I have no idea why, but and old memory found me this morning. Back in the early 90’s when I was living in certain South American country now under the firm grasp of a Socialist, massive riots and looting occurred. It was long four days of absolute collapse of the government basic services and control which I lived awake in coffee, cigarettes with a single shot shotgun and a Walther PPK on my waist. Thankfully our property was not affected by rioters since I already had a reputation for being somewhat crazy in Sheepland I was seen in more than one occasion experimenting with home made napalm) and an assiduous patrol kept miscreants pretty much away.

On the second day I was witness to a mob attacking a two story bodega about a two blocks away from my house. As typical of many bodegas in the country, it was owned and operated by one owner and his family and they had their living quarters on the upper floor.  It had no side or rear doors, just the front store gated entrance and side stairs connecting the second floor to the ground level.  I have no idea why the bodega was attacked but looters usually do not need one. When I noticed the attack it was already in progress and I fielded a pair of binoculars from the roof of my house to get a clearer picture. I was upset I what I saw since the looters were people that lived in the area, people that bought from that store and even got credit to purchase items from the owner when they did not have ways to pay for them, yet they thought it was OK to destroy his means of living.

The looters breached the store’s gates and proceeded inside. Seconds later they came out holding on the liquor and cigarettes while whooping their victory. After the booze and smokes were depleted, looters came back pretty much for the rest but this time I heard a firearm discharged sending everybody out running while dropping whatever items they had in their hand. The Bodega owner appeared with a big frame revolver in one hand, surveyed the damage and alongside his family recovered what little they could and proceeded for the next hour or so to secure the store entrance with whatever means they had available. Once they finished, they went inside and I returned to my patrol.

I’d say that about an hour later I checked the bodega again and I saw a large crowd in front. Their demeanor appeared angry and they were looking up at a window on the second story facing the front of the store. Through the barred window I saw a hand come out making go-away gestures but the crowd did not heed. Some in the mob once more attacked the store entrance, but I am guessing the reinforcement was much sturdier because they could not breach it this time. I kept watching the impasse silently congratulating the store owner for his stand when I saw something that chilled me: some idiot looter appeared suddenly with a Molotov cocktail and launched it towards the second story window. Thankfully it missed and hit the wall creating a fireball of little damage against a cement block structure.

It dawned on me that this was now not a bunch of idiots trying to score some freebies from the neighborhood merchant but a full fledged lynching mob intent on murder and nothing could be done to stop them. Police was nowhere to be seen and those not in the mob were like me trying to protect their households or cowering inside them praying to be spared from the wolves roaming the streets. I saw another looter with yet another Molotov cocktail but this time carefully preparing himself for a perfect pitch. He never did. The hand came through the barred second story window but this time holding the revolver and shooting it. One looter down and a Molotov cocktail rolled off his hand harmlessly.

Another looter, incensed by the shooting of his colleague picked up the firebomb and tried to toss it. The revolver went off again and another looter fell to the ground. This one I could see was dead on the spot. My binoculars allowed me to see the head exploding with perfect detail and the body just switching off to a mass of uncoordinated muscles and bones.  I lost track of the Molotov cocktail but I guess it did not go off again because I did not see a fireball, but a couple more appeared in the hands of other looters. More detonations came out the second story window sending two more looters scurrying and at least one of them leaving blood behind him.

This sequence kept repeating itself for another couple of hours. Mob attacking the gate, failing, mob trying to firebomb the upstairs apartment and getting shot for their efforts. I counted at least four dead on the ground and some 8 wounded taken away when the mob finally decided that it was getting to steep a price to pay for their obstinacy and withdrew to seek easier targets. Some 45 minutes later, the store owner and his family came out, loaded their old pick up truck (amazingly left untouched by the mob) with whatever belongings they could pack and abandoned the store. That night the looters came back and set the whole place on fire destroying the only grocery shop in a mile radius forcing the neighborhood to go farther away for their supplies from now on.

I heard later that the Store owner and his family moved to another city. The store was sold for a pittance but the new owner transformed it into a bike repair shop that went bankrupt soon afterward. Last I heard was that the building was abandoned and became a den of druggies and cheap hookers. Nobody was prosecuted for the attacks to the store and thankfully neither was the store owner for defending himself and his family.

So what can one armed man do? When the Shit Hit The Fan, a store owner saved himself and his family against a crowd and bought himself enough time to escape to safety. This was the leasson I learned that day and I hope you may save this little story in your brain’s memory bank for whenever somebody tries to convince you guns are not the solution.

Are you done crying and slobbering? Need a hanky?

The die was cast and we lost. Obama is here for Four Years whether we like it or not. John McCain fought like a Gentleman and lost like a Loser. He imposed on himself and his followers asinine Rules of Engagement while the opposition did not bother with such niceties. It is the same stupid concept that hogties our troops in the battlefield and puts them at deadly risk. Make no mistake that McCain rules will end up costing our way of life if we don’t correct the damage inflicted during this campaign.

About The Only Good News, they did not get super majority in Congress. Still they do have the majority and they will try to ramrod as much legislation as they can down our throats without regards for the Constitution. With that in mind let’s put aside briefly what happened and concentrate what we must do for the Congressional elections in 2010.

1) We get rid of the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and bring out true conservatives to fill the seats in Congress. NOT ONE PENNY TO ANY POLITICIAN WHO CRAPS OVER THE CONSTITUTION. And no more “terse” letters which make us sound like beggars. We demand that our rights are to be respected and untouched or they will find themselves without jobs and under lots of scorn.  We must get involved in the process! Emails and phone calls are always good, but presence always beats everything else. Drop by your local representative’s office and ask to speak to him or her to voice your opinion. Yes, more likely you will not get him or her, but an aide will meet you and believe me, it will make an impression when they get 10 or 20 personal visits about the same subject. And no “We need contributions to accept your point” but “You make the point and we MAY support you with contributions…if you behave correctly & constantly or we will only not contribute, we will actively make sure you do not get any money for your campaign.” We do not need to make big or impressive speeches, just be direct, polite and stubborn about your cause and hurt them in the pocket when needed it.

