I’ve been in the Army for 20 years now. I’ve trained with numerous weapons systems and served in combat for my country. I do this out of a sense of duty, honor and pride.
At the same time my grandpa was an educator, my mom Joan Johnson Thompson was a kindergarten teacher, my father was a principal, my god-parents Bruce and Trish were teachers, their daughter Beth is a teacher, my parent’s life-long friends Bob and Jenni were teachers, my aunt Marilyn Johnson Wetenkamp was a teacher, my sisters-in-law Claire Butler-Saur and Jodie McInnes Thompson are teachers, my cousins Nicole Knox and Susan Wetenkamp-Brandt are teachers, my wrestling coach Duane Wright was a teacher, my friends Kristina Davis Bonet, Katie Marie, Frank Lukasik, and Eric Dyck are teachers.
As a soldier I accept the consequences of my profession and willingly continue to serve my country. I’m not anti-gun, but after what happened in Connecticut I’d much rather open up a discussion on gun control than one focused on arming the people in my life who chose the challenging, but rewarding, profession of teaching. I hope that, as a nation, we find a better solution to these senseless tragedies than requiring the caring people who choose to serve our country as teachers to focus their precious time on gun training versus their true desire to educate our children. I don’t speak for any of my teacher family and friends and I know that several of them are hunters and gun owners, but I’m almost certain that none of them ever envisioned carrying guns as a job requirement and I sincerely hope that teaching never becomes a profession of arms.
I’m saddened by the fact that we, as a nation, have lost the middle ground. That we can no longer have a rational discussion on the important issues that impact all of us. That we are so polarized that after what happened in Connecticut or Colorado or Arizona you either blame guns or you blame mental illness and there is no room for practical, useful discussion unless you agree with one of these sides.
I paraphrase, but could hardly say it better, Edmund Morris who referenced 13th and 20th century logic — “The first essential for advancement in knowledge is for society to be willing to say, ‘we do not know.’ There can be no advancement in a society that only sees itself, and likes what is sees.”
I responded earlier to a post by a co-worker and friend of mine who attributed what happened in Connecticut solely to the ‘real issue’ of mental illness. If only it were so easy as to pin this solely on mental illness and not address guns in any shape or form...it’s not that simple though, this is more than just guns or just mental illness. It’s more than Republican versus Democrat. More than Bush/McCain/Romney versus the president. If it was as easy as institutionalizing people with mental illness or banning guns we’d have figured this out by now. It’s more than all of these things. There’s nothing pathetic about this. It’s only tragic and it’s time for all of us to sit back and reflect and put aside all of our differences and really think about how we want to be as a society.
I’m a soldier first and foremost and I love this country and have willingly stood in its defense, I support the second amendment and don’t believe we should ban guns across the board. But I’m also open-minded and tired of seeing kids being killed. I for one am open to talking about how we, as a society, overcome all of these biases and truly get down to the business of change. I want to be free to own a gun and go hunting. I want mental health care for veterans and civilians alike. I want our kids to grow up with teachers who don’t have to carry guns to protect the kids they devoted their lives to teaching.
Let’s not dismiss this as the pathetic rampage of a mentally ill kid who simply had access to a gun nor just a call to ban guns, but let’s all of us, really and truly discuss how we as a great nation can find common ground where we all are safe, happy and prosperous. I’d much rather see that than just digressing to a guns versus a mental illness argument.
Several days ago I posted about all the teachers in my life and how I hoped teaching did not become a profession of arms. In retrospect, I should have also posted about all of the people in my life who have chosen the honorable profession of law enforcement. Each day they strap on a weapon and willingly go out in our world to protect and serve.
I have cousins, friends and fellow soldiers who do this on a daily basis and who never ask for anything more than to go home safe each night. I respect each one of them and fully understand why most of them choose to carry their assigned weapon even when “off-duty.”
Maybe I represent that rare dichotomy of middle ground lost in America. I grew up with guns in the house (they were hunting rifles and shotguns). I took gun safety courses as a teenager and could not wait to go hunting with my dad, grandpa Thompson and uncle Guy. I joined the Army because college didn’t work for me. I fit in immediately to that culture. I served for 10 years prior to 9/11 and then, in 2004, got called to war. I spent all of 2005 in Afghanistan working with their fledgling Army. I was exhilarated the first time we got attacked, scared when we got RPG’d and failed miserably in an attempt to save an Afghan child, whose body was so swollen and infected I didn’t know what to do.
