Tag: shooting

“What is one to do, shoot someone for $200?”

A recent post on a neighborhood blog elicited this response from me. The man had some tools taken from his truck in his driveway and was upset. He asked the question, what is one to do, shoot someone for taking my tools?

Here is my response to him and I think germane enough to share with you, good folks.

You (he) asks a good question. “What am I to do, shoot someone for $200?”

Firstly, shooting someone for any reason will affect your life forever. My litmus test is “Am I genuinely afraid for my life, or those lives of my family?”

If I am genuinely afraid, then the rest of this is a mute point. Carried by six, judged by twelve, simple math really.

The opioid epidemic is probably responsible for the increase in small crimes like this, as fewer and fewer doctors are now prescribing these types of “legal” drugs Legal or not, people are addicted to them and addictions will cause some to sell their mother into slavery for them. If they cannot get them legally, they will get them on the street.

That in and of itself might solve some of the addiction issues, as what they get on the street might very well end their suffering, permanently. Not my wish or desire, just simple facts. Truth told they know the risk too and will do it anyway. That should tell you something about their state of mind, and the risk they will take for a few tools from your truck.

Balancing petty crimes against lethal force is a tough call. So what is one to do?

In this day and age, we have many tools at our disposal.

Alarm your vehicle. Mine is set to lock and arm after 45 seconds, should a family member, or I forget.

“Viper Alarm from Car Toys.”

Keep your valuables out of sight.

Brand your tools or other valuables so that a pawn shop will not be interested in them.

Ring.com makes some not too expensive devices like the floodlight cam and the doorbell.

Both are easy installs for the average homeowner.

That video goes up to the cloud and stays there for some time. In case your home is vandalized the evidence is not where the criminal can get to it.

You said you heard them, Dial 911
Turn on lights, so they know that you heard them.
With the Ring floodlight cam, there is a siren that you can set off. Noises are not what they want.
Open your window and set off an air horn if nothing else. Yell at them telling them the cops are on the way! I would not use Uncle Joe’s advice about touching off your shotgun in the air. Noise is the right idea, just not shotguns.

I would imagine that smash and grab is their ideal way to work so sound and lights will alert your neighbors as well. Usually, they work in pairs. Getting a plate for the cops is a very good idea. Any information is valuable. Many have cameras set up to watch the streets and alleys. Talk to your neighbors and see if they captured anything.

If you were to go out there with your shotgun or another deadly force weapon you might very well be surprised to find that you are now in harm’s way as they had a partner. If on the other hand, you were to injure them or kill them, some subhuman life form of a lawyer would find any family members that they had and represent them on a contingency basis to sue you civilly. Pictures of the dead or injured person from his or her days in church, scouts, the soccer field as a 12-year-old, or as a family member and good dad or mom would adorn the courtroom. They would paint this person as the ideal person having them appear the saint, and you the angry old curmudgeon without any heart, hell-bent on killing people with your mean old gun. If the perp is or was a different race or gender than you, that too will factor into swaying the jury that you are now a racist or a sexist or both.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, they might very well get a judgment against you. It is relatively simple to emotionally manipulate a jury. This would then cost much more than a few hundred dollars in tools. As it is a civil case and not a criminal case, no free Lawyers for you.

If you can afford one and you had best be able to, it will cost you no less than $5K on a no bill. The process will go on for months, and it will consume you.

“What is one to do?” You asked

Good luck, I hope that you or our neighbors find some of this information helpful….

Full disclosure, I have no vested interest in any of the products or companies mentioned. I also do not believe that all lawyers are sub-human life forms. 🙂

-Best

https://drugabuse.com/

https://ring.com/

https://www.viper.com/

#Mental-Health

Mental Health

So I have figured why there exist so much division in this country and probably the world and why we have the problems we are seeing reported on all too often.

When we grow up and play sports, two team leaders are randomly chosen.

Those two team leaders then pick teams from the remainder of the class.. Some pick sides because they like this person, or that or don’t like this person etc.

