Month: February 2009

Their rights were violated???

/ hsoi

From this morning’s Washington Times, 16 illegals sue an Arizona rancher.

So we have 16 people, crossing illegally into the United States. We have a man that’s sick of his property being used as a “highway” for illegal border crossings, which results in things like massive amounts of trash all over his property, drug smuggling, damage to his property, death of his cattle, and risk to he and his family (and anyone rightfully on the property) because often those illegally on his land are armed. And this man is the one that gets sued?

Something’s rather bass-ackwards here folks.

Now, the Libertarian in me does struggle with this. On the one hand, you want open borders and to allow people to freely travel. But on the other, we’ve got individual property rights to maintain. This article by Per Bylund sums up the issue rather well. But while we work out the philosophical issues, for now the law is what it is. What has Roger Barnett done that was illegal? What have those 16 people done that was illegal? Let’s see… hurt feelings vs. breaking the law. The civil rights of these 16 were violated? Hell, they’re not even citizens of this country! Is there no consideration for the civil rights of Mr. Barnett being violated? The property rights of Mr. Barnett being violated? The law of the United States being violated?

I need a new tag, “flabbergasted”.

The Best Formula

/ hsoi

From Ron Paul:

I do not challenge the dedication and sincerity of those who disagree with the freedom philosophy and confidently promote government solutions for all our ills. I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas.

Just Give Them What They Want

/ hsoi

I was reading an article at the Austin Gun Rights Examiner about how concealed carry saved lives again. Some may jump to say the individual was a law enforcement official. While true, that person was not on duty, had no legal or professional obligation to carry or do what they did. For all intents and purposes, it was just another Joe Citizen that opted to live the life of a sheepdog and protect the sheep from the wolves.

But what moved me about the article was this:

At a 2006 National Violent Crime Summit, attended by police chiefs and mayors from around the U.S., the Cincinnati, Ohio police chief stated: “There’s almost a different code on the street, that it’s not a robbery unless you shoot somebody.” This is due, in part, to the fact that “robbers, especially juveniles, are more likely than ever to shoot victims, even when they do not resist” and that young gangsters shoot people to gain “respect.”

Indeed, a sad commentary on society. But what’s even more sad is the advice given on how to deal with this behavior. Hecate apparently lives in Omaha and has a justifiably flabbergasted reaction to the advice. So, go ask the wolves how they like their sheep to behave. Then we should wonder why the sheep keep getting picked off and the wolves grow numerous and fat?

*sigh*

 

Update: Xavier tells a story of an old friend.

Ki Cho Hyung

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

For those not familiar with Kuk Sool, the first form you learn (at white belt) is called Ki Cho Hyung which is “Foundational Form”; it’s not an easy form, but one that lays the foundation for all that you will learn in studying Kuk Sool.

I like this video because here you have a high ranking Master, SUH Sung Jin (8th degree black belt), performing Ki Cho Hyung (first part of the video). While certainly the performance is stylized for demonstration purposes, there’s still much to learn from watching it. While it’s always neat to watch high level people perform high level things, there’s something educational about seeing high level people perform beginner things. No matter how far along we go in studying anything, in the end the fundamentals are what it’s all about and without them all the high level stuff really doesn’t matter.

Updated: Yea! Someone reposted THE video of KJN SUH Sung Jin performing Ki Cho Hyung.

Yes, it’s a bit slow, a little stylized, but it’s being demonstrated to show proper form and movement.

Tao Te Ching #75

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

When taxes are too high, people go hungry.
When government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit
Act for the people’s benefit. Trust them; leave them alone.

Translation by Stephen Mitchell

Ancient wisdom, that still holds true today.

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting

/ hsoi

One of my favorite scenes in Bruce Lee’s film, Enter the Dragon:

While there’s no question it’s fun to talk about the hardware of martial arts (gun calibers, gun makes/models, swords, canes, staff, form/style, modern vs. traditional, etc.) in the end the key to any bit of self-defense is the software: your brain. There are priorities of survival:

  1. Awareness and preparedness
  2. Tactics
  3. Skill
  4. Equipment

Notice that equipment is the least important; it’s still important, just that there are more important things. As you go up the ladder, there’s a “force multiplier”; #4 gives you the least multiplier, #1 gives you the most – all towards your chances of survival. In fact, #1’s multiplier is so strong that it alone can zero out all the others. Take a class like Street and Vehicle Tactics from InSights Training Center.

