I was reading a post on Facebook today from some Liberal rag of a newspaper.  A man wrote in a letter to the editor complaining about how his day was ruined while at the park.  While he was visiting one of the local parks with his family, he noticed a mother with her child playing. The problem he had was the fact that this mother was openly carrying a hand gun on her hip. This upset the man and ruined his day. Nobody was harmed. The gun never left its holster. But for some reason, just the mere sight of a person carrying a gun upset this man so much that his day was RUINED!! Angry, upset, distraught…how can another person be so careless to bring a firearm into a public park.

The comments on the posting for this letter to the editor mostly said the same thing. How irresponsible this woman is. How dare she openly carry a firearm like that. Why is she so afraid for her life that she needs to carry a weapon in a public park,in plain view of other people? And above all with her poor defenseless child by her side. She cant possibly be a responsible gun owner!! If she is so afraid for her life, why would she even venture outside?

This brings up an article I read quite a few years back about Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs. Here is the link to the article, I will copy some snip-its from this article for this blog posting, but I highly recommend reading the entire thing. http://www.killology.com/sheep_dog.htm

The basic premise of this article is about the three different types of people in this world.

Sheep: Most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: A Sheep.

Wolves: The wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath: A Wolf.

Sheepdogs: Live to protect the flock and confront the wolf. If you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens: A Sheepdog

The man who wrote this letter to the editor is a sheep. Most of the people that commented on the letter are sheep. You see, the woman carrying her firearm is a sheepdog, she is prepared to protect those sheep when the wolf growls at the door. Most sheep do not like sheepdogs very much, it reminds them that there is a possibility for violence from a wolf at anytime. Sheep like to live in denial.

Lets change the scenario. Had this woman been a police officer, in uniform, would this mans day have been ruined? I doubt it, he would not have thought twice about a uniformed police officer playing with their child in a public park while armed. Let’s say that this woman is a police officer in plain clothes carrying her sidearm while playing with her child in the park. Had she walked over to this other family and mentioned that she was a police officer, would his day have been ruined? I doubt it. Most sheep look at a person in uniform carrying a sidearm and feel safe. But whats to say that the woman in the park with her child was not highly trained in the use of deadly force and the proper handling of her firearm. They made an assumption because the woman in the park was dressed like a sheep, but armed like a sheepdog!

To me, Sheep are funny, confused, and scared. They will make sure their house has smoke detectors, a fire extinguisher, dead bolts on the doors, alarm systems all for the sake of protecting their families in the home. Did you know that average response time for a 911 call to the fire department is 9-15 minutes! This is why people have fire extinguishers in their homes. There is that chance that you can put out the fire and save your family with that fire extinguisher before the fire department arrives. That same average response time goes for Police Officers (Sheepdogs). What tool do you have to protect your family while you wait for the sheepdog to show up?

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that police officers at all levels of the government have no duty to protect the citizens of this country. It is the job of police officers to uphold the peace, uphold the law, investigate crimes and arrest criminals. People who don’t understand taking responsibility for their own safety often ask why wouldn’t you just call the police to stop a crime instead of drawing a gun. Well for one, a great police response time would be 2-9 minutes, but most crimes take place in a matter of seconds. Most police officers I have met are true Sheepdogs and will do everything in their power to prevent these crimes and protect the people, but that is not their primary job duty.

With all that being said, what if the worst happened that day at the park where this mans whole outing was ruined by the Sheepdog carrying her firearm. What if some pervert was lurking around the park looking to snatch up a child. And what if this Sheepdog spotted that man and confronted him, or even the mere presence of her carrying that gun changed his mind and he decided to try his luck somewhere else. None of those unsuspecting sheep would have even noticed. The sheepdog possibly saved lives just with the visual of her weapon in plain sight. What if she was forced to use that weapon and stop this pervert from snatching up one of those children. Some of those sheep would be grateful, but many of them would be outraged, that is the nature of the sheep. Many of them would not see the fact that the sheepdog saved a life, they would make the sheepdog out to be the criminal…how dare she use that weapon…how careless of her…you could have killed an innocent person!!

There is no way to change the nature of the sheep. They will either understand and accept the fact that they are sheep, or they will continue to live in denial. Unsuspecting and unafraid. They have the knowledge in their head that they can dial 911 any time and a sheepdog will magically appear. Until that day when the sheepdog does not arrive soon enough and the sheep is slaughtered by the wolf. It happens every day in America, sheep are slaughtered by wolves, because there are not enough sheepdogs out there to protect them. They look down at the sheepdog and treat him like a wolf. Many of the sheepdogs know this and carry their weapon concealed as not to frighten the helpless sheep. But many of the people that are capable of being a sheepdog leave their weapon at home and walk out into the world as sheep themselves. This is where I find myself most of the time. I am that unarmed sheepdog walking among the sheep, therefore I am a sheep most of the time.

I find myself being a sheep more often than not, mainly because I am concerned about being burned at the stake by all the other sheep should I do something wrong. I had thoughts about becoming a real sheepdog after I left the Navy. I would have made an excellent police officer and protector of sheep. The problem is, I don’t care enough about the other sheep to be a true sheepdog. I care for my family and loved ones, and I do care for the young, elderly and innocent…the ones not capable of protecting themselves. But I look at the grown adult sheep, the ones with the ability to learn how to protect themselves. The ones that choose to live in the world of rainbows and unicorns; I can’t bring myself to care enough about those people to be a true protector. They have a choice, they all have the ability to see the wolf growling at the door, but they choose not to…they choose to ignore the wolf and criticize the sheepdogs.

So I stay prepared. I practice, I read and I learn. I understand how the wolf acts, how to spot the wolf and how to avoid the wolf. When I feel like I have a likely chance of running into that wolf, I turn on my sheepdog instincts and I carry my weapon. If there were a drastic change in our society, and it becomes more relevant for me to act as a sheepdog, rather than a sheep; I will. But until that day comes, I will keep the sheepdog in the cage as much as possible…blend in with the other sheep and live my life happily. If by some chance I get caught off guard, I hope there is another sheepdog in the flock who came prepared. But I can promise you this, I will never look down on a sheepdog, never call him out as being a wolf. we can sense our own kind and I will thank them every chance I get for having the courage to be the protector of sheep, myself included!

Dick