For the most part, we’ve kept fairly quiet on the current issues facing our nation and for a good reason. While there’s no denying that ITS has a presence on the internet that can be used to spread a message, we want it to be one that’s educated, informed and accurate.
There are so many inconsistencies flying around right now from all corners of the Internet; from pro 2nd Amendment groups, anti-gun groups and everything in-between. Many things are on the table right now that will affect our industry, our way of life and our children’s futures. I feel like those that visit ITS are all concerned citizens that want to better themselves through the skill-set building articles we write, the reviews we produce or the general principles that ITS was founded on. Whether they be active-duty Military, Law Enforcement, Veterans or First Responders, we’re all in this together as a country. A country with tough decisions ahead.
When I first started ITS back in 2009, I had no idea what it would become, but I had one goal in mind. Community. I wanted to create a resource where everyone could share information openly to better their lives and to become more self sufficient. A place that cultivated little known or forgotten skill-sets, yet also provided well-researched and documented reviews on equipment to support those skills.
That aside, I’ve made some life-long friends along the way, which have helped to reinforce the “good judge of character” I’ve personally always felt I’ve had. Those that I consider my friends have many traits I respect and work hard to project in my own life. Honesty, integrity, passion and service towards something bigger than myself. Right now, what scares me the most about what’s on the table is how this is all going to affect my friends and their families.
Current Political Climate
Today finds us in a difficult situation as an industry. Potentially having our rights stripped away directly impacts businesses and decades of combined output and innovation. At what benefit? It seems that those making decisions haven’t really seen factual crime statistics and feel that by restricting our rights, the criminals will be equally affected. When did a criminal, intent on doing harm, ever play by the rules? They don’t, they live outside the laws.
The current legislation on the table is purely for those that live inside the law. This goes for more government intervention in general and a topic for another day. One question I keep asking myself, is when are those that are seeking to restrict our rights, even going to properly research the difference between a clip and a magazine? One reason that I’ve personally tried to remain quiet on these issues, is to ensure that I’ve done my due diligence in research before making a public statement, waiting until some of the noise died down and actual actions from the government were imminent.
All those have now been met. As of yesterday, Vice-President Biden was quoted during meetings with victims’ groups and gun safety organizations as saying, ”The president is going to act. There are executive orders, there’s executive action that can be taken. We haven’t decided what that is yet.” If you’re familiar with how bills become law, this should cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand up. This is essentially stating that if the result of the current talks and subsequent legislation proposals don’t yield the results the President is looking for, he’ll act as he feels the American people would want him to.
Trust me, I’m trying to stay as optimistic and positive as possible. The fact remains that the President has publicly stated what his agenda is. That’s been made clear through his public statements a few weeks ago. Here’s a link to a YouTube video produced by the White House, if you’d like more background into what I’m mentioning.
I’d encourage you to do your own research into both what’s on the table right now with current legislation and what we’re really looking at in terms of the crime our government is now trying to prevent. A good place to start is with the FBI Crime Statistics. I can’t argue with the fact that what’s happened recently in Newtown and Aurora are tragedies, but will restricting our rights help to prevent more of these incidents from occurring? That’s the real question here. In another video released today by the White House, Vice-President Biden can be heard stating that if just one additional life can be saved, it’s worth it. I personally feel that limiting the legal rights of everyone will not produce the intended outcome of actually saving more lives.
The question I keep asking myself is how much more of our rights being stripped away will America be willing to take? I’m not trying to incite a riot or even state that this is something new, it’s been occurring for much longer than our current administration has been in office. In my personal opinion, we’re reminded time and time again of our current government needing serious reform and I’ll just leave it at that.
At the end of the day we’re all responsible for the country we live in, we all have a duty to make it a better place and one we want our children to grow up in. What can you do? Write your elected officials, be respectful, but remember that they work for us. Support the organizations you believe in, whether that’s joining the NRA, the Gun Owners of America or another organization you firmly believe in.
