Back in Control

Peeps -
I have neglected the posts yet again.
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Part of my regime of efficiency at Nanepashemtet Telecom has caused this pathetic compendium of irrationality to suffer as of late.
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I promise that I will re-dedicate.
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There certainly has been enough stuff for commentary...... Lance Armstrong, Imaginary Girlfriends, Pats v. Ravens, Gun Control....
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I guess I could cover these.
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Lance?  Who Gives a Shit.   Ride your two wheeler high as a kite as far as I care.

Imaginary Girlfriends?  The ND Linebacker might be a good football player, but he's still a 22 year old whack job, as we all were at that age.   So... again, my considered ruling on this matter is ... Who Gives a Shit?
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Pats v. Ravens?   Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are a legends in our midst.   They will not let the Super Bowl path end this Sunday.
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Gun Control?   The politicians who have ignored the established and documented fact that where the citizenry have access to guns for personal protection, the crime rate is low.... and have used the murder of children to fan their irresponsible position... are despicable.  And this list is headed by Obama, Patrick, Warren and Menino.
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I have a permit for concealed carry in a number of states.   The process to obtain this is regulated and fairly rigorous in Massachusetts.   First you have to go to a day long gun safety course, when you learn of the extensive regulations in keeping your firearm in a secure locked case when it is not on your person.    Then you have to be interviewed by the Police in your home locality.   Your fingerprints are recorded digitally and logged into the State Police Database.  Then the police do a thorough criminal background check on you.... and question everything in your record.   Only then, after a two month wait,  are you issued your Class A License to Carry a Concealed Firearm Permit.
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Then you go to the gun store.  The first thing that the clerk does is ask if you have a permit and if he can see it.   He takes it and puts it on the back counter while you are in the store.  If you decide to purchase a firearm, the clerk makes you fill out an application, then checks your fingerprint against the imprint that is on your license.   Then he accesses the FBI database to perform a background check.  If this checks out,  the clerk completes the transaction, you get your permit back,  and you walk out of the store with a firearm that is "Massachusetts Compliant".   That means that the magazine that you use in your gun cannot contain more than nine rounds and cannot be fired automatically like a machine gun.  This is not even close to an assault rifle that our military uses.
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By the way.... do you think I'm complaining????  No Freaking Way.
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I believe that the Massachusetts law, fairly exercised, is highly appropriate, and I am glad to comply.  If I can't defend myself or others with nine rounds from my semi-automatic pistol, then I guess my time is up, and I can accept that.
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But a 13 year old kid was shot in the stomach going to choir practice in Roxbury last week.  And the mental case who shot the kids in Newtown, was carrying firearms legally owned by his mother, but illegally secured.
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So criminals and mental cases are going to use guns.   But statistically, the use of these weapons hardly ever occurs where the Perp has knowlege that someone else in the venue may be armed.
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So call me any name you want, but to me, the facts emphatically say that an armed, responsible citizenry, with the ability for effective personal defense, is the best deterrent to crime.
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It wasn't too long ago, on this very Blog right after the Virginia Tech massacre, when your MOAM came out for a total ban of guns, saying that the 2nd Amendment was obsolete.   A multitude of Peeps assailed me on this, which normally wouldn't see me retracting,  Yet I felt a need to check into the regulations, and research the facts on gun control, which really opened my eyes and brought me to my present assertion.
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Gun Control is a complex issue, where knee jerk reactions don't apply.   I just saw the pathetic Warren and her mumbling Buddy, Mayor Menino, saying we have to protect the Children.  
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Yes we do, Liz.  We have to responsibly protect them.