“When I know that everyone else has a gun, I will be aware that any person whom I meet on the street has the potential to kill me. Does that help me be more rational and more friendly? What if I innocently say something that is inappropriate to someone in line behind me at Wal-Mart? Will that person correct my insensitive word choice or will they shoot me? If everyone has a gun (in order to equalize the relationship) I am far less likely to initiate a civilized conversation because of my fear that you will jump right over rational thinking and use your gun. You admit that the gun makes lethal force easier. That is a frightening concept.” – The Reverend Don Blesser in PASTOR’S PEN: Openness and honesty erase need for guns [via goshennews.com]
And what if a bus driver doesn’t like your face and runs over you? What if the guy at Lowe’s doesn’t like your SJW T shirt and swings a hammer into your face?
Get over yourself and look around. There are plenty of legal / responsible gun carriers around. If many of us were as close to the edge as you believe us to be, there would be much more mayhem than there is.
Everyone carries around with them the ability to sucker punch you. So be very careful next time you try to be friendly to the guy in front of you in line at Walmart.
He pretty clearly means being an ass to the guy in front of him, being friendly does not get you shot. He should also realize the only change has been to the laws, people have been carrying guns around him all his life. He’s never even noticed, it is so boring.
Why do people assume that all self-control goes out the window when you pick up a gun? You could probably make a decent argument that self-control goes up with firearm carry.
I can only speak for myself, but my sense of self-control and responsibility increases when I’m carrying. Instead of look at all gun owners as potential murderers, I suggest that this retired Mennonie preacher remember the potential for good in all people, including those of us who value life enough to carry a weapon.
Because a gun makes murder so easy! Just one little muscle can kill someone in a second! You know the only reason people don’t kill each other is because it’s too difficult. Nobody can handle that kind of power! D= Except the police, and security guards…
…stupid teenagers, coked-out child soldiers in the Congo, etc
Don’t forget young Democrat males in urban cesspools; who will shoot you for a sideways glance that may be taken as “disrespect”……
I was anti-gun as a child (and by “child” I mean into my early 20s.) Then a friend took me shooting. The first time I picked up a loaded gun, I immediately understood the import of the event. I understood the mental discipline (follow the four rules) and self-control needed to successfully handle a firearm. It as one of “those moments” when my universe spun on its axis and my opinion of guns changed. I had an instant and electric attraction to the sport.
Yet I was still under the impression that “gun are bad, man.” Thankfully, this was the mid 1990’s. Kleck and Lott had just hit the scene. I dove into gun issue research and discovered everything I thought I’d known was wrong.
Because, that is how they see themselves acting in that situation. Just shows you the mindset of the anti gunner.
One would question his faith as well. Being a Christian if he dies, doesn’t he go to heaven, walk streets of gold and sit with God. Sounds as though earthbound chilling and collecting tithes is more important to preacher man.
Although I disagree with this preacher entirely, your argument is fallacious. By your logic, no Christian should have any interest in self-preservation. In fact, they should all kill themselves if they weren’t hypocrites. A closer look at Christianity reveals greater purpose than just dying and going to heaven.
Chief, that seems to work for muslims. Are you saying there are 2 gods, and they have different rules? What makes you think so?
Leftists are inherently violent.
The replies by Reggie Browning and those along his thread of response to your post are the problem. Those who display a stunning lack of self-control make the news and thus drive the public’s mental narrative.
How many think that the violent crime rate is going up or that there are more child kidnappers?
While some of this news may be attributable to a gun control narrative the media wishes to build, I suspect much of it is due to a more mundane reason – profits. People snapping brings viewers who imagine their neighbors and viewers who imagine their neighbors bring advertising and advertising brings dollars.
I *think* Reggie was being sarcastic…
Projection. They don’t really have self-control in the first place, and imagine others must be the same.
Ahhh! Blood everywhere! Pardon me but the gentleman who open carried into my wife’s Wal-Mart had a friendly discussion with her after someone threw a huff. No shots or blood just rational thoughts about the law.
You’d think a pastor would have some faith in his fellow man.
I’d wager he’s a “fire and brimstone” kinda guy and has placed too much faith in man’s capacity for evil.
Just the opposite is my bet…social justice warrior, pro homosexuality, tolerance, etc…
He’s Mennonite. Anabaptist, pacifist, separatist.
Then he should deal with the evil and not the tool. Sounded like to me he was saying people are too lazy to do physical harm to each other but the gun makes it easy. What about the psychological affects of shooting someone? If he doesn’t understand that, he has no credentials to preach to anyone about any topic including faith. My point is, I would expect a man of the cloth to have a better understanding of his fellow man. Failing that, no man should ever seek his counsel.
