It seems we are no longer electing the best and the brightest to public office if the public statements made by our representatives are any measure of their competence. Humble origins are not a benchmark for wisdom, nor do grassroots anchor common sense intelligence. Our short attention span, quick-fix, media driven, cheer-for-the-biggest-noise culture are  reaping the ignorance of narrow-minded ideologues resembling the "Know-Nothing" party of the 1850s who were against immigration (we had enough foreigners) and Catholics (Keep the Pope out of America). Sadly, these dopes are a non-partisan disease, but seem to have flocked more intensely to the Republican banner.

We all have to deal with really stupid people in our day to day lives. And it's not their fault that somewhere in their upbringing, certain bricks were not mortared into place and now their walls sag in critical social, moral and intellectual areas. Our problem is with these cripples who walk among us behind a facade that masks the missing bricks and rot. It's only after achieving public office, that their sphincters relax and their inner zombies emerge through media utterances and voting patterns. They are unmasked, but its too late. Like strangling ivy, they coil around their favorite lobbyists and live the dream until they can pass around enough patronage to constituents to merit another term regardless of the damage they create.

Gun control fantasies vs Gun rights bullying are issues perpetuated by the above mentioned trolls. There are too many bricks missing from the wheelhouses of these hard core factions. Each group reads the history of our country through the spectacles of their own agendas, skewing what they find to reflect their own self-serving revision. The most feared concealed weapon of the mid -19th century was the Bowie knife, not the pistol. Most cow towns of the west had gun laws more strict than New York's or Chicago's draconian rules. Newspapers in Elsworth, Kansas decried local law officers for carrying more than one pistol, because they displayed excessive force. The Minute Men and other scrambled-together musket-wielding militias of the late 18th century were unfit for combat and could not hit the ground with their hat. Almost everything the average person has absorbed about the history of firearms is wrong. Most are myths perpetuated by either pro or anti-gun paranoids and romantics.

Until gun rights demanding, over-heated second amendment shouters and the NRA/gun manufacturers PAC/lobby put the country  ahead of their  own self-serving rhetoric -- and the hand-wringing anti-gun  ideologues realize that 300,000,000 guns aren't going anyplace, but under people's beds if the crazies have their way, the next thing to circle the drain will be the Constitution, which is the frail fragment of honor and law that is binding this country together.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
My wife, Janet and I are authors of 51 non-fiction books for traditional publishers since 1997. The titles include U.S. history, biography, fine arts, military history, weapons, young adult and memoir. We just finished writing The Constitution, a history of that document and how we have adapted it -- and adapted to it -- since it was penned in 1787 for our London publisher to be released in the U.S. this spring and early summer. We learned a lot during our months of work on that book - especially about the caliber of men and women who used the Constitution and shaped its interpretations to achieve what we have today, what is in danger of loss if the aluminum foil hat people are not turned out and replaced with actual legislators of ability.

Wayne LaPierre's World

At his December 21 "press conference," Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA failed to understand he is not speaking to NRA acolytes whose hands all shoot into the air when he pulls the lever at the side of the podium. He is also repeating history. In the September, 1941 issue of American Rifleman Magazine, associate editor Raymond J. Stan suggested the wartime NRA could provide, “...rifle clubs…to build up community leadership that will carry over even when security is again established.” He claimed further, “Operating as a unit, the coordination, enthusiasm, morale, and discipline of a band of civilian riflemen would be of the highest order…The coolness of an experienced rifle or pistol shooter under the heat of excitement and his confidence to do the right thing at the right moment is obvious…”  Would Wayne's armed volunteers in the public schools all wear the same color shirts with NRA armbands? Does the shoe industry still make jack boots? No wonder Wayne didn’t take questions.

Shooters Tired of Wearing the Scarlet "G"

If you mention you are an NRA member, do people in the conversation edge away? Do they scrutinize your clothing to try and spot where you are concealing your gun? Do they check the exit signs in the room or count the number of drink rings are on the bar next to your beer bottle? Have you become the neighborhood gun whacko? Nobody shuffles their kids across the street from the house where the "golf player" lives or sneaks a peak between the curtains as the "tennis player" loads rackets into the trunk of his car. Firearms owners who enjoy the sport are tired of wearing the "Scarlet G" for "Gun Nut."  Our sports of hunting and various target competitions go back to the first colonist who strolled off the boat and impressed the neighborhood greeters by knocking down a pheasant with his thunder stick. We have a long history rich with marksmanship traditions that span age and gender.