Where the boys are concerned, we then decide who is going to be the shirts or the skins, I liked the skins because I liked not wearing a shirt when playing sports but, your mileage may vary.

The game ensued and for the remainder of that day, or possible the week, the rivalry that existed and the winners generally taunted the losers, until there was a re-match.

My school was integrated and we had no bias between Blacks, Hispanics or any other ethnicity. We were simply one team or another, and we all had a good time.

This was then elevated between different schools.

Each week there was a pep rally to spur on the team to victory against whatever school we were playing.

The signs posted in the school were slogans like “”Crush the insert name” or similar venue but, you get the point. This was rather violent rhetoric for a sport.

In Football, there were injuries and some of that rhetoric I feel was carried out into the field, as there was constantly “un-sportsman like conduct.”

Here is the dichotomy between sports, and somehow making it personal.

In our PE class, most of us left our determination to defeat the other team, out on the field. We either won or lost. The winners got to brag for the day but they were hollow victories, as most of the class consisted of people who “had to take PE” but if it were up to them to decide, they would not.

The un-athletic kids were singled out and sometimes bullied by those that were more physical.

Sometime this was simply name calling but, often it was an easy mark for the less secure but more physically fit to elevate themselves; by pummeling the weaker kids.

The bullies were in fact, mentally challenged and made up for it by picking on, and in some cases physically injuring the weaker child, even though that weaker child may possess a superior intellect. That intellect gets you nowhere when you are surrounded by several of your classmates, who happen to rally around the big kid, who needs to prove something to himself and prove for his physical prowess to keep the rest in line.

Not everyone is Heisman trophy material, and not everyone is suited to win a Nobel Prize for curing cancer!

Everyone has gifts and talents but,navigating our youth without becoming a psychopath or agoraphobic is key.

This week we had another mass shooting that represents a failure in our system.

While we can see that someone is physically fit, can hit a ball or run the bases, we cannot see what is going on in their heads. We can’t see what is in their hearts and, encouraging them to “tell a teacher” if they are being bullied usually is a recipe for disaster, as the person being told on will enact revenge and; that revenge will be through his or her peers and it could be life threatening for the child being picked on.

In the animal kingdom, the weak or sickly are shunned from the pack and the predators take care of the problem. The weak or defective become part of the circle of life.

Do we allow the weak or timid to become ostracized and bullied and take the attitude “save who you can?”

That is what we have been doing for the last 60 years that I can attest to. Is it working?

Some of the physically weak go on to invent computers or control space craft. Some discover a cure for diseases and some work out complex mathematical formula while not being able to move or even speak because of their infirmities.

Some of the physically weak carry a grudge, and one day when life has kicked them around as their self-esteem and lot in life is so bad, they figure out who is to blame for their lot in life “without looking into a mirror,” and they use an equalizer, a gun or other device.

The perpetrator was quoted by one of the victims. “I have been wanting to do that for a long time!” This was after he killed a few folks, and started to kill some more. This was a ticking time bomb, much like the person who killed the news reporter and her cameraman.

It would be interesting to dig into this kids past. Was he well thought of, could he play sports, was he a bully?

No Mr. President, we don’t have a gun problem in this country. As much as you and the liberal left and those idiots in Hollywood want to make this a “gun problem” it is a people problem.

Some of us are simply “assholes” and we treat others badly and are not called on it. We are not being held accountable for our actions and allowed to injure others for the shear enjoyment of watching them in anguish. As we injure them, our “friends” egg us on, as they too are living vicariously through our actions, just like the Sunday couch potato quarterback who yells at the TV from his popcorn laden, beer stained lazy boy, at the players on the field or the referee for being blind or stupid! Those actions to some; bring some meaning to their otherwise pathetic life.

We gather behind the team in some mob mentality, and if our team loses we may even destroy our own town in defiance of the bad calls of the referee, even though we were miles away sitting in some sports bar watching the game through a smoke filled room.

