Podcast - Black Man With A Gun ™

December 18, 2018

Things That Go Bump

Wow. According to the flames shooting out of my laptop, the President recently banned bump stocks by executive action. These same flames also tell me that this betrayal spells doom for President Trump and the cowardly Republicans. Honestly, if I could figure out how to monetize the anti-Trump and anti-GOP commentary coming from the gun community over this bump stock ban, I’d have my next couple of African safaris paid for already.

Understand that I think bump stocks are a stupid range toy. They are an unserious waste of money and I personally have no use for them. Also understand that I oppose banning them, period…but I agree with Michael Bane that this is not the hill we want to die on.* In fact, I think the President’s attempt at a ban is a “yuge” mistake, and may very well be overturned in court. (Seriously, what’s a liberal judge going to do when blocking a Trump action means supporting gun rights?)

But here’s my proposal. If this “ends” Donald Trump and the Republicans, I’ll buy you a Bentley. You know what’s going to happen to them, worst case? Donald Trump doesn’t get re-elected and the Republicans move back into the minority in the Senate (having already lost the House). You think this “ends” them? Nope. Even if he’s not President anymore, Donald Trump will still be Donald Trump…and at least he was President once. (You get that promotion to Assistant Manager yet?) And the Republicans? They might be in the minority in the House and Senate, but they’re still in the House and the Senate…and you’re still stuck in line at the Chick-fil-A.

So what’s my point? My point is that they aren’t afraid of you, dear Gun Voter. Shake your fist at the sky and threaten to never vote for them again, and watch them scurry off in fear to pass National Reciprocity and the Hearing Protection Act…right after they finish fighting that dastardly bump stock ban. Right?

I’ll never vote Republican again, as long as I live!

The truth is that the GOP prefers to be in the minority. As the minority, they don’t have to produce any results. All they need to do is “fight the good fight,” where they can then vote for all this pro-gun stuff, knowing it will never pass. Then the scrappy losers can hit the campaign trail and tell you how much they loves them some 2nd Amendment, and how they will never give in…as long as you vote for them. Go ahead and throw them in that briar patch, Brer Fox…

But here is where the two parties differ. While the Republicans may not fear their electorate enough to pass pro-gun legislation, the Democrats expect to be loved by their electorate for passing the most stringent gun control imaginable. And although this doesn’t bode well for advancing gun freedom, it ought to be clear which is the worst of the two options.

So what to do? The Vichy GOP will likely never go to the mat to roll back any existing gun control law (and they are all gun control laws). But I am also confident that if Hillary Clinton had been elected, her bump stock ban would be old news, and we’d certainly be facing even worse. Give Democrats enough power, and you’ll be calling Donald Trump’s bump stock ban “the good old days.”

So spare me the tirades about how you’re done with Trump and the Republicans. Sit out future elections, or worse…vote Democrat…and see what happens. Me? I guess I’ll keep voting Republican and working to “bump” them in the right direction.

*And if you want my pro-2A bonafides, here goes: I really and truly believe that every single gun law enacted since 1781 should be repealed. All of them. I am not exaggerating one bit. So there.

December 12, 2018

It Can’t Happen Here

“It can’t happen here,” is a phrase often associated with denial, and in the firearms industry, we usually discuss denial within the context of violent crime. Not today.

In my state of Kentucky, we have enjoyed a strong pro-gun environment for quite a while. Kentucky joined the concealed carry wave relatively early on, adopting shall-issue concealed carry in 1996. Here in the Bluegrass State, concealed carry licensing is relatively easy and reciprocity is widespread, and there are many other robust protections for gun owners.

But now we are facing a bill which is truly a gun controller’s wet dream. Pre-filed in the Kentucky General Assembly by Representative George Brown (D-Fayette County), BR 349 is basically an omnibus gun control bill. I would encourage you to read it for yourself here, but here are some highlights of this atrocious piece of anti-gun legislation:

Defines semiautomatic rifles ‘assault weapons’ based on a removable magazine plus a single feature, such as a pistol grip.
Defines pistols with a threaded muzzle as an ‘assault weapon’.
Defines magazines which hold more than 7 rounds as ‘high capacity’.
Enacts requirements for all transfers of firearms to go through a licensed dealer (FFL), to include a background check.
Makes all firearms transfer records public.
Enacts mandatory reporting requirements for loss/theft of firearms.
Enacts safe storage requirements.
Requires inventory of firearms belonging to the estate of deceased persons be reported to the county Clerk of Courts.
Creates licensing requirement for handgun possession.
Registers all handguns.
Registers all ‘assault weapons’ and ‘high capacity magazines’ as defined above.
Requires dealers to log sales and periodically transmit that log to the Kentucky State Police.

