Thoughts

I am:

• Responsible for my own actions and those of my children
• Responsible for the safety and security of myself and my family
• A responsible gun owner, shooter, hunter, and CCW carrier
• An American of Northern European descent
• A veteran of a peacetime army who had the opportunity to see parts of the world and things in those places that most people don't even know exist
• A citizen that reads, learns, discusses, and votes.

I am not:

• Responsible for the actions of any other adult or child that is not my own, no matter how similar they are to me and mine.
• A victim, nor am I afraid to convince someone who wants to see if I am willing to be one that there are sharp teeth in my friendly smile.
• A policeman.  I am not expected to try to stop someone from breaking the law if they are not causing bodily harm to me, my family, or my friends.
• Responsible for however many centuries of repression, aggression, discrimination, and ignorance that came before me.  I may share a complexion with the people who make life hard for other people just because of their skin tone, but that wasn't me.
• A ticking time bomb of anger and fear just waiting for a trigger event to set me off, all of which is caused by that amorphous term "the military".  People like that are rarer than Hollywood would make you believe, and my psychological issues are much older and deep rooted than anything that the Army did to me.
• Part of a reliable voting block, nor am I a party man.  You want my vote or support?  Convince me that your idea is better than that of the opposition.