The common thread of most of these killers is they are left behind by the “system.” “We saved the kids that we could.”

No, you failed. Each and every life that goes through school needs to be watched for signs of either the bully or the bullied. Neither are healthy mentally, and both should be watched and worked with so they don’t become the next in-mate, or the next mass murderer.

I also feel that Hollywood and the entertainment industry is culpable as people are desensitized to this kind of activity.

Mr. President, people are desensitized to this because it is on 250 cable channels, and if that is not enough they play realistic video games that are nothing more than training simulators for them to go and become efficient in killing, in wholesale fashion. These kids that spend hours in a “closed door room” or their parent’s basement; playing these games must by their very nature, become mentally impaired!

The NRA is not the problem, they are an easy target by the un-thinking idiots who want to “take action!”

Mental health is the problem, as only a sick person would commit such horrific crimes and I am amazed that this is not what we are talking about, and looking for ways to abate it. Is this because it does not fit into an agenda?

Guns, the NRA and the 2cnd amendment are easy targets for the un-thinking among us.

Action Step!

Hire some mental health folks, place them in each and every school in this country. Get them engaged in the process of looking for tomorrow’s mass-murderers or tomorrow inmates, and allow them to do what they do best! Bring personal accountability back into the schools.

-Best

Out of the box thinking on Guns

Each and every time some loon goes on a rampage, or goes postal, we have activist calling for gun laws, getting the guns, etc. It is in fact, predictable and not helpful. This puts the focus on that which is not the problem.

The problems are that guns are making their way into the hands of people who clearly should not possess them.

This is happening basically by two methods, they are sold on the street, or theft.

Government has a terrible track record of telling the truth, much less being able to administer anything.

I believe that capitalism is the solution.

Build it and they will come.

I would propose that eBay, or some other entrepreneur, develop strategic relationships with gun dealers around the country. Selling guns and gun stuff on eBay through responsible partners like gun dealers with a current FFL I think is the ticket.

This would provide a vehicle for those that collect, swap, sell, or trade, guns to do so in an environment that was transparent, in that if a gun was used in a crime, we would be able to track it to who owned it last. This would also provide a way for people to sell guns, and get top dollar, while keeping them out of the hands of loons. The gun dealer would be the go between securing a valid back ground check of the new owner, before releasing the weapon to them. The owner of the gun could keep it until they received a message that the new owner was cleared by the gun dealer at which time the gun dealer could secure payment for the gun and their services and get the gun shipped to them to give to the new owner. They would get some amount of money from the sale of the weapon from eBay, or other business entity for their efforts. For this program to work, these fees would have to be kept to a minimum.

The method of tracking could be done programmatically, and eBay or some similar capitalist, should be able to do this without government assistance, as this would be a huge money maker for them.

Theft:

Theft is a problem and there is a solution.

Create a provision in the tax code for anyone who chooses to purchase gun safes, or gun locking paraphernalia, be able to deduct that expense from their taxes.

Opponents of this idea would feel that any transparency would allow government oversight that intrusion of their rights which might be infringed upon sometime down the road.

The 2cnd Amendment must be held sacrosanct, and the government should “defend the constitution” instead of looking for ways to do an end run around it! The Chicago way will not stand.

Selling this plan to the people will require that the government recognize and respect the 2cnd amendment, and stop fighting the people on this. The government is here to serve the people, and in this, there is no room for equivocation!

There are simply too many instances in history where the guns were taken away and the government went nuts. This will not happen in this country, ever!

This administration is responsible for increased gun sales, and ammunition sales, because of the consistent anti-gun, anti 2cnd amendment rhetoric.

While mental health is truly the target, there is a solution to keeping guns off the street and out of the hands of those who should not have them. Is it a perfect plan? No, criminals will still get guns.

Will it keep guns out of the hands of some who should not have them, yes.

The government must, as part of this “healthcare” plan provide more mental health awareness programs, and seriously look into these simulators of death called entertainment via violent video games. When young people play these extreme games for hours on end every day, it has to have an effect on their mind.

