It's not an assault rifle, it is a "Homeland Security Defense Unit, .308 caliber" !
No doubt, Mr. Derby lives outside of Camden in a nice safe 'hood, so he can theorize and "feel" all he wants without dealing in reality or consequences. How the H*** does an "A" student become a gangbanger? I guess "A" doesn't mean much in today's classrooms.
I married an English & Reading teacher. Thank God she is a traditionalist, a conservative Christian and a Republican. I'm glad I found out all of these truths about her before I discovered her field, or I fear we'd never have struck a happy chord on which to proceed!
A few years ago, I had an English teacher at my last school going around telling all her kids that Haitians won the American Revolution! I did some research and discovered that indeed there was a contingent of Haitians who fought on the side of the colonials at the Battle for Savannah. Unfortunately, there were no battles of a critical nature that happened in the south...and second the Haitians LOST! They got slaughtered to the tune of 500 troops inside of an hour. The rest were captured. I HAD to set the kids straight.
So I got called into the Principal's office and was told to let the issue stand so that the huge numbers of Haitian kids in our school (at least 60% illegals) would be able to feel "good" about their heritage.
This required a change of tactics on my part. The very next day, some kids came in with that same English teacher trailing along behind to make sure I was following orders.
I told them indeed a huge contingent of Haitians played a significant role in winning the revolution. English teacher's BEAMING face changes to fury when I go on: In fact, they provided the British Soldiers with so many PRISONERS that there weren't enough soldiers left who weren't on guard duty to chase the American colonists back to Saratoga so the war could subsequently be won.... I never did hear another word on all of that. But I understand that the English department chair had a word about straying off into fields of education where one is NOT state certified to teach the subject.
Maybe that's one reason I was selected as the 2001 Social Studies Teacher of the Year for that school.
People like Tom Derby, and the authoritarian nanny-state politicians that he votes for, are not on my list of "reasons I regret leaving New Jersey."
If he wants to be a sheep, fine, that's his choice. I won't force him to buy and train with a gun, or to carry one with him when he leaves his home. But I will be damned if I'll let his ilk prevent me from being a sheepdog - one who'd prefer to be left alone to enjoy life, but one who is always looking around to see if there's danger, and who will to bear his fangs to deter it or to fight it.
His biggest factual error is in not comprehending that the police owe no duty to anyone to protect them. They aren't there to prevent crime, though it is nice the 1 time in 100 when they actually can do so. Otherwise, we're all on our own, and I don't really relish the idea of some cop making a chalk outline around my body, or of burying my wife or kids because I failed to - or was prevented from - exercising my right and duty to protect me and my own.
Of course, most of us here also understand that on a societal level the mere prevention of street crime is a minor thing - a good one, to be certain, but minor nonetheless. The far more important goal, as nathanbedford indicated, is to be able to shoot the King should he cease to abide by the constraints of his job description. The mere possession of the tools necessary to exercise that right by some 85 million of us has a huge deterrent effect on the political class, as was intended by those magnificent dead white males who are responsible for creating our country.
Tom Derby, if you don't like firearms, simply don't own one or even handle one if offered to you. Several of the Camden police stations themselves are surrounded by sharp concertina wire and are extensively fortified. It is not a safe place for tourists who might get lost going to or from Philadelphia just across the river.
~ Blue Jays ~
I am a firm believer in concealed firearms, available but almost never used. I call it the "black belt paradox".
Expert martial artists rarely get involved in "real" fights, that *they* don't start, because they have an air of confidence and security about them that is subtly recognized by others. People are far less inclined to "start trouble" with someone they have a feeling could whup them.
The same applies to concealed firearms. They change a person's character by giving them a confidence that is seen by others. This translates into the situation of "having a concealed gun means not having to draw it."
But the entire dynamic changes when the gun is exposed, and brandished. The keeper of the concealed gun *loses* their emotional confidence when their gun is exposed, because of the assumption, often correct, of a "flight or fight" response in whoever sees their gun.
Every person with common sense should have at least a small sense of fear and attention when a gun is brandished and they are not in control of it. Unless, of course, you have great confidence in whoever does have it, that they are sober, sensible, careful, attentive, and safety-minded.
Hardly what I would call a common assumption.
That being said, the confidence of having a concealed weapon is usually replaced with often false assumptions about what having a gun can do for you. It does not make you godlike, or impervious to harm, nor does it necessarily give you dominance in a situation, or make you a person who must be respected and obeyed. But it is in your hand, and you are focused on it. In a manner of speaking, it can become an emotional crutch.
Brandishing a gun may make you a target, and cause those about you to immediately search for whatever is available for their use as a weapon, and to calculate how to close the distance to you and violently attack before you can use your gun.
It can also be a deadly error if you brandish yet do not know that the person you are menacing *also* has a concealed weapon.
For these reasons, the "Old West Rules" of handling a gun were good ones. Those being that the gun remains holstered until absolutely needed, and is drawn only on the assumption of being fired. And every shot fired is also assumed could be a lethal shot.
For the vast majority of people then, the comfort and security of having a concealed gun will be enough--they will never, ever have to draw it. And this is the attitude they should keep.
The few who live in a bad neighborhood should ignore the confidence they feel in having a concealed weapon, and focus instead on their feelings when they brandish with intent to fire and possibly to kill. When they unholster, they need to instantly have a feeling of cold calculation without hesitation. Their gun is not a security blanket, but a lifesaving tool.
Some of the largest asses I have run into in my long career as a student, college student and graduate student were "English" teachers.
Most of them were left-wing propagandists masquerading as grammarians and literature professors.
Unfortunately for the real victims here they live in the People's Republic of New Jersey which frowns on citizens protecting themselves.
They would prefer people submit patiently to criminals, later call the over-paid constabulary to pick up the pieces, and allow the courts, attorneys and psychologists to make a fortune trying and rehabilitating these monsters.
Philadelphia and its environs are a big piece of New York dropped into an otherwise benign state.
This just proves that being an educated egghead doesnt equate to having common sense
These people don't deserve to live
My tag line says it all.
Okay, no tapdancing from me - - Derby is a sick, pathetic ignoramus. Teachers like him are the reason parents who love their children must keep them far, far away from the government schools.
And this man's opinion is important because?..........
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"derby" is slang in Detroit for a lump of feces-apologies to other Derbys,but in this case the shoe fits
Repealing the 2nd Amendment to stop crime is like repealing the 1st Amendment to stop porn!