01-15-2013, 06:04 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-15-2013, 06:36 AM by Jabberwolky.)
I rarely speak my mind, but since I deal with this kind of thing on a nightly basis I thought I'd add my two cents. For those of you that do not know I have been in law enforcement/military for the past 9 years in one form or another. I like to put people into three categories; sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. Sheep being the normal law abiding citizen, wolves being the violent people that want to hurt you, and sheep dogs being those that are trained to protect the normal citizens.
Wolves will do whatever they need to accomplish their objective because most people that are this violent do not care about laws and are usually highly motivated. If a person gets to the point that they feel the need to make a statement and kill a bunch of innocents then they will scope out a nice soft target and achieve their objective. Once a person gets to that point where they can justify something so horrible then I think the only way to stop or cure them is with two to the chest and one to the head. In most situations where a person has gone on a mass killing, it has ended with them taking their own life, giving up, or being shot by law enforcement or an armed citizen.
One problem that I run into when it comes to people that need psychiatric help is the complete lack of it. On many occasions I have brought a person that I truly felt needed some serious mental help to the local ER so that they could be evaluated by MHMR, as this is my only option. 99 times out of 100 they will turn the person away, pinky swear that they are okay, and send them home no matter how I may have come to have to encounter them. Family members that have to deal with these kinds of individuals come to me at the end of their rope because they can't find any kind of help. More often as not these people don't get the kind of mental help they need and end up slipping through the cracks. I would like to see more funding and incentives for mental help professionals and institutions to help people out that need mental treatment. I have recently looked into getting some additional credentials as a mental health counselor myself since I make contact with these people so often. Maybe then I could make a bigger impact or help recognize certain signs that could prevent something bad from happening.
I do think that if the media would be more responsible / respectful of the victims, the families of the victims, and the communities that surround these people; we may see a drop in these incidents. These people want to be remembered as monsters and the media plays into that by making "news" out of it across the entire country.
I personally fall into the camp that gun control can be defined as "front sight, trigger squeeze." I am not a gun nut. I own guns but they have all been passed down to me. I don't go out and buy them, but I like to shoot them, have grown up with them, I have used them as a tool, and I love to train people on how to use them safely and effectively. I have to carry them for my work and I have to carry one when I'm off duty because I may meet a wolf when I'm at the grocery store (possibly with my kids) and that wolf may recognize me as a sheepdog, and for that reason I need to be armed. Also for that small possibility that some nut may decide to open fire at Target while I'm shopping there...again, a law isn't going to stop that guy, only a sheepdog or a sheep will.
A gun is a tool. Yes that tool was designed to maim and kill. In the hands of a sheep or a sheep dog that weapon is of no threat to anyone. The tool then is used for hunting, protection, and recreational shooting. In the hands of a wolf it can do terrible things. Would I feel safer if guns regulated...absolutely not. Because the bottom line is if a wolf wants an AR-15 or AK-47, that wolf will do whatever is needed to obtain the instrument of destruction that they desire. All a gun control law will do is add a tool in the toolbox of law enforcement and government to put additional limits on your rights as a citizen and I am against that. Bad people are going to do bad things...that is a constant that will never change. Making guns more regulated isn't going to change that.
My main concern about this gun control uproar is the government over stepping its bounds and setting a bad precedent that could further infringe on our second amendment rights later down the road. I do not want my loved ones to not have the ability to protect their lives with deadly force with a tool that is just as effective as what could possibly be used against them. As a citizen or law enforcement, I hope that If I have to face a bad guy carrying an assault weapon that I have a weapon just as good available to me so that I can stop that threat. If a person decides to exercise their right not to own a weapon then that is their choice and I hope that everything turns out okay for them because by the time a sheep dog gets there to help them the wolf has probably achieved his objective and fled the scene.
Wolves will do whatever they need to accomplish their objective because most people that are this violent do not care about laws and are usually highly motivated. If a person gets to the point that they feel the need to make a statement and kill a bunch of innocents then they will scope out a nice soft target and achieve their objective. Once a person gets to that point where they can justify something so horrible then I think the only way to stop or cure them is with two to the chest and one to the head. In most situations where a person has gone on a mass killing, it has ended with them taking their own life, giving up, or being shot by law enforcement or an armed citizen.
One problem that I run into when it comes to people that need psychiatric help is the complete lack of it. On many occasions I have brought a person that I truly felt needed some serious mental help to the local ER so that they could be evaluated by MHMR, as this is my only option. 99 times out of 100 they will turn the person away, pinky swear that they are okay, and send them home no matter how I may have come to have to encounter them. Family members that have to deal with these kinds of individuals come to me at the end of their rope because they can't find any kind of help. More often as not these people don't get the kind of mental help they need and end up slipping through the cracks. I would like to see more funding and incentives for mental help professionals and institutions to help people out that need mental treatment. I have recently looked into getting some additional credentials as a mental health counselor myself since I make contact with these people so often. Maybe then I could make a bigger impact or help recognize certain signs that could prevent something bad from happening.
I do think that if the media would be more responsible / respectful of the victims, the families of the victims, and the communities that surround these people; we may see a drop in these incidents. These people want to be remembered as monsters and the media plays into that by making "news" out of it across the entire country.
I personally fall into the camp that gun control can be defined as "front sight, trigger squeeze." I am not a gun nut. I own guns but they have all been passed down to me. I don't go out and buy them, but I like to shoot them, have grown up with them, I have used them as a tool, and I love to train people on how to use them safely and effectively. I have to carry them for my work and I have to carry one when I'm off duty because I may meet a wolf when I'm at the grocery store (possibly with my kids) and that wolf may recognize me as a sheepdog, and for that reason I need to be armed. Also for that small possibility that some nut may decide to open fire at Target while I'm shopping there...again, a law isn't going to stop that guy, only a sheepdog or a sheep will.
A gun is a tool. Yes that tool was designed to maim and kill. In the hands of a sheep or a sheep dog that weapon is of no threat to anyone. The tool then is used for hunting, protection, and recreational shooting. In the hands of a wolf it can do terrible things. Would I feel safer if guns regulated...absolutely not. Because the bottom line is if a wolf wants an AR-15 or AK-47, that wolf will do whatever is needed to obtain the instrument of destruction that they desire. All a gun control law will do is add a tool in the toolbox of law enforcement and government to put additional limits on your rights as a citizen and I am against that. Bad people are going to do bad things...that is a constant that will never change. Making guns more regulated isn't going to change that.
My main concern about this gun control uproar is the government over stepping its bounds and setting a bad precedent that could further infringe on our second amendment rights later down the road. I do not want my loved ones to not have the ability to protect their lives with deadly force with a tool that is just as effective as what could possibly be used against them. As a citizen or law enforcement, I hope that If I have to face a bad guy carrying an assault weapon that I have a weapon just as good available to me so that I can stop that threat. If a person decides to exercise their right not to own a weapon then that is their choice and I hope that everything turns out okay for them because by the time a sheep dog gets there to help them the wolf has probably achieved his objective and fled the scene.