Each and every time someone goes postal, we need to learn all we can from them; and see if we can come up with a root cause analysis of the problem.

Were they on drugs, were they co-opted by some fringe group, etc.…

We must be smarter about this and calling for stricter gun laws each and every time is not the solution. Working with the NRA, instead of against them, would go much farther than butting heads.

If this makes sense to you, pass it around. If you have idea lets talk about it. There seems to be little way to get the attention of those that can effect change in a positive way. This is an out of the box approach to the problem, and it should be considered by those who are smarter than I am.

-Best

#Ferguson, #Race and Really?

After reading some post and other bloggers who are following the Ferguson debacle, I am convinced that they, “the rioters and looters and yes, Al Sharpton and the other race baiters have helped to set race relations back 60 years!

The world watched as young black people burned their own city down in protest for what most thinking people of any race or color would call an “overly fair” trial.

The press which helped to foment this hate described this person who was shot as damned near a boy scout! An innocent misunderstood child! Then they described the cop as some sort of bigoted jack booted thug.

Setting the record straight, a few came forth and testified to the actual facts which the forensics in the case matched. The police officers testimony and the people that have some sort of moral compass and spine, had the same narrative and as much as they were pressed by the DOJ and others to come up with an indictment, they could not.

Now you have some who don’t like the way that it turned out and responded with violence and by the way, acted in a manner that is stereotypical of how some perceive all blacks! You have not only destroyed your town, you have damaged your “people” if they claim you still.

Michal Brown, who the White House propped up, was a 290 pound thug that wrote rap lyrics including lyrics about rape, and killing cops. This person was high as hell while committing a crime against a shop owner. Not only did he steal merchandise, he roughed up the owner and threatened him. In the video you can actually see him come back at the store owner after he had exited the building in much the same manner that he charged Officer Wilson at the end of his life.

Minutes later he is confronted by the police who now know that they have the probable suspect of the crime, right there.

To further stir the pot, the President of the United States clearly adds fuel to the fire by mentioning Ferguson during a talk at the UN for the whole damned world to now pay attention to, as well as sending the DOJ to oversee the investigation and if that is not enough, interject his buddy Al Sharpton and, send 4 white house officials to be present at this mans funeral! Really!?

Facts

18 year old thug steals cigars from local shop and roughs up owner. (on camera)
Someone from that store reports the theft.
Police, while in the area finishing up one call, run into the suspect and his partner.
Finds the two walking in the middle of the road blocking traffic.
Asked them to please move to the sidewalk.
Words were exchanged laced with explicative’s from Mr.Brown.
As officer goes to get out of his car; he is pushed back in, having his door slammed up against him.
Officer is then struck several times in the face and head by Mr. Brown
Officer gets gun out and tells him to back off, or he will shoot him.
A struggle takes place for the officer’s weapon.
After three attempts to get a shot off, a bullet finally leaves the weapon and strikes the thug in the hand. DNA evidence of this is present inside the car, and on the officer’s uniform.
Mr. Brown backs off .
Officer Wilson calls for assistance, mentioning “shots fired.”
Officer Wilson gets out of his cruiser and orders Mr. Brown to freeze and to get onto the ground. “This is per his training!” He has just shot a guy “albeit in his hand” and now among other things he has to get medical attention for him, after he gets him under control.
Instead, Mr. Brown charges the officer who fires a half dozen shots striking Mr. Brown a few times in the torso.
Mr. Brown momentarily stops and the officer stops firing, once again ordering him to get onto the ground. (At this point Mr. Brown could have lived through this.)
Mr. Brown instead goes into a football player like position, once again charging at Officer Wilson.
Officer Wilson with no options left, fires the fatal shot that kills Mr. Brown.

The population of Ferguson is divided by those that do and do not have a moral compass. Instead of a normal investigation by the local police, they decide that this case should proceed directly to a Grand Jury. I am certain that pressure from Washington had something to do with this decision.