In turn I was failed miserably by the Army when I came home and struggled with the return to ’normal life.’ I self-medicated with booze and was mentally ill. If I had owned a gun in the summer of 2006, I would have blown my brains out. Instead I owned a yellow lab named Murphy who saved my life.
It wouldn’t have been the gun’s fault, had I owned it, and it wasn’t the war’s fault for where I was. It was a mixture of life’s events leading up to that point, and thankfully, I had Murph, Erin, Johno, my folks, friends, and ultimately, the Army to pull me through.
I guess I’m the middle ground. I can relate to guns and mental illness. I grew up as the middle child in the middle of Canada in the tolerant society of Saskatchewan. I see both sides, and respect them both, but it’s time for something different. It’s time to talk about some new gun controls. It’s time to stop throwing drugs at mental health issues and medicating our children like that’s the cure. It’s time to give the kids of today a safe environment to grow up in.
I have no idea what the answers are but I think I know what the questions are and I hope we start discussing reasonable alternatives to our current situation.
Terry Thompson was born in Brainerd moved to Canada as a child and now lives in Arizona.
Comments (69)
Add commentBTW Ey
That is a pretty big word there. Seems?? Is that the liberal way??
Does anyone really
Think he has me on ignore?? He is doing his lib research to prove me wrong. Yep it takes a lib to put 48hrs in to make a 2 second decision!!!
Throw out a video
From the day after the shooting when the media horde was reporting what Biff the neighbor said as gospel truth. But I'm sure some people will gobble it up as "proof."
Trying to recreate something when you weren't there is difficult and takes time to get right. Let's wait until the investigation is complete. Posting old, inaccurate videos and that conspiracy video from youtube is whizzing on the graves of those kids and those of you who propagate this garbage should be ashamed of yourselves.
Eyolf
If you are offended by what I posted, you totally miss my point and have personal issues. After spending most of my adult life in the military, I have seen enough violence. I don't even hunt anymore.
At the same time, I am not going to sit around unarmed hoping the jackboots will protect me. I am prepared to defend myself, my family and our possessions, Whether it be thugs or a rogue government. To me, that is what our constitution is all about.
OMG Snack
It takes a rocket scientist to figure out the casing's??. Do they want to ask a dumb farm boy?? Like I said they have not came out what kind of gun was used??? Really?? I did not know this & I thought this is why the all this assault stuff was going on??
Thanks for the info people. (headshake)
old western
Eyolf reminds me of one of those guys in the westerns who doesn't have the courage to stand up for himself against the bad guys. He will finally hire someone with backbone to fight for him. Once all the riffraff are cleaned out he will chase off the hero for being too violent!
Mr Dean.
You Sir get my GOLD-STAR!!!!! Thank-You!!!
Two Gold Stars!
Excellent comparison.
I blocked that loser so I don't have to read his whining selfrighteous drivil anymore.
Dean
Isn't that thee lib way???? aclu??? God I would have payed $$$ to see it. Like an atheist going down in a plane/foxhole. LOL Sir
Gun control vs mental illness
I too appreciate Terry's candidness and his willingness to admit he does not have the answers. Obviously he is not a politician or he would never admit he does not have the answers.
I was pleased to see someone finally bring up that there is not a direct connection between gun violence and mental illness. Several members of my family including myself have worked with persons with mental illness in a variety of settings. Rarely have we worked with anyone that we were concerned might resort to violence. This stereotype is exactly why people hide there mental health issues or refuse treatment. There are many people with mental health issues in our communities who are fully functioning, contributing members of our society. Funding for the supports and treatment others need in order to become contributing members of society is seriously lacking. Over the past several years financing for the services and programs to help people with mental health issues have been the first ones to go under the hachet when the politicians need to balance the budget.
There are also numerous violent crimes that have been committed by people who have no history or diagnosis of mental illness. Do I think there might be some of these who are just undiagnosed? Absolutely I do but I also believe some of the people who commit violent crimes are just mean, selfcentered people who want what they want and have no concern for the consequences to others. This is a place where accepting personal responsibility comes into play. Sadly many of these people get off the hook for what they have done because they find a lawyer who argues that this would never have happened had it not been for, as my late brother used to say, they were given the blue rattle instead of the red one they wanted when they were a baby and therefore they are not responsible for their actions.
Now I am dissapointed
U put him on ignore F&B?? That aint right. I have just been way to easy on that boy lately!
What ever happened to that thread
that pointed out that all of the mass killers of late were/are Registered Democrats or offspring of them?
