Blame?
April 2018

In the wake of any murders involving firearms, who are the first parties where blame is placed by the mass media, politicians and uninformed population? Is it the murderer? Not really, though they tend to become quite famous for a short time (particularly if the body count is high enough). Of course, excuses will be made for their conduct though; it really wasn't their fault after all.

Is it contributions of the various ills of society; single parent homes, lack of education, lack of job opportunities, mental health problems, lack of any moral focus in life, over-medication of the young? Not really, though one of these may get a short mention. The problem is that each of those issues is far too complex to distill into a short sound bite, which seems to be the maximum attention span that the average TV viewer has enough mental fortitude to deal with.

NO, the obvious (and most logical) focus for the blame is US; the 80+ Million law abiding, gun owning citizens in the country. And of course, the NRA (which is actually just a 5 Million subset of "US" again). And then, the inanimate object; the guilty firearm. Particularly if it looks "scary" (whatever that definition is).

The mass media, politicians of all denominations, large corporations and some VERY wealthy individuals with an agenda are constantly placing the cause of firearm murders at OUR feet. Though statistically we are among the most law abiding, honest, hardworking citizens of the country; we somehow mysteriously collude with that inanimate object, allowing it to somehow become an "instrument of death on our streets". Therefore (for the good of society and the children), we must willingly give up our rights to that inanimate object (and the protections it affords us from criminals and tyrannical governments).

The courts have determined the police have NO duty to protect any individual citizen. Even if they did, there aren't enough of them to be in all places at all times.....and even if there were, they still can't predict some unknown future event to be prepared for it.

It's the personal responsibility of each individual to provide for their own security; just as it is to provide for their own food and shelter. A tool that may enable us to perform that responsibility is sometimes a firearm. There are many people both in public office and elsewhere who feel society would be better off without the lowly, tax paying citizen having access to firearms. One of the great ironies is those same politicians are generally protected by the secret service or other tax payer funded security and those wealthy enough can and do hire on private armed security while continuing to spout off about the evils of firearms and how they should be only in the hands of the police and military.

Over the last few months there has been a flurry of new legislation offered at the federal level and in just about every state in the union. The commonality to all of them is further restrictions (up to and including outright bans) of firearms. Those who would be least likely to break any of the tens of thousands of existing firearms laws (some already duplications of others; some not enforced or enforced selectively) already in place are the ones who would be most affected by these "new and improved" versions. We are told that just one more "common sense" law will somehow "solve" the problem of violence. Though a basic analysis of the results of those prior thousands of existing laws shows this will not be the case. More likely, many of US would become instant felons, intentionally or not. We could be faced with the choice of giving up our constitutionally recognized natural rights in exchange for some facade of "security".

As has been shown with firearms regulations and bans here and abroad, the actual criminals or truly insane don't follow laws already. That's because being a criminal is their job. The net effect on crime tends to allow it to actually increase over time as we all become easier prey unable to defend ourselves from the true predators. Additionally, we also become SO much easier to be forced onto box cars or assaulted by government thugs concealed behind black tactical gear.

For reference; as April 19th approaches, take a few minutes to consider what happened in Waco Texas 25 years ago (1). On flimsy and speculative "evidence" from a UPS driver, a search warrant was issued to look for illegal weapons and arrest warrants were issued for several people. Rather than the numerous possible methods that could have been used to execute the arrests and search, a large scale raid (including over 75 federal agents, several helicopters, etc.) by the ATFE (2) resulted in 5 dead civilians, 4 dead government agents and a 51 day standoff. The standoff would be ended with "this is not an assault", followed by the gassing, shooting and fiery deaths of 76 more civilians, including 25 children. So, please don't say "that can't happen here"; it has, it is and sadly it will likely continue to.

Don't let your family, friends and neighbors be swayed by intentionally (and falsely) propagated fear to the point they willingly concede our rights in exchange for a further swelling tyranny masquerading as a false sense of security.

Remember, Freedom is Never Free!







Buddy Walker
buddysays.net