars on my collar does not mean the hash marks on my cuff mean nothing. Those marks represent experience. They mean I have been there and done that.
The FTO pin on my shirt means the department trusts me to be able to train new officers, but it also means I have shown the good judgement not to put myself and others into unnecessary peril.
The next time you decide to run ahead of me into the forest, which by the way contains ample ambush sites, in pursuit of a violent felony suspect who is at least five minutes ahead of you, and in a car to boot, and you don't listen when I tell you to slow down and watch out, I will not "disrespect" you by taking you aside and speaking to you privately. Instead, I will let your sergeant deal with your carelessness.
Yours,
"Smith"
P.S. You don't get respect by demanding it. That's a gang banger tactic. We have to earn it.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
More "Light Reading"...
Those who regularly read this irregularly updated blog will recall I recently posted about my opinions on gun bans and media attention directed at mass-murderers. It's here if you haven't seen it.
Anyway, I have taken notice of the recent gun legislation being proposed by our Liberal Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is attempting to federalize the equivalent of our California state laws regarding "assault weapons". This spurred me to do a little research based upon the cases I mentioned in the previous post, and see what were the weapons / means used in each incident.
The question I ask is, were "assault weapons" used in a majority of these incidents, and were they responsible for the majority of fatalities? Well, let's check it out...
This is the exact list from the previous post, with one addition and one deletion. I have included the North Hollywood shootout since AK type rifles were used by the suspects. I removed the Ward Parkway incident since little is known about the incident and the dead were either killed away from the mall or in the parking lot during a confrontation with the police. Each of the incidents is listed in the following format (Commonly used name, Location, Date, Method, Fatalities / Injuries). All weapons subject to the proposed ban are in ALL CAPS ITALICS.
Brown's Chicken, Palatine, Illinois, January 1993, .38 revolver, 7 Dead
Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 1995, Truck Bomb, 168 Dead / 680+ Injured
Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia, July 1996, Pipe Bomb, 2 Dead (1 from a heart attack while rushing to the scene) / 111 Injured
North Hollywood shootout, Los Angeles, California, February 1997, AKM and AR-15 STYLE RIFLES (these weapons were illegally modified to fire fully automatic and were already illegal under state and federal law), 2 Dead (both suspects, one suicide by .45ACP pistol, one shot by police) / 18 Injured
Heath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky, December 1997, .22LR Pistol (also possessed a 12GA shotgun and a .22LR rifle, but not used), 3 Dead / 5 Injured
Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, Arkansas, March 1998, .30-06 bolt-action rifle / .30 Carbine semi-automatic rifle / two .38 revolvers / .22LR two-shot Derringer / .38 two-shot Derringer / two .380 semi-automatic pistols / .357 revolver (all stolen weapons), 5 Dead / 10 Injured
Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, April 1999, TEC-DC9 9mm PISTOL (illegally purchased) / HI-POINT 995 9mm CARBINE (illegally purchased) / two 12GA shotguns (illegally purchased and illegally shortened) / Pipe Bombs / Propane Bombs (failed), 15 Dead (two suspects by suicide) / 21 Injured
Red Lake Indian Reservation High School, Red Lake, Minnesota, March 2005, .40 semi-automatic pistol / .22LR pistol / 12GA shotgun (all stolen when the suspect killed his grandfather), 10 Dead (including suspect) / 5 Injured
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma Washington, November 2005, MAK-90 SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE / semi-automatic pistol, 6 Injured
Capitol Hill Rave, Seattle, Washington, March 2006, 12GA shotgun / .40 cal semi-automatic pistol, 7 Dead (including suspect) / 2 Injured
Amish School-house, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2006, 9mm semi-automatic pistol / 12GA shotgun / .30-06 bolt-action rifle, 6 Dead (including suspect) / 5 Injured
Trolley Square Mall, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2007, shotgun / .38 revolver, 6 Dead (including suspect) / 4 Injured
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2007, 9mm semi-automatic pistol / .22LR pistol, 33 Dead (including suspect) / 23 Injured (17 by gunfire)
Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, December 2007, AKM STYLE SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE (stolen), 9 Dead (including suspect) / 6 Injured (4 by gunfire)
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, February 2008, 12GA shotgun / two 9mm semi-automatic pistols / .380 semi-automatic pistol, 6 Dead (including the suspect by suicide) / 21 Injured (17 by gunfire)
Fort Hood, Texas, November 2009, 5.7mm semi-automatic pistol / .357 revolver (not used), 13 Dead / 30 Injured (including suspect)
Internal Revenue Service Office, Austin Texas, February 2010, Light Aircraft, 2 Dead (including suspect) / 13 Injured
Hartford Distributors, Manchester, Connecticut, August 2010 , two 9mm semi-automatic pistols, 9 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 2 Injured
Casa Adobes Safeway, Tucson, Arizona, January 2011, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, 6 Dead / 14 Injured (13 by gunfire)
Chardon High School, Chardon, Ohio, February 2012, .22LR semi-automatic pistol, 3 Dead / 3 Injured
Oikos University, Oakland, California, April 2012, .45 semi-automatic pistol, 7 Dead / 3 Injured
Century 16 Movie Theater, Aurora, Colorado, July 2012, Tear gas grenade / AR-15 STYLE RIFLE (less than 30 rounds fired) / 12GA shotgun / two .40 semi-automatic pistols, 12 Dead / 58 Injured
Sikh Temple, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, August 2012, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, 7 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 4 Injured (including responding police officer)
Clackamas Town Center Mall, Portland Oregon, December 2012, AR-15 STYLE RIFLE (stolen), 3 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 1 Injured
And most recently, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, December 2012, AR-15 STYLE RIFLE (stolen) / semi-automatic pistol, 27 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 2 Injured
As I said in the previously mentioned post, this is by no means a complete, or even comprehensive, list of school, mall and workplace shootings or other mass murders. It is only what I could readily come up with after a few minutes' internet search.
