May 2019

My wife loves watching shows like “FBI.” The agents on the show infuriate me, but my wife tells me that I need to stop analyzing and just watch. I disagree. People watch this stuff and it changes attitudes. Let me give an example:

They were investigating some threat or another, and walked into a grocery store where their suspect had bought a drop phone. They asked the shop owner for his sales records. He refused. Then they asked for the video from his surveillance cameras. He told them he would turn it over if they had a warrant. The agents immediately replied by claiming they had seen rats the size of badgers in his store, and would turn him into the health department if he didn’t comply.

Later in the show, they made statements that only people who are guilty or who have something to hide need a lawyer, therefore if you ask for a lawyer, you must be guilty.

I was incensed. The shop owner who was being extorted for his video certainly needed a lawyer. The FBI agents in that show were acting like the mafia or like secret police in a third world dictatorship. People who know nothing about enforcement, the law, or their rights see stuff like this and it colors their attitudes and beliefs. The CSI effect is real, the government knows it, and they manipulate it to their advantage.

Subway has stopped selling any pork products because of Muslim demands. This Islamic takeover of the UK is going to become a problem for the United States.

A Pasco county SRO recently had an ND in the cafeteria of the school he is assigned to. They are claiming his gun, which was in a level 3 retention holster, went off while the SRO was leaning against a wall.

Pasco county deputies carry Sig Sauer P320’s in a level 3 retention holster. Simply leaning against the wall with a level 3 holster is not going to pull the 5.5 pound trigger on the P320, since the holster should cover the trigger. He was playing with it. There is no other possible answer.

The law to allow teachers to volunteer for the guardian program has been passed and is expected to be signed by the governor into law. That means exactly nothing. Not a single school district will approve allowing teachers to be armed.

I became a teacher after I retired from over 20 years as a firefighter and paramedic, where I spent part of my career working with the SWAT team. I spent years as an IDPA competitor, and I am a military veteran. I have carried a concealed weapon for more than 25 years. A permit that has allowed me to carry a weapon into McDonald’s, Disney, public parks, streets and sidewalks. Not once have I used that weapon in a threatening or illegal manner. I have not even had a traffic ticket in more than a decade.
I have spent more than 30 years wearing one uniform or another, defending the people who could not defend themselves, saving lives, and helping others. In that time, I have had dozens of background checks for security clearances, teaching, firefighting, and paramedic licenses, as well as for concealed weapons permits. Again and again over the past three decades, I have proven my character, my devotion, and my trustworthiness.
I would, if necessary, lay down my life in defense of the children that have been placed in my care. Even in Kindergarten. Possibly YOUR children, if you are reading this.
Except the politicians have declared that I am not permitted to do so, because they don’t trust me. So instead, I must sit in the dark, unarmed, unable to protect those children, hiding and waiting for the lunch lady to come rescue us while the deputy takes cover outside.

At the time of this post, the headline reads: “4 deputies shoot man playing loud music at Sweetwater Country Club,” which is misleading because it makes things sound as if playing music is the reason the man was shot. Reading the article:

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said deputies were called to the home early Wednesday because loud music was coming from a home on Majestic Oak Drive… Mina said a 49-year-old man, whose name has not been released, pointed a gun at deputies, who opened fire, striking him. The man was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

The news media is not in the business of selling facts. They are selling advertising space. The facts sometimes get in the way of that.

Tell me again how universal background checks or making it illegal for 18-21 year olds to purchase a firearm would stop a 16 year old criminal from killing a 14 year old criminal because he didn’t want to pay for the stolen gun that the 14 year old was trying to sell.