Frequently, gun related topics are in the news. I am often asked my opinion on these issues, and usually post information in my personal Facebook page, and sometimes the Double Tapp public page (link in header).  I’ve decided to post some of these writings here on my website.  I believe that for some, these can be interesting and maybe even informational.  For those thinking about doing some training, it will help you gain a perspective on me and how I feel about these critical issues.   It could drive some business to me, and some away.  It’s important for instructors and students to “be on the same page” when it comes to these issues, so I believe that it will be a good thing either way.  Scroll below for issues I have shared my comments on.  Please feel free to email me by clicking on the “Email Mark” link at the bottom of this page with your comments, questions or concerns. 

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

There are two things that I hope to have made an impact on by the time I get old and forget my name. I am very passionate about these things. It’s the passion that drives me to do what I do. First, I want to help people understand that they own the responsibility for their personal safety and that of their family. They own it themselves. The government will send someone over in an emergency if you call, and the police officer will do everything in their power to get there quickly. They’ll even risk their own lives trying to help you, but they have to get there first, and it takes time, time you may not have. If it’s a hot, busy Saturday night in the middle of August, it may take more time. If the incident is a natural disaster or national emergency, it might take a week or two. In a situation like that, something most folks can’t even imagine, a person could get themselves killed over a bottle of water.

As a policeman for many years, I can’t remember very many times that I ran into a room and saved the day.  I remember many times I arrived at a home too late to do much good, other than take some photographs and write a good report.  You need to be able to protect your family, and it doesn’t have to be with a gun.  There are other things which may be effective deterrents such as pepper spray, lighting, locks, a big dog.  The bottom line is you need a plan.  Any plan is better than no plan.  A firearm just happens to be the best tool for the job, but it is not the only tool.  The responsibility to protect yourself is yours and yours alone, no one else’s.

Along those lines, I am responsible for my own health, not the paramedics, not the ER doctor.  If I fall over and have a heart attack in my house, someone may call 911 and then start bitching and moaning about how those “damn paramedics” aren’t getting to me quick enough or taking care of me.  How much sense does that make?  They have nothing to do with what is happening to me in my home, until they arrive.  It is MY responsibility to monitor my health from checkups, medications, eating right and getting exercise.  My health is my personal responsibility, not the responsibility of those who will come to help me if and when I need it.  The responsibility for my health is all mine, just like my personal safety.  I want people to understand that, and to take personal responsibility seriously.

The second thing I hope to have an impact on is firearm safety.  Specifically, firearm safety as it relates to the actual handling of a firearm.  It’s very, very simple, yet I see people mishandling firearms everywhere I go. We deal with things far more dangerous and much more complicated every single day and think nothing of it. When was the last time you drove down the freeway at 80 MPH, with your life in the hands of every other knucklehead on the road?  One mistake by someone you’ve never met is all it takes for a life ending accident.  It happens all the time. Recently, I witnessed four people who died in a head on collission on I-84 at Cloverdale.  Multiple people were killed when one driver crossed over the center line and hit another vehicle head on.   I could go on with countless accidents I’ve seen.  Safety in a vehicle is complicated. It takes training and practice. It takes constant effort. Your safety depends on a lot of other people, and their ability, or lack of as well as their physical and emotional condition, and even weather events and road conditions.  Many things can get you killed in the blink of an eye while driving your car, yet we barely give it a thought.

Safety with a firearm is much simpler. In fact, it’s very simple.  Just don’t ever let the barrel of your firearm point at anyone you don’t intend to shoot and you likely will never shoot anyone with it.  It really is as simple as that.  So, since we now know how easy it is to start being safe with a firearm, why is it that every time I go to my local gun retailer, and stand at the gun counter, I have a dozen “seasoned” gun owners pointing guns at my head?  If you ask one, and I have, they will tell you in a less then friendly tone that the firearm is “unloaded.”  I’ve heard this answer repeatedly, it never fails.

