Self Defense & A Long Life Is Yours, But Only If You Want It

“The stupid neither forgive, nor forget. The naive forgive, and forget. The wise forgive, but never forget!” ~ Thomas Szasz.

This response to my Quip of yesterday titled “Being A Warrior Is A Foreign Concept For Most Modern Jews” from a long-time Jewish friend and student:

“For one, I am in agreement with your comments of yesterday.
Yet, the majority in the Jewish Community (at least the part of it with which I am familiar) will blatantly ignore your advice.
Why?

Despite recent history being reason-aplenty for unilateral armed self-protection, the majority of Jews I know immediately ‘push-back’ when the subject of guns, and lethal-force inherent to them, comes up.

Even when I bring up the subject discretely in casual conversation, the response is usually, ‘Oh no! I would never have a gun in my house,’ or the boringly classic ‘Guns are dangerous!’

I conclude there is no point in continuing the discussion!
‘Ignorance is Bliss,’ but it is fatal bliss, as we’ve seen so often!

Yes, I’m frustrated.”

My reply:

My dear friend,
The absolute refusal to face facts that you describe is frustrating indeed, but it is hardly confined to the Jewish Community!

Naive, soft-headed liberals are everywhere, many among Christians, even atheists.

Enlightenment and subsequent delivery from dangerous stupidity require sincere repentance, and the smug of all flavors is just incapable of it.

They would rather die than admit they’re wrong, even when it’s obvious

Unhappily, many will get the martyrdom they think they want!

Of course, they’ll sheepishly ‘change their minds’ at the last minute when they’re staring death in the face, but by then, it will be too late!

History does not deal kindly with arrogant, self-deceiving fools, no matter their religion, as we’ve witnessed over and over!

“Taking the law into your own hands?’

The law IS in our hands!

‘Law enforcement’ is not something sovereign citizens seize from police officers. It is a societal function that citizens delegate to civil police. In doing so, we do not abdicate our own sovereignty nor our duties as citizens. The ultimate responsibility is still ours. When people we hire as police are either unwilling or unable to perform that function at the critical moment, there is no law or standard that says we cannot perform it for ourselves.

Indeed, when personally threatened, we have no choice!

/John

GOP Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Make North Carolina 30th Constitutional Carry State

Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to make North Carolina the 30th constitutional carry state in the union.

The Daily Tar Heel reported that both bills–HB 5 and SB 50–“would allow U.S. citizens with no felonies and no mental illness-related charges, over the age of 18, to conceal carry a weapon.”

The House bill also contains language that would “allow elected officials to conceal carry weapons in legislative buildings and offices in Raleigh.”

It is interesting to note that at least one NC state Senator who opposed constitutional carry during the 2023-24 session is a sponsor on the carry legislation now.

South Carolina became the 29th constitutional carry state on March 7, 2024, just two days after Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) signed legislation making Louisiana the 28th constitutional carry state.

‘Americans got tired of being ridiculed for values like equality, color-blindness, and responsibility,’ and now it’s backlash time.

Schools and colleges have two weeks to stop discriminating on the basis of race, warns a Feb. 7 “Dear Colleague” letter from the Education Department’s acting civil rights chief. If they don’t dump DEI, they’ll lose federal funding.

Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision invalidating affirmative action in college admissions, the letter accuses educational institutions of embracing “repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination.” For example, DEI programs “frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.”

“The law is clear. Treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”

The anti-DEI backlash is “fierce,” because so many people were forced to suppress their real feelings, writes Rick Hess in Education Next.

“Over the past half-decade or more, I repeatedly heard K–12 and higher education faculty tell of sitting silently through professional trainings replete with politicized groupthink,” he writes. They used words such as “re-education,” “Orwellian,” and “McCarthyite.” But quietly.

He also heard from “livid parents with tales of 3rd graders saying they were ashamed of their ‘whiteness’ or tut-tutting their parents for using outdated gender norms,” such as “boys” and “girls.”

