After reading the aptly titled “Wis. sheriff urges residents to get gun training” yahoo article (http://news.yahoo.com/wis-sheriff-urges-residents-gun-training-011512568.html) , I found the irony too much to resist. Allow me to explain.

As the title of the article suggests and link confirms, Milwaukee Country Sherriff David Clark Jr. recently made a commercial that urges citizens to “get in the game” and take firearms training to protect themselves. Apparently there’ve been cutbacks to the police department and it would be in every citizens’ best interest to have the capability to defend him or herself.

Makes sense, right? The sherriff is suggesting  citizens learn how to safely and responsibly handle a firearm in case their fluffy little world comes apart and someone should want to assault them or their family. You would think everyone in the Wisconsin legislative body would be like,” Ya. Sounds about right. Bad guys out there. Not enough police. Go ahead and learn to protect yourselves.”

So here are the reactions from other trusted elected officials:

Evidence #1

“That doesn’t sound too smart,” Felber said. “People have the right to defend themselves, but they don’t have the right to take the law into their own hands.”

Roy Felber is the president of the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriffs’ Association.

Evidence #2

“Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s office released a statement criticizing the ad: ‘Apparently Sheriff David Clarke is auditioning for the next Dirty Harry movie.’”

Evidence #3

Jeri Bonavia, executive director of Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort said, “I feel like this is such an irresponsible thing for our chief public safety officer of a county to do. I think he owes this community an apology. And if he really believes that he’s not capable of providing for our public safety he should get a different job.”

Analysis

Let’s start with Mr. Felber. Apparently,  Mr. Felber has either a hearing or a reasoning problem. At no point whatsoever did Sherriff Clark Jr. suggest citizens pack their gat, put on their cape and underwear mask, and start tracking down bad guys.  

Actually, I don’t think Mr. Felber has a hearing or reasoning problem. He has other interests, which makes him biased and quite frankly, oblivious to the meaning of words. He’s a willing nincompoop.

I think Mayor Barrett and Mr. Felber may have eaten the same brand paint chips when they were younger. I find it hard to believe that not one, but two, elected officials- in the same state- heard the sheriff’s plea as a call to vigilantism. Seems like one or the other’s disease of stupid infected the other. What’s sad about Mr. Barrett’s case is that he was beaten up with a tire iron several years ago, and you would think he would understand the value of self-protection. It seems he may have been hit in the head and lost a few of his marbles in the tragic incident.

Jeri Bonavia’s response takes the cake. Mr. Bonavia is anti-violence. Being anti-violence apparently requires cowardice and blowing a whistle while criminals assault you.

Mr. Bonavia, allow me to indulge myself and pretend that you will read this. I would very much like to explain to you why your reasoning is so flawed that it scares the dickens out of me. I am utterly bewildered that someone, somewhere along the line, gave you a microphone, a platform to say… well, anything. It’s scary that people might actually mistake you for a reliable source of information and logic. Allow me to divulge to you how the whole police assistance thing works.

First off, in order for law enforcement to be notified of your distress, said cause of distress must be established, i.e. mugging, house invasion, assault with tire iron, etc. It’s only once the threat or assault has been established that police- assuming the victim has the opportunity- are notified that their assistance would be much appreciated. This means that the criminal has a jump-start. So, while law enforcement officers head onto the scene, the assault or home invasion is already in progress.

Maybe, Mr. Bonavia, you guys in