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Bryan,
Thanks for your very well thought out words. I couldn’t agree more and I appreciate the time that ITS Tactical has taken to follow things methodically and respond when necessary; encouraging it’s readers and members to get involved. Well done.
R/
Jordan
I hope all of your customers and readers ar coming out this Saturday 19 January to protest. There is a rally at every state capitol across the country. Please look up Guns Across America on Facebook. If you can’t make it to the capitol there is Gun Appreciation Day. It is the same say at local gunshops. I think they also have a age on Facebook. If there is a huge turnout the politicians may start to have second thoughts.
Hope to see you there
Bill Higgins
Honolulu HI.
I see many well thought out arguments and comments here. Too bad the NRA, can’t seem to make the same arguments as clearly as some of you have. In hindsight, it appears that paranoia from some might come back to cause problems for us all.
We all can see that any talk of of an AWB is ridiculous. Rifles account for less than 1% of deaths by firearm in this country, so why not look at handguns if serious about ending gun violence. Not scary, not sensational enough I guess. Crime rates have more to do with the economy than anything else, so attempts to restrict or remove weapons, especially rifles, will not eliminate this problem.
From my POV, it seems that all of the recent mass shooters obtained their weapons “legally”. It seems to me that the system we use is broken, and what is worse, maybe the NRA broke it. We talk about the criminals ignoring the laws, but then support or fight to remove controls that could help keep guns off the street. What I say next may anger some, but that doesn’t change the fact. Nothing in the Bill of Rights, including the 2nd Amendment is absolute. Acting like it is and being overly paranoid about confiscating arms has resulted in the current situation. Reducing or eliminating background checks, stopping research on gun violence, making it more difficult to track sales of weapons……these aren’t the actions of people trying to be part of the solution. You can tell me I am wrong, but sometimes it is not about right and wrong….it is about perception, and I am not feeling to good about the NRA at this point. I hope I am wrong, but it appears that their overzealousness may have found a limit.
Before you start trying to lecture me about defending rights, etc..let me first say that I agree with you. Secondly, let me ask you what rights you want to defend? What about the 1st amendment? What about the 4rh? What amazes me is the number of people ready to fight for weapons to preserve freedom, but the lack of protest to things like the Patriot Act where the freedom we claim to love so dearly is under direct assault.
Not sure where to go next. Just wish the NRA would stick to relevant facts.
The NRA has to push “the line” back as far as possible so that there is ground to lose before critically important things are threatened. I often don’t agree with them myself, but you have to remember: the anti-gunners are never going away. Ever.
Anti-gunners are going to demand some sort of concession to mollify them, however symbolic or frivolous that concession may be. They’re not really concerned about pragmatic solutions anyways, only with what makes them feel better about themselves or provides them with a false sense of security.
So I, personally, want the NRA fighting for stupid things. The war on guns is never going to end, and battles will definitely be lost. I’d rather lose battles over bad ideas than lose battles over things that affect the core of the Second Amendment.
Personally I’m tired of the NRA getting a bad rap for everything that goes on with regard to guns. I have guns.. I grew up with guns.. I was hunting at 8 years old.. Was taught to carry my own rifle.. clean my own kills and care for my own guns.. and heaven forbid if I ‘in a moment of not paying attention’, pointed my gun toward anyone whether loaded or unloaded.. the smack I would get up side the head would have my feet off the ground.. My brother, who taught his ‘baby sis’ to hunt and shoot was a demolitions expert in WWII and he took a no nonsense approach to gun safety.. His kids and myself were taught proper handling and safety..The majority of gun owners, especially those in the NRA have been trained as well and I don’t see any of those nut jobs shooting up schools and theaters and what not that are members of the NRA. So why do you have to ‘down’ the NRA? Why is it that our guns are in jeopardy now? Is it because you think we don’t know how to use them? We’re better trained than the average person. And what would give you the right in the first place to make any decision regarding our/my gun rights? I’m thankful for the NRA and their stand and fight attitude.. Were it not for them we would have lost these rights a long time ago. And yes, I’m a staunch patriot and will victoriously defend the Constitution and yes it is…’set in stone’ leave it alone.. If you want to register your firearms and tell big brother everything you own..then go for it.. but not mine. It’s my business and the government needs to stay out of it. I’ve committed no crimes therefore no one has any business IN my business. And believe me, the criminals that do the bad stuff don’t have background checks.. and most don’t obtain their firearms legally..Background checks outside those you get when you purchase a gun are nothing more than an invasion of privacy and most certainly the registering of your firearms.. That just sets us all up for a tyrannical government to confiscate your guns! Leave the law abiding people alone.. this is not Russia or China..This is America! an armed man/woman is a citizen. An unarmed man/woman is a subject. “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” (Benjamin Franklin).
