Sunday, April 27, 2008

WORLD COMES TO AN END!!! GUN OWNER GETS TO STATE POSITION IN LOCAL PRESS!!!

Update to this post: the paper has deleted this file due to malignant activity by people on the comments forum on their web site. I don't know when or if we'll ever be able to see these items again, but who knows? It took forever to get this far! - 8/01/08

For years, we've had a running feud with the local newspaper, which has been pretty much anti-gun, anti-self-defense and anti-rights.

But just recently we staged a political action, a demonstration at a city commission meeting, and subsequent to that they asked me to do a Q&A with them. You could have knocked me over with a feather!
It went well, and if you follow the link you can read it online. I have some quibbles with some of the editing and much was left out since they have constraints on how much they space they can use for it, but overall I was quite pleased with it.
It's a start, maybe the beginning of a new sort of relations with them. I hope so.
Now if I can get them out to the range and start them shooting!

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Parable of the Sheep


In 1997, just after we'd gotten our concealed carry law passed here in Kentucky, the Frankfort city commission decided to ban CCDW in city buildings.

It made no sense then, it makes no sense now. We told them so and they ignored us. I wrote the Parable of the Sheep in response to that proposed ban. It's the piece for which I'm best known, and has appeared on web sites around the world.
Go here to read it as it was first posted on the web by my friend and fellow former KC3 board member, Tyler Allison.

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The Parable of the Sheep


Not so long ago and in a pasture too uncomfortably close to here, a flock of sheep lived and grazed. They were protected by a dog, who answered to the master, but despite his best efforts from time to time a nearby pack of wolves would prey upon the flock.

One day a group of sheep, bolder than the rest, met to discuss their dilemma. "Our dog is good, and vigilant, but he is one and the wolves are many. The wolves he catches are not always killed, and the master judges and releases many to prey again upon us, for no reason we can understand. What can we do? We are sheep, but we do not wish to be food, too!"

One sheep spoke up, saying "It is his teeth and claws that make the wolf so terrible to us. It is his nature to prey, and he would find any way to do it, but it is the tools he wields that make it possible. If we had such teeth, we could fight back, and stop this savagery." The other sheep clamored in agreement, and they went together to the old bones of the dead wolves heaped in the corner of the pasture, and gathered fang and claw and made them into weapons.

That night, when the wolves came, the newly armed sheep sprang up with their weapons and struck at them, crying, "Begone! We are not food!" and drove off the wolves, who were astonished. When did sheep become so bold and so dangerous to wolves? When did sheep grow teeth? It was unthinkable!

The next day, flush with victory and waving their weapons, they approached the flock to pronounce their discovery. But as they drew nigh, the flock huddled together and cried out, "Baaaaaaaadddd! Baaaaaddd things! You have bad things! We are afraid! You are not sheep!"

The brave sheep stopped, amazed. "But we are your brethren!" they cried. "We are still sheep, but we do not wish to be food. See, our new teeth and claws protect us and have saved us from slaughter. They do not make us into wolves, they make us equal to the wolves, and safe from their viciousness!"

"Baaaaaaad!" cried the flock, "the things are bad and will pervert you, and we fear them. You cannot bring them into the flock!" So the armed sheep resolved to conceal their weapons, for although they had no desire to panic the flock, they wished to remain in the fold. But they would not return to those nights of terror, waiting for the wolves to come.

In time, the wolves attacked less often and sought easier prey, for they had no stomach for fighting sheep who possessed tooth and claw even as they did. Not knowing which sheep had fangs and which did not, they came to leave sheep out of their diet almost completely except for the occasional raid, from which more than one wolf did not return.

Then came the day when, as the flock grazed beside the stream, one sheep’s weapon slipped from the folds of her fleece, and the flock cried out in terror again, "Baaaaaad! You still possess these evil things! We must ban you from our presence!"

And so they did. The great chief sheep and his council, encouraged by the words of their advisors, placed signs and totems at the edges of the pasture forbidding the presence of hidden weapons there. The armed sheep protested before the council, saying, "It is our pasture, too, and we have never harmed you! When can you say we have caused you hurt? It is the wolves, not we, who prey upon you. We are still sheep, but we are not food!" But the flock drowned them out with cries of "Baaaaaaddd! We will not hear your clever words! You and your things are evil and will harm us!"

Saddened by this rejection, the armed sheep moved off and spent their days on the edges of the flock, trying from time to time to speak with their brethren to convince them of the wisdom of having such teeth, but meeting with little success. They found it hard to talk to those who, upon hearing their words, would roll back their eyes and flee, crying "Baaaaddd! Bad things!"

That night, the wolves happened upon the sheep’s totems and signs, and said, "Truly, these sheep are fools! They have told us they have no teeth! Brothers, let us feed!" And they set upon the flock, and horrible was the carnage in the midst of the fold. The dog fought like a demon, and often seemed to be in two places at once, but even he could not halt the slaughter.

It was only when the other sheep arrived with their weapons that the wolves fled, only to remain on the edge of the pasture and wait for the next time they could prey, for if the sheep were so foolish once, they would be so again. This they did, and do still.

In the morning, the armed sheep spoke to the flock, and said, "See? If the wolves know you have no teeth, they will fall upon you. Why be prey? To be a sheep does not mean to be food for wolves!" But the flock cried out, more feebly for their voices were fewer, though with no less terror, "Baaaaaaaad! These things are bad! If they were banished, the wolves would not harm us! Baaaaaaad!"

So they resolved to retain their weapons, but to conceal them from the flock; to endure their fear and loathing, and even to protect their brethren if the need arose, until the day the flock learned to understand that as long as there were wolves in the night, sheep would need teeth to repel them.

They would still be sheep, but they would not be food!

copyright 1997 - Charles Riggs, Frankfort, Ky.


Wednesday, April 23, 2008

A grand new adventure!

As much as I've always jumped in to offer my opinions on just about subject in which I have an interest, I've resisted getting into the blogosphere.
Don't get me wrong. I love to read other's blogs. I like the opportunity to express myself in a situation where I can just let 'er rip, damn the torpedos! But I've read some absolutely wretched stuff on the web - things that made me cringe, made me wonder about the judgement of the poster, things that were so badly written and misinformed that I was embarrassed for the writer, even if they were just as happy as a pig in a mud wallow with it.
I had no desire to go charging into this without taking a long time to think about it, taking a long deep breath and a long hard look at where I'd like it to go.
Having done that, today we embark on this cybervoyage. Won't be no great profundity, won't be no fabulousness but I can hope that every once in awhile I can come up with something that clicks, resonates or touches a reader, and provokes a thoughtful, even passionate response.
And passion's where it's at in all that we do or want to do, doncha think, friends? If you don't feel strongly about something after taking the time to think about it, hell, if you don't have a strong reaction to it just as soon as you see it then it's probably not worth thinking or writing about at all.
Big thanks to Michael Bane, Peter Grant and Marc Danziger (links to follow) for giving me a virtual kick in the seat to get this going.



"Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries 'Hold, enough!'"