Unfortunately for the Doom and Gloom Club, the person who got the short order of lead was one of three individuals that tried to rob a customer outside a Longhorn Restaurant in Palm Beach. last Christmas.

Roger Jamal Horne appeared in front a judge after recovering somewhat from his wounds. According to the Palm Beach Post: “He is charged with four counts of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, five counts of robbery with a firearm, and one count each of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, assault with intent to commit a felony, and aggravated assault with a firearm.”

But the cherry on top for me was: “…a 26-year-old West Palm Beach man, was carrying a licensed handgun and opened fire on Horne, striking him at least once.”
You want to tell me that a young man with a concealed gun (ZOMG!) going to a restaurant where alcohol is served (double ZOMG!) did not provoke a massacre killing innocent people but only took out the bad guy and sent the accomplices running? How the hell are we gonna tell Japete?

By the way Palm Beach Post, the young man was not carrying a licensed weapon. He had a concealed weapons permit and was carrying a gun. We do not need register our weapons in Florida.

Very few in our culture will disagree with the title of this thread. We know what the Second Amendment stands for, why it was recognized in our Bill of Rights and what purpose it serves. Those of us who have sat down and poured over the historical documents and studied the Framers’ intention can quote verse and chapter from the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, plus 18th Century grammar and a bag of other themes that relate to the Second Amendment.

That said, to see that are those in the Second Amendment Culture that openly express the violation of the actual laws on a Magilla Gorilla Chest bumping cry for revolution is leading me to think that our first goal has changed from educating those who are not in our culture to those who have a narrow understanding of the average people in general.

Since 1934 with the passing of the National Firearms Act, the Second Amendment has been eroding slowly. Not until the last decade, firm and concerted efforts have started to bear fruit for the rescue of our Bill of Rights but we are still facing 74 years of the changing of People’s perceptions towards guns. When once was a normal thing for any American to own the gun of his and her choosing without a neighbor or a police officer raising an eyebrow, we now live in a world were the mere fact of trying to defend ourselves from a criminal is seen by a lot of people as vigilantism or blood thirstiness. This perception is hammered every day by a complicit media in support of those politicians that would like to see our Country descend into the level of many others: A Country not of independent and self assured Citizens but a Country of faithful and obedient members of a communal society.

Your average non-gun owner is subjected to a barrage of one sided news and opinion which it is hard to counter. They have been programmed to fear guns, fear gun owners and relay on Washington, their state capital and their local officials for protection while forgetting their liberties. And many of them have sadly accepted those terms and vote accordingly. It is not unknown to any of us people like that, people that when asked about guns will recite the same old tired (for us) answers and express the unfounded fears that they hear day in and day out. Even then, these are people that still believe in the Law because we are a Nation of Laws. Let me repeat and enhance that. There might be Good Laws and Bad Laws but We Are A Nation of Laws.

If a Law is bad, unjust and unfair we just do not decide to break it for the heck of it or because our unchecked egos tell us to do it. We fight it through all possible legal means and make the life of our legislators impossible until they do the job they were hired to do. We Do Not Break The Law. The standard we are held to is much higher because, every violation by one of us will be used without remorse by the opposition against us and it will help them cement their points with the Non-Gun owners. Even the macho chest-bumping talk of breaking the law for whatever reason is fodder for the Opposition who can lie, cheat and libel at their discretion in order to further their plans. We are not playing a level field or under fair rules. Life Sucks, get used to it and do something worthwhile instead of Macho Internet Posturing.

And yes, I call it Posturing since I am willing to bet that many of those who talk tall and engage in an verbal diarrhea about what they will do when the gummint comes, will probably run & hide at the sight of a Police or Military Tactical team breaching their homes looking for weapons in the best of cases or looking for them in the worse.

We saw what an unchecked Government can do during Katrina and they literally stepped in their genitalia losing amazing amounts of ground on their quest. It was a Public Relations Nightmare that woke up many people but not enough since it was promptly buried and forgotten by the Media. Still we garnished enough to get rid of legislation that infringed in our rights and obtained legislation that restricted some of the power of the Government. Was it enough? No. We need more? Yes. Will it happen before the next commercial break? (Oprah is quite good today) No, it will take many many years.

So knowing the scope of time and effort we must face against those who oppose us, why in God’s Green Earth are you willing to behave like a child and support with your actions the other side? Because when you spout that ego-driven drivel, you are doing just so.

We are in a Battle for Hearts and Minds. Let’s win it the smart way.

UPDATE: LimaTunes has a great article touching some of what I say here with the added value of a female perspective.