Now, it is unlikely that this bill will even make it out of committee. But this is pro-gun Kentucky, and the fact that a bill like this even exists here ought to give you chills, even if you live in another state…especially if you live in another state. Because it can happen here. And if it can happen in a state like Kentucky, it can happen anywhere.

Don’t think it can’t. Don’t fall asleep and assume that politicians will simply do the right thing. Contact your legislators and remind them that we value our gun freedom here, and that you expect them to represent those values when they kill this thing.

Click on the picture below to find out who your Kentucky legislators are and how to contact them.

December 10, 2018

#Me2A

I am American by birth. Generations of my people have survived the Middle Passage, rape, institutionalized slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation. The first gun control laws of the first 400 years were created and enforced to keep guns out of the hands of people that look like me. I support the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, all of it. I support the Second Amendment.

I am a good guy with a gun.

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“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery” Thomas Jefferson

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November 29, 2018

You, Me, and Police Shootings: The Truth

“The Second Amendment is for everyone.” I have to repeat the mantra of fellow former US Marine, gun rights activist, and podcaster Tony Simon. I know people that don’t realize they are free. They believe that the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are subjective. They have allowed injustices to occur because they feel that things don’t apply to them.

A right delayed is a right denied – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But where are we collectively as gun rights advocates when it comes to the recent police shootings of Black Men With Guns? I had a different draft post before I read this article from The Rolling Stones Magazine.

Here’s an excerpt from The “Good Guy With A Gun” is Never Black.”

The lack of ability to imagine black people as heroes may be one explanation for these shootings. That was one of the countless things that James Baldwin was right about. American fiction is a significant contributor to our ideas of heroism both on the page and onscreen, and as the author both wrote and said in 1965, “It comes as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians, and although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you.” Regardless of color, we all are trained from an early age not merely to synchronize whiteness and heroism, but are fed narratives that discourage us from forming any other conclusion. Barack Obama wasn’t enough to change that, to say nothing of Lando Calrissian, Roger Murtaugh or Axel Foley. Not even T’Challa from Black Panther or Chris from Get Out. A childhood of seeing men of color as cannon fodder for Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and other assorted Good White Guys With Guns has an effect on folks.

Jamil Smith

This article made me remember that I have been here before. I have thought many times since 1986 about the possibility of being shot myself by a law enforcement officer even after graduating from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Being pro-gun, African American and a staunch supporter of gun rights doesn’t make me immune.

The accidental death of an African American man in Alabama by a police officer is not news you want to read on Thanksgiving holidays, much less have happen at all. As a responsible gun owner where should we be in this conversation?

If you are a Black person, the lens in which you look at the recent shootings of Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr, and Jemel Roberson can be different.

I know police are not shooting African Americans for fun and profit. This stuff still bother us, regardless of color. Blaming the police broadly is a “cop-out.”

If you are a law enforcement officer I would dare to say that you hate to hear about this, knowing that it will make your job even harder than it already is.

Let’s look at the police.

The police have a difficult job. They are called to act before all the facts are known in dangerous situations. They have to basically jump into a crowd of strangers and figure out the good guys from the bad guys. When they get it wrong someone dies.

Have you ever heard of “Qualified Immunity.” It is a legal defense where government officials are held harmless if they followed established procedures. It is that established procedure that will be exonerate or incarcerate the police officer in question. The details won’t make it out of court. You only will see the drama. Folks will protest without knowing what was said in court. Even what you can see on video isn’t ironclad. There are always circumstances.

I am not excusing anything that has happened.

Police departments that can afford it use simulators to train when to shoot and when not to shoot. This reality based training is extremely useful in exposing weaknesses in police policy and in officer training. I know for a fact that training is the first thing cut out from a departments budget. And some people shouldn’t be police officers.

The truth is, you can’t fix stupid.

We hold law enforcement to a different standard but it is not fair. They are still just people.

The Media

The Media is challenged to report on what will get the most amount of eyes. As consumers, we will change the channel if there is no exciting news. Fear sells. We like to believe the worst of people before we watch good news so the media broadcasts daily, imagery of dangerous black men, criminals, using and dealing drugs, over-sexed, unemployable, idle and the epitome of death and doom. It is amplified by pop music and underground loving culture and ignorance, that promotes the negative stereotypes. We have no problem with that. That is why is it reported on a loop. It is sensational. Its media worthy. It divides. It sells.

Black people have already started the campaign against all police. That is wrong.

Fear. False Expectation Appearing Real.

The racism that everybody always brings up is really based on a fear of loss. Almost everything we do is based on the fear of loss. We buy stuff we don’t need because of it. White supremacy is based on the fear of losing the so-called Whiteprivilege. Fear of loss touches on almost everything you can name. This is all because of the psychology of fear. We are not as free as our Constitution allows.

We fear those different than us. What was once a defense mechanism is now a flaw.

