104

Interesting number 104. What does it mean? That dear friends is the number of conceal carry permits requests the Illinois State Police have received from residents of Knox County. 104 more people may be out on the streets carrying a gun later this year than there are carrying one now. You may not understand why that does not make me feel 104 ways safer. Illinois requires you to have 16 hours of training. Classroom and live fire training combined, 16 hours total. I took classes to be an emergency medical technician. It was hundreds of hours, and a long multiple choice test and skills tests. You can do things in a split second that those hundreds of hours of medical training I have can't fix. A Nurse with 1000's of hours training and years of experience or a doctor with tens of thousands of hours of training and experience can't undo what you can do in a split second with a gun. Police have hundreds of hours of training and practice and retraining and more practice and more training to know when to take their gun out and when to use deadly force. They do all that and they still get it wrong sometimes. I talk to guys who are so excited when they are sitting in a tree with a shotgun that they can't hit the broad side of a 12 point buck. The buck, by the way, is not holding a gun or shooting at them. It does little to inspire my safety when those buys want a concealed carry permit because "Something might go down and there aren't always cops around." Can't hit a deer standing still with a shotgun but if something goes down you are ready when the lead starts to fly.

I DON'T THINK SO!!!

I would like to think the bulge in a conceal carry permit holders pants is a gun. More likely it is the constant erection most of these guys will have because their lifelong fantasy about carrying a gun will be fulfilled. I have no doubt they will be looking for opportunites to put their permit to use. I hope I'm not going to end up holding a sign like these folks.

Worse yet one of my children or grandchildren.

MSN had a story today about a mother in Oakland, California who lost both of her children (sons) in 19 days to gun violence. Please take a minute to read the article. What disturbed me was the comments that were posted by readers. I cannot understand the thought process of many of those heartless individuals. She had lost both her sons. It is not the time or place for a  debate about parenting skills, unwed motherhood, or gun rights. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/21/22385979-oakland-mother-grieves-after-two-sons-gunned-down-19-days-apart

This kind of shit keeps making the rounds on facebook. I understand you have a right to own a gun. You must also understand that I have a right to life and to free speech. You cannot use your gun rights to silence those rights. By the way as far as the last line goes. In the majority of deaths from violence by other people it is people with guns who kill people. Sure people with knives, clubs, baseball bats, rope, hell even people with underwear (read the atomic wedgie post) kill people. The clear winner in the killing sweepstakes, the weapon of choice, obtained legally or illegally, is a gun.

This is a picture of a woman taking a picture of a bus that has the names of over 6,000 people who will killed by guns between the date of the Sandy Hook School shooting in Newtown, CT in December 2012 and June 14, 2013. This was a period of less than six months. Over six thousand dead from gun violence. I live near Wataga, Illinois a sleepy prairie community with 3 bars, 4 churches and a gas station. Every month you would see enough people killed to equal every man, woman and child in that village, Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? The only one who thinks we have to come together and find a solution. Maybe a solution that does not put another 104 guns on the ground in my home county?