Don's Tuesday column

    THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   1/29/2013

Guns, polls, genocide and bullying

Meeting note: Tea Party Patriots will have as tonight’s guest Jeff Sutton who is in charge of the Diversion Dam; 6 PM at the Westside Grange.

Following are some gun-related thoughts and vignettes: Look up a fascinating article, “Why Young Women Want AR-15s,” by Celia Bigelow and Aubrey Blankenship, searchable by title; use the nationalreview.comhttp://www.nationalreview.com/articles/338418/why-young-women-want-ar-15s-celia-bigelow link. It begins, “Sorry, President Obama. As young women we prefer an AR-15 ‘assault’ rifle with a 30-round magazine for self-defense … AR-15s are the most popular rifle in the U.S.; more than 3 million Americans own one. And its popularity isn’t with criminals – assault rifles account for only 0.6 percent of murders every year (but) are the guns of choice for many hunters, target shooters, and home defenders … Our goal when defending against a home invader is simple: to hit where we aim.”

After remarking on its relative light weight, low recoil, ease of shooting, as well as the intimidation factor (important against intruders who might take on a mere revolver), they wrote of the woman defending herself in Georgia. Six rounds fired from her place of retreat with her children failed to bring her assailant down, let alone kill him; he stumbled back out the door. Draw your own conclusion about her chances against additional men after having emptied her gun.

Lessons: Those who focus on the hardware, gun styles, bullet capacity, etc. are willing to deprive law-abiding citizens of their choices in either their God-given right to self-defense, or their God-given right to pursue happiness on a shooting range. Criminals, as we often report on KBLF, or the police log, pay zero attention to what they are legally prohibited from carrying and using. Do you really believe a few gang-bangers with knives will say that since you’re unarmed, they’ll give you a pass? Get real!

An article in the Washington Post, picked up by the Bend Bulletin on Jan. 12, titled “District was quick to arm guards at schools,” (searchable by title, use bendbulletin.com link) tells the story of a Butler, PA, school superintendent, Mike Rogers, who had specialized in school safety for 20 years. His three binders full of security plans and lockdown drills felt suddenly inadequate on December 14, as his concern mounted over a possible copycat attack the day after the Sandy Hook elementary mass murders.

“He looked out his office window at the snow-covered trees of western Pennsylvania and imagined a gunman approaching one of Butler County’s 14 schools, allowing the attack to unfold in his mind. In came the gunman past the unarmed guards Strutt had hired after Columbine, past the metal detectors he had installed after Virginia Tech; past the intercom and surveillance system he had updated after Aurora.

“Strutt stood from his desk and called the president of the Butler County School Board, Don Pringle. “This could happen here. Armed guards are the one thing that gives us a fighting chance. Don’t we want that one thing?” A wise question that I hope is being asked among those responsible for our collective children’s safety here in Tehama County. Look it up, either at bendbulletin.com or at Polecat News and Views (DonPolson.blogspot.com) before writing one more word about the issue on this page, please.

Remember the polls showing overwhelming support for armed school guards (Pew as well as RasmussenReports.comhttp://www.rasmussenreports.com/). The favorability/approval of the National Rifle Association is about the same as that for President Obama (Rasmussen). Please note also, according to Rasmussen, “Two-out-of-three Americans recognize that their constitutional right to own a gun was intended to ensure their freedom” (“65 percent See Gun Rights as Protection Against Tyranny” 1/18/13).

Finally, polling Americans on practical measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mentally ill people does not violate our 2^nd Amendment rights, but actually banning magazines or any type of weapon does. So, a poll result to that effect is as irrelevant and ineffective as saying newspapers shouldn’t write stories about mass murdering criminals. Law abiding gun owners and their freedom to purchase those items are not part of the problem; a gangster could go out tomorrow and acquire a fully automatic gun, no matter the illegalities.

I was reading about the fascination many liberals have with Turkey, when it was called the Ottoman Empire. Part of the late history and demise of the Ottoman Empire involved the genocidal murder of groups, especially the Armenians. Look it up; however, you’ll not likely find reference to the fact that the Armenians were disarmed before the genocide. All of the tyrannical “-isms” of the last century disarmed their citizens prior to murdering them. Incidentally, I will personally place a “Gun free zone” sign in front of anyone’s home, if asked.

A new book, “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans,” by Ben Shapiro is relevant to an email I received. “The left is the greatest purveyor of bullying in modern American history … as they attempt to quash their opponents through … rhetorical intimidation …” The email, from Mr. Mazzucchi, admonished me to “concentrate on your own column and commentaries and stay the hell out of mine.” Really? Or what? Seems a bit angry and arrogant, no? No one gets to tell me what to do. (I do try to say “As you wish” to she-who-must-be-obeyed). Readers can view the whole email at DonPolson.blogspot.com, as well as the comments to which RM took exception.