Bang! You’re Dead.

Kids used to do that with their fingers. Nowadays they use video games to mock shoot each other.

In San Antonio, Texas, an armed security guard stopped a mass killing when she shot and wounded a disgruntled employee who opened fire in the Chinese restaurant where he worked.

A would-be murderer recently broke into a home with a crowbar. The mother hid upstairs with her 9-year-old twins. The intruder found them, breaking down the door. She pointed a .38 revolver her husband showed her how to use at him and fired five times. Her children are alive. The intruder recovered from the gunshot wounds and is in prison.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Interior, Wilhelm Frick, passed regulations against Jews owning firearms.

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms,” Hitler said. “History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.”

Currently, Massachusetts legislators are pushing hard to pass a mish-mash of gun control laws that would do everything from forcing gun owners to hand over their weapons to the state to requiring insurance, rendering the Second Amendment unaffordable to many — much like ObamaCare will render healthcare unaffordable to many.

In Rhode Island, the Farce Four — Langevin, Chickalini, Whitehouse, and Reed — are on the record to support any and all anti-Second Amendment legislation. And at Governor Lincoln Chafee’s behest, a working group has been formed to study gun legislation, which will likely recommend a ban on assault-style weapons.

In each contemporary debate, assault weapons seem to be at the heart of the matter. Of course, assault weapons are what the citizenry would need to protect itself from tyranny. And that, my friends, was the clear intent of the Second Amendment. Think about it, a bunch of cats who had just overthrown a government through violent insurrection … those were the Founding Fathers.

Statistically speaking, assault rifles aren’t a significant killer – they just make big headlines. Handguns are used in 72 percent of firearm-related death in the US each year. And yet, the government has virtually no interest in banning pistols? Shotguns were used in only 4 percent of deaths last year, and other rifles – which would include assault weapons as a sub-category — also only 4 percent. Wouldn’t it make more sense to ban handguns and dole out rifles? Think about it – can a gang banger really conceal a 12-gauge shotgun, or would a .38 revolver be somewhat easier? The numbers simply don’t jibe with the government’s argument for a safer society.

The conclusion that does follow, logically, is that the government seeks to disarm those it finds to be a threat, guys like me, much like Hitler did to the German Jews.

No, I’m not Jewish; I’m a pantheist, in the Existential sense. You know what I mean.

People hear the term “gun control” and they believe they will be safer. Unfortunately, gun control makes criminals and madmen more powerful, and you – in the unlikely event that you’re neither a madman nor a criminal – will be more vulnerable. When the intruder came into that mother’s home with the crowbar, she called 911 immediately. Guess what, driving a car miles to someone’s home takes longer than charging up a flight of stairs and the cops arrived just in time to call an ambulance. Were she unarmed, they would have called the coroner.

Because of instances just like that, states such as Arizona, Texas, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, and Tennessee are considering relaxing regulations on the lawful purchase of guns.

I live in the beautiful Hope Valley area, where folks hunt and rifle shots are heard on a daily basis – year-round – coming from the bountiful forests and big backyards. The sound rings of liberty, and security. I see hunters walk out of the woods on main streets with high-powered rifles on a regular basis. Only a madman or a fool would break into a home around here, for he would certainly be out-gunned. A friend of mine works third shift for the local police department, and he told me that not much really happens other than a bunch of drunk drivers and occasional domestic disorderly. He acknowledged that – in part – the low crime rate stems from the fact that folks here are heavily armed and criminals know it.

A society able to defend itself sleeps far easier at night than one fearful of reprisal.

Travis Rowley, author of The Rhode Island Republican, provided his thoughts on the issue.

“Owning a gun is not a human right or a natural right. After all, how can a firearm be a natural right if man had to invent it? But the ability to defend oneself is a natural right. So as long as an armed government rules over a people, those citizens should not be stripped of weapons that could counter potential government aggression. The challenge of the Second Amendment controversy has always been to imagine what this scenario might look like, and to leave a satisfactory amount of firepower in the hands of the people.

“Gun control advocates have a difficult task in front of them, as they attempt to convince American citizens to comply with new firearm restrictions during a time of increased government hubris, intrusion, and control; during an age when more and more people are calling upon the wisdom of the framers.”

Being less subtle than my learned friend Travis, all I can says is: They can pry my gun out of my cold dead hand. Come and get it.

Rare Steak

Growing up in Riverside on the wrong side of the tracks, when my friends and I “borrowed” cars at 14 and 15, we’d travel to 324 Waterman Ave to Sax Steak, which we considered the greatest shaved steak sandwiches in the world. Our world anyway. That was more than 35 years ago, and the place remains a model of excellence and consistency. Sax toasts the Italian rolls and has a special steak sauce used during the grilling. When I’m in the Big City, I’ll sometimes jump over 195 to E.P. and get the #10. The place has changed hands a few times over the decades, and no one knows the exact number of years they have been at the original take-out location, but it must be more than 40. Sax remains my favorite steak sandwich, bar none. If you’re a vegan, there’s a lawn across the street.

Ska!

A tip of the cap to my good friends Mac Kenzie and Matt Di Chiara (The Copacetics) for their work with RI Ska Productions. This February they celebrate five years of promoting Ska. The genre always seems to do well along the coast, at venues like Ocean Mist, Paddy’s, or Newport Blues Café, but they’ve worked hard to invigorate city-dwellers with a style that makes you just feel young again – even if you’re not old.

Of note, Mr. Furious has been gaining a lot of steam on the scene and their popularity can be attributed to style and charisma, and they are one of the most enthusiastic bands you come across. They stay the entire show and skank the night away. Good music, good people, good times. Ska! Check out RI Ska Productions on Facebook.