Violent Crime and PTSD: Common Sense Needs to be Applied

Let's talk about gun-free zones.

Columbine, Sandy Hook, Aurora theatre, Fort Hood (incident 1&2), and naval station were all gun-free zones. That means that the person, or in the case of Columbine, persons, knew they could do their dirty deed with no counter attack from the victims.

In the case of a school, administration and staff members could volunteer to conceal and carry with training, not just for safety issues, but how to react when a nut job enters the building with intent to do evil. It would be far cheaper than hiring law enforcement to patrol the school premises.

Chuck Norris had an idea to post a sign, instead of a gun-free zone poster:

Staff heavily armed and trained. Any attempts to harm those herein will be met with deadly force.

True, is such circumstance, someone would most likely die or seriously wounded – but the death toll would definitely be decreased and those buildings would not be the target of a demented evil person. It would also save court costs for a trial, because most likely the dirt bag would be dead.

In the case of Fort Hood, soldiers with proper permits can be armed off post – but not on post. In the case of Fort Hood, this is a stupid concept. The very thing they are trying to prevent happened again. It is pathetic that military personnel and their dependents are defenseless. People like Spc. Lopez do not care about regulations – so while law-abiding folks on the base obey the regulations, evil criminals do not care about regulations. And like civilian law enforcement, military police cannot be everywhere, and when they respond it is too late.

Norris also addressed this:

Why is it that we trust our service members to bear arms in foreign lands to protect themselves and others but we won't allow them to have concealed permits on U.S. military bases on American soil for the purpose of protecting themselves and others? We trust them in combat but not at the coffee bar on a military base?

Will the commander-in-chief see that this is a hard-learned lesson – a second shooting on a US military installation? Don't hold your breath. His kind only think of taking firearms from everybody thinking this will stop violent crime.

As I stated in the previous articles – gun control laws generally do nothing to prevent crime, because criminals are criminals because they have no respect for the law, or anything else for that matter. However, background check system is a good thing, and if the psychiatrist on that post who declared that Lopez was having mental problems, should have immediately notified the proper authorities (BATF), so they could update their database; and subsequently the day Lopez went to the local gun shop to purchase a firearm he would have been denied. That sure would have helped in the case of the naval station shooting. The shooter had his clearance pulled, but still let on base – and he had, on record, more than one occasion demonstrating aggravated use of a firearm. Hello? Why was he able to purchase a firearm?

The system is the problem, not firearms, and secondary, society needs to clean up its act – especially parents, because values and ethics of younger generations is bankrupt like our economy.

Our youth needs standards set and encourage to develop character. They need to be raised that fighting against evil instead of becoming evil is best – thinking about others besides yourself is a good part of being a responsible citizen.

Mona Charen revealed irony when she reports what Lopez wrote about the Adam Lanza tragedy:

Ironically, Lopez had commented on his Facebook page about Adam Lanza, the Newtown murderer, writing: Lanza "pretends to be a victim of a mental illness followed by addiction to violent video games." He continued, "It is stupid to me that anyone can have easy access to a powerful weapon without being mentally evaluated. This makes the government indirect accomplice ... These bastards have perfected their way of attacking studying previous massacres to gain publicity and their minute of fame as a villain. But thanks to Hollywood and the sensational profiling by the media (they) give more power to those intelligent cowards."

It is a mystery, then, why and how Lopez could bring himself to commit such an act of evil and cowardice.

The media recently focuses upon an alarming rate of military personnel who are experiencing some type of syndrome caused by combat experience. Over the ten year period of the Vietnam War, which was no less a stressful place – did you read about veterans doing evil acts like Lopez, the naval station shooter? The media has to overplay everything – especially when it concerns their petty ideology and their support of progressives who are intent upon disarming the entire populace. The percentage of those experiencing problems with stress in the military is not higher than the civilian population. As Charen points out, in comparison to the civilian population, military personnel have a better education, whether they are officers or enlisted. In addition, there are demanding mental and physical fitness test. Basic training and subsequent military occupational advanced training are brutal because: (1) it instills and reinforces discipline, especially self-discipline, (2) it determines if those participating can take the stress, and if not, they are discharged (under honorable conditions).

It seems to me that either the media is blowing the whole thing out of proportion, not the shooting circumstance, but the scenario behind it) – but they have always sensationalized things like Fort Hood and ignore good stories about military personnel and reporting events where citizens protected themselves and others from harm by exercising their Second Amendment rights. Self-defense is an unwritten right, a part of the natural law that the Founders mentioned more than once. A sane person and one with character and sense of responsibility. would rather not have to use force with a firearm or any other methods unless necessary. It is why I have a concealed carry permit – better to have it and not need it than not have it and need it. The same applies with firearms. In my community, my county, I do not feel there is a need to leave the house armed – but I have a permit to use if I visit Milwaukee. Common sense applies here as in so many facets of our life.

The US Supreme Court is not doing its job, as it has forsaken its purpose and justices forsaken their oaths of office. NO state within our union should be allowed to forbid rights under the Second Amendment to lawful, law-abiding citizens. Yet, Illinois, New York, and now Connecticut are doing just that – without a word from the Supreme Court of the United States. If I have obtained a conceal carry permit in Wisconsin, I should be able to travel anywhere (except on airlines, for example) with a concealed firearm; but that is not the way it is. If I had to visit Chicago, as an example, a place where one definitely needs to be armed – I cannot carry a firearm even with my permit.

No matter how much common sense we use and sensible laws we pass – crime will never be totally stopped; however, violent crimes of late certainly should not be the norm.

A recent poll says that 45% US Armed Forces personnel are not pleased with their commander-in-chief, although they must be loyal to that office – without respect for that person holding it.

Senators are complaining they do not make enough at $175,000 per year, not including perk/benefits; while military families stationed in the US are forced to request food stamps or some other social benefit.

Something is wrong in Washington DC, for sure – but our society is the mainframe that supports the mentality of that establishment.

Common sense should tell us that we do not just need reformation in our government, but in our society as well. And as far as the PSTD media alarm: apparently the wimps we are raising in our society, under the umbrella ideology of progressives, that something can always be blamed on something else or inanimate objects instead of taking personal responsibility; is filtering into our armed forces. 

Everyone has a breaking point. But the question is with horrific wars like WW2, Korean War and Vietnam – why are there so many more alleged PSTD cases today, putting the blame on Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones? Is this like the progressive ideology concerning children who cannot focus must be put on drugs, like Ritalin? The results of that mistake does not show up until later in their lives after prolonged use of those drugs – like the two shooters at the Columbine school tragedy.

Common sense needs to be applied here.