Posted on 12/19/2012 1:05:56 PM PST by Pining_4_TX
Among his customers Tuesday was the Rev. Steve Whitaker, president and CEO of the John 3:16 Mission in downtown Tulsa.
"But my environment is much safer with the presence of firearms, whether it's in the hands of a security person or law enforcement or whether it's in the hands of a lawful gun carrier."
Whitaker said having a firearm saved his life seven years ago.
Leaving the Mission late one night, he stopped at a convenience store on North Cincinnati Avenue to gas up and fetched his gun from his vehicle after armed men threatened to kill him. The men, who tried to attack him, scattered when Whitaker brandished his weapon, he said.
"If it wasn't for the presence of my gun," Whitaker said, "I'm pretty sure I would have been harmed or killed that night."
Whitaker advocates a national debate on whether guns in schools would mitigate mass shootings.
"It seems common sense to me that if a madman would try to do some horrific, shocking crime, as we witnessed last week, that he would go to a place where there are no firearms, where people are disarmed," he said.
The bulk of the discussion, however, needs to be directed at mental health, he said.
"If we don't do something about the mental health-care crisis, it doesn't matter what we do about firearms," Whitaker said. "Guns are a part of our world. If they were to try to do some kind of a confiscation tomorrow, ... I don't know what fraction of guns it would be, but it wouldn't be many.
"Madmen are still going to find some way to harm people. We need to do something about the madness that pervades those kinds of people."
(Excerpt) Read more at tulsaworld.com ...
I would like to see a compilation of all the incidents where someone who was armed saved himself or someone else sent to every member of Congress. I know, the facts don't seem to matter any more, but it's worth a try.
---Your Friendly Neighborhood Gun Store
****president and CEO of the John 3:16 Mission in downtown Tulsa. ****
I know where that is! It is not a nice part of town, in NORTH Tulsa. I think it is north of ARCHER.
I got turned around in there 40 years ago. Realized my pistol was unloaded. Never again!
Any time a firearms-related thread is created on FreeRepublic, please be sure to add the "banglist" keyword to it so that interested FReepers don't miss it. Just a suggestion.
Let Freedom Ring,
I was in Academy earlier to buy ammo for Christmas presents, the shelves were bare.
If TV teaches us anything true about guns it is that criminals can and will get guns, even if it is illegal.
In cabelas today, out of AR magazines, only a few boxes of .300 AAC ammo, very low on 7.62 AR rounds. People were buying large loads of other ammo as well, stacked deep at the gun counter.
Yes, north Tulsa is not the place to be.
You’ll appreciate this story.... The local busybodies whined and complained that there were no grocery stores in north Tulsa (you know, the old “food desert” nonsense). So, finally they persuaded some poor schmo to open one. Well, within 2 weeks of the grand opening, the store was robbed. Some wag posted a comment on the story about the robbery at the Tulsa World online that said, “That wasn’t my day, but somebody is $100 richer.” Apparently people had a pool going to betting on when the store would be robbed. ;-)
“Talk of New Gun Laws Spikes Firearm, Ammo Sales”
Not for me. It makes me curious about how fast 400 pound homeland security slobs can run to find cover under concentrated fire. Most areas don’t have 800-year-old redwoods to hide behind.
That’s just me, though. Maybe we need harpoons to give them a fair shake.
Huffington Post has sent out emails to its readers asking for input from Oklahoma teachers and school employees on what they think about the proposal to allow OK teachers to carry guns in the classroom. Comments to be sent to openreporting@huffingtonpost.com
The email also mentions (hint, hint) contacting state legislators about the proposal. No doubt they hope that educators who read HuffPo are anti-gun.
I hope there are some OK Freepers who are teachers or school employees who will give the leftists at HuffPo an earful.
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