BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS.

I starting with the moral of the story here.

St. Louis, Missouri State Representative-Elect Bruce Franks, Jr. was robbed at gunpoint after a Christmas party.  The robbers got his car, cellphone, and handgun.

State Representative-Elect Bruce Franks, Jr., a Democrat, has a concealed carry permit, when the robbers stole his car, they got away with the gun he had left in it.

Franks did not try to fight off the robbers because:

“I looked up and the guy had a gun and he told me to get out. I got out and he pointed a gun at me and told me, ‘Get the hell out of here.’  If I reached for a gun, and he already has a gun pointed at me, that’s more reason for him to shoot me.”

I’ll give him that.  When you already have a gun pointed at you, trying your best quick draw may not be the smartest idea.

The thing is, it shouldn’t have gotten that far.  Franks was sitting in his car making a phone call when the robbers approached his car.  Where Franks made his mistake, and it was an easy mistake to make, was that he stopped being aware of his surroundings while making his call.  He didn’t see the two guys approach his car.  He didn’t see them make any obvious signs that they were up to no good.

Really, he shouldn’t have taken the call from inside his car in the parking lot of a bar.  He should have tried to find a quiet space inside to make his call.

Concealed carry or not, the greatest weapon your have in your arsenal is situational awareness.

I’ve head stories of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who developed almost a spider sense about IEDs and Ambushes, because they started to notice evidence in their surroundings that suggested something bad was about to happen and to avoid the area.

Don’t let yourself get so distracted that you drop your guard.   Know what is going on around you.

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On a side note.  I’m relaying this story as a lesson about situational awareness.  I don’t want to make fun of State Rep-elect Franks.  I’ve been reading about him and what I’ve read I liked.

He’s a Democrat, a black Democrat, that is an advocate for concealed carry.  He is an advocate for improved police/community relations (something near and dear to my heart), not the typical anti-cop attitude that is going around the Left now.  He is an advocate for a group called 28 to Life which seeks to end gun violence by getting to the root cause of the issues in poor (and mostly black) communities such as education and youth employment opportunities.  He seems to recognize that the violence in St. Louis is not an issue with guns, but an issue with gangs.

This is the type of person we want on our side.  A moderate Democrat with ties to the community who wants to help and not blame guns and law abiding gun owners for violence.  This is the type of representative that will help us build bridges with the other side.

If Franks keeps to his platform and promises, I wish him the best.

I also hope his gets his gun back.  The criminals who have it might as well just turn it into the police right now.  A gun stolen from a state representative is going to be radioactive in the Show Me State.