It is well known that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich, if there is a ghost of a chance that this officer acted inappropriately; this is the best shot of gaining an indictment.

All of the evidence, every scrap is presented to the jurors.

At Officer Wilson’s own peril, he willingly testifies in front of the grand jury for four hours without the benefit of his attorney being present. The unusual part of this proceeding is this, and the attorney for the other side is complaining about this being unusual! This action by Officer Wilson could have sunk him and the odds are good that it would have, had this case not been so air tight, and by the book.

After 40 days of deliberation the grand jury returned a “no bill.” There was not enough evidence against the officer to get the slightest conviction.

On the night of the announcement, Mr. Brown’s step father is on video inciting the crowd to, “Burn this bitch down!”

For some unknown reason the National Guard was nowhere to be found. Many businesses’ were looted and indeed burned to the ground. Many cars were also set ablaze. Over 300 shots were fired by unknown rioters.

Remarkably, no one was killed in all the mayhem.

All of this took place under a sign strung across the street that said “Season Greetings.”

On the next night, another police car was destroyed before police could arrive at the scene.

Protest broke out in multiple cities and towns across the country.

Some blacks are on record calling for a, “race war!”

Protesters pulled a stunt from dumb and dumber, and laid down on I35 in Dallas, blocking traffic for over two hours.

There were other arrests in other cities for violence of one kind or another.

There is little doubt that there are professional agitators in this group as few people in the crowd would want to burn their own city down. The small businesses will most probably not return to that town, only serving to further impoverish it.

They are indeed showing the world how intolerant and I might add ignorant, that they are. We are a country of laws, not mob rule!

That person calling for a race war would be surprised if her call to arms was met with the same type of violence that this bunch of folks enacted on innocent citizens terrorizing and entire community.

There are people in this country that would go toe to toe with them, so they should really be careful what they ask for. There are some who are really sick of this, and it might surprise them to know that they are the same color as them. They should really fall back and look outside the forest as they are flying blind. The preponderance of evidence shows that Wilson was well within his rights and duties to do as he did. The system worked and the cards were stacked against him.

Loss of life is a terrible thing. This 18 year old that robbed that store could have turned his life around, but as it is, we will never know. All we know of him really is from his social media page and his last actions in that store.

What can we learn from this to make this moment count?

The man in blue is hired by us, to protect and to serve. If you don’t want to be a statistic, or accident, don’t give them any reason to “be afraid for their life.”

If you are pulled over at night, turn on your dome light and put your hands in clear view.

Make no quick moves, and do as you are told to do. That goes for anyone, of any race!

Body cameras are cheap and available and not only should all police have one on when they are carrying a gun but, I would argue that all of those who are CHS certified also wear such a device. With this camera even Mr. Brown’s parents would have to conclude that he screwed up. No one wants to believe that their kid messed up. We as parents are in denial until all the chickens come home to roost. One can’t blame them for being in denial but one can most certainly blame them for causing millions of dollars of damage, and possible injury or death to innocent citizens.

These cameras are small enough that I wonder how this would play out for the ordinary citizen to wear such a device. Would it compromise someone else’s privacy? Google glass is such a device, when it gets more affordable what conversations will we be having about our privacy then?

It is a brave new world and we really must be careful how we introduce and use technology.

Witness testimony is seldom super accurate so a video of the altercation would have been concrete evidence of what happened; this whole mess could have been avoided.

All stores should have security cameras which actively stream video up to the cloud via some sort of cellular technology, battery backed up.

Professional agitators should be charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against the state. Much like hiring a hit man, these folks should be held accountable. Wearing a mask hiding your identity at a protest should not be allowed. The law needs to be changed to forbid this type of activity. People are much more polite and law abiding if they are not “anonymous.”

The Race baiters should be forced to come up with the money to not only re-build that town but, make up for the lost sales from those business’s.