Rick, for some reason I couldn’t reply to your post, so my reply ended up here. You asked what I thought, so I figured I would run down the President’s proposals and give my two cents. Since I think everyone knows I disagree with the proposed firearm and magazine ban, I’ll stick with the Executive Actions that were proposed.
1. Federal agencies must make relevant info available to the background check system – agree. The background check can’t do its job if it is being fed bad info. Garbage in, garbage out as they say.
2. Address barriers in regards to HIPAA and making info available to the background check system – mostly agree. I’m a very private person and don’t like guys digging in my medical records, even though I have nothing to hide. On the other hand, if HIPAA is being used as a shield to not report violent/threatening behaviour or conditions, then I see the issue.
3. Improve incentives for states to share info with background checks – agree.
4. Review categories of prohibited individuals – unsure. The list of prohibited individuals is already pretty thorough, and it seems like most of our recent problems stem from not knowing “who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution”. I tend not to like making additional laws when we haven’t made sure we’re enforcing the ones we already have.
5. Run a full background check before returning a seized gun – mostly agree. I think my sticking point here is what they mean by “full background check.” If a gun gets seized for a valid reason, a NICS check before its return seems reasonable. However, if they mean people visiting the house and interviewing neighbors, digging into financial records, etc, that can easily become an issue.
6. Provide guidance on how to run private seller background checks – agree. I actually prefer to sell my guns through an FFL, as it gives me a CYA feeling. This doesn’t require that it happens, just lets FFLs know the procedures if they are asked to conduct one.
7. Launch a safe gun ownership campaign – agree. I think its a little ironic that the government now wants in on what the NRA has been doing for years, but whatever…
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and safes – mostly agree. I’m not really sure what this accomplishes. If they intend a requirement for everyone to have their guns locked up, then I see where this could be useful. I actually don’t have a problem with a requirement to keep guns locked up, but there needs to be a recognition that a “ready service gun” can be left loaded if secured. To go DC style and require that every gun be completely unloaded and looked down is not realistic for home defense.
9. Require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations – agree. Data on where people get their illegal guns can help to combat specific problem areas instead of blanket targeting all gun owners.
10. Analyze stolen gun info and make it available to local LE – agree. Once again, info to specifically target problem areas, and increase public awareness of the need for properly securing firearms.
11. Nominate ATF director – ambivalent.
12. Provide proper training for active shooter situations – wholeheartedly agree. There needs to be a well-thought out solution that includes lockdown procedures, orderly evacuations, armed response (police or otherwise), and post-incident procedures.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun crime and prosecute gun crime – agree. Gee, it starts to sound a little like the NRA theme of enforcing laws already on the books, doesn’t it?
14. Research causes and prevention of gun violence – mostly agree. This needs to be full and impartial, not a “study” that cherry picks info for a already developed conclusion.
15. Issue a report on gun safety technology – ambivalent. Sounds like another reason to push for expensive technologies that aren’t proven (except in the most recent 007), but its a report, not a rule.
