Not a good Monday

When I got to work today first email was information about a good friend that died over the weekend. Tim had been sick with cancer and we knew he wouldn't make it long. This guy never once showed the pain he was in. I'm paying my respects Tuesday night.

I'm early so I read the paper online and see a story about a guy shot in the head and killed during a car jacking up North Jersey. As I read his name and the company he worked for, I realized his father bid on one of my jobs about a month ago and it turns out we knew each other from school. The cops found the Ranger Rover about 8 miles away. Why did they shoot the guy when they could have just taken the car. His wife was with him but they left her alone.

Life sucks right now!

Sorry to hear about your friend and your school mate Rich. Definitely a brutal start to the week. Take care.

Yes, very sorry to hear. Time to open up a cold one. ...

There's a Pearl Jam song about how we somehow can live our lives with grace while death is just over our shoulders.

Tough day. We all seem to experience them from time to time. Never a good time to have something like such occur.

My wife's father has terminal cancer. It's not enjoyable for anyone associated having to go through that.

They're always looking for a cure for cancer. Never the cause. The cause is likely not corporately beneficial.

There are some very tough parts of New Jersey that's for certain. Arguably one of the states that's near the top in gun laws. We all know gun control never deters a criminal from getting a firearm.

Most all crime is senseless and doesn't have any rational, this one doesn't either. Sad truly sad the way our society is degrading in our lifetime.

Sorry to hear. You know how to reach me if you need anything.

Thanks guys.
Just got in from the viewing, closed casket. Kind of surprised me but he had lost a lot of weight. Long line to get in. He is in a better pain free place now.

As it turns out, in the paper today more on the carjacking. It seems there was a struggle first, then the shooting. If we had laws that allow CCW, it may have been different.

The lesson is live everyday like it could be your last.

I fail to see how not having a CCW in a state would increase death by firearms.  The large majority of the criminal element will not desire to go through the background check, fingerprints, nor the structured training.  Criminals simply don't go through the process.  They will do like they always have, break the law and harm people.

Texas had a statistic where it indicated use of a CCW in committing a crime was like .008 percent of all use of firearms by CCW holders over some given period of time.

Logic and rational simply are avoided it seems. Almost as if they want problems, so they can trump up reasons for government intervention, control, and spending.

As Susan Hupp states, her rights to carry a firearm were legislated away from her. Something she wished she would have ignored and illegally carried, so that her parents and others might be alive today.

That was a powerful video Derek.

Yep she does a very good job. Yep straight talk to the point of which is simply common sense and rational. Sadly it's as relevant today as in 1991, twenty-two years ago.

I'm saddened every time I hear about a case as such. Much of the population have been convinced, and their perception set that firearms can be legislated out of criminals hands, and good people don't need to be associated with this defense capability.

The reality is that legislators can't guarantee my safety, nor anyone elses. Laws don't prevent crime. There are 300 million firearms in the US. The cat is out of the bag. There's no way to get it back. We'll unless we all don't care to be free.

Moreover the brainwashing will continue. Rifles are used lawful and illegally in the commission of a crime with a death total around 360 annually in the US, refer to the FBI uniform crime statistics. Yet you'd think the AR15 was predominately the firearm of choice for all crimes committed with guns listening to the people that want to legislate them away from us.

I think of this guy getting into his car with his wife in the parking garage. If he was carrying, and or his wife carrying. Least they would have both had a better chance at surviving the incident if they could have equalized the force being brought upon them. In this incident we see how well legislation protected them. They abided by the law and one of them is dead. The criminals didn't abide by the law and have committed murder, enabled by the same legislators who will stand up at the podium and tell us gun legislation will make us safer, or how legally obtaining a firearm, making it more difficult or impossible makes us safer. How is the legislation going to remove the firearm from this criminals hand? Can the legislators explain this that to this guys wife or the American people? No.

joemac wrote:

I fail to see how not having a CCW in a state would increase death by firearms.  The large majority of the criminal element will not desire to go through the background check, fingerprints, nor the structured training.  Criminals simply don't go through the process.  They will do like they always have, break the law and harm people.

Texas had a statistic where it indicated use of a CCW in committing a crime was like .008 percent of all use of firearms by CCW holders over some given period of time.

Logic and rational simply are avoided it seems.  Almost as if they want problems, so they can trump up reasons for government intervention, control, and spending.

If I thought someone might be carrying concealed, I would be less likely to try to rob them. Or that's what I hope criminals would think.

Sorry to hear about your findings Quig. This world is definitely screwed up and has lots of people doing stupid stuff and going nuts and harming/killing innocent people. In a way, I'm kinda glad that Sandy and I were unable to have kids. I don't know what I could do to keep them safe nowadays.

We can't keep our kids safe.

What we can do is educate them, prepare them, and instill a mindset of moral correct behavior, and awareness. Then set them out as parents knowing we've done our part in hopes they demonstrate the same qualities, virtues with a sense morality and responsibility.

Trying to keep everyone safe has created the ever growing police state we now have in the US. As this openly invites someone else to be responsible for another persons life. It just doesn't work, unless freedom is traded for safety.

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom." - President Dwight D Eisenhower.

I wish that our country could have a real discussion about the morality of our society and people. That would take real guts and real leadership for our elected representatives to speak and talk to that. They won't however. They'll take the politically correct path and blame firearms, cars, and anything that doesn't involve why people make the decisions they do. Contemplating making a decision that has a high likelihood of taking another persons life? That is what needs to be addressed and spoken. The conduct and mindset that gets a person in that mode of thought.

It's just a sick world out there! You can't protect your kids, you can only teach them what is right and wrong while keeping an eye over their shoulder.