Our problem is a bowling ball, golf club or tennis racket will never effectively stop an enemy bayonet charge. Firearms have come down through the centuries along two paths: sports and weapons. Often the line separating those functions is blurred. Once the industrial revolution gave us mass production, manufacturers discovered military contracts for lots and lots of cheaply produced weapons offered more revenue than the fine instruments required by hunters and competition shooters. The manufacturers purchased the aid of the NRA, who wrap themselves in evangelical patriotism, with pages of advertising and sponsorships of gun shows and donations to foundations. Today, weapons drive the firearms market and fuel the anti-government frenzy to "protect" our Second Amendment rights. The NRA has assumed a messianic role as defender of the Constitution even as they act as procurers, pimping the weapons makers and intimidating legislators.

Sports shooters have been embarrassed and shunted aside by this partnership. We are seen as knuckle-dragging homunculus's, mouth breathing memorized patriotic mantras into battery megaphones, shouting down reason, common sense and compromise as mindless ideologues. Instead of joining the NRA hierarchy hopping from one foot to the other mouthing delusional epithets that only encourage  the equally goofy opposition who believe all 300,000,000 firearms can be taken away from Americans, firearms owners should be directing their considerable energy toward promoting positive images of the sport and inviting more Americans to participate.

Competitions such as three-gun matches are exciting and spectator friendly -- if the venue is expanded. Shooting can be made part of other sports such as cross-country running  or -- like the Winter Olympics -- skiing. Moving targets, targets that explode when hit, or cause some other visual excitement give spectators something and someone to root for. Today, a lot of kids are receiving instructions on safe handling and shooting firearms in competition, learning the rigor of practice and perfecting skill sets that will serve them later in life. Many of these programs have been created by the NRA, continuing their excellent stewardship of the sport -- work which has been so badly overshadowed by the organization's naked grab for political power.

A positive image example would be NASCAR. How many young men died on rural back roads in the South running bootleg moonshine in fast cars past and through police roadblocks in the dead of night, ending up as fireballs fueled by alcohol and gasoline? They found empty meadows, bladed an oval track in the red dirt and raced their souped up moonshine specials for entry money cash in a cigar box. People showed up to watch and those young men built rough grandstands and charged fifty cents for a seat. Today, how many engineering careers have sprouted from NASCAR ambitions in a sport that has the largest spectator draw in the country?

American sports shooters need that kind support, not fake histrionics, patriotic bullying, or paranoid "preppers" getting media attention as they squat in their bunkers waiting for a country they've given up on to fall apart in a frenzy of movie special effects tyranny. American sports shooters have worn the "Scarlet G" long enough. 

Gun Buyers Follow Heroes

Gun ownership in the United states is strongly influenced by "Hero Worship." This is not a bad thing, but is a thread of human nature to elmulate the lifestyle, tastes and action of people we admire. This identification extends to things as well as people. Trend setters and trend setting products affect our lives; which is also an important guide to successful advertising. Own a hot car, dress in a cutting edge fashion outfit, play tennis with a carbon racket. Race car drivers plug hot cars, sophisticated models wear sharp designer clothes and athletes get the most out of sports technology.

Gun owners are no different. We have heroes who have championed a variety of firearms depending on the media that influences us. In TV and the movies, Steve McQueen was cool with his sawed off Winchester "mare's leg." Clint Eastmood made the .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson desireable. World War II and police battling gangsters have used up arsenals of high tech weapons to great visual effect. And the latest video games offer super realistc combat and civilian warfare depictions.

Today, every time a soldier returns from Afghanistan, out come the flags, motorcycle honor guards and crowds lining the street to welcome home the young warrior. Our troops are our latest and most closely held heroes because they come directly from us, not from some author's imagination. Every night we see them on the news patroling dangerous ground in foreign lands, and we remember these are volunteer soldiers, not draftees. Our hearts go out to them. Now, look at what weapons they carry.

A story: When I was a little kid, I had no sports skills and only held my place in my neighborhood gang by being the "goofy guy" who could always make the other kids laugh: with me, at me, I didn't care. I got the laugh and was accepted. We used a lot of toy guns in our play what with WWII just ended and the Korean conflict just amping up. I wanted a machine gun. Instead, my Dad managed to get me an actual Model 1903 Springfield bolt action training rifle. The bolt worked, the trigger clicked, but the breech was welded shut. The first day I went out the door and into the park next to our apartment, chaos erupted. I was looking for my pals, walking along with this real rifle on my shoulder. I am nine years old and this rifle is almost as long as I am tall. The park is now empty except for this Park District Cop watching me from behind a tree. He is not alone. I walked over to a tree and crouched down, trying to see what they are looking at. They are all looking at me. A cop called out, "Kid! Put down the rifle!" I did and very soon thereafter I was surrounded by a forest of blue pantlegs. I was spared a savage beating or a soul-sucking prison sentence. One of the cops walked me and my rifle home.