Maybe liberalism is a mental disorder?
Straight from the Today Show
An AR-15, or the so-called "Assault Weapon", was not used in the school shooting. The shooter even tried weeks earlier to buy a rifle but was turned down in the background check. So he had to kill his Mother to steal her rifle. There were initial reports, right after the shooting, that police found the AR-15 in his car, NOT IN THE SCHOOL. The rifle was not used. The shooter went into the school with 4 handguns, NOT an Assault Rifle as the media has charged. I remember in the initial hours of this shooting, the Police said they found the rifle in the car. But the Administration-controlled MSM had a pre-planned attack already waiting, to ban so-called assault weapons and jumped on that line of reporting, knowing it was a lie, which included people like Piers Morgan who said the shooter used an AR-15 that shoots hundreds of rounds per minute, as if it were a machine gun. Could it be that the Democrat Liberals and THEIR MEDIA were pushing for the new law, hoping they could do it, before the Coroner released the info? Absolutely.
VIDEO: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50208495#50208495
Dean
Your earlier comment was a direct response to another poster, SuicideIsPainless:
With over 300 million guns out there, how many will it take till I'm safe? 600 million? A billion? About how many guns it will take until we are safe.
Your answer, directly to S-I-P, as evidenced by the title: "Re: How many", was:
It doesn't matter how many are out there. The answer is how many do you have and are you willing to use them!
What could you possibly mean by that? That we'll all be safer when guys like Lanza show up and there are a dozen or so firearms waiting for him?
Remember last August's shooting at the Empire state building? 9 innocent gunshot victims from 16 police bullets, and the police are supposed to be heavily trained to handle such situations. Statistics suggest that such ocurrances are not rare.
If you have experienced combat in service of our nation, you, of all people, should know all about how difficult it is to remain cool in the face of such situations: would it be better for a poorly-or-not-at-all-trained teacher or principal?
We hear about gun violence every day; Lanza was not the last person to get a gun and shoot up a school, (Google Lone Star, for this weeks entry) but your comment leaves no clue as to what you would do to reduce their occurrance. We are left with the idea that, at best, such things are of small concern, and more likely, they are an acceptable consequence of our widespread celebration of gun culture.
Some of us absolutely reject such thinking. For myself, I understand that the "assault rifle" ban is technically pointless because "assault-style" rifles aren't often used in such shootings. But when the pro-gun crowd assumes as hardened a stance as possible...one that precludes even the pretense of being shocked and saddened by the proliferating number of such shootings, I believe we have a serious problem.
I hunt, fish, own a couple of firearms, etc. I genuinely fear that I will be lumped into the same bunch with guys like this by voters when it comes down to brass tacks:
Taking a hard stance and insulting those that disagree will not be a winning strategy. Taking guns away from those that would do us harm MIGHT BE.
But NOBODY wants to talk about it on the gun-rights side.
Oh Com'on Ey
Just why do you have to keep posting you're relatives?? It will not work sir!! To me that is DWD/Deerwood.
OH that will haunt me.
Ey
I am saying adults should be able to protect themselves and those who rely on them (children and disabled).
My experience with combat is that a majority stay very calm and follow their training. It is after the danger is over when the shakes and second guessing starts.
I felt deep sorrow with the loss of the 20 kids. My grandkids are my life and I can't imagine losing any of them. I have no new answers on how to stop these crazies. I tend towards armed guards at the schools. We provide armed guards for politicians, why not our kids?
The problem I have is that the anti-gun nuts immediately go after the guns like that will solve everything when in truth it does nothing. Instead of the guns, go after the criminals and enforce the existing laws with some teeth instead of making excuses for them and giving a slap on the hand.
OFB
The picture brings Merrifield to mind. Perhaps fish and his relatives!
A Fish-Eye?
darn......
I have been studying
conspiracies for quite some time now. During that time I have developed fail safes of my own that tell me what IS a conspiracy and what is not. At this time, I can debunk most of all the bunk that is out there regarding this "conspiracy". I cannot debunk the crisis actors that were used, since I have seen them before in other instances. So, with that said, what happened in Sandy Hook, happened in Sandy Hook.
I can say without a doubt in my mind, that almost all mass shootings were committed by individuals that were on some form of prescribed medication or SSRI's. Since this is a well known established fact, we need to look into this rather than banning guns. We have had guns for centuries. guns that are capable of firing semi-automatic. And there were no mass shootings UNTIL the populace was mass medicated(induced).
