At the main entrance of a well-known cardiologist’s office near Atlanta, there is a sign that reads, “No firearms allowed!” Is this an invitation to criminals/robbers that assures their safety if they decided to enter the premises for mayhem?
The huge waiting room was filled with mostly elderly heart patients in various stage of illness and ages. As they sat there; they were totally helpless.
The first thought might be, “I wonder if criminals/killers can even read and if they can would they heed?” Of course, not. Do signs like these stick out like a written invitation to those who will fear no response if they bring a gun on the premises?
The staff was somewhat safe behind a granite/marble counter. All they would have to do in such a shooting would be to duck down.
This puts me in mind of two instances of the past – not including the most recent horrific shootings that took the lives of so many wholesale. There was an incident many years ago when an armed killer entered a beauty shop and opened fire – he was mostly aiming at his wife; if my long term memory serves me. Picture women sitting underneath noisy hair dryers and in walks a stranger bent on murder.
They were like victims in a cage with no place to run and hide. Also, I am reminded of an incident involving a young woman from Texas who went to have lunch with her parents at a local restaurant and witnessed a gunman shoot down her father in front of her - knowing that she had a gun in the glove compartment of her car. The gunman later held a gun to her mother’s head and shot her as she sat cradling her dying husband.
Because of this senseless act, Suzanna Gratis Hupp, ran for and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. She has written a book about her experience that day; and she also outlines her battle to defend American rights to own and carry guns for their own personal protection.
Gun laws and restrictions are hot in the news today in light of the most recent shootings of innocent children in Connecticut; and the mass killing of both children and adults in Colorado.
“A friend of mine lost a family member in the Colorado theater shooting. He put his back to the shooter as he tried to usher his little girls out the door. They made it; but he did not. He gave his life for his precious little girls; as any loving father would do. This made me think of Jesus who did the same thing for us all”.
Ms. Hupp’s book is temporarily out of stock on Amazon; but you can order and they will send it to you as they are restocked.
The write-up from Amazon is as follows:
“On October 16, 1991, Suzanna Gratia Hupp witnessed the tragic shooting of 23 people at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, among them her parents. Ironically she had decided against carrying a small revolver—that could have dramatically changed the day's events—in her purse that day out of a fear of losing her chiropractor’s license if caught possessing a weapon.
In this autobiography, she chronicles her evolution from a small-town chiropractor into a national icon for the right to armed self-defense. Her transformation into a high-profile, gun-rights activist began when her impassioned calls for the right of citizens to carry guns for self-protection thrust her into the middle of the gun-control debate. She repeatedly testified under oath against the ineffectiveness of gun-control laws that, in her opinion, disarmed law-abiding citizens, making them potential victims of criminals who did not obey the law.
This position on gun legislation paved the way for a decade-long tenure as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, where, in addition to championing Second Amendment and privacy rights, she served as a member of the House Rural and Veterans and Military Affairs Caucuses, Chair of the House Select Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care, and Chair of the Human Services Committee.”
Also after this shooting made national news, this author wrote an article about this horrible event; and will reprint it as a new article in light of all the talk about gun control. There are two very important issues facing America and lawmakers today; and both sides need to be heard.
First of all criminals and the mentally ill should be banned from owning firearms and anyone caught in the act of a crime with a gun – no matter how major or minor – should automatically receive a 20-year jail sentence with no parole in addition to the sentence for the crime.
Gun ownership should be limited to those twenty-one and older – and should teens be caught with a firearm used in a crime (or not); they should be given stiff sentences along with in-depth counseling in a work camp.
Gun ownership for law-abiding citizens should not be restricted; but every effort made through strict sentencing should be implemented for those who would use a weapon for evil purposes – even robbery.
Hollywood should get the dollar-signs out of their eyes and stop producing such violent movies for profit which influence others to imitate them and commit horrible crimes. For those who have mental problems, anger problems or just out of control problems, these movies desensitizes them to act out what they see.
Today on Fox News, the story is told about “innocent” children pointing their hand like a gun and saying “bang, bang” at school which resulted is a suspension - which was revoked.
While some defended them as innocent little children – they are acting out what they have learned – there is a notable poem written about children and how they live what they learn. Parents should have this tacked on the walls of every room of their homes.
Children Learn What They Live: By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.
Some may recall that Dr. Martin Luther King’s mother was shot and killed in her church while playing the organ.
“Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974 by a 23 year-old black man named Marcus Wayne Chenault as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Chenault was a deranged gunman from Ohio who stated that he shot King because "all Christians are my enemies." He died in prison, in 1995, after complications from a stroke.”
Had any member been armed and trained, he could have been stopped as could the shooter at Luby’s and many lives could have been saved.
In the darkness of that theater in Colorado, a well trained marksman could have taken that shooter down; and well-trained teachers/principals in our schools should have the right and legal responsibility to protect the lives of all of our children; and not just the President’s kids. This should not be willy-nilly; but a carefully trained program much like men and women would receive for the military and/or police force. We do not send our children to school to be shot and killed.
Today, President Obama gave a press conference regarding gun control in America. For the report in the Chicago Tribune read here.
Huffington Post reports on the press conference as well.
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