“People got fed up with the drumbeat of land acknowledgements, pronoun mandates, trigger warnings, language policing, and hypocrisy,” Hess writes. “Most Americans got tired of being hectored, lectured, and ridiculed for embracing old-school values like equality, color-blindness, and responsibility.”

People were accused of “bigotry” for questioning whether lessons about sexuality and gender were age-appropriate, he writes. “Broadly popular policies, like reserving women’s locker rooms and sports teams for biological girls and women, were denounced as ‘anti-transgender’ (rather than, say, ‘pro-biology’).

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Reason for Mexico Terror Threat Against U.S. Gunmakers Suggests Government in Pocket of Cartels

“Mexico threatens to escalate US gunmakers lawsuit with terror charges,” The Guardian reported Friday. “Claudia Scheinbaum warns of reciprocal action if Washington designates country’s cartels as terrorist groups.”

“If they declare these criminal groups as terrorists, then we’ll have to expand our US lawsuit… The lawyers are looking at it, but they could be accomplices,” Mexico’s president told the press, adding a time-worn disinformation go-to:

“She said the US justice department itself has recognized that ‘74% of the weapons’ used by criminal groups in Mexico come from north of the border.”

That’s the bit of calculated propaganda that primed ATF to implement Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking,” creating calls for a renewed “assault weapon” ban (Note: Some of the links that follow go to the Internet Archive and may load slowly). The numbers may vary, but the lie remains constant.

It started out with voices like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and then-Brady Campaign president Paul Helmke, claiming “American gun sellers supply the cartels with 95 to 100 percent of their guns.” The BBC put it at “90%.” Then it was 80%.

Here’s what they were all intentionally misstating:

“According to ATF’s Tracing Center, 90 percent of the firearms about which ATF receives information are traceable to the United States.”

“About which ATF receives information…” That’s not “all,” that’s what’s been selectively submitted for tracing. A Fox News analysis at the time concluded

“There’s just one problem with the 90 percent “statistic” and it’s a big one: It’s just not true. In fact, it’s not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.”

Here we are in 2025 and those lies are still being thrown out and “reported” unchallenged by media hacks who either don’t know, which makes them incompetent and unqualified informants, or do know, which makes them complicit in the deliberate deception and manipulation of their readers and viewers.

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Mr Keane is one of the top 3 men put forth to be the new ATF director

Gun Control Lawmaker Makes Actual Threats of Public Violence in Congress

By Larry Keane
Congressman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) reminded the country last week why the Second Amendment is so vital to the United States.

The former Long Beach mayor called on the Democratic Party to “bring actual weapons” in the “fight for democracy.”

Those are chilling and dangerous words coming from a lawmaker who wants to strip every law-abiding citizen of their rights to keep and bear arms. Rep. Garcia made the call-to-action at the same time he used derogatory language to belittle Elon Musk, who has been heading up President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The remarks weren’t the product of heated and passionate debate. He planned them. Rep Garcia brought a poster-sized photo of Musk to the hearing, referring to the image as a “d— pic.”

After that, he doubled down. On both his foul language and his call to arms.

“I think [Musk is] also harming the American public in an enormous way,” Rep. Garcia told CNN’s host Brianna Keilar, according to Fox News. “And what I think is really important and what the American public want is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy, for the future of this country.”

‘Incite Violence’

The row is rooted in President Trump’s slashing of the federal workforce, a promise he made on the campaign trail. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) wasn’t standing for it. She quickly introduced a censure resolution saying “violence, threats of violence, or attempts to incite violence against Federal employees should not be tolerated in the House of Representatives.”

“The Left is running like roaches with the light on over @DOGE,” Rep. Mace posted on X. “@RepRobertGarcia went far beyond the pale last night, calling for weapons to be used against @ElonMusk. This won’t be ignored. We’re making an example out of him.”

Rep. Garcia dismissed anyone considering taking him at his word for American citizens to heed his call and take up arms for his agenda.

