Proud gun owner!

That’s right I’m frickinnuts and I own a gun! In fact I own a few guns. Ok you got me; I own a lot of guns.
I trade guns, sell guns, buy guns, shoot guns, hunt with guns, fix guns, clean guns and show others how to use guns. You might say I’m a gun nut too. I have a safe and I store my guns in there, as far as you know all my guns are in there. Oh but there might be a gun in my top drawer, just in case I feel the need to look at it and hold it and spin it around on my finger like a cowboy in the old west in the middle of the night without waking up my kids trying to get in the gun-safe.

Do I think guns are toys or to be played with? No. I do take gun ownership very serious. I have a CHL (concealed handgun license). I go to the range at least 1 a month. I shoot in a gun club with like minded people.  I don’t think someone should run out and get a gun to feel safer and not have a clue how to use it. Several friends have come to me about what kind of gun to buy and where to buy it and the first thing I say is lets go shooting and let me show you how to hold it and load it and fire it and be safe with it. Then we can talk about where and what to buy.

I do think there should be regulations. I’m not a fan of the “gun show loophole” and I’m really not a fan of the “Fast and the Furious”. I see no reason for fully automatic weapons. I don’t want 18 year olds owning guns or even shooting them without supervision. My boys shoot with me and I teach them gun safety and proper use.  I believe the worst thing you can do is have an unsecured weapon in a house full of children and not teach then the danger. Children shooting themselves or others is mostly because they find daddy’s gun and have never held a real one and need to check it out, I say teach them how and make it not taboo. Tell a kid not to jump off the roof and don’t explain why and I bet they break a leg to find out for themselves.

I do think there is a limit to regulation. I don’t want the government telling me how many guns I can own or buy at a time. I don’t want the government telling me how many bullets my guns can hold.  I don’t want the government saying I have to keep all the guns locked up and the ammo in a different place. I, like most guns owners have different guns that serve different purposes’. I have a shot gun for shooting birds and I love dove! I have a couple of rifles for shooting deer’s and hogs. I have handguns for shooting any number of things. I even have a special handgun for shooting snakes. And yes I have handguns for shooting people, I have a really nice 357 magnum and you get to see the business end of that one if you stop by my place at 3 in the morning uninvited. Oh yea and I have an awesome AK-47 because it’s the true choice of shooters everywhere, just look at any video or picture of the middle east, China or Russia and someone is holding one!
 
If you don’t have a weapon you’re a victim and I’ll never be a victim! Oh and by the way Jesus said “and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” Luke 22:36. Sword was the weapon of the day, If Jesus was alive now he would say and he that hath no pistol, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

Florida drivers left behind and I got to say something!

First let me say for the record I’m an open water diver, the papers and their “Deep sea diver” stuff is BS. Deep sea divers wear big white suits and big round brass helmets, they have a ship based air supply and long hose from above. The divers left behind in Florida are “open water” or “sports divers”.

All that being said let me get to my point. Stupid! In the first place people that dive like me for fun should never and I mean never go out on a boat with more than 12 other divers. Going on a boat with 30 divers is asking for trouble. When I dive and I’ve made 100’s of dives, I like my boat to not to be packed.  So whose fault is it for leaving the divers behind? I say both the boat crew and the divers. Now you say why blame the divers for the captain and crew of the boat they paid for leaving them behind?

Think about it like this. There are 30 people not counting at least a 2 or 3 member crew. You ever had a party at your house? Stick 33 people in your house and keep track of them all for 2 or 3 hours. Now throw in waves, swell, and people coming and going and moving around, tanks being removed and replaced from racks without hurting anyone, other boats with other divers. Plus the dumb divers that keep to them self don’t interact with others on board. Watch the movie “Open water” and you see a couple sitting on a boat with 20 other people and didn’t talk to anyone, no one really even knew they were there. So the lesson here is being a pest, like me. Get in the captains face tell him your name, get real close and point to your head and say “See this ugly mug, when you’re ready to go make sure you see it again!” Never leave it to chance when your life is at stake, and trust me it’s at stake from the time you get on the boat till you get off.

Non divers don’t know all that goes on. Everything in a divers head should be about safety. You have gear to check, gauges to monitor. Don’t want to run out of air at 60 feet under water. Don’t want to stay too long past certain depth and pop right up and jump on the boat, don’t want to anger the underwater creature some of which can mess you up or kill you. The last thing you want to worry about is your safe spot floating right above you is gone! 

Blame the captain and crew ok, but blame the divers to for not standing up and yelling “hey I’m here and I sure want to be here when you leave”. Better yet look for a dive company that believes in safety first and takes out the number of divers they can keep up with.

On a closing note, in the day when diving became a sport or hobby. The US Navy did all the testing and experimenting and wrote the book that is pretty much being used today. The big different is when the navy sent 1000 divers into the water and the bombs got set and the bad guys killed and the ships fixed then 975 divers come back that was  acceptable. When 1000 sports divers enter the water, I think 1000 sports divers need to come out and go home to dive again….but that’s just me.