2) And then we have the Media.  Newspapers are right now in a very precarious situation. Most of all the big names are hurting bad and cutting jobs to save pennies due to poor circulation. Any rag that promotes and celebrates the restrictions to our freedoms must suffer. If you have a subscription to a paper like that, cancel it. By the same token, if a paper is in favor of all constitutional rights, specially a new struggling one, get not one but two subscriptions, help them out. The Miami Herald lost a customer this morning I am proud to say. I am waiting for them to call me so they can have an idea why I am canceling and I promise you, they won’t like them.

Broadcast News Media (TV) are Right now they are where papers were 10 years ago, starting to slide down but still ignoring the danger. It seems their ratings somehow suffered during the coverage of the campaign contrary to what they expected and it is not news (pardon the pun) that they are losing viewers to the new Cable Media outlets like FoxNews. How do we get them? Ratings of course. If you are a Nielsen family, switch your TV to any other station but broadcast news when they come on. DirecTV and DISH Networks are much easier because your box keeps track of what you watch and provides ratings. Just program your set to jump to another channel (FoxNews if you really want to rub it) at the time of Broadcast news or turn the thing off. If you go to bed or out and do not turn off the box, make sure it is not tuned to a channel that carries ABC, CBS or NBC. Again leave it tuned to FoxNews, Home and Garden TV your favorite outdoor channel.

Our pal Schummer is already having orgasmic fits thinking he will be able to re instate the Fairness Doctrine and he does indeed have a good chance to do so. If he has his druthers, the Fairness Doctrine will be applied to all media possible not in control of the liberals and that includes the Internet. Here I am thinking we simply inundate all media outlets before the Fairness Doctrine gets approved, that we will demand every day equal time or that we will demand that the proper authorities take action on such blatant violation of the law. Perhaps the Big Media honchos will put enough pressure on Schummer and Co. as to drop the idea altogether. And it goes without saying that we lean heavy on our Senators and Congrespeople until they develop the backbone to stand up against it.

These are just some thing from the top of my head. Add what you think is necessary, but for the Love of God, STOP WHINING!

The Responsability of Starting People on the Road towardas CWP.
(Originally posted on July 29th, 2008)
People at my workplace and some non-gun friends know I am involved in guns and IDPA shooting so it is not unusual that they come to me to ask questions. Day before yesterday I found myself again answering the doubts of somebody who wanted to get a Florida Concealed Weapons Permit making him the 6th person this year who has initiated the process by going through me first. I would lie if I say I am not proud that people thinks I know enough and I am approachable enough to confide in me for their initial steps towards self-protection. It also scares me silly because I know how limited my knowledge can be.

I usually don’t ask why do they want to get a CWP since I’ve noticed that I usually get a canned response and I get a better feeling when they start asking questions. Most of the inquirers are people who are truly worried about being defenseless and feel they need tools to protect themselves. The minority have some sort of Rambo complex and feel they can achieve instant justice if they are packing and to both of them I said that they are better off without even owning a gun.

I should not be, but I am still amazed at the amount of misinformation floating out there regarding CWPs. I have no doubt that the Media and Hollywood are to blame and it is a titan’s job to counter all the lies but it must be done. I patiently tell them that no, you cannot shoot somebody in the State of Florida because they are stealing the car and you cannot “shoot in the air” either to scare them. Just get Police on the phone and then call your insurance company. I tell them to repeat over and over Reasonable fear of death or grave bodily harm and to memorize it alongside the Four Rules of Gun Safety. I tell them to get, study and know by heart Jon Gutmacher’s Florida Fireams Law, Use & Ownership and to remember that every bullet he shoots has a possible lawsuit attached to it. I also leave politics aside and concentrate on the issue of getting the permit. The Second Amendment will come in full force when they are part of the Gun Culture and realize some cretin in D.C. wants to leave them defensless.

And you want to know what surprises them the most ? When I tell them that the moment they officially put on a legally concealed gun, their first casualties will be ego and pride. They blink hard when I tell them that from then on, no matter how vile the insult, how nasty they were cut off on I-95 by the idiot in the green truck or how maddening they feel when they see somebody cut in at the register line their emotions must be in check and they must avoid conflict at all costs. Add to that that if they never drove by a bad neighborhood before, the gun does not give them permission to do so now, nor to resolve conflicts between neighbors or to assist police when not requested. And also that Avoidance, De-Escalation and Deterrence are now their guidelines for life. The final straw for a few was: “If you ever have to shoot somebody in Self-Defense, that will probably will not be the end of the whole thing but the end of Chapter One with more to come.”

Some, a few, decided that the new responsibility was too much and forgot the whole CWP idea.The rest still went on and obtained or are in the process to get theirs. I just hope the meager basic instructions I gave them serves them to start on the right path.

I want to say that I am not an instructor nor I have any experience as an Operator in any conflict area or have an impressive a rray of certificates from attending many schools of Guncraft. My little experience comes from a dedicated study of those “who have been there, done that have the T-shirt”, one long weekend having a class with a well renowned instructor, the instances where I had the unpleasant experience of having a weapon directed at an unarmed me and those rare occasions when I had to use a firearm to avoid trouble. As of now, I have exact ly the same number of orifices that I came to this world with and the only scars I have in my body come either from utterly mishandling of sharp objects or surgery due to physiological maladies so I guess I haven’t done too bad after all but do take this post with a grain (or two) of salt.