Based on the above list only, a total of 422 people died (including suspects) and 1047 were injured. Of those, 170 (approximately 40%) of the fatalities and 791 (approximately 75%) of injuries were caused by explosive devices alone.
64 (about 15%) of fatalities and 112 (about 10%) of injuries were from incidents INVOLVING weapons subject to the proposed bans (I have not done the dead suspects the favor of including them in these numbers). Not all of the deaths and injuries were caused by these weapons. More people at Columbine were shot with the shotguns than with the rifle and pistol. The shooter in Aurora fired fewer than thirty rounds with his Bushmaster before the weapon (or shooter, depending on how you look at it) malfunctioned. Most of the dead and injured there were shot with a shotgun and pistols.
The vast majority of these injuries and fatalities not caused by explosives were caused by stolen or otherwise illegally obtained or modified weapons, or by weapons that are not even considered for bans. Many were caused by non semi-automatic weapons or weapons with less than a ten round capacity. Semi-automatic rifles and magazines with more than a ten round capacity are targeted in the gun bans.
The bottom line is this. If these people are willing to use stolen, illegally purchased or illegally modified weapons to commit mass murder, how is making these weapons illegal to purchase supposed to deter future shooters?
The weapons were already illegal for these criminals to possess. It did nothing to stop any of these people from committing their crimes.
So, please, tell me again, why should we disarm the general law-abiding population?
Is it to protect them from those who would attempt to kill them with illegal weapons that they will get anyway, as has already been proven?
I fail to understand the "logic"...
Anyway, I have taken notice of the recent gun legislation being proposed by our Liberal Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is attempting to federalize the equivalent of our California state laws regarding "assault weapons". This spurred me to do a little research based upon the cases I mentioned in the previous post, and see what were the weapons / means used in each incident.
The question I ask is, were "assault weapons" used in a majority of these incidents, and were they responsible for the majority of fatalities? Well, let's check it out...
This is the exact list from the previous post, with one addition and one deletion. I have included the North Hollywood shootout since AK type rifles were used by the suspects. I removed the Ward Parkway incident since little is known about the incident and the dead were either killed away from the mall or in the parking lot during a confrontation with the police. Each of the incidents is listed in the following format (Commonly used name, Location, Date, Method, Fatalities / Injuries). All weapons subject to the proposed ban are in ALL CAPS ITALICS.
Brown's Chicken, Palatine, Illinois, January 1993, .38 revolver, 7 Dead
Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 1995, Truck Bomb, 168 Dead / 680+ Injured
Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia, July 1996, Pipe Bomb, 2 Dead (1 from a heart attack while rushing to the scene) / 111 Injured
North Hollywood shootout, Los Angeles, California, February 1997, AKM and AR-15 STYLE RIFLES (these weapons were illegally modified to fire fully automatic and were already illegal under state and federal law), 2 Dead (both suspects, one suicide by .45ACP pistol, one shot by police) / 18 Injured
Heath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky, December 1997, .22LR Pistol (also possessed a 12GA shotgun and a .22LR rifle, but not used), 3 Dead / 5 Injured
Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, Arkansas, March 1998, .30-06 bolt-action rifle / .30 Carbine semi-automatic rifle / two .38 revolvers / .22LR two-shot Derringer / .38 two-shot Derringer / two .380 semi-automatic pistols / .357 revolver (all stolen weapons), 5 Dead / 10 Injured
Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, April 1999, TEC-DC9 9mm PISTOL (illegally purchased) / HI-POINT 995 9mm CARBINE (illegally purchased) / two 12GA shotguns (illegally purchased and illegally shortened) / Pipe Bombs / Propane Bombs (failed), 15 Dead (two suspects by suicide) / 21 Injured
Red Lake Indian Reservation High School, Red Lake, Minnesota, March 2005, .40 semi-automatic pistol / .22LR pistol / 12GA shotgun (all stolen when the suspect killed his grandfather), 10 Dead (including suspect) / 5 Injured
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma Washington, November 2005, MAK-90 SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE / semi-automatic pistol, 6 Injured
Capitol Hill Rave, Seattle, Washington, March 2006, 12GA shotgun / .40 cal semi-automatic pistol, 7 Dead (including suspect) / 2 Injured
Amish School-house, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2006, 9mm semi-automatic pistol / 12GA shotgun / .30-06 bolt-action rifle, 6 Dead (including suspect) / 5 Injured