People shouldn’t fear death — it’s coming eventually and nothing can stop it.
It will arrive on it’s own schedule, not ours.
When it gets here, it better not be expecting me to go without a fight.
I’m just going to leave this here, because Mr. Kloos says it much better than I can:
https://munchkinwrangler.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/why-the-gun-is-civilization/
Outstanding read. Thank you for the link.
agreed! thank you.
Chief (and others),
FYI, the pastor’s column is in response to the Kloos piece.
That quote comes right after he says “Let me share several observations:”
The pastor doesn’t know the difference between an observation and speculation.
How in the world can he say such utter crap in response to an article that is such an overwhelming statement of truth.
Cognitive dissonance on full display.
Really. That’s amazing. I suspect the good “pastor” will be arguing to outlaw sunshine next, since he sounds like he’s afraid of his own shadow.
Wow, Chief Master, that was outstanding. Thanks for the link.
Excellent ! Thanks for the link.
I like the “I will be aware” part of his statement. Everyone already has the potential/ability to kill him, just like everyone else in the world. He’s just upset that he is forced to face that fact. Silly little snowflake…
Boiled down right to the bone. An astute and simple observation but one that tells the whole story, if largely in the subtext. We go through every day bathing in dangerous freedom and nobody panics over it.
Cowards gunna coward. Statists gunna state. Sun still rises over them.
+100. The reality is that there’s a million potential ways to kill someone, and if the other party is motivated to do so, you’re dead unless you have a counter-move.
That, and yes, yes it should make you more open and friendly. The friendliest, most universally polite and civil gathering of thousands of diverse folks is a gun show.
Which brings us to the obvious point – If 13 million people are permitted to carry concealed weapons, or 200 million, and the weapons are in fact concealed, you still don’t know who you meet or even pass by has the ability (not the intention) of pulling a gun and shooting you on the spot.
He has no idea how many people he encounters every single day who may be armed, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. Ignorance is bliss. And an armed society is a polite society.
Note, however, in Heinlein’s “Beyond This Horizon” (from which that quote is pulled), the people all open carry and if you decide not to carry you must wear a badge advertising your unarmed status. It is then consider VERY bad manners to shoot you and the shooter is liable for immediate justice from any and all nearby armed persons, politely.
I’m curious about just how many times he’s had a heated discussion with anyone that just punched him square in the mouth. Barring those with disabilities most of us walk around with one or more capable fists, pretty much 24/7.
Yeah, if his “friendly discussions” in line at WalMart get him punched in the mouth a few times a week, I could understand why he would wish guns outlawed.
Ah, projection. Are you so worried that you might shoot someone, Pastor?
Here’s the thing. Most everyone you meet is already capable of killing you with what tools are on-hand, or none at all other than hands and feet. And we all have murderous impulses from time to time; what differentiates us from animals is that we keep control of our baser instincts. Now, some people can’t or won’t do that, sure. Humanity has always had such in our ranks, and coddling them has never been a good idea.
“Here’s the thing. Most everyone you meet is already capable of killing you with what tools are on-hand, or none at all other than hands and feet.”
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!! We have a winner!
It is exceedingly easy to sucker-punch an unwitting person. If the initial sucker-punch itself — or the ensuing closed head injury that accompanies their limp body’s impact with hard ground — doesn’t kill them, it is a trivial matter to finish them off when they are laying unconscious on the ground.
Of course this doesn’t even scratch the surface of using alternate measures to suddenly kill someone like bludgeons or vehicles.
Why would you talk to a stranger at Walmart anyway? I would venture a guess and say that most productive civil discourse does not begin or end at Walmart.
My godsister’s boyfriend didn’t have a gun. He had a knife.
He used it to actualize his ability to kill her.
Perhaps the good Rev thinks she isn’t REALLY dead?
If so, how come she hasn’t returned any phone calls in this century?
I seem to recall that a certain historical personage the reverend might have heard of was not executed by firing squad, nor assassinated by an agent of Caesar with a concealed pistol.
There are those anti-gunners who state that carrying a concealed weapon changes the mindset of an individual, making them more prone to violence. Nothing could be further from the truth…
When I carry, I am MORE careful not to get into a confrontation. I would surmise that most people who carry operate the same way. We take our responsibility seriously…
“When I know that everyone else has a gun, I will be aware that any person whom I meet on the street has the potential to kill me. Does that help me be more rational and more friendly?”
Just change “kill” to “save” and it changes the whole perspective of his comment, and I can still be friendly, but because I’m thankful those people are there, not because I feel compelled with fear I’m going to say something that may upset them.