Best way to win a fight? Don’t get into one. If you know there’s going to be a fight (gun fight, fist fight, whatever), don’t go into it. It’s often said, your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation. Bruce Lee demonstrates this perfectly in the above scene, fighting without fighting, taking care of the bully without throwing a punch or losing his temper.

Anonymity

/ hsoi

The Sad Necessity of Anonymity, from Xavier.

The only thing I see wrong with the picture is she’s certainly violating rule #2 and thus rule #1 (doesn’t seem to be violating #3 and #4 is arguable). 

One reason I debated having a blog is because I know how people can be. Xavier hits it on the head about why many gun bloggers blog anonymously. The sad thing is, it’s out of fear — a justified fear, but a fear nonetheless.

I have opted to not live in that fear and make it clear who I am. If I’m going to say something, I’m going to stand behind my words and stand up for myself. Might it get me in trouble? It might. Might I piss some people off? I might. Might some people be “shocked” to hear such things from me, thinking they knew me? They might. Might I lose some friends, I might. But go ahead and judge me, I can’t stop you. All I can do is continue to be me. Be honest, have integrity, be patient, be devoted. If I suffer for my actions, I just have to have faith that it’s all for a greater good. And the best I can hope for is that folks would be willing to engage me in discourse and at least make an informed choice instead of an ignorant snap judgment.

Just one child

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I love my children. I’ve apparently been blessed with a talent for teaching, especially with children. I take my work with children very seriously, especially when it comes to protecting them: both my direct protection of them when they are within my care, and teaching them how to care for themselves.

A common line of reasoning you hear these days is “if it saves/helps/protects/aids/etc. just one child, then it’s worth it.”  No, I’m sorry but that’s not a sound line of reasoning. Is abridging the rights of millions of people the right thing to do if it might save just one child? So injure millions to save one? I’m not saying it’s welcome to injure the one, but life isn’t perfect and without pain, and I just don’t believe it’s right to save one and injure millions… the math doesn’t add up for me.

The past few days the gun blogging community has been talking about this particular blogger and their interactions with her. Here’s one of her posts, and as an example of gun blogger responses, I give you SayUncle’s response to her particular posting.

I agree with Catherine. That is a horrible story, and it breaks my heart that an innocent 2 year old child was killed through negligence. And what’s worse, it appears the negligence is on the part of the parents. I agree those parents should be held accountable for their actions.

What I don’t agree with is Catherine’s final statement:

I could show hundreds of statistics on why tough gun control laws should be strictly enforced, but the best argument is that one child’s death is too many.

(And I gotta agree with SayUncle, show those statistics, and be sure to answer Just One Question while you’re at it). The thing is, there are already laws on the books about this (e.g. Texas Penal Code §46.13). But how is enforcement going to prevent such things? The law is now only going to apply after the fact. This isn’t to say the law shouldn’t be enforced, but passing more laws won’t stop more death. What will stop more death? Call for increased responsibility. Call for education. Accept no less.

Take a look at the NRA’s Eddie Eagle GunSafe program. This is a fantastic program that teaches children if they come across a firearm to:

  1. Stop
  2. Don’t touch
  3. Leave the area
  4. Tell an adult

Drill that mantra into your children. Even if you detest guns above all things, don’t leave your child ignorant; they may encounter a gun at some point in their life – give them at least the minimal knowledge necessary to keep them alive. If you wish to go above that, teach them the basic rules of gun handling safety (source: Jeff Cooper, Commentaries, Vol. 11 No. 4, 2003):

  1. All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
  2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1).
  3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60% of inadvertent discharges.
  4. Identify your target and what’s behind it. Never shoot at anything you have not positively identified.

This doesn’t mean you have to teach your child how to handle a firearm, but safety rules are always good things to teach (e.g. walk on the left side of the road, facing traffic; keep your fingers curved back when slicing vegetables). And teaching respect for the power of a gun is worthwhile — they are tools, not toys. We agree that education is so important, we teach our children the dangers of strangers, drugs, alcohol, sex, but for some reason our society accepts ignorance about guns. How does that keep our children safe?

But on the same token, we have to accept that the world isn’t a perfect place. We have to accept there are and always will be people that are going to do stupid and irresponsible things, or just make mistakes (and I believe each and every one of us is guilty of this in our past and will be again in the future… such is being a human; if you’re perfect, please drop me a line!). But we don’t have to be complacent with this either. Instead of abridging people, why not teach them? educate them? lift them up?

 

Updated: For those that like statistics, here are some.