We love to emulate our heroes and assault rifles are the latest extension of that hero worship. The
M-4 is a "weapon." Any assault-style firearm based on their respective combat version is a weapon. To me, walking around with that very real rifle gave me the self -esteem I so lacked. It was way too heavy to play with. The bolt action was clumsy for small hands -- and it was sure no machine gun. Later, when I was in a real combat zone, surrounded by lethal weapons, or when I carried a gun for a living in Arizona, I discovered how careful you have to be in life when threats are a 360 degree consideration. The sport of marksmanship is a character builder and a demanding skill, but weapons should be left to our military and police.  

Firearm violence- how we got here

Firearm violence – How We Got Here –and What Do We Do? A historical perspective

Our current pro and anti-gun situation didn’t just rise up and bite us. We set up this scenario when the Industrial Revolution, from the mid-18^th Century to the 1850s, made possible the mass production and increased efficiency of firearms. The Civil War used those arms to preserve our Union by shedding a generation’s worth of blood. After the war, we were gunned up, had a chip on our shoulders and wanted a fresh start for our “Manifest Destiny.”

            Our present problems started with a weak post Civil War military, downsized to fight the sporadic Native American Wars and policing the Westward Expansion. Without military contracts, the firearms market was flat. Many civilians were former soldiers and familiar with military pattern weapons that became adapted to civilian needs: hunting, target shooting and self-defense. Cheap handguns glutted the eastern markets due to the low quality of politically-based police departments. Long guns reached out for the plains buffalo, marauding predators, and ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. Led by politicians, our military was poorly trained, poorly armed (troopers had to buy their own ammunition if they wanted to practice), and underfunded. The firearms manufacturers had to funnel their military-tested wares directly into civilian hands.

            Long guns as survival tools were in every wagon headed west. Pistols were virtually useless except in barroom brawls and to bolster the low self-esteem of flawed sociopaths. The six-gun toting myth of the gunfighter was born in the pens of the 19^th Century “penny-dreadful” novel writers, many of whom never left the East. The large cattle outfits often didn’t permit their cowboys to own a revolver, because six-guns encouraged trouble and most cattle towns had tougher gun laws than we have today.

            But firearms technology belonged to the military contractors as rapid fire weapons designed to kill as many enemy as possible became a reality from civilian designers like John Browning. The main shift in military weapons came with the 1903 Springfield that went to France with our soldiers in 1917. They were the last military weapons that found a well-suited market in civilian hands. Trimmed of extra wood, the Springfield rifle became a standard on target ranges and in the hunting field.

            The M1 rifle that helped win World War II was the first semi-automatic standard infantry rifle. Built to rugged military specifications, it was too heavy for hunting and was only suited to military rifle competitions. Fire suppression – “spray and pray” tactics --reinforced by studies of World War II conflicts and low training standards needed to pump out maximum troop numbers,  became the military dictum. High capacity clips, high rate of fire, cheap to build, designed for field modification depending on combat mission – all these requirements were met by Eugene Stoner’s M-16 assault rifle and later models built on the same platform. They have also been applied to civilian versions from Colt, Bushmaster, Rock River Arms, LMT, Sig Sauer and others.

             From 1967 to today, military weapons – modified for law enforcement – have been designed for military missions and civilian use. Firearms manufacturers have forced advertising, video games, movies and heroic military imagery into a civilian demand. These manufacturers have turned fear of attack, fear of confiscation, fear of your neighbor and fear of government into selling tools.

Civilians who want these assault rifles (“modern sporting rifles” in manufacturer-speak) have bent over backwards to justify their purchases. Manufacturers justify sponsoring “Three-Gun Matches” (fast-paced rifle, pistol and shotgun) which are great competitions, but serve more as advertising while factory teams compete and gun brand loyalty is trumpeted. The assault rifle is a klutzy hunting companion to lug around all day tricked out with laser sights, bi-pods, flashlights, and interchangeable barrels. Anyone who needs a 30 round clip to bring down a whitetail deer should be spending more time on the range learning to shoot. For decades, we’ve survived with 3-shot maximum capacity magazines on shotguns and nobody complained. Anything more than a five-round magazine is a weapon. The archers and black powder muzzle-loader hunters have the right idea. Learn to hunt as well as to shoot.

Handguns have faced the same marketing of military technology. At one time, the revolver was queen of the side arms. Today, it is a quaint relic – except for the Taurus blasters that fire shotgun shells as well as large caliber pistol rounds. It is the small, flat, semi-automatic pistols by Glock, Baretta, Kimber and others that pack the heaviest loads in the lightest, hard-recoil weapons. Extended 15 round instant-changeable ammunition clips are big selling points as are laser beam and see-in-the-dark sights.