During my time as a police officer, I arrested a significant number of drunk drivers.  Interestingly, none of them had ever had 3 beers. No one had had 4, 5 or 6 beers. They ALL had had just 2 beers.  Similarly, every time I went to an accidental shooting, the gun involved was unloaded.  If you’re found to be drunk driving it wasn’t just 2 beers, and if someone is accidentally shot, the gun was definitely not unloaded.  

Guns need to be treated as if they are loaded, all the time.  When handling a gun, unload it.  Check it, check it again because you are a safety freak, and then pretend it’s still loaded.   For good measure, check for a third time, and after you are certain (almost) that it is unloaded, pretend it’s got jacketed hollow points in it and treat it as such.  Don’t point it at me, or anyone else.  Don’t flag it by the sales guy or point it at every customer in the store.

Now we need to add one more safety rule to really make this whole thing “crazy safe.” It’s still not complicated. Don’t ever put your finger on the trigger of any weapon until your firearm is pointed at your intended target and you want to shoot, not ever.  

Now, we know that WE are never going to point the barrel of our firearm at anyone for any reason other than legitimate self-defense and we will never be putting put our finger on the trigger, ever, until we intend to shoot, but what about those around us?  Are they as knowledgeable and committed to not accidentally killing folks as we are?  Look around and make sure!  Just like self awareness in driving, you need to be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially when you are in the presence of firearms.

If you are at a range with friends, or in a gun shop somewhere, and folks are pointing guns at you, you need to leave, for your own safety, and because others around you are not providing the level of safety required.  Last Christmas I actually saw a customer in a retail store checking out a scoped rifle by looking through the scope, flagging the barrel around the entire store.  Now this particular store is really, really safe in how they handle weapons, and I am 99% sure that rifle was unloaded.  However, I was not 100% sure, and neither was anyone else.  I would never be that sure, even if  I checked it myself 18 times.

We are never truly 100% sure a gun is unloaded. None of us are above the possibility of human error. Remember that for you, and for the safety of those around you.  Below is a video of a police officer who shot himself testing a weapon in a gun store.  Needless to say he is doing many of the things that should not be done when handling a weapon.  

open carry in idaho

These are my thoughts on "open carry" of a firearm. As a disclaimer, it’s a long read, and you may be disappointed.

I have had a number of people ask me what my thoughts are on the subject of “open carry” in Idaho, or anywhere else for that matter. Interest in this subject has been particularly high in the last few days due to a recent “incident” that apparently took place at a local Boise restaurant downtown called Bacon. It seems that an Idaho State Legislator from Eastern Idaho decided to “open carry” a firearm inside the restaurant while dining, and it caused a bit of a stir.  I am not saying if he was right or wrong.  He certainly didn’t break any laws that I am aware of.  The “right” or “wrong” is a personal decision in this case, I guess.  Below is simply my opinion. 

First, I need to express my reverence for any eating establishment known as “Bacon” anything. I have a tremendous fascination and a nearly “out-of-control need” to go visit any eating establishment called “Bacon” anything! It must be a great place. I imagine that this recent “incident” and the attention surrounding it, will do nothing but help drive sales for this obviously great eatery over the next few weeks. I promise you, I’m going to visit, but I will not be carrying an “open” firearm when I do.

I will anger some people with my personal thoughts on this issue, and for that I am not sorry. I certainly do not want to anger anyone, but the angry part would not be my fault, it would be yours.  The reason for this is, as stated above, this is simply my personal opinion on the subject.  We all certainly have a right to an opinion. It may not necessarily be right, nor the same as yours, but it is my opinion. My comments are not in regards to whether or not I believe that "open carry" of a firearm should be legal or illegal, just simply how I feel about it.