16. Clarify that doctors can ask about guns in the home – somewhat agree. I don’t have a problem with them asking, but it should be an information only question, not a diagnostic question. IE, they ask if I drink so that they can tell me the risks associated, fine, but don’t report me because I legally indulge in a pastime, make sense? Anyway, if you don’t want to tell them, don’t, it’s not like your doctor can check…
17. Clarify that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence – agree. I’m not sure why this is an issue, I have been told by mental health professionals that what I tell them is in confidence unless it indicates that I may harm myself or others (I had to get a screening for my current job, don’t let your imaginations go crazy). If it is already a policy, then getting the word out is a positive.
18. Provide incentives to hire school resource officers – agree.
19. Develop model emergency response plans – agree.
20. Clarify the scope of mental health care that Medicaid must cover – agree. Getting people the help they need is imperative.
21-22. I’m not even gonna pretend I know what those mean, athough I assume they deal with paying for mental health treatment. In that case, see 20.
23. National dialogue by HHS and Education about mental illness – agree, although I think the best work would be done by grassroots education campaigns.
So anyway, there are my thoughts on the President’s proposals. On the surface at least, most of these actions address the problem (people), and not the tool (firearms), which is where I think we need to be looking. If done right, I could easily get behind his proposals, assuming the politicians don’t turn them into some Frankenmonster of regulatory hell, which they are prone to do. I’m not going to pretend I know everything about mental illness, but I think that there needs to be serious dialogue among professionals (not the media and politicians) to address the issue. I have plenty more thoughts, but I think this post is long enough.
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I’d like to first say that I really enjoy your site and will continue to do so.
As proponent of the 2nd Amendment the current issue is really troubling often because of unreasoning and ignorant positions on both sides.
On the one side you have a majority of supporters who would be lucky to get past the Fifth Amendment in naming and understanding just the Bill of Rights, much less the other seventeen. Worse still their misguided notions of American history stand as tragic examples in the failure of the American education system.
On the other side you have individuals advocating a utopian fantasy of perfect safety and security; all built around the premise of unilateral individual disarmament in that a firearm is both the cause and effect of today’s problems.
There is no liberty without responsibility. We owe it to ourselves and each other as Americans to be active, reasoned and educated participants in the determining how to preserve our Rights and safeguard our communities. This is what will separate the Citizen and Veteran from those out there who are little better than a thug with a gun.
“Those that are willing to give up liberties for security will lose both, and deserve neither.”
~Ben Franklin
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Since we all know that everybody else knows (including Joe Biden himself) that nothing currently being proposed would have prevented any of the tragedies of last year, the only conclusion we can come to is the current administration wants our guns out of our hands.
This is not new as the State Dept published a memo in the ’60s outlining the process for disarming Americans under a United Nations Plan to disarm the entire planet, with the exception of the UN “Peacekeepers” who obviously need weapons to fight against whatever “rogue” nation has the gumption to fight back.
Since the war on terror started we’ve seen many of our legal protections disappear, some of the most recent being indefinite detention and the killing of American citizens at the whim of the President. We’ve also seen a huge increase in Federal Law Enforcement, primarily Homeland Security. Which makes sense if you’re wanting to control the population and you’re prevented from using your military against against your citizens.
As seen during Katrina governments will declare martial law at the slightest provacation which enables them, among other things, to confiscate our weapons. With the Patriot Act along with executive orders the President has made sure he has given himself the capability to confiscate weapons if he wants to.
So don’t call me paranoid or radical if I scream about government infringing on my 2nd amendment rights. That right was given to us for a very good reason and it is not to be restricted (infringed). I personally will resist any and all efforts to limit what firearms I can purchase or how large a magazine I can have and my vote will always go to the candidate who most strongly supports the Bill of Rights and the sovereignty of the United States.
Question to all: You know where you live, but do you know your LAW?
Read eveything that this man, Dr. Edwin Vieira PhD has written including his new book (finally)” The Sword and Sovereignty”.
We have been overrun with damnable lies. It is our fault! I do not like whiners and fools that give in and up! .
C/od
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