“Be prepared – whatever your mission,” has become the firearms manufacturers’ mantra. Leaving the house to go to work, or shopping, or to the barber, or to relax at a spa, or to find a job – or go to school – has become a gun buyer’s  “mission.” Until you’ve carried a gun for a living, you have no idea what a responsibility that extra weight on your hip or in your purse represents. A poorly aimed shot can kill an innocent bystander 5,000 feet away. There are an estimated 300 million guns in the United States. The most guns are owned by people for “self defense” with the least training. Low self-esteem kids are promised the power of their “heroes” though the magic of firepower. This is where we stand today. What to do?

Dial back the “mission-oriented combat fear mongering” in advertising. Civilian handguns can have a six-shot magazine. Rifles are limited to five-shot mags and shotguns stay at three-shot capacity. Manufacturers shift to target and hunting markets by spending ad budgets promoting local rifle, pistol and shotgun ranges for kids and adults. Make shooting a spectator sport once again with innovative designs, competitions and venues along the NASCAR model.  

American sport shooters are tired of being lumped in with the crazies on both sides of the firearms issue. You don’t take hammers away from carpenters who build a bad house. You train better carpenters. Kids and adults live in a tougher, media-centric world that can be a pressure cooker without understanding and mutual support. Lack of understanding breeds fear.  People build their own personal bunkers against all the bad stuff “out there.” Shooting sports are social recreations like golf, tennis, or running in the morning before breakfast. Homes, schools and workplaces are not supposed to be bunkers. Our society should be worth more than that.

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Gerry Souter, Author of American Shooter – A personal history of gun culture in the United States, Potomac Books, Dulles, Virginia, avril1grp2@comcast.net, www.avril1.com, 

847-398-1087

Exaggeration and Credibility

Rub dirt in your hair. Rend your garments. Curse the heavens. Stand on a street corner with a battery bull horn and proclaim the end of the earth. Or just join the Tea Party, or other bloviating collection of gas bags and erase what marginal vestige of credibility they might have had when they woke up this morning. This is the patriotic bullies' end of the world, who see themselves as the saviors of our ability to own firearms and enjoy shooting sports.

These folks lost the election. The American people did not buy their over-the-top rabble rousing, appeal to the lowest common denominator of uninformed voter style of presenting the pros and cons of an issue. They helped sink the once Grand Old Party with their crude rhetoric, their tragic comprehension of history and their prognostications of things to come that any high school debate team could render moot. Instead of leading the discussion, they herd their acolytes and believers, sweeping along the confused and undecided into what appears to them to be a consensus.

While grown-ups (mostly) debate our financial future in Washington, these single-issue ideologues hop from one foot to the other preaching doom. They are not alone, of course. On the other side of the issue, the equally silly "gun grabbers" who doggedly follow the path that gave us Prohibition in the 1920s, plan and connive to remove all firearms from civilians -- 300 million firearms -- to make our world a safer place. That might have been a swell idea back when the Chinese were still tinkering with gunpowder, but 1100 years later, things have gotten out of hand.

All of the chest beating on both sides has done nothing to ease the burden on the average gun owner who must explain themselves as a sportsman and not one of the aluminum foil hat people whenever they let slip their sport of preference in a conversation.

Compromise Should Call the Shots

It's a whole new world out there. A fresh rain has washed all the soiled PAC money off the streets into the gutter where it belongs. The American electorate has once again cut through the ideologues' rhetoric to weed out the gasbags and constipated bloviators. The woof and stomp drum beat of the tragically off-track, out-of-touch Tea Party silliness has been given the boot for at least four years when the burrowing insects will emerge once again to plague the democratic process.

There, that was fun. I wish it was that clear cut. Like dogs yapping at the wheels of progress (what an image), we will continue to have skulkers loping along bleating doomsday forecasts, claiming election fraud, rubbing dirt into their hair and rending their garments. In the halls of the National Rifle Association PAC, we can imagine lamp cord nooses being fastened to light fixtures above teetering chairs atop tables, and bereft ideologues imploring their Conservative gods for a sign that this betrayal is all part of some mystical plan in the coming post-apocalyptic world. Or maybe not.

Maybe, just maybe some closet moderate might propose that the question of America's firearms tradition will be better served if the hierarchy in their fused vertebrae rigidity, peering out at the real world of shooting sports and our gun culture considers exploring...compromise. Of course the
"C-word" requires at least two parties. Those ultra-liberals perched on the lofty heights of moral righteousness who hide behind pages of slippery statistics and employ the same tactics to remove guns from the American populace as did their predecessors who championed Prohibition and the 18th Amendment have to pull a chair up to the table.

The tradition of firearms ownership and shooting sports should not be the ideological playground of  blustering patriotic bullies, nor the dry and barren desert of sweaty-palm statistic jugglers. There is a middle ground that removes the stigma and celebrates the accomplishments of shooting sports while abstracting the concept of "weapons" for their narrow and necessary applications. Give the C-word a chance and take the majority of American sportsmen and women off the hook.