We are conditioned to fear. We learn fear. We are afraid of the unknown. We are afraid that a black man will kill us. The myth of the predatory Black man has been used to instill fear in whites and to justify their brutality and violence against Black individuals, communities and continents since the 1600’s. The narrative has been passed down from one generation to the next and is still used to underwrite injustice against Black people.

We project this fear. Have you ever heard of projection? That is when one accuses someone of having traits they refuse to acknowledge in themselves.

The behavior of people around us also can influence our responses to threats. You ever see people run because everyone else is running? It is a smart response to crime prevention.

“Fear has a certain contagious feature to it, so the fear in others can elicit fear in ourselves. It’s conditioning. We come into the world knowing how to be afraid, because our brains have evolved to deal with nature.”

The truth is this is sad. This has happened before. Fear and perception cloud our judgements. Until I started to look “older” I used to cause quite a few people to move fast across the street, lock car doors when I approached or clutch their wallets/purses. I have been followed in the stores. I have been accused of “casing” a place while shopping. This is our society. I know that all it takes is one bad apple to make us accuse thousands of people in any group.

WTH do we do now? How can we stop this? How can we keep our nation together? How do we stop it from happening tomorrow?

I want to hear your opinions. But really think about what I said. The tragic killing of people that scare us, isn’t new. Don’t restate the problem? What do you suggest we do to solve this?

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018

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November 18, 2018

From A Distance

Disclaimer: This has nothing at all to do with guns or politics. I’m taking a break from that for a moment.

While traipsing around the internet recently, I stumbled across this website:

Open the page, and you’ll see a large red blob. But zoom in a little closer, and you’ll find that the red blob is composed of small red symbols shaped like little buildings.

Click on one of those symbols, and you’ll find that it represents a building which has suffered more than 50% damage in the Camp Fire in Paradise, California.

In the information window which appears when you click the little red symbol, you’ll see a link to an attached JPG image. Click on that, and the next thing you see will be a photo of a home or a business which has in most cases been burned to the foundation.

This is what that one small red symbol represents. Click the one next to it, and you’ll see the same thing. And the one next to that. And the one next to that. And so on, and so on. All you see is a big red blob…from a distance. Get close, and you see devastated individual lives.

I’m not going to debate the politics or practicalities of wildfire control and management here. We can do that another day. And you can make your own decisions about charitable giving, but I’ve made mine. I’ll be finding a reputable charitable organization and giving a little bit of what I have to someone who used to live in one of those little red symbols.

October 22, 2018October 22, 2018

Changing firearm practices within the state of Georgia

Gun laws in the United States have changed over the years, federally and in many states including Georgia. Of course, the most famous gun law in the country is the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It states that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” However, in 1934, the first piece of legislation to control gun sales was enacted, inspired by outcries over widely-publicized shootings. Further gun control laws passed Congress in 1968, 1993, and 1994, although some major court cases did work to successfully challenge restrictive bans.

Gun control laws are becoming stricter in many parts of the country, but Georgia actually has new laws protecting gun owners’ rights in more locations in the state. Georgia follows federal gun laws, but it does not require permits for long guns or background checks for individual gun sales.

There are many active firearms owners and advocates for gun rights in Georgia, and it is important that they understand how the changing laws affect them.

One of the laws that benefits Georgia gun owners is the Stand Your Ground law. This law aims to protect people who exercise their fundamental right to protect themselves in their own homes. The law is designed to stop people from being charged criminally if they kill an attacker while protecting themselves or another person.

The principle behind the law has long roots in Georgia law. In 1898, the state Supreme Court ruled that people have a right to use deadly force if their own life is in danger. Previously they were required to attempt to escape before deadly force could legally be used.

While the principles may date back over a century, the modern Stand Your Ground law was enacted in 2006, and its constitutionality has been reviewed at a federal level.

Since the law was passed, the number of related deaths has nearly doubled, from 7 annually to 13. The laws are sometimes criticized for promoting violent confrontation rather than de-escalation. More commonly, they are criticized not for their intent but for their application, particularly allegations of racial bias directed at police and prosecutors.

The law applies to anyone who believes his or her life to be in danger. People have the right to kill to defend themselves, and the shooting can be considered a justifiable homicide. However, police and prosecutors may not side with a self-defense claim, so people still may face aggravated assault or even murder charges. The Stand Your Ground law helps criminal defense lawyers for those facing charges to present a strong defense.

Additionally, the law can help crime victims protect their rights. One famous application of the law helped a man subject to an armed carjacking protect his rights after he shot and killed the man who was threatening his life. People can feel more secure about defending themselves and their loved ones when they know there is legislation that backs up their rights.

