A COUNTRY WITH NO GUNS

[BRR]

I posted this a few weeks ago on like page 12 of a thread and received a few comments that I should bring it to the front so I did.

I recently returned from a mission trip to Sri Lanka - a country where guns are outlawed. When the sunami hit a few years ago my wife was in Haiti and there was a military group working for the UN Peace Keepers in Haiti that were from Sri Lanka and they had no contact with or idea what happened to their loved ones back home. The Lt. Col. in charge saw my wife working with the children and invited her to the UN Compound. It had been over a year since a civilian had gone past those gates. After returning home she sent him her laptop so he could go to the local mission and try to contact his family. These men went weeks with no contact from home. Remember that 32,000 people died in just over 12 minutes ,many never to be seen from again because the water just washed them away. Many miles away they went into mass graves once the water settled and the equador sun did it's job.

When his term in Haiti was about to end he flew to the USA for the first time and after going to the UN in NYC he spent a couple days in MA. At dinner one night he asked us to please go to his coutry because the streets were full of orphans. I opened my gun safe to him and he was like a little kid. He told me that he was issued a Browning 9 MM as his sidearm , but could not take it home with him. He had to sign it in and out daily. While being in Sri Lanka we were with military almost constantly. At times we would pull over and they would change their uniforms and the number plates on the vehicle and continue down the road. After doing this a few times my wife said "Col. we must be in a dangerous area " he stated " There is no true safe place in Sri Lanka madam " It truly made me appreciate this great country we live in. They could change their uniforms and plates , but I was still 6 feet tall and white.

We came to an intersection and I looked out the window and happened to spot a man in a bunker and all you could see was his head and shoulders and an AK 47. My reply to the driver was " Please move on " The terrorist in this country do whatever they want when they enter a village usually hurting the children to control the adults. If you do wrong to my wife or my daughters you will have my undivided attention. The average income in SL is $1000.00 - $1200.00 annually with a used pentium 3 w/ a 30gb HD going for $2000.00 US dollars. I have tried mailing things back to them and the gov. will not allow it or they tax it more than the value.

Now that I am home I have since talked to many anti-gun people and tried to share with them that not all gun owners have a " WHEN DEADS NOT GOOD ENOUGH " mentality. I think it's very important that we do what we can to get specially young people to persue getting their LTC and see that after pulling the trigger you can't just hit restart like you can in video games. I feel that if we can get people to think for themselves and not just let Big Brother do all the thinking for them that most people will agree with what this country was founded on from the beginning. By the way I've been an associate pastor for 22 years and own 8 glocks and 2 sigs and love it. We live in a blessed country and I'm proud to call this my home.

 

[maee]

Very interesting article. Thanks for writing this.

I find that younger people have a very "consumerist, virtual-centric" mentality. Which is to say that many don't desire to do anything for themselves. Partly this is because of computers and the internet, but I think the larger reason is that times have been so good in the US for the last 25 years. Instead of building electronics kits, ham radios, model railroads, using chemistry sets, the expectation is that we should just go to the Mall and buy everything we need. No need to build yourself a complicated ham radio that requires math, engineering and patience when you can buy yourself a cell phone for next to nothing.

But you know what? The Indians and the Chinese are willing to think hard, work hard and do the unpleasant work American's aren't willing to do anymore. They don't mind studying for years to learn math to be engineers. Too bad.

 

[Bruce for NH State Rep]

If I may...

Paragraph breaks are your friend.

 

[sig shooter]

Very interesting article. Thanks for writing this.

I find that younger people have a very "consumerist, virtual-centric" mentality. Which is to say that many don't desire to do anything for themselves. Partly this is because of computers and the internet, but I think the larger reason is that times have been so good in the US for the last 25 years. Instead of building electronics kits, ham radios, model railroads, using chemistry sets, the expectation is that we should just go to the Mall and buy everything we need. No need to build yourself a complicated ham radio that requires math, engineering and patience when you can buy yourself a cell phone for next to nothing.

But you know what? The Indians and the Chinese are willing to think hard, work hard and do the unpleasant work American's aren't willing to do anymore. They don't mind studying for years to learn math to be engineers. Too bad.

im am 20 and i fully agree you will find few young people like me, i like to be in control of my life i want to hunt my own food,catch my own fish,fix my own car,defend my own family... the government has no right to run every aspect of my life!!!!.

 

[MikeH]

Nice article. A good reminder of how fortunate we are.

 

[Yelena]

Thanks for a nice post. It sometimes looks for me like many people in the US, especially those who had never been in the poorer countries, just don't appreciate what they have. Probably not every American can imagine life without computers, cell phones, private cars, and so on, not even talking about food shortages or lack of medical care. That's why young poeple just don't think what they do. Maybe they assume that anything they do wrong can be taken care of somehow by someone
Yes, I strongly agree that every gun owner needs to do what they can to educate people about guns and shooting.

 

[blindndead]

Good read.

 

[the_doctor]

Very interesting article. Thanks for writing this.

I find that younger people have a very "consumerist, virtual-centric" mentality. Which is to say that many don't desire to do anything for themselves. Partly this is because of computers and the internet, but I think the larger reason is that times have been so good in the US for the last 25 years. Instead of building electronics kits, ham radios, model railroads, using chemistry sets, the expectation is that we should just go to the Mall and buy everything we need. No need to build yourself a complicated ham radio that requires math, engineering and patience when you can buy yourself a cell phone for next to nothing.

But you know what? The Indians and the Chinese are willing to think hard, work hard and do the unpleasant work American's aren't willing to do anymore. They don't mind studying for years to learn math to be engineers. Too bad.

I had to pass code... I'm one of the last extra class hams that passed a code test. LOL.

 

[WILDCATT]

???????

I think every one should go in the service.right after school or if quiting school be put in.and shipped {stationed] around the world.I spent couple yrs in Trinadad.talk about an education.I had guns of my own as those days you could.bought box of ammo,had to get ok from my officer then the Major of british police.then a permit was issued,shot it up and oh oh only one box a month.course I got all the 45s and 22s I wanted not to count 30 and 50 cal.
I had a 38acp 1905 colt and a 97 win shotgun.and 1909 colt 45colt I shot 45acps in.

 

[KMaurer]

Very interesting article. Thanks for writing this.

I find that younger people have a very "consumerist, virtual-centric" mentality. Which is to say that many don't desire to do anything for themselves. Partly this is because of computers and the internet, but I think the larger reason is that times have been so good in the US for the last 25 years. Instead of building electronics kits, ham radios, model railroads, using chemistry sets, the expectation is that we should just go to the Mall and buy everything we need. No need to build yourself a complicated ham radio that requires math, engineering and patience when you can buy yourself a cell phone for next to nothing.

But you know what? The Indians and the Chinese are willing to think hard, work hard and do the unpleasant work American's aren't willing to do anymore. They don't mind studying for years to learn math to be engineers. Too bad.

+1 A few weeks ago I took my granddaughters to the movies. We managed to get there early, so rather than standing around having them pester me to put money in the video games, we went next door to a toy store and walked around for a while. I don't know about them, but I was on cloud nine. Unlike the crap I see in most toy stores, this one was stuffed full of model railroad layouts, chemistry sets (unfortunately bowdlerized compared to the ones we had as kids), electronics kits, microscopes, telescopes and other great stuff. I know where I'm going to be spending a lot of money on birthday presents for the next few years. (As an extra, it's in NH, so none of my money does to the thieves on Beacon Hill.)

Ken