Chatting with one of my neighbors last night, the conversation turned to Newtown and the resulting furor over guns…
A bit of background, “Lynn” is an Air Force Major with a PHD in psychology, and is clinical psychiatrist currently treating PTSD patients and performing forensic psychology; along with volunteering with the VA and working with 15-20 Vietnam Vets in group sessions. Lynn’s hubby is an AF pilot flying ‘something’ out of Nevada…
She’s also gotten in to shooting in the last couple of years, and has a .22, a G19 and a Mossy for ‘self defense’.
She comes at the argument from a different perspective that I found to be very interesting, being on her side of the ‘fence’ so to speak…
She flat out said more laws will do NOTHING to improve the situation, as “outliers” tend to be the ones that do these outrageous acts. She was pretty condemnatory of her own profession in that the HIPAA requirements and the “I can fix what is wrong with him/her with treatment” mentality in the profession keep the mental health types from ‘reporting’ people that really need to be in NICS. She also commented that the Vietnam Vets group she is working with (most of who are suffering from PTSD) are very upset with the trends in blaming guns for bad people. They ‘know’ what bad people are, and they know the only reason they are here today are those guns they used in combat. She said ALL of them still own guns, and are willing to defend themselves and their families WITH those guns without a second thought.
Last night I got a call from an old friend (retired Navy Captain) and her hubby about what gun(s) I’d recommend they buy and where to get training. They are traveling quite a bit and are becoming more and more concerned about safety while they travel. I pointed them to a lady instructor up here (Lynne Finch), and I guess I volunteered to take them to the range next weekend… Sigh…
Thankfully, both of them have been through rudimentary training in the military, but I told them I’d ‘strongly’ recommend they both go through a CCW class and get their carry permits.
FWIW, I’d call these folks members of the ‘silent majority’… When they are getting very serious about self defense; this tells me the gun control and violence argument IS percolating through the average public’s thought processes…
Lastly, sitting watching the football game, a few of us were chatting and Feinstein’s bill and the possibility of an EO came up. One of the guys (long time gun owner and hunter), stated he did not believe that the contents of the bill were real… That ‘nobody’ would be that stupid to actually try to do this in America. We showed him the links to the bill, and he just about had a coronary…
And he made an interesting point; at what point does a scoped ‘hunting’ rifle become a ‘sniper’ rifle? Or is ammunition going to be the target? He said he’d just ordered $2500 worth of ammo for his rifles and pistols a couple of months ago (he tends to buy case lots to keep as close to the same zero as he can). Now he’s wondering if he is on some ‘list’.
He thinks he will probably give ‘all’ of his guns to his son just to make sure he ‘can’ keep them in the family (he has over 100, some with long family histories). And he’s going to be writing, calling and emailing his friends and hunting buddies to get out and stand against this bill. Another interesting point raised was is this ban going to include the police and Feds (like DHS, USSS, FBI, others), or will it ONLY be against John Q. Public?
In summary, I think this is going to be the most divisive issue we’ve seen in our generation, and the ‘elites’ do NOT realize how much impact this will have on the silent majority. Nor do I believe the ‘elites’ realize how much of a ground swell of anger is growing against them for yet another ‘law’ that will do nothing but limit honest people’s ability to defend themselves and not address the real problems in this country with mental health and privacy…
A bit of background, “Lynn” is an Air Force Major with a PHD in psychology, and is clinical psychiatrist currently treating PTSD patients and performing forensic psychology; along with volunteering with the VA and working with 15-20 Vietnam Vets in group sessions. Lynn’s hubby is an AF pilot flying ‘something’ out of Nevada…
She’s also gotten in to shooting in the last couple of years, and has a .22, a G19 and a Mossy for ‘self defense’.
She comes at the argument from a different perspective that I found to be very interesting, being on her side of the ‘fence’ so to speak…
She flat out said more laws will do NOTHING to improve the situation, as “outliers” tend to be the ones that do these outrageous acts. She was pretty condemnatory of her own profession in that the HIPAA requirements and the “I can fix what is wrong with him/her with treatment” mentality in the profession keep the mental health types from ‘reporting’ people that really need to be in NICS. She also commented that the Vietnam Vets group she is working with (most of who are suffering from PTSD) are very upset with the trends in blaming guns for bad people. They ‘know’ what bad people are, and they know the only reason they are here today are those guns they used in combat. She said ALL of them still own guns, and are willing to defend themselves and their families WITH those guns without a second thought.
Last night I got a call from an old friend (retired Navy Captain) and her hubby about what gun(s) I’d recommend they buy and where to get training. They are traveling quite a bit and are becoming more and more concerned about safety while they travel. I pointed them to a lady instructor up here (Lynne Finch), and I guess I volunteered to take them to the range next weekend… Sigh…
Thankfully, both of them have been through rudimentary training in the military, but I told them I’d ‘strongly’ recommend they both go through a CCW class and get their carry permits.
FWIW, I’d call these folks members of the ‘silent majority’… When they are getting very serious about self defense; this tells me the gun control and violence argument IS percolating through the average public’s thought processes…
Lastly, sitting watching the football game, a few of us were chatting and Feinstein’s bill and the possibility of an EO came up. One of the guys (long time gun owner and hunter), stated he did not believe that the contents of the bill were real… That ‘nobody’ would be that stupid to actually try to do this in America. We showed him the links to the bill, and he just about had a coronary…
And he made an interesting point; at what point does a scoped ‘hunting’ rifle become a ‘sniper’ rifle? Or is ammunition going to be the target? He said he’d just ordered $2500 worth of ammo for his rifles and pistols a couple of months ago (he tends to buy case lots to keep as close to the same zero as he can). Now he’s wondering if he is on some ‘list’.
He thinks he will probably give ‘all’ of his guns to his son just to make sure he ‘can’ keep them in the family (he has over 100, some with long family histories). And he’s going to be writing, calling and emailing his friends and hunting buddies to get out and stand against this bill. Another interesting point raised was is this ban going to include the police and Feds (like DHS, USSS, FBI, others), or will it ONLY be against John Q. Public?
In summary, I think this is going to be the most divisive issue we’ve seen in our generation, and the ‘elites’ do NOT realize how much impact this will have on the silent majority. Nor do I believe the ‘elites’ realize how much of a ground swell of anger is growing against them for yet another ‘law’ that will do nothing but limit honest people’s ability to defend themselves and not address the real problems in this country with mental health and privacy…