Trolley Square Mall, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2007, shotgun / .38 revolver, 6 Dead (including suspect) / 4 Injured
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2007, 9mm semi-automatic pistol / .22LR pistol, 33 Dead (including suspect) / 23 Injured (17 by gunfire)
Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, December 2007, AKM STYLE SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE (stolen), 9 Dead (including suspect) / 6 Injured (4 by gunfire)
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, February 2008, 12GA shotgun / two 9mm semi-automatic pistols / .380 semi-automatic pistol, 6 Dead (including the suspect by suicide) / 21 Injured (17 by gunfire)
Fort Hood, Texas, November 2009, 5.7mm semi-automatic pistol / .357 revolver (not used), 13 Dead / 30 Injured (including suspect)
Internal Revenue Service Office, Austin Texas, February 2010, Light Aircraft, 2 Dead (including suspect) / 13 Injured
Hartford Distributors, Manchester, Connecticut, August 2010 , two 9mm semi-automatic pistols, 9 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 2 Injured
Casa Adobes Safeway, Tucson, Arizona, January 2011, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, 6 Dead / 14 Injured (13 by gunfire)
Chardon High School, Chardon, Ohio, February 2012, .22LR semi-automatic pistol, 3 Dead / 3 Injured
Oikos University, Oakland, California, April 2012, .45 semi-automatic pistol, 7 Dead / 3 Injured
Century 16 Movie Theater, Aurora, Colorado, July 2012, Tear gas grenade / AR-15 STYLE RIFLE (less than 30 rounds fired) / 12GA shotgun / two .40 semi-automatic pistols, 12 Dead / 58 Injured
Sikh Temple, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, August 2012, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, 7 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 4 Injured (including responding police officer)
Clackamas Town Center Mall, Portland Oregon, December 2012, AR-15 STYLE RIFLE (stolen), 3 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 1 Injured
And most recently, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, December 2012, AR-15 STYLE RIFLE (stolen) / semi-automatic pistol, 27 Dead (including suspect / suicide) / 2 Injured
As I said in the previously mentioned post, this is by no means a complete, or even comprehensive, list of school, mall and workplace shootings or other mass murders. It is only what I could readily come up with after a few minutes' internet search.
Based on the above list only, a total of 422 people died (including suspects) and 1047 were injured. Of those, 170 (approximately 40%) of the fatalities and 791 (approximately 75%) of injuries were caused by explosive devices alone.
64 (about 15%) of fatalities and 112 (about 10%) of injuries were from incidents INVOLVING weapons subject to the proposed bans (I have not done the dead suspects the favor of including them in these numbers). Not all of the deaths and injuries were caused by these weapons. More people at Columbine were shot with the shotguns than with the rifle and pistol. The shooter in Aurora fired fewer than thirty rounds with his Bushmaster before the weapon (or shooter, depending on how you look at it) malfunctioned. Most of the dead and injured there were shot with a shotgun and pistols.
The vast majority of these injuries and fatalities not caused by explosives were caused by stolen or otherwise illegally obtained or modified weapons, or by weapons that are not even considered for bans. Many were caused by non semi-automatic weapons or weapons with less than a ten round capacity. Semi-automatic rifles and magazines with more than a ten round capacity are targeted in the gun bans.
The bottom line is this. If these people are willing to use stolen, illegally purchased or illegally modified weapons to commit mass murder, how is making these weapons illegal to purchase supposed to deter future shooters?
The weapons were already illegal for these criminals to possess. It did nothing to stop any of these people from committing their crimes.
So, please, tell me again, why should we disarm the general law-abiding population?
Is it to protect them from those who would attempt to kill them with illegal weapons that they will get anyway, as has already been proven?
I fail to understand the "logic"...
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Drunken Stupidity...
In California it is a felony for one person to accumulate three DUI's in less than a seven year span.
I have written two of these in eleven years.
Some people just don't get it...
I have written two of these in eleven years.
Some people just don't get it...
Sunday, January 13, 2013
I Think Imma Faint...
Many people think once they get arrested, if they go to the hospital they'll get out of going to jail.
We'll get them to booking and start fingerprinting and photographing them, and suddenly they're short of breath, have chest pains or fake passing out.
We call them an ambulance and they go to the hospital where the doctor says there isn't a thing wrong with them.
THEN they go to jail anyway. It's sorta convenient that the County hospital is only a few blocks from the County jail.
