Guns

An untold story of the chaos at the Tuscon tragedy of a civilian’s gun – unused.

We have covered the Tuscon tragedy from the political viewpoint and how the Left let loose volley after volley of verbiage trying to pin the actions of a lunatic on political philosophy (and trying to pin it on the Right and the TEA Party movement).  Of course, the major mainstream media types (who, as we know, lean Left enough to need crutches for support if they weren’t already sitting down reading their teleprompters) have run to their support.

And as we, along with most of the Right, have refused to go along with this nonsense.  As I mentioned before, it has almost been like the WW II Turkey Shoot (or the Gulf War one) because while Leftward pundits and politicians have all "decried" incivility, even we at GraniteGrok have found it far to easy to find concrete examples of them pulling the pins and throwing their grenades (and this latest stretch of liberal rhetoric is just that – verbal handgrenades).

And thus, having wasted their "first wave" of a line of attack, the flanking move is onto the second target – gun control.

Why? They frankly don’t trust their fellow citizens.  They also believe, because of their belief in Big Government, that we all should outsource our well betterment and safety to Government (after all, THEY are the professionals).  Certainly, anyone that reads the ‘Grok on a regular basis, we believe that to be utter nonsense as well.  While we do operate and live in communities of others, we do not give up the sense of self-reliance that should be primary as a basic American philosophical underpinning.  We do believe that we are responsible for ourselves, including the basic right of self-defense.

Now, combine their misguided idea that Government will instantly be available at their time of physical threatening with this: their shared idea that once a gun is place into their fellow citizens hands, we lose all sanity and rationality and become nothing more than grunting Rambos whose only urges are to pull the triggers and find more ammo.

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth – the vast majority of us who use and carry firearms see it as a huge responsibility.  We would no more use…

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First there was this somewhat innocuous bit in the "Merrimack County indictments" listing from the Citizen newspaper back in November:

A Londonderry man who allegedly leveled a handgun at a Northfield man was indicted for criminal threatening. He is alleged to have placed Paul Difilippo in fear of imminent bodily injury or physical contact on August 20. The charge is a Class B felony potentially punishable by 3.5 to seven years in the New Hampshire State Prison upon conviction.

Innocuous, unless you happen to be that person, of course. Unfortunately, for him, it was the ongoing process of what must surely have been a stretch of living hell. You see, he had the audacity to defend himself as he saw fit in a situation that caused him to fear for his personal safety and well-being (gasp!) with a gun. Shame on him (at least according to certain NH officials that sought to make him pay for such an act). Luckily, according to today’s Citizen, the ordeal is over. What isn’t is what the story reveals about the state of a citizen’s right to keep and bear arms and their use in personal defense and preventing further physical violence:

A Londonderry man who was arrested in Tilton last August in connection with an alleged road rage incident no longer faces a mandatory three- to six-year prison sentence because authorities have dropped or "nol prossed" the case in the wake of the witness’ death.

The Manchester attorney who represented him said, "It would have been intellectually interesting to have challenged [the charges]" because he believes the case demonstrates law enforcement’s desire to keep guns away from law-abiding citizens.

The gentleman maintains that he felt his life was in danger when he was forced off the road and he showed his licensed firearm to the man, hoping it would deter the man from further provocation.

Police saw it differently and charged him with the Class B felony of criminal threatening.

How dare he intrude on the cops’ turf. Doesn’t he know it’s THEIR job to do that? So what if some lunatic forced him off the road. He should have waited for the cops to come. And if the lunatic wasn’t going to wait, perhaps, to commit some act, then what? Of course, we all know that if Mr. DeFilippo had run a POLICE OFFICER off the road and ended up shot as a result, most likely it would be found "justfied" like it always is (but I digress…)

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A Nation of marksmen? (Ruger Mini 14~ official ‘Grok "ranch rifle")

Given the events in India, and the general downward spiral of public safety in an era of terrorism, this is something that merits some thought and attention. Says the Second Amendment,

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Indeed. As has been demonstrated time and again, when certain tragedies occur in which people get killed with safety and security forces "en route," had there been armed citizens on the scene– trained and able to shoot back– perhaps the final tolls might have been less. It goes without saying that when an entire populace of honest law-abiding folks are well-armed and practiced in their use, any potential intruder must take heed. And sometimes, such weapons can become the instruments of freedom…

According to their website, The Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA)  pays tribute to the events of April 19, 1775 (the "shot heard round the world")

"through awareness, learning & marksmanship."

To that end, they have created the Appleseed Project:

The Appleseed Program is designed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to being a true rifleman. All throughout American history, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away — no ifs, ands or buts about it. This 500-yard range is traditionally known as "the rifleman’s quarter-mile;" a rifleman can hit just about any target he can see. This skill was particulary evident in the birth of our country, and was the difference in winning the Revolutionary War.

This country was founded and won by riflemen who fought and beat British forces. We invite all interested marksmen to learn the skills and techniques necessary to shoot proficiently; and then hope you’ll participate in teaching and practicing with others so that together we can save this great land. Why you? Well, that’s simple: if you’re on this page we’re betting you’re a patriot, and we hope you answer the call.

What’s a rifleman?

In short, a rifleman is an armed American, trained in the tradition of American Liberty. It’s a man who has learned to shoot a rifle accurately — accurate enough to score "expert" on the Army Qualification Course. Until you can do that, you’re considered a "Cook," unprepared and unqualified to carry a rifle on the firing line of freedom. But after attending an Appleseed AQT shoot, you’ll have the credentials necessary to be a true rifleman, and will understand the critical need for defending freedom in this country.

The RWVA is dedicated to the Appleseed Program and encourages every American to learn to shoot.

I absolutely couldn’t agree more. They have even gone so far as to define exactly the qualifications each and every "rifleman" should aspire to attain:

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