The people who lied at the Grand Jury, should be charged with perjury and made to pay a fine, serve time, and should be made an example of. You don’t create a story to serve some agenda. I realize that I am asking the public to do the right thing and not take an example from this current administration that makes up any narrative that they want, to fit an agenda like “it was that video that caused the rioters in Benghazi!”

Mr. King is most probably spinning in his grave, and we need him now more than ever. I know of no one that judges folks by their color or race. You thugs in Ferguson have shown the world “THE WORLD” that perhaps it is ok to be prejudice against people of color, congratulations! Al, you fomented this hatred so now use your pulpit and fix it! The only thing I expect out of the white house is that somehow they will blame Bush!

This is the third racial incident that this president has weighed in on and the third one that has blown up in his face! One would think that he would learn to leave this type of thing to those that know how to deal with it, and not to foment hate and bigotry when we as a people have moved past it years ago. If you want to cause and old wound to bleed, keep picking on it!

Hate is a poison that you take, expecting it to affect someone else.

Stop the hatred. Lead by example. If you want a war between the races, keep on doing what you are doing and someone of equal intelligence will certainly oblige you. If you want it to stop, then stop. Nobody wants this. The few that do can stay relegated to the past and burn their lives out in hate or, they can look outside of their little part of the world and see that man has moved on past this. Are there pockets of racists’ bastards still in this world, you bet, they are the minority; and it is time to understand and embrace that. Character is King, not race, and certainly not color. –Grow up!

Update

I saw an interview with Megan Kelly and Al Green

The argument was this: He maintains that the Grand Jury threw out testimony from some that they did not find credible and therefor it was an unfair verdict and the people of Ferguson did not get justice. WOW! This guy represents the 9th Congressional district of Texas and is so far out in “LEFT Field” that he has no clue what he says or how stupid he appeared to the millions of viewers who watch Fox and of course Mrs. Kelly!

I don’t know if they, FOX News went looking for someone that is this shortsighted to boost ratings or, if this guy approached them to get his 15 minutes of fame.

The grand jury had three different autopsy reports from three different forensic pathologist and the CSI type of evidence to compare to the testimony of many different “eye witness accounts.”

Through the process the people were interviewed “interrogated” several times. The testimony that consistently stayed the same, each and every time, was also the testimony that was consistent with the evidence from the pathologist. That is how you tell the difference between the tares from the wheat Mr. Green!

His hands were not up and he was charging the officer. The officer did nothing wrong and those that want to foment racial tension simply cant understand or don’t want to understand how this works. The DOJ in all of his political BS with all of the strings that he pulled could not even make the case that the officer did the slightest thing wrong but yet, this guy “Mr Green,” who was not there, only hears what he wants to hear.

This guy voted for Obama Care, he is pro choice, and is pro gun control. He is the perfect democrat!

This officers life is ruined for doing his job and not letting a thug kill him. Had the thug managed to get his gun and kill him, America would most likely never have known about it, and at most it would have made the news in the state of Missouri; not even headline. Obama certainly would not have talked about it at the UN!

One of the young men that testified, an upright employed individual who was warned by the people in that town to keep his mouth shut, was found dead in his car with a bullet wound to the back of the head and accelerant poured on him and burned. It is also noteworthy to point out that the shop keeper was warned not to report the crime or bad things would happen. There is video of many people breaking into his business, looting it and then burning it. What kind of town is Ferguson that the mob rules, and honest people have to tolerate being robbed? What kind of place is this where people who do the right thing are executed by those who wish to protect the guilty? What kind of country are we turning into where the DOJ tries to taint the results and the outcome in favor of a thug, against those that are sworn to protect and serve and put their lives on the line every day?

You need to be very careful who you elect folks.

We are being played by the media “for ratings” and the race baiters for their own narcissistic needs and to promote more social justice agenda’s. How many Trillion dollars do we need to go into debt to make the Al Sharptons’ and the Al Greens’ of the world happy! How many towns must be burned down before you stop this Bull Shit! Right is right, and anything else is Bull Shit!

-Best