Shockingly enough, we have people attempt this maneuver on several occasions every year. It's so common, we even have a name for it.
We call it Incarceritis...
We'll get them to booking and start fingerprinting and photographing them, and suddenly they're short of breath, have chest pains or fake passing out.
We call them an ambulance and they go to the hospital where the doctor says there isn't a thing wrong with them.
THEN they go to jail anyway. It's sorta convenient that the County hospital is only a few blocks from the County jail.
Shockingly enough, we have people attempt this maneuver on several occasions every year. It's so common, we even have a name for it.
We call it Incarceritis...
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Pull Up a Chair and Grab a Drink. We're Gonna Be Here for a While...
I am a police officer, a father of an elementary school student and a high school student, and a concerned citizen of the United States of America. I watch the news like everybody else, and I see the senseless events of Clackamas Town Center and Sandy Hook Elementary plastered all over the evening news. I, however, have a different view than most media outlets.
We have, in recent years, been under an almost constant attack by folks who claim to be our own people. American citizens have been attacking other American citizens on American soil.
Brown's Chicken, Palatine, Illinois, January 1993
Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 1995
Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia, July 1996
Heath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky, December 1997
Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, Arkansas, March 1998
Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, April 1999
Red Lake Indian Reservation High School, Red Lake, Minnesota, March 2005
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma Washington, November 2005
Capitol Hill Rave, Seattle, Washington, March 2006
Amish School-house, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2006
Trolley Square Mall, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2007
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2007
Ward Parkway Shopping Center. Kansas City, Missouri, April 2007
Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, December 2007
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, February 2008
Fort Hood, Texas, November 2009
Internal Revenue Service Office, Austin Texas, February 2010
Hartford Distributors, Manchester, Connecticut, August 2010
Casa Adobes Safeway, Tucson, Arizona, January 2011
Chardon High School, Chardon, Ohio, February 2012
Oikos University, Oakland, California, April 2012
Century 16 Movie Theater, Aurora, Colorado, July 2012
Sikh Temple, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, August 2012
Clackamas Town Center Mall, Portland Oregon, December 2012
And most recently, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, December 2012
This is by no means a complete or comprehensive list. This is just what I could recall or find with a few minutes research. These incidents are tragic no matter how you look at them, but what seems to happen after these incidents is those people with political agendas come crawling out of the woodwork and start preaching. Calls for more gun control, cries for less gun control, suggestions to arm all teachers, those who think ALL people should be armed. People scream for more mental health care. Others accuse the police of not doing enough. Law suits are filed against the venue, as if they caused the evil.
Mass-murders, rampage killings, whatever you choose to call them, are not new. We have had mass murders and school rampages for most of our history as a country. Think of the University of Texas at Austin, in August of 1966. The infamous clock tower. Recall the Bath School killings in Bath Township, Michigan in May 1927. As far back as 1853, there are recorded instances of disgruntled students bringing weapons to school to exact revenge on their teachers, principals or other students for whatever reason, real or imagined.
This is certainly not unique to the United States. There are recent and historical records of school massacres, workplace killings and other mass-murders in many countries around the world throughout recorded history. Just yesterday 22 adults and children were stabbed by a crazed "knifeman" outside a school in China. Knife attacks at Chinese schools have been a common occurrence in the past few years, with at least ten attacks resulting in over twenty dead and many more seriously injured just since 2010.
It is obvious that there are people in this world who wish to do harm to others. So, what is the answer to this obvious problem?
Are guns the answer? Whether taken away from everyone or given to everyone?
At one extreme, there are folks who want to make all guns illegal and take them all away. Well, guess what. If guns are made illegal, there is not going to be a magical POOF and all guns suddenly disappear. They will never be completely gone. The military will always have them. Law Enforcement will always have them. Other countries will always have them. If someone wants to get their hands on a firearm to commit a mass-murder, they will most certainly find a means to do so. Ample evidence exists if you look at the regular occurrence of gang violence in major metropolitan areas. The weapons of choice? AK-47's, MAK-10's, Tec-9's and UZI's. These weapons have been illegal for decades, but they still pop up regularly. Why? Because the criminals who would use such weapons against you and me don't give two shits about the law. If we banned all guns outright, these knuckleheads would still have them to use against the unarmed rest of us.
But what if, by some miraculous occurrence, all guns did magically disappear? What if we could somehow collect all firearms in the world and guarantee there were no more. Would people stop killing each other? Would there be no more mass-murder?
No. The mass-murderers would simply go down to their local home improvement store and buy pipe and supplies to make bombs. Okay, let's ban pipe, diesel fuel and fertilizer. After the next knife attack we'll ban knives and we will have to cut our steaks with our teeth. Someone dies after being hit with a baseball bat? Ban bats too (except for sporting use). Then someone will have their head bashed in with a rock and we'll have to ban rocks.
