Winds of change for citizens

Last friday, around midnight in chicago around a square, there was something that took place, which will become a milestone in the State of Illinois. A 22 year old person of a certain a filiation was looking to cause injury to a group of another a filiation, without any care or concern for the inicent people between. However, a person whom was concerned, mature and responsible made a decision to not allow inicent people to become injured. A citizen whom has took the time to get trained and educated in conceal carry, acted! The Armed Citizen, using his situational awareness, seen the situation playing out and made a decision based on the information he gathered. The person engaged the threat and the application of fundamentals of marksmanship payed off. The 22 year old was wounded and charged with aggravated assault of unlawful weapon. The Armed Citizen as found to be well within his right, and no charges was filed against him. Okay, another shooting in Chiraq, what is the big deal. The big deal is it will be the first time a law abiding conceal carry citizen engaged a threat in the state of Illinois. This in itself is not "ground-breaking", the way of which the investigation and out look from authorities is! In years past, if this would of happen, they both would of been charged and to be sorted out through the justice system. To this author knowledge this will be the first time, in public, a citizen acted to defend others using his conceal carry training to save lives in the windy city, without any legal charges being brought agaist him/her. Could this be the "wind's of change" taking effect? Could it be that concerned, Armed citizens, finally be viewed as not a threat but an assest? I have stated, that with the passing of the Firearm Conceal Carry License will come change in the State of Illinois. The reason why, just like the 2nd amendment of the Constitution, this gives the responsible citizen the power back into there lives and faith back into the legislation. With the passing of the law, it mandated that citizens must complete 16 hours of training or be exempt for first eight hours. This in turn cause's a social change. Citizen's then begin to view other things differently, which effects certain views on other subjects. With the change comes more educated people along the lines we are discussing. There amount of firearm accidents from trained people will plumet, and will not these citizens be the ones among the pool for jury selection in trial in and/or around the use of firearms. Thus, effecting the legal system in a positive and good way, in turn will make the state more aware of the needs and wants of the people. The change for the better is happening not just in this state but the whole country. The people of this great nation are now in essence putting the criminal and coward predators on notice! Enough is enough, no longer will hard working men and women toil hard to allow there lives to be put in jeopardy or that of there families. No matter your background, religion, race, creed these people share one thing in common. They are resposible and armed.

Primal Right to Defense

Life on this planet share a lot of things in common everything eats, needs water, makes waste and defend's themselves. Think about it, if life on this planet did not posses at a minimal a way to defend itself, life would of ended a long time ago. The key thing is that life also has to work in harmony with everything around it or has a checks/balances put about it by nature. A civilized society use's the checks/balances by enacting laws that all members are expected to follow and adhere too. This is nothing new as those reading this have grown up with this respect of fellow people. But, what is unique in our time is that for the first time in civilized human history, there is a huge debate over people's perspective of defense, think about it. Look back at the standards of things that would of been exceptable even 30 years ago? Certain things have became not became more strict, but perception has changed and driven by certain groups within our society. At no time does the black letter of the law condone fighting. However, the law being wise and mature it does take into account that even in a civilized society fighting (which is the last form of negotiaion, to be discussed in another blog) will happen. When it does, the wisdom of the law accounts that it must be of equal terms and/or balanced. The justifiable defense within the scope of the law is a very narrow window. Many of my students ask me, "why that is?". If you think about it, very few of us will be involved in a situation where we would be put to the letter of the law. We see a situation start to devolp we do what we can to disconnect or disolve it as quickly as possible. Which in turn keeps the escalation getting to the point to where defense would occur. As we "Mature" we begin to realize it more. When young we are ready to engage at a drop of a hat. But as we get older, it becomes aparent that it is not as wise, why? We could end up in jail, we could be injured (which means hospital bills and missing work), we change our lifestyle as more things move into the realm of importance (job, family, hobbies). But, Do I not still have the right to protect myself and family? In my humble opinion, YES! However, we need to first remember a key thing about rights, they come with responsibility. Through the matrix of American's lives it seem's as we sometime forget that. You have a responsiblity to know the standard that you will be held to. You have the responsiblity to account for your actions and acticulate them. You have the responsibility to ensure that what you do is just and sound. Along with that it is my opinion that you have the responsibility to aquire the skill's that you need. We live in a country where we have Law Enforcement Officer's (who have a hard job and I respect), but they cannot be there every second that you need them. The rule is that one officer per 32 citizens in a city, much of our country is way below that, they are busy. You must realize that it is your primal right to protect yourself and your family from death or grave bodily harm on a daily basis. I am talking about from the criminal element, not terrorism (though it is becoming more and more our concern as well). Take the time and get some training, become educated to it. I have a saying I tell some new students, "What is there to fear if we understand it?". Get educated and develop a plan, pray you never need to use it, but if you do, then you are prepared. Would you sit inside a burning building and wait for firefighters to come and get you? Or would you get and extinquisher and use to make your way out as soon as possible? That is why we have them in our home as well as smoke detectors, we pray we don't need it, but if we do we are glad it was there. That is why you have it, because an equipped fireman doesn't live in your home. That is why, we should be educated in defense and personal protection, because we cann not carry an officer in our pocket. Many people wonder where to start, N.R.A. has a great first seminar for personal defense that is not about firearms, called "Refuse to be a Victim". It address's things that many people don't think about. For firearm training NRAInstructor.org is a referance, if in Illinois get a hold of me. Stay safe, seek training and enjoy life Todd