“Obviously, I was using a figure of speech,” Rep. Garcia told The Long Beach Post.

Except he wasn’t. And he didn’t. Rep. Garcia said he wanted the Democratic Party to “bring actual weapons.” Then, he doubled down on it.

This might be the first time Rep. Garcia has indicated any support for private firearm ownership. He’s in favor of banning Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and banning adults under 21 from possessing a firearm. He also wants so-called “universal background checks” which would require a national firearm registry to work and would be very convenient that Rep. Garcia would know exactly who owned what firearms and where they are stored. Rep. Garcia wants to institute a federal licensing system. That would be even more convenient because he could ensure only those who support his political agenda would be approved.

Sound Orwellian enough? Not for Rep. Garcia. He wants people to “bring actual weapons” in his fight against President Trump and those carrying out his agenda. That’s an actual threat of war. Pitting Americans against a duly-elected president and the administration carrying out that president’s agenda – and the duly-elected Congress and the judiciary – isn’t only maniacal. It’s the very definition of tyranny.

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Utah House Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Teach Kids REAL Gun Safety

A bill mandating true gun safety in Utah schools has sailed through the state House, but anti-gunners are doing their best to derail the measur as it heads to the state Senate for approval.

HB 104 is a common sense measure that would require all public school students to learn about the safe storage and handling of firearms on three separate occasions between kindergarten and the end of sixth grade. Rep. Rex Shipp, the primary sponsor of the legislation, says the instruction would be age-appropriate, with younger kids essentially being taught the advice given by the NRA’s Eddie Eagle.

“A lot of times when they don’t have any firearms in their homes or don’t do any hunting and shooting, then these kids are not taught what to do when they come in contact with a firearm,” Shipp said.

Who could object to teaching young kids not to pick up a gun? Oddly enough, gun control advocates are the main opponents of the measure.

Gun violence prevention advocates have applauded Utah Republicans this year for growing gun safety education programs, but some argue those lessons should only be aimed at adults.

The proposal unfairly places the responsibility of gun safety on children rather than their parents, said Barbara Gentry of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah. “Guns and gun safety are the responsibility of the adult gun owner, not school children,” Gentry said. “We support schools sending home materials to parents outlining the importance of safe storage in keeping our families and schools safe from gun violence.”

Jaden Christensen, a volunteer with the Utah chapter of Moms Demand Action, said lawmakers should instead look to grow programs that teach parents the importance of keeping firearms away from children.

“The burden should always be on adults,” Christensen said.

Utah law already mandates that any parent or guardian of a minor who fails to make reasonable efforts to remove a firearm from the minor’s possession is criminally liable, so adults are already “burdened”, as Christensen put it.

Even with that law in place, however, there are going to be some adults who just don’t give a damn. So why shouldn’t we also teach kids what to do if they see a firearm?

For younger kids, Eddie Eagle’s advice to “stop, don’t touch, run away, and tell an adult” might suffice, but there’s nothing wrong with age-appropriate gun safety lessons that offer older children and adolescents more detailed advice on gun storage and safe handling of firearms.

The abstinence-based approach advocated by Christensen and other prohibtionists is downright dangerous. In making real firearm safety taboo, the gun control activists only increase the chances that a kid who runs across a gun will be fascinated and intrigued enough to pick it up. Taking the mystery out of a gun can go a long way towards keeping kids safe from harm, and it’s utterly ridiculous that these activists would prefer children be left in the dark instead of getting a real education.

The good news is that in Utah, anyway, the gun control advocates aren’t likely to get their wish. With overwhelming approval in the state House, HB 104 looks to be in pretty good shape now that its in the upper chamber. And for those anti-gunners intent on keeping their own kids clueless about what to do if they run across a gun, they can take comfort in the fact that there’s an opt-out provision in the legislation, so even if it becomes law they can still ensure that their children are ignorant when it comes to real gun safety.