Sadly, we live during a time in which crazy people, for whatever reason are taking guns into crowded public places and killing folks. To me, this is not a gun problem, but a serious “people” problem, a societal issue, brought on perhaps by the break-down of our homes and families, as well as the desensitization of our young people. Removing personal contact is certainly not going to promote healthy interpersonal skills and interaction. Evil seems to me, seems to be ruling the day all around us. When I was a kid, we would get home from school and Mom would hand us a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and out the door we would go. We would play football, run around the neighborhood, have dirt-clod fights, or countless other self-directed activities with friends until it was time for dinner at 5:30. When I was a police officer in the 80’s and 90’s I saw this little “Norman Rockwell” thing kind of breaking down. The calls I was taking were often in homes filled with single moms and kids with dirty clothes and snot covered faces. These kids would come home from school, not to a mother offering up her freshly baked cookies, but to a computer game of some sort, which allowed them to kill a few dozen people before dinner time, all in impressive graphic detail. At about 6 pm, mom would come home from work, throw a micro-wave hot pocket at the kid, who was becoming so skilled at carrying out his virtual killing spree that he barely had to take his eyes from the screen to make the catch. Another few dozen bloody corpses and it was off to bed. I wondered back then, what affect this would have on our society two, three or four decades down the road. I don’t know if this has anything to do with the crazy times we are living in now or not. I do know that back in the 70’s we students would go to high school with a shotgun or a rifle displayed in a gun rack in the back window of our pick- up trucks. On any given day, especially in the Fall, there were likely dozens of firearms out in the student parking lot, and no one ever heard of a school shooting. The idea of something like that was just sick, and unheard of. It was the same guns sitting out there in that parking lot as those we have today, it’s the people who are different.

So, being a people problem, things for me start getting really scary. A problem with some innominate object is easier to address than a serious, down deep people problem. Just wait until these sick people find out that there are much more efficient ways to kill lots of folks other than guns. You see it happening now a little, with trucks. The largest amount of death and damage done that I know about was done with a truck full of cow poop. The ignorance of those who believe that you can legislate this problem away by taking away the freedoms of honest, decent Americans astounds me, it really does. I truly believe that the day will come when we will wish sick people were just using guns to kill people in public places. We will remember the “good old days” when numbers of dead were usually limited to single digits. It’s not at all about guns. It’s about people.

Regarding “open carry:

Today, unfortunately, we have little kids, maybe as young as 5 who are being told what to do if someone comes into their school and starts shooting guns and killing people. Families walking through the mall, go to a movie or eat in a busy restaurant and in many cases dreadful thoughts might be on their minds, depending on where they live and how recent the last public massacre was. Personally, I don’t want to stand in line at Wal-Mart, next to some 6-year-old little girl with cute little pigtails and a bewildered look on her face, staring at my sidearm in full view, a mere 24 inches from her face. She doesn’t need to see that. She doesn’t need to deal with that.  She doesn’t need that to be part of her day, does she?

If you ask someone who “open carries” their firearm in a busy city why they choose to do that, they may say “because I can,” or “because I have a right to.” To me, those just are not valid reasons to make others around you uncomfortable.  

So really, the only two possible reasons that I can think of to open carry really are because “I can” or I have a right to,”  take away from the option of self-defense.  The ability to defend ones-self is actually seriously diminished with the loss of the tactical advantage that carrying a well concealed firearm affords.  Self-protection is much better realized with a firearm that is concealed. Carrying a firearm in the open, visible to everyone, puts you at a tremendous disadvantage tactically. I’m not even going to get very deep into this because it’s a fact that just doesn’t need a lot of explanation. There is a difference between a uniformed cop making a traffic stop in the middle of the night, on a suspicious car with a driver he/she knows nothing about, and me walking down an isle in Albertsons buying my Hagen Das Chocolate Chip. There just is.

I believe that any responsible gun owner should be understanding of and sensitive to the feelings of others, all others. Even the dumbasses who don’t have the slightest clue about their God given right and absolute responsibility to protect themselves. We should never want to do anything to make others uncomfortable.

It’s foolhardy and childish to think that you need to walk around downtown Boise with a gun hanging off your belt. The more “crazy” and “over the top” our actions can be looked at by the anti-gun crowd, the more fuel we add to the fire of those who seek to destroy our freedom. The more respectful and reasonable we remain, the harder it will be for them to gain strength and momentum. Just my two cents.