| Home |
| Archives |
| Subscribe |
| About Us |
| Contact Us |
| Links |
| Submissions |
| Our Founding Documents |
|
Declaration of Independence |
| Constitution |
| Bill of Rights |
| Amendments |
| Federalist Papers |
 |
Even a Dog Will Steer Clear of Someone with a Big StickNovember 13, 2017 A dog will steer clear of someone unfamiliar who carries a big stick. And by the same token deranged humans wishing violence on others steer clear of those who can respond in kind. They are cowards who always pick soft targets. The evidence is clear: Charles Whitman on the University of Texas Tower; last month in Las Vegas; and now in Sutherland Springs. Even in their often deranged state, they evaluate the danger to themselves.We need to take advantage of this fact in protecting ourselves. It can be done simply by making them more aware that there are no soft targets. In Texas, those with concealed carry permits can carry them openly - and should - in churches, at concerts, going about their business or anywhere else. If random people were carrying guns every day everywhere, fewer people would lose their lives as the shooter could rapidly be taken out. Some would argue that they would make all public situations more dangerous. But when is the last time you heard of someone with a concealed carry permit hurting anyone. I never have. Robert Jeffress, the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas said the morning after the shooting on Fox and Friends: “a large percent of our members have concealed carry licenses and bring concealed weapons into the church. A shooter may shoot one or two but then he would be taken out." Sadly, in the Sutherland Springs shooting several members said they had left their guns in the car out of respect for the pastor. It was gratifying in the Sutherland Springs attack to hear law enforcement officials and others praise the private citizen with a rifle who stopped the shooter and then pursued him to his death. Yet often there are some law enforcement officials that oppose private individuals taking matters into their own hands because it makes shooter situations more difficult to control, which is possible. Yet, although first responders are trained and their bravery has been proven over and over to be without question throughout all of America, the truth of the matter is that there are never enough of them to protect us all. Having more guns carried by qualified holders openly displayed in our culture would extend the reach of law enforcement and allow us all to be safer. For evidence look at a bit of history. In the last half of the nineteen century, it was impossible to control violence in the wide expanse of Texas even with many sheriffs and Texas Rangers. So in playing offense, rewards were given to private individuals called bounty hunters to bring in killers dead or alive. Aside from extending the reach of the law enforcement of the period, the outlaws could never feel safe wherever they were even if they were outside a sheriff’s jurisdiction. If you believe Western movies, they were despised—BUT in playing offense they extended the reach of law enforcement and protected the many very vulnerable Texans at the time. In my boyhood hometown of McDade, Texas, almost identical in size to Sutherland, I grew up hearing stories of uncontrolled violence only seventy years earlier. Outlaws had descended on my town after being forced out of other areas having better law enforcement. Unlike today, having no other choice, citizens took matters into their own hands with what was likely correct results. In any event, the violence stopped. Today we do have a choice. We can extend law enforcement in a defensive way to prevent shooters from their copycat slaughters. By encouraging vetted citizens to openly carry guns virtually everywhere there would be fewer soft targets. And the cowardly terrorist or deranged individual would know it. Furthermore, our nation’s security could be much improved by developing a better system of taking care of the mentally ill. Liberals many years ago deemed it offensive to place those who were mentally ill in institutions. Some say that earlier they even forced them out of institutions. So now they are shooters or panhandlers on street corners or living on the sidewalks making all of us less safe. Democrats and liberals make welfare payments to those who are well dressed and who often spend it on drugs, but they cannot take care of the mentally ill who are dangerous. Those close to someone and who are concerned about their mental health should be able to report this to authorities, without being sandbagged by political correctness, while at the same time allowing for controls and penalties against those doing it for the wrong reason. Making guns in the hands of legal citizens more visible to everyone and taking care of the mentally ill would save many lives and make all of us feel safer as we went about our business every day in a safer America.
| ||||
Vern Wuensche grew up in the tiny farming community of McDade in central Texas. He obtained a BBA and MBA from the University of Texas and holds a CPA certificate. In 1975 he founded what is now Houston’s oldest residential construction company for 42 years. He wrote a book, Overcoming Legal Abuse as an American Entrepreneur, about the difficulty of starting and running a business without a properly functioning legal system. He is an Army veteran. An early marathoner, he ran the length of Galveston Island in the early 1970’s, continuing his distance running regularly all his life. He is a Christian who is serious about his faith. An Elder for twenty years, he has regularly attended Missouri Synod Lutheran churches all his life. But his passion has always been politics. As a child, he hung bell-shaped door hangers on doors in McDade for Eisenhower in 1956. And since 1972 he has worked on campaigns of every type, attending 22 Republican state conventions, usually as a delegate. At the same time, he continually studied presidential politics. He ran for President in 2008 and 2012 placing seventh and tenth in the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary. Details of the races can be seen at http://www.voteforvern.com His current long term project is the development of a Republican Farm Team. Anyone considering running as a Republican at any point in the future for any race should begin early, develop name identification and develop relationships with funders before they decide to run. Visit Vern Wuensche's website at www.VoteForVern.com/
|