Anti-Gun NUTS

For a long time you have been hearing about the "gun nuts". You hear from our elected officials who, I apprently mistakenly, thought were tasked, at least partially at protecting our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is not their job to interpret those documents, but to support and protect them.

Yes we have people like Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinstein making it their jobs to subvert the Constitution. Talk about gun nuts! Listen to them, hear past the words and try to understand what they mean. They want to disarm our society. The want to blame the problems in our society on firearms, as if these pieces of machinery have a life of their own, moving from place to place trying to cause death whereever they can.

Why do these people these true gun nuts want us to be unarmed? Maybe that answer lies in the documents this country is founded on. We have all read the 2nd amendment and heard all the arguments from both sides of issue. What we hear are people interpreting what the founding Fathers meant by the amendment. It is not about the word "militia" or "people" that is the most important. Not when the reasons it was written was very specifically spoken about by the very people who wrote it.

(more to follow)

Folsom Police

(This post is about a tragic shooting by the Folsom Police on a out of control man attacking them with a knife). My condolences to the family. I understand the loss may be tragic and seem senseless. I don't know many of the specifics of this event but what I do know is that the family called the police because their son was out of control. They had no idea why he had been like this for 2 days or so. That is important. The family could not handle this. they needed the police to try and control their son. They police arrived to a call where all they knew was that this man was out of control. He attacked the officers and they attempted to use a taser on him. For an unknon reason the taser did not work even when he was tased AGAIN. Now we have a man with a deadly weapon threatening the police officers. They have little room to manuaver, to be able to take him down gently, in fact the small area makes this man a much more dangerous threat. The distance at which a knife wielder becomes a threat is considered to be about 12' which is the distance the average person could move in 1 1/2 seconds. Obviously this was much closer. At this point the officers really only had one choice and that was to use deadly force. Police NEVER aim to wound. One reason is that if they use deadly force then it is because there is a deadly force threat against them or someone else. Another reason is that even at close distances it is almost impossible to "shoot to wound". And unlike TV an arm wound or even a leg wound will not necessarily stop an attack. The best way to stop an advancing attacker is to shoot into the pelvic girdle which is what supports the body. That however is likely to be a killing shot also.

I am truly sorry for the loss the family suffered, but to try and blame it on the officers who are trying to get home to their own families (think of 4 dead officers in Oakland recently who did not make it home) is simply wrong. If they do bring suit against the officers it will lessen each of us in many ways. Other officers are going to be less willing to put their life in danger due to the threat of being sued. The cost of a trial, the suffering the officers will go through during a trial, not to mention that they are already going to carry around inside of them the knowledge that they took a human life. Be sad for the family. Feel badly for the son. But feel also for the officers.

One last thing though. If the same thing occurred in Iraq, would you tell the soldiers not to fire but to try and subdue this person intent on injuring or killing them? This is no different. The wide view changes of course since it is more like a war in Iraq (although the war has been over a long time), but on a microscopic view, taking just these people and this incidence the officers have the same right to protect themselves as do the soldiers.

Thank You to the officers and soldiers that protect this country and its people.

BOB

BOB? Is that a name? Does it have a meaning? To those that subscribe to the idea that it is better to be prepared than not prepared BOB has a very specific meaning but can have a different meaning for each person.

BOB simply means Bug Out Bag. A bug out bag aka "bob" is a container that contains all of the essential items a person (or family) would need to have readily available in the event of an emergency. It would contain the obvious things, such as food and water for those who have a bob. However there are many other not so obvious things that should be included. I know each person will have their own special needs and this is not a primer on how to make your own bob, but to plant a seed so you learn what you need for yourself and put one together.

So when I mention an emergency what do I mean? That varies depending on where you live. Live where I do in California and the biggest concerns are earthquake, floods and fire. If you live in New Orleans or Houston hmmm maybe the concern is hurricanes? The point is an emergency that shuts down the normal public services can happen anywhere and at any time.

When you get the warning that a hurricane is headed your way and should hit in about 4 hours, guess what, it is too late to make your bob. The time to put bob together is on the beautiful day when you are sitting on the porch reading the paper. That is when you make notes and lists and begin putting things together.

Bob should contain the food and water, enough for each person in your party. Figure 1200 calories per person per day. Also plan on 1 gallon of water per person per day. This as I said is not a primer. To find much more information from others much more knowledgeable than me, I would suggest starting at www.equipped.com. The owner of this site is an expert on all things survival.

Notice I have not mentioned civil uprising, race wars, terrorism or the end of the world. Many people connect survival with survivalist. They may have some cross over ideas but they are different things. I will openly admit that the state of our country, and of the world has me very nervous and I think that previously unthinkable situations are becoming not only possible but inevitable. But since this is about bob I don't want to confuse the two. Could bob be used for both things, natural and manmade disasters, Yes but they may contain at least a few different items.

I will be writing more about survival, give some websites, and maybe even share a bit of survival that I have a personal knowledge of. Until then stay safe.