You can take away the guns if you want, but the slaughters WILL continue with something else. Then what? Some say to limit magazines that can only hold 7 rounds. I say, limit what doctors can prescribe, and to whom and for what condition.
On a side note;
I just found out that a girl that I worked with was prescribed Prozac when she was 8 because her parents were going through a divorce. WT Eff? she said that when she was on the drug, she didn't and couldn't feel any type of emotion, she said she was a walking zombi. Take that for what it's worth.
Also,
Gandhi said, “Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.”
Mao Zedong likewise knew the significance of an armed populous, stating: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
The gun control debate is not really a debate about assault rifles or high capacity magazines. It can be boiled down to those who have confidence that their government will never become despotic and those who do not. Given the U.S.’s track record, it is a dangerous proposition to provide unwavering faith in the military-industrial-intelligence complex that rules America.
Between 1900-2000, governments were responsible for 262 Million CIVILIAN deaths.
Eyolf has become his own worst enemy
When someone that uses $50 words also posts photos that have no relevance, you sir become irrelevant and your posts negate anything you may have contributed. You prove yourself to be a childish verbish lout with nothing to add.
I have a right to own guns. that makes anti gun people angry. I don't care.
Prozac at 8 yrs old?
Man oh man what is this world coming to.
BTW two very good post's Mav. I hope Ey read's them.
Brown Eyeolf may read these
Brown Eyeolf may read these posts, but Brown Eyeolf's medication's prevents reality and truth from being absorbed into the brain.
The real irony is
That the "birthers" and the "it wasnt an AR" folks do more harm to their cause than they know.
Right now the country is struggling with gun legislation, and the best way for those who don't want any more legislation to help their cause is to listen, to stick with known facts, and to avoid stereotyping, labeling, and dismissive behavior of people who have concerns with guns in the country.
The facts should lead to small law or regulation changes that most can live with at most--but many who are on the fence jump right to the "ban them we don't want these idiots to even own them!" side when they hear how ignorant, uncaring, and unwilling to even acknowledge the legitimacy of concerns that many gun proponents are.
And Rino calling people
"birthers" when they aren't, marginalizes herself even more.
medications
I've read all these posts and wonder what so-called "birthers" have to do with this topic.
I am concerned with all the medicating going on in this country. All the commercials that have all the side effects especially when they say "suicide thoughts".
How many of mass murderers and any killers are on these medications or any self-medication? Alcohol, drugs, prescribed and illegal - are they always or usually a part of the picture?
How has the ACLU contirbuted to the privacy issues where
concerned family members can't help their adult children?
They are similar to birthers
in that they manufacture and peddle information .
Showing a clip of the Today show the day after Sandy Hook with incorrect information proves absolutely nothing. Nearly every media outlet reported inaccurate information following the shooting in the race to be the first to break a story.
Then, when this is pointed out, BobberHead makes the exact same post without reading or even responding to the issues that have been brought up.
This refusal to deal with the "reality-based world" is kind of a trademark of the Birther movement, isn't it?
duplicate post
duplicate post
Almost like two weeks
of the Obama Regime blaming a video for the murder of 4 Americans in Libya when they knew better, right snack?
Privacy needed to get sick people willing to seek help, Sadie
People or families with individuals that are dealing with a mental illness face a public stigma that can often lead them to resist getting help Sadie. Until the public recognizes mental illness like it is--and as Mr. Thompson stated, that it can happen to anyone if faced with tough circumstances--there's a need to protect the privacy of those seeking help so they'll be willing to get help!
The difference in this situation is with those deemed a significant threat to others--those who have expressed thoughts of killing others, fantasies of doing so--etc.
Such people should be identified not so much to the general public but to systems that can at least prevent them from obtaining guns or bomb materials.
Re: the "birther" tie, it's an analogy that is very direct in my view. Just as the "birther's" were proven wrong and ultimately seen as quacks by the general public--the same goes for those claiming the Conn. shooter didn't use the Bushmaster AR-clone that he in fact did use to kill all those kids.
Insistence on conspiracies and "fact" that is easily proven wrong just leads to people ignoring anything they have to say.
And even more disconcerting to me--as well as Mr. Thompson it appears--it can lead to a majority who place more blame on guns directly than they should be. If we really want to help we can't allow those who think the solution is to just ban guns to succeed, and that means showing a lot more sanity and using more rational discussion.
It's a complex issue involving both guns and mental health!