Can you see how ridiculous this can get? You can ban every possible implement that can be used as a deadly weapon, but if someone is hell bent on committing murder, they will do so with their bare hands and feet if they have to. The only way to stop the evil, is to STOP the evil PERSON. By whatever means you deem necessary. I personally prefer the tools of my trade. You may not agree.
At the other extreme, there are those who say we should arm everyone. Teachers, mall security guards, airline pilots. Think about that for a second. You want to put a gun in the hands of a teacher, who is not likely to train with it on a regular basis, and who will have a thousand and thirty other things on their mind when the shit hits the proverbial fan? You want that teacher to have one more thing to keep track of during their every day dealings? One that can cause death if it is not handled properly? I don't believe we need MORE guns in schools. I think we should focus on making our schools more secure and resistant to attack. I don't know about you, but I would rather my son's teacher focused on locking down the classroom with the kids safely inside, than to have her shooting down the halls and having to worry about her backdrop. Maybe that's why I bother to be involved in the safety committee at my son's elementary school.
What about arming airline pilots? I personally would prefer my pilot be flying the airplane rather than shooting it out with hijackers. This is especially true if I happen to be anywhere aft of the cockpit door, since the rounds would surely be coming my way. We have come a long way with reinforced cockpit doors and security procedures onboard. Perhaps we just need more PASSENGERS willing to take action against a few hijackers.
When it comes to the weapons involved, guns seem to be the prevalent method of mass-murder, but they are not the only method. Mass-murders in our country have been committed with bombs, cars, airplanes, knives, sticks and many other weapons. Realize that the guns are not the problem, they are simply tools that can be used for good or evil just as a knife or club can be used for good or evil. The real problem is the people who commit the crime, not the tool they choose to use.
Mass-murders happen in many different venues. We have all heard about school massacres, workplace violence, mall killings, etc. The possibilities are endless. I believe the main reason malls and schools are so often targeted is that we make them such easy targets. If you want to find a whole lot of people who are off their guard, where would you think to look?
Think about it. You would never allow anyone to hurt your kids when they are in your presence, right? So why do we drop our kids off everyday at a non-secure facility and expect them to be safe? Why do we allow our schools to be such inviting targets? I can walk right into my son's school and walk right into his classroom without anybody even noticing. There is no exterior door on the school, just an open hallway.
Our schools need to be made secure. No, I don't mean we need to put bars over the windows. I mean we should spend some of the tax money we all pay into our schools, and put up some sort of an effective barrier around the perimeter of the school-grounds. Control access and don't let those who would do harm to our kids walk right in unopposed. Barriers may not be perfect, but they buy time and time is what is needed for the teachers to keep the kids safe by locking down the classrooms. As a teacher you should be able to protect our kids by shielding them behind a locked impenetrable classroom door, not by shielding them with your own body.
Malls are a different beast. Shopping malls consist of long narrow passages with few means of escape. When you go to the mall what do you see? If you're like most, you see nothing other than what's in the store windows or on your iPhone. When I go to the mall, what I see is a sea of inattentive sheep. I see people who are more concerned with getting to the next store or texting (or perhaps "sexting") their friends with news of the latest big sale than they are with what is going on around them and what could possibly do them harm. People go to the mall and they feel safe. I just don't get it. Don't they watch the news? Or is it just the "It can't happen here" mentality?
I think mall security guards should be armed, simply because they are the first responders to any situation in a shopping mall. These guys and gals get there LONG before the police can respond. Mall guards could be trained regularly and practice their skills often just like police officers. Why don't they? Usually it's because the mall owners don't want the liability of having armed guards, and because they don't want to pay for the training and higher wages that would be required to have a competent, adept security force.
So, what about protecting YOURSELF? What most people say is "If the shooting starts, I will run away or hide until the police get there". Guess what. It can take several minutes for us to get there, and several more for us to get inside and neutralize the threat. In that time, a lot of carnage can ensue. At the Clackamas Town Center the police didn't find the shooter until 22 minutes after the shooting started. Had the shooter not been inept at operating his weapon he could have done much more damage than he did.
What we as a people MUST do is take responsibility for our own safety. Stop relying on others to keep you safe. Stop being a sheep. Do this by whatever lawful means you see fit. I am not advocating firearms for those who have no desire to have them. But if you do have such a desire, can be bothered to train and maintain proficiency, and have the mental capacity to maintain your composure in an adverse situation, then it is my opinion you should be legally able to possess and carry a firearm anywhere not prohibited by law. This should also prohibit mall and movie theater owners from declaring "Gun Free Zones". They're only "gun free" to people who care about the rules.
If you don't think a gun is for you, then at least change your attitude about your surroundings. Keep your head on a swivel. NOTICE what is going on around you and AVOID taking yourself and your family into a kill zone. Don't be one of the bystanders interviewed on the news who says "I looked right at him. He pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger but he missed." If you see the guy with the gun, move to cover. Get out of the line of fire. Don't just stand there with your thumb up your ass while he draws a bead on you to take your life.