In 2014, Georgia revised its gun laws to expand protection for gun owners who carry their firearms in public. The Safe Carry Protection Act allows gun owner to bring their firearms to bars, churches, government buildings, airports, and even schools.

Many of the rules are subject to local legislation or a building’s owner, however. In addition, the law eliminated fingerprinting as a requirement for a firearms carry license and prevented the state from maintaining a database of licensed gun owners.

The law can help people to go about their business as gun owners who regularly engage in concealed carry. Rather than needing to lock away their gun where they won’t be able to reach it in an emergency, people will be able to defend themselves during an attack in a bar. In addition, people who go to the airport and forget to leave their gun behind can pick it up later; they won’t face criminal prosecution for a simple mistake.

The most recent update to Georgia’s gun laws is HB 280, passed in 2017. The law allows gun owners to carry on the campuses of public colleges and universities in the state. Bucking the trend toward increased gun control, Georgia’s legislature backed increased rights for the state’s 1-million licensed gun owners.

While licensed owners can carry concealed guns on any university property, they’re still forbidden from carrying in dormitories, sorority or fraternity houses, gated daycare facilities, private offices, and in classrooms with high school students.

Once again, the law prevents law-abiding, gun-owning college students from facing prosecution or disciplinary charges from coming to school with their firearm. In the worst-case scenario, gun owners can use their skill and training to protect others from an armed attacker on campus.

Gun laws are always in flux, and it can be important to consult with a lawyer to better understand your rights, especially if you’ve been involved in a self-defense incident. However, Georgia continues to be a state with strong and expanding protections for the people’s right to bear arms.

J. Blake Ledbetter is a partner at the law firm of Conoscienti & Ledbetter in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Ledbetter possesses significant experience with Uber accident lawsuits and a range of legal issues involving rideshare drivers and riders. Mr. Ledbetter specializes in civil trial practice, specifically in the areas of business law, corporate law, contract law and personal injury law.

September 6, 2018

Just Like Any Other Day

Today, as I watched live news coverage of a multiple shooting at a business local to me, one theme kept resurfacing. News anchors, reporters, and witnesses repeatedly emphasized that prior to the eruption of violence, today seemed “just like any other day.”

Of course it did. This isn’t the movies, you know. There isn’t going to be some ominous background music to warn you that something bad is getting ready to happen. Everyone thought it was just another Thursday…and it was.

There is still very little information on this incident so far, so I’ll refrain from extensive commentary right now. However, it is already evident that it was quite lucky that the attack occurred in a downtown area which typically has a heavy law enforcement presence. Most other locations in this area would not have the benefit of such rapid police response and resolution.

But remember this: Tomorrow, you will get up and go about your business…just like any other day. Are you prepared?

September 3, 2018September 3, 2018

Patrick Kilpatrick Professional Bad Guy

The actor known as Patrick Kilpatrick is releasing and new book which will be part of a two volume memoir, DYING FOR LIVING: Sins & Confessions of a Hollywood Villain and Libertine Patriot on Oct. 1, 2018 by Boulevard Books.

I got to meet Patrick when he invited me to the 2010 Hollywood Shotgun Sporting Clays Invitational to benefit City Of Hope Bone Marrow Donor Program at Triple B Shotgun Sporting Park on October 9, 2010 in El Monte, California. It was big deal because I was the ONLY podcaster present back then. The dude is still at it and maintaining his tireless pace as one of Hollywood’s go-to action villains.

I’m trying to get him interested in helping me with my Solomon Love stories.

Patrick Kilpatrick has played against a spectrum of Hollywood’s leading action heroes including, Tom Cruise, Yun-Fat Chow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, Bruce Willis, Steven Segal, Sean Connery, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, to name a few.

I call this professional bad guy a friend. He is pro-Second Amendment. He is a native of Virginia.

The Book

“For those of you hoping for unvarnished, inglorious behind-the-scenes and scandalous sagas of Hollywood action, I boldly refer you to my memoirs.”

He never served in military but he has looked out for vets. His father was a decorated WWII Underwater Demolition Team hero. He and his publisher Boulevard plan on donating a percentage of his book sales to those who’ve been wounded in service to the country.

He is an articulate guy that loves his country. DYING FOR LIVING – Sins & Confessions of a Hollywood Villain and Libertine Patriot is going to share some of the behavior Hollywood is known for.

The books’ plot points include murderous bi-polar assaults by an adulterous mother. It has privileged education amidst pastoral splendor and American Revolution patriotism. Also tucked in are bi-racial affairs, indiscriminate promiscuity and incendiary politics … not to mention, a near fatal car accident, motorcycle crashes. Scribing for nearly every magazine in New York as well as body-guarding the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart and more …and my global vision for 21st century America.

Patrick is smart and often as serious as a heart attack but he is good people. If you see his name on the credits of another movie, or in the book store soon check it out.