I guarantee he would tell you that defensive gun uses are a “myth” and that guns are “designed to kill” with no other possible use. And, of course, that if you do use a gun to save someone (which he’ll still insist never happens) you’ll be shot immediately by the easily confused and trigger-happy police who will shoot on sight without asking questions…and are the only ones with enough extensive training and expertise to be safe with firearms. We mere mortals obviously shouldn’t risk escalating an attempted murder by trying to defend ourselves and possibly enraging the assailant. It’s simple common sense.
And somehow these people are oblivious to the layers of contradiction in their narrative.
I am a pastor. I carry everyday, even in church. This man is consumed by irrational fear.
And he obviously has very little faith that God is looking out for him, or that He will call the reverend “home” in His own good time.
Here we go again, the talisman of evil fallacy…
Poor dumb bastage.
This is the same ridiculous argument that college professors make. Apparently the only time a bad guy will be armed is if we legalize it for good guys…hmmmm
Why do some people assume that a gun is the only object that can kill or injure people? Maybe it is the same reason people assume someone who attaches “reverend” to their name is somehow a man of God.
This stupid religious leader should return his theology graduation certificate, if he has one. He should try listening to the Armed Lutheran podcast. A religious education based in part on firearms would not harm him. He might even learn something about his own christian faith.
The podcast helps me in my religious education and he talks about guns so that makes it a twofer. The Armed Lutheran is an IDPA shooter.
http://www.armedlutheran.us/
1. Of God And Gun Free Zones
2. Does Jesus Hate Guns?
3. A Christian Time To Kill
4, Is Carrying A Gun A Christian Right?
5. Don’t Shoot! That Home Invader Might Be Jesus
“The Armed Lutheran” is a friend and an excellent resource for the biblical basis of self defense.
Gregolas
You are lucky to have such a friend. I discovered the Armed Lutheran by listening to the Black Man With a Gun podcast.
http://blackmanwithagun.com/
The black man with a gun podcast.
Translation of Reverend Don Blesser’s comment:
I am hysterical and must vomit words in the desperate attempt that it compels other people to change their lives and assuage my hysterical fears.
Well, you could always refrain from insulting random people standing in line at Walmart, you self-important stooge…
Don’t start nothing, maybe there won’t be nothing.
One has to wonder what kind of words is this reverend using in lines at stores that they might provoke someone to kill him.
I thought most of us carried a gun in order to protect ourselves, our families and other innocent life from the evil that is in the world.
Apparently the pastor thinks we carry in order to murder strangers who might possibly make a smart-ass remark at Wal-Mart.
Actually, he does have a point. I think that we all agree that children should not have uncontrolled access to weapons. Well, if you look at the development level of Liberals/Progressives, you can see that they are adulting – they are suspended in the teenage stage. Unrealistic expectations, over-blown and over-sensitive feelings, no sense of responsibility and constant demands – those are the psychological attributes of a teenager. Since the “education” system is specifically designed to not allow them to grow up, they remain at that stage for decades; some forever. A characteristic that is common to teenagers (and adulting post- or forever teenagers) is a sense of insecurity and projection of ills and faults that they themselves possess onto others. The teenagers cannot control their hormone-driven feelings, they know that they cannot rely on themselves for anything, from sustenance to calm response to emotions, so they assume that neither can anyone else. Yes, I know that limiting gun ownership based on some arbitrary test is a slippery slope, but we have accepted that children should not have guns. What we need is to define who is a child or a teenager based on their mental state vs their chronological age. In the same line of thinking, we all agree that people with a mental illness should not have guns. Why? Because they do not act like adults. So, if a 40-year old acts like a 15-year old, how is that any different? As a very basic definition of an adult, I suggest, taking root from the original US Constitution, is to define that stage based on the person’s self-sufficiency – if they are living off welfare or a government make-belief “job,” then they have not “adulted” enough to be an adult. This is not a permanent denial of the Second Amendment right, but a postponement until they reach an age of self-sufficiency and responsibility. Now, this seems to me to be a “common sense” approach to the issue.
Actually, Alexander, we do not all agree that children should not have uncontrolled access to weapons. What’s more, they already do unless you deny the reality that the world is filled with weapons, and that all it takes to use them is to want to exert force on someone else, and to recognize how any particular item at hand can be used to that end. Singling out firearms is a categorical error.
“we do not all agree that children should not have uncontrolled access to weapons.” Well, perhaps if you’re a die-hard anarchist. I certainly have never heard of anyone associated with the NRA or host of other Second Amendment-related organizations, including this site, that would advocate 5 year-old’s carrying their own handguns or rifles (unsupervised). I confess, you are the first.