Even if you choose not to arm yourself with a firearm, a Taser, pepper spray or some other weapon, you can still adopt the color code system that is used by many. White, Yellow, Orange and Red. This post is already too long, so I won't go into detail about the color codes. You can find it on Google if you're interested under Gunsite Color Code.
Understand, the police cannot be with you every second of the day. People must take responsibility for their own safety in whatever way they are capable. If you are an adult who walks around in Condition White with your head buried in your iPod, your ears covered with headphones, and you can't be bothered to notice your surroundings, I will come to take the report when you are robbed or murdered, but I will not feel sorry for you. And if a child under your care is harmed because you failed to prepare and/or act, woe be unto you when the wrath of Officer Smith smites thee smartly about the head and shoulders.
Ultimately, what I believe it comes down to is that we have got to stop the mass media from plastering the name and photo of every mass murderer on the television. These killers want publicity. Everyone will know their name because it will be all over the evening news. How often do you see a news piece that focuses on the victims? Do you know the name of a single victim from Aurora Colorado? No. Because the news won't talk about the victims. They only talk about the shooter, because that's what constitutes news. That's what sells newspapers. That's what draws viewers. That's what makes money.
Do you really want to do something to curb the violence? Don't ban guns. That won't fix a thing. Ban the news media from ever publishing the name of any mass-murderer. Ban Google from putting his or her name and picture on the internet. If the media would report on the victims instead of the suspects, they would deny much of the impetus for the crimes in the first place. We should never have known names such as Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, Seung Hui Cho, Charles Whitman, and Timothy McVeigh. If their names were not indelibly etched into the internet, they would still be nobody. They would never be role models for those who now wish to emulate them.
The bottom line is this. The news media and the policy makers who speak up after an event such as the recent mass-murders focus on how evil guns are. Instead, we should focus on how evil the person behind the gun is. Because of the evil in their heart, if they don't have a gun they will use a bomb, or a knife, or a truck. They will find a way to try to kill you.
We need to protect ourselves by being aware of our surroundings and having a way to defend ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to defend us. If we deny the would be mass-murderers the easy targets and the guaranteed instant publicity, and if we make it dangerous to THEM to come looking for US, it is likely this fad of school and mall murders will decline rapidly.
Don't just sit there, get off your kiester and DO SOMETHING...
We have, in recent years, been under an almost constant attack by folks who claim to be our own people. American citizens have been attacking other American citizens on American soil.
Brown's Chicken, Palatine, Illinois, January 1993
Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 1995
Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia, July 1996
Heath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky, December 1997
Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, Arkansas, March 1998
Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, April 1999
Red Lake Indian Reservation High School, Red Lake, Minnesota, March 2005
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma Washington, November 2005
Capitol Hill Rave, Seattle, Washington, March 2006
Amish School-house, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2006
Trolley Square Mall, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2007
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2007
Ward Parkway Shopping Center. Kansas City, Missouri, April 2007
Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, December 2007
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, February 2008
Fort Hood, Texas, November 2009
Internal Revenue Service Office, Austin Texas, February 2010
Hartford Distributors, Manchester, Connecticut, August 2010
Casa Adobes Safeway, Tucson, Arizona, January 2011
Chardon High School, Chardon, Ohio, February 2012
Oikos University, Oakland, California, April 2012
Century 16 Movie Theater, Aurora, Colorado, July 2012
Sikh Temple, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, August 2012
Clackamas Town Center Mall, Portland Oregon, December 2012
And most recently, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, December 2012
This is by no means a complete or comprehensive list. This is just what I could recall or find with a few minutes research. These incidents are tragic no matter how you look at them, but what seems to happen after these incidents is those people with political agendas come crawling out of the woodwork and start preaching. Calls for more gun control, cries for less gun control, suggestions to arm all teachers, those who think ALL people should be armed. People scream for more mental health care. Others accuse the police of not doing enough. Law suits are filed against the venue, as if they caused the evil.
Mass-murders, rampage killings, whatever you choose to call them, are not new. We have had mass murders and school rampages for most of our history as a country. Think of the University of Texas at Austin, in August of 1966. The infamous clock tower. Recall the Bath School killings in Bath Township, Michigan in May 1927. As far back as 1853, there are recorded instances of disgruntled students bringing weapons to school to exact revenge on their teachers, principals or other students for whatever reason, real or imagined.
This is certainly not unique to the United States. There are recent and historical records of school massacres, workplace killings and other mass-murders in many countries around the world throughout recorded history. Just yesterday 22 adults and children were stabbed by a crazed "knifeman" outside a school in China. Knife attacks at Chinese schools have been a common occurrence in the past few years, with at least ten attacks resulting in over twenty dead and many more seriously injured just since 2010.
It is obvious that there are people in this world who wish to do harm to others. So, what is the answer to this obvious problem?
