weapon

Why I Am A Gun Owner And You Should Be Too

Tue, 04/10/2012 - 3:03pm | posted by Kevin Boyd

I spent my Easter at a shooting range about an hour west of my home. My wife had to work and I did not have plans to see family, so had some extra time to occupy myself with. I decided to put that extra time to use breaking a shotgun I purchased about a month for home defense. While my shoulder handled the 2 1/2 inch target shells pretty well, the 3 inch magnum 00 buckshot I shot pretty much made it raw.

While on my way to and from the range is a drive down a Mississippi country highway that takes me through mostly timberland and cattle country. While on that drive I got to thinking why I love guns so much. Was it because I liked the sensation and the sounds and smells of an explosion? If it was, I can get that thrill by using fireworks and I don’t buy fireworks. While I do enjoy shooting, the enjoyment alone obviously can’t be the reason why. I’m also not a hunter, so obviously that’s not why I own guns. The reason why I own firearms is simply because I can.

All throughout history, what has distinguished a free man from a slave or even a subject is the ability to possess and own weapons, or as the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution puts it, “to keep and bear arms”. You’re probably asking yourself, “how is this relevant in an age of tanks, drones, jet fighters, and other high-tech weapons?” Well, all those fancy weapons are controlled by people and all people die just the same once you strip away all the fancy technology. There are numerous examples of that in the 20th and already in the 21st century from France to Afghanistan. Subduing a free people, especially a well-armed people, is still very difficult.

Now the three types of guns you should own are; a .22 Long Rifle caliber weapon for simple and cheap marksmanship practice, a home and/or self defense weapon(s), and a militia duty weapon (aka a homeland security rifle).

Another taking on school bullying

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 2:14pm | posted by Tom Knighton

Over the last year, bullying has made headlines throughout the nation due to some high profile cases where bullying is blamed for the victim taking their own life. Make no mistake, bullying is very real and can be a legitimate problem. I know, I experienced it myself as a kid. However, I personally believe that the schools breed bullying to some extent.

You see, in school you have a controlled environment where a bully is free to push other kids around. They often use physical intimidation as their primary weapon. Despite the increase in rules against physical violence in schools, bullying has had even more of the public spotlight over the last few years. The reason for this is simple. The bullies simply don’t care about the rules.

However, the new rules impact the victims and their ability to make a stand. A stand is what kids were told to make when I was coming up. We were told that bullies were, essentially, cowards and that if you stood up to them then they would back down. Well, that wasn’t really true, but putting up a fight wasn’t what bullies generally wanted. If they knew they were going to get a fight every time they messed with you, then they move on to new and easier targets. Such is the way of predators.

Now, unfortunately, if a kid makes that stand, they’ll obviously be sent to the office where an administrator will likely punish both of them – the bully and the victim – and it will actually accomplish very little. You see, instead of telling kids to stand up to bullies today, they instead tell students to tell a teacher. It’s kind of funny, because far to many teachers don’t care. I’ve experienced this with my own son through the years. Other times, teachers want to see the bullying, but bullies are far to smart to do it in open class, so nothing is done. Either way, telling the teacher can actually make the bullying worse.

Ocean Energy Institute Founder Advocates Use of Nuclear Bomb in Gulf

Thu, 06/17/2010 - 4:39pm | posted by Michael O. Powell

Watching this video made me feel like I was in the Twilight Zone. Apparently we should be considering the environmental policies of the Soviets, those stewards of the earth and competent managers that they were.