Go play switcheroo someplace else. I read what you wrote, and replied to that. I can’t tell whether or not you read what I wrote because your reply was to the voices in your own head and not to my words.
Dear Pastor,
There is absolutely nothing that would prevent either me or at least two dozen other people I know from twisting your neck and stomping your face into the ground either.
Unless YOU had a gun, of course.
Bad people don’t need guns to intimidate or harm good people. Guns empower good people to remain not intimidated and unharmed.
Reading several of this mans opinion columns reveals that he is exactly the type of person who would force you to bow to his ultra liberal beliefs by law if he could. I wonder if the Mennonites now or have ever claimed him as their own.
I knew some Mennonites as a kid, even dated one. I did *not* notice any tendency toward liberalism. He may have made up his credentials.
What a religious weenie. For an alternate CHRISTIAN view come to my large NW Indiana Baptist church where a very large # are packing-some openly. And in my nearby state of Illinois CCL are highly vetted. Your chances of being shot by a law abiding person are SLIM. Whatever…this “pastor” probably voted Hillary?
At one point people thought fire was overly dangerous and magical. Now, with the rise of intelligence, bigger and more evolved brains, the benefits of fire have been realized.
Evolution is apparently still lagging for many people.
That double chin is going to kill him sooner then someone with a gun…
“Liberalism IS a mental disorder”
If this “pastor” could read his remarks objectively he wouldn’t have to worry about armed strangers killing him over a smart-ass remark in WalMart because he would die from embarrassment when he realized how utterly moronic his remarks are.
I’m glad that TTAG posts articles like this. It’s important to know what we’re up against and to see anti-gun people for what they are, namely, utterly stupid.
Even more delusions from the mouth of a spiritual snake oil salesman.
Dear Pastor;
You have made a gun into an idol, into a fetish. You have imbued in an inanimate object the ability to turn a peaceful person into a raving maniac. Not only has this no relation to reality, but you should know – as a “pastor” – that idols of wood and stone are not living.
Or you could just be projecting. Have you sought counsel on this issue? Why are you afraid you might be a murderer?
The first thing I thought of is that everyone who legally carries a gun has the potential to defend you.
If you think someone might shoot you for saying it, maybe you should make sure its worth saying.
I will only add to this discussion my own personally encountered experiences. The most polite, friendly, and open place I have ever been has not been at church, or even standing in line at Walmart. It has been at, dare I say, gun & pistol competitions where everyone is armed. A certain maturity is present.
I can vouch for that after volunteering for 5 weeks each summer for 6 years at the National Matches at Camp Perry, where there were thousands of people with guns all over the area, every day. Not just non-threatening, but actively social, friendly, sharing and helpful. My brother and I had a national champion in black powder load and instruct us in firing his amazing gun, a memory for each of us we’ll never forget.
I do have to say, as a 15-year-old in 1961, I met a group that were just as accepting and friendly, a group of around 500 tattooed bikers. And I had a pretty 15-year-old blonde riding with me. Absolutely wonderful day, just from turning around and following them while riding my new motorcycle. A lot of assumptions and common knowledge are just wrong.
Oh, look: another liberal, projecting his own lack of self-control onto others. *yawn*
Apparently his faith doesn’t enter into his thinking much. As a Christian and especially a pastor, God has sworn to protect him. I know personally a Pastor who had a .38 revolver fired at point-blank range at his face and the incoming rounds impacted at his feet. Try and explain to him how God can’t protect us. That being said, Christ also ordered His followers to arm themselves to protect themselves. My Pastor and I both carry for protection. Not because we don’t have faith in the Father, but because we know people. Besides, if EVERYONE was armed, wouldn’t this pastor be armed too, and perfectly capable of defending himself as well?
Without weapons, the handshake would have never come about. Does he not see handshakes as a friendly gesture?
This pastor and his irrational fear of his fellow human beings who own and carry a small collection of metal parts, springs, and screws is the real tragedy. The next 4 years holds great promise of TRUE commonsense gun laws, NOT CONTROL LAWS, but gun laws that recognize the President elect’s mandate; the RTKBA predates the founding of the nation and cannot be infringed by our government.
This frightened mouse, Dan Blosser, and his fellow long-tailed, snowflake, paper thin ego having geldings are going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the real world where there is no time nor spare caring to succor your feelings or assuage your emotions. Life is hard, bone hard, steel hard, and it can end at ANY time, so prepare accordingly snowflake, leftist, socialist, Purple Revolution zombies, and anti-Trump attackers.
p.s. be very very careful with your calls to promote more violence on the other half of this nation who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, for many of us will not allow your feelings to violate the sanctity of our civil rights, persons, and family safety. Come at any of us with anything but a plate of cookies and you are liable to be grave men/women/trans/container ship/whatever you identify as today.
It’s crazy. I was at a match yesterday with three dozen peeps with shotguns, pistols and rifles and thousands of rounds of ammo. Some unkind words slipped through in conversation. How did we not manage to gun down each other?
A couple weeks ago I was in a mixed company of over a hundred armed individuals I mostly don’t personally know that probably had 15k round of ammo on or near them. Why didn’t we off each other? I don’t get it.
Well gee, Padre, I can see how things might play out in your Orwellian mind, but the reality of it is that when I carry a weapon, I’ve found myself MORE polite and forgiving because I realize that the courts and society will hold me to a higher standard.
This man is an idiot. People have have the ability to kill him on a “whim” regardless of whether or not they are carring a gun.
“When I know that everyone else has a gun, I will be aware that any person whom I meet on the street has the potential to kill me…”
They already do dumbass. And yes, you’re a dumbass because you’re so stupid you don’t realize that pretty much anyone you meet who is ambulatory is capable of killing you.
The Amish are a spin off from the Mennonites. Mennonites stray far from modern life, and reality. my coworker has a farm next to a Mennonite farm. their kids call his kids “devil worshippers” because his daughters wear pants.
smile, nod your head, thank him for his input and move on.
People say the darnest things. We’ve all made stupid, off the cuff remarks before, which we’ve come to regret. Sometimes in anger, sometimes in lust, often in youth, always without thinking. Thinking doesn’t ensure wisdom, but it does tend to stall you long enough from acting or speaking unwisely.
Enter the good Pastor. Just shooting his fool mouth off, without thought, without delay, wholly without benefit of any reality check. How many times has he been smashed in the face with an eight pound gallon of milk, as any given Walmart customer in line behind him is likely to have handy? If that’s never happened, then why make the absurd leap of logic that some such customer would shoot you over a cross word?
It’s absurd to the point of being grotesque. I could never take such an individual seriously ever again after hearing that asinine comment fall out of his face. He’s an embarrassment to himself, hus family, his community, and profession.
That does seem pretty obvious, to the point it makes one suspicious the comments are not even honest. Generally, churches are real close to governments in their desire to control the actions of others. This may just be a dishonest attempt to gain control over the actions of others, as taken by themselves, his assertions are nonsense.
Same old story:
“I lack the discipline and self control to handle or carry a firearm; therefore no one should ever carry a firearm.” Since these people are admittedly borderline psychotic, and unable to control themselves, they should self-report and get themselves on the NICS list of those who should be permanently banned from firearm ownership.
Then, they should shut up and leave the rest of us alone.
Dear Pastor Headupyourash,
I already assume that at any moment in time any random stranger can suddenly attack and try to kill me. It has absolutely nothing to do with guns.
Imagining an ideal world does not create an ideal world.
So, SAYING nobody else around you has a gun is as safe as nobody else around you having a gun?
It’s the 5th rule of firearms handling.
ASSUME EVERYONE ELSE AROUND YOU IS ARMED AND READY WILLING AND ABLE TO DO YOU HARM.
The 6th rule is: ASSUME THAT THEY BELIEVE YOU ARE DUE HARM.
You will never be “safe” but you will be “safer”, if that gives you “fear”, that is your only “safer” state.
“When I know that everyone else has a gun, I will be aware that any person whom I meet on the street has the potential to kill me.”
So then, if you coul be sure that nobody else had a gun, you would be relieved that no person you meet on the street had the potential to kill you, right?
Whadda maroon.
Why do progressives persist in thinking that guns and polite rational dialogue are mutually exclusive? If he’s so certain that rational dialogue has made guns obsolete, then he should immediately buy a ticket to Syria and use his reasoned arguments to put an end to the conflict there. While he’s at it, he can talk ISIS out of slaughtering everyone who doesn’t think like them.
On the other side, who are these people who will just start shooting when they hear a mildly offensive comment? Sure there is the occasional psychopath who would. The vast majority of people are able to absorb insults and move on. We have just been through the most divisive election in living memory. Progressives called Conservatives – many of whom are gun owners – stupid, ignorant, racist, misogynist, deplorable, and a litany of other insults. If gun owners start shooting as soon as they are insulted, then where are the bodies? There should be millions dead after this election. Instead we see that gun owners carried on quietly in the face of many insults. Oddly enough it’s the Progressives that are now marching, smashing windows, and burning cars. Whatever happened to reasoned dialogue?
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