Are guns the answer? Whether taken away from everyone or given to everyone?
At one extreme, there are folks who want to make all guns illegal and take them all away. Well, guess what. If guns are made illegal, there is not going to be a magical POOF and all guns suddenly disappear. They will never be completely gone. The military will always have them. Law Enforcement will always have them. Other countries will always have them. If someone wants to get their hands on a firearm to commit a mass-murder, they will most certainly find a means to do so. Ample evidence exists if you look at the regular occurrence of gang violence in major metropolitan areas. The weapons of choice? AK-47's, MAK-10's, Tec-9's and UZI's. These weapons have been illegal for decades, but they still pop up regularly. Why? Because the criminals who would use such weapons against you and me don't give two shits about the law. If we banned all guns outright, these knuckleheads would still have them to use against the unarmed rest of us.
But what if, by some miraculous occurrence, all guns did magically disappear? What if we could somehow collect all firearms in the world and guarantee there were no more. Would people stop killing each other? Would there be no more mass-murder?
No. The mass-murderers would simply go down to their local home improvement store and buy pipe and supplies to make bombs. Okay, let's ban pipe, diesel fuel and fertilizer. After the next knife attack we'll ban knives and we will have to cut our steaks with our teeth. Someone dies after being hit with a baseball bat? Ban bats too (except for sporting use). Then someone will have their head bashed in with a rock and we'll have to ban rocks.
Can you see how ridiculous this can get? You can ban every possible implement that can be used as a deadly weapon, but if someone is hell bent on committing murder, they will do so with their bare hands and feet if they have to. The only way to stop the evil, is to STOP the evil PERSON. By whatever means you deem necessary. I personally prefer the tools of my trade. You may not agree.
At the other extreme, there are those who say we should arm everyone. Teachers, mall security guards, airline pilots. Think about that for a second. You want to put a gun in the hands of a teacher, who is not likely to train with it on a regular basis, and who will have a thousand and thirty other things on their mind when the shit hits the proverbial fan? You want that teacher to have one more thing to keep track of during their every day dealings? One that can cause death if it is not handled properly? I don't believe we need MORE guns in schools. I think we should focus on making our schools more secure and resistant to attack. I don't know about you, but I would rather my son's teacher focused on locking down the classroom with the kids safely inside, than to have her shooting down the halls and having to worry about her backdrop. Maybe that's why I bother to be involved in the safety committee at my son's elementary school.
What about arming airline pilots? I personally would prefer my pilot be flying the airplane rather than shooting it out with hijackers. This is especially true if I happen to be anywhere aft of the cockpit door, since the rounds would surely be coming my way. We have come a long way with reinforced cockpit doors and security procedures onboard. Perhaps we just need more PASSENGERS willing to take action against a few hijackers.
When it comes to the weapons involved, guns seem to be the prevalent method of mass-murder, but they are not the only method. Mass-murders in our country have been committed with bombs, cars, airplanes, knives, sticks and many other weapons. Realize that the guns are not the problem, they are simply tools that can be used for good or evil just as a knife or club can be used for good or evil. The real problem is the people who commit the crime, not the tool they choose to use.
Mass-murders happen in many different venues. We have all heard about school massacres, workplace violence, mall killings, etc. The possibilities are endless. I believe the main reason malls and schools are so often targeted is that we make them such easy targets. If you want to find a whole lot of people who are off their guard, where would you think to look?
Think about it. You would never allow anyone to hurt your kids when they are in your presence, right? So why do we drop our kids off everyday at a non-secure facility and expect them to be safe? Why do we allow our schools to be such inviting targets? I can walk right into my son's school and walk right into his classroom without anybody even noticing. There is no exterior door on the school, just an open hallway.
Our schools need to be made secure. No, I don't mean we need to put bars over the windows. I mean we should spend some of the tax money we all pay into our schools, and put up some sort of an effective barrier around the perimeter of the school-grounds. Control access and don't let those who would do harm to our kids walk right in unopposed. Barriers may not be perfect, but they buy time and time is what is needed for the teachers to keep the kids safe by locking down the classrooms. As a teacher you should be able to protect our kids by shielding them behind a locked impenetrable classroom door, not by shielding them with your own body.
Malls are a different beast. Shopping malls consist of long narrow passages with few means of escape. When you go to the mall what do you see? If you're like most, you see nothing other than what's in the store windows or on your iPhone. When I go to the mall, what I see is a sea of inattentive sheep. I see people who are more concerned with getting to the next store or texting (or perhaps "sexting") their friends with news of the latest big sale than they are with what is going on around them and what could possibly do them harm. People go to the mall and they feel safe. I just don't get it. Don't they watch the news? Or is it just the "It can't happen here" mentality?
I think mall security guards should be armed, simply because they are the first responders to any situation in a shopping mall. These guys and gals get there LONG before the police can respond. Mall guards could be trained regularly and practice their skills often just like police officers. Why don't they? Usually it's because the mall owners don't want the liability of having armed guards, and because they don't want to pay for the training and higher wages that would be required to have a competent, adept security force.
So, what about protecting YOURSELF? What most people say is "If the shooting starts, I will run away or hide until the police get there". Guess what. It can take several minutes for us to get there, and several more for us to get inside and neutralize the threat. In that time, a lot of carnage can ensue. At the Clackamas Town Center the police didn't find the shooter until 22 minutes after the shooting started. Had the shooter not been inept at operating his weapon he could have done much more damage than he did.
What we as a people MUST do is take responsibility for our own safety. Stop relying on others to keep you safe. Stop being a sheep. Do this by whatever lawful means you see fit. I am not advocating firearms for those who have no desire to have them. But if you do have such a desire, can be bothered to train and maintain proficiency, and have the mental capacity to maintain your composure in an adverse situation, then it is my opinion you should be legally able to possess and carry a firearm anywhere not prohibited by law. This should also prohibit mall and movie theater owners from declaring "Gun Free Zones". They're only "gun free" to people who care about the rules.
If you don't think a gun is for you, then at least change your attitude about your surroundings. Keep your head on a swivel. NOTICE what is going on around you and AVOID taking yourself and your family into a kill zone. Don't be one of the bystanders interviewed on the news who says "I looked right at him. He pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger but he missed." If you see the guy with the gun, move to cover. Get out of the line of fire. Don't just stand there with your thumb up your ass while he draws a bead on you to take your life.
Even if you choose not to arm yourself with a firearm, a Taser, pepper spray or some other weapon, you can still adopt the color code system that is used by many. White, Yellow, Orange and Red. This post is already too long, so I won't go into detail about the color codes. You can find it on Google if you're interested under Gunsite Color Code.
Understand, the police cannot be with you every second of the day. People must take responsibility for their own safety in whatever way they are capable. If you are an adult who walks around in Condition White with your head buried in your iPod, your ears covered with headphones, and you can't be bothered to notice your surroundings, I will come to take the report when you are robbed or murdered, but I will not feel sorry for you. And if a child under your care is harmed because you failed to prepare and/or act, woe be unto you when the wrath of Officer Smith smites thee smartly about the head and shoulders.
Ultimately, what I believe it comes down to is that we have got to stop the mass media from plastering the name and photo of every mass murderer on the television. These killers want publicity. Everyone will know their name because it will be all over the evening news. How often do you see a news piece that focuses on the victims? Do you know the name of a single victim from Aurora Colorado? No. Because the news won't talk about the victims. They only talk about the shooter, because that's what constitutes news. That's what sells newspapers. That's what draws viewers. That's what makes money.
Do you really want to do something to curb the violence? Don't ban guns. That won't fix a thing. Ban the news media from ever publishing the name of any mass-murderer. Ban Google from putting his or her name and picture on the internet. If the media would report on the victims instead of the suspects, they would deny much of the impetus for the crimes in the first place. We should never have known names such as Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, Seung Hui Cho, Charles Whitman, and Timothy McVeigh. If their names were not indelibly etched into the internet, they would still be nobody. They would never be role models for those who now wish to emulate them.
The bottom line is this. The news media and the policy makers who speak up after an event such as the recent mass-murders focus on how evil guns are. Instead, we should focus on how evil the person behind the gun is. Because of the evil in their heart, if they don't have a gun they will use a bomb, or a knife, or a truck. They will find a way to try to kill you.
We need to protect ourselves by being aware of our surroundings and having a way to defend ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to defend us. If we deny the would be mass-murderers the easy targets and the guaranteed instant publicity, and if we make it dangerous to THEM to come looking for US, it is likely this fad of school and mall murders will decline rapidly.
Don't just sit there, get off your kiester and DO SOMETHING...
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Those Damned Fool Taggers...
While I was riding home from work this evening I took notice of something in my rearview mirror. I saw that someone had spray painted graffiti on the back side of a railroad bridge over the freeway.
The thing is, this part of the freeway has the east and westbound lanes separated by some distance, so the only way you can see the graffiti is to look back at it, or be stuck on the side of the road somewhere beyond the bridge.
I thought to myself, "What kinda idiot do you have to be to tag the BACK side of a bridge where nobody can read it unless they're looking in their mirror?"
Then it occurred to me...
I COULD read it in my mirror...
Because it was painted backwards...
So it could be read in the mirror and look the right way round...
Genius...
The thing is, this part of the freeway has the east and westbound lanes separated by some distance, so the only way you can see the graffiti is to look back at it, or be stuck on the side of the road somewhere beyond the bridge.
I thought to myself, "What kinda idiot do you have to be to tag the BACK side of a bridge where nobody can read it unless they're looking in their mirror?"
Then it occurred to me...
I COULD read it in my mirror...
Because it was painted backwards...
So it could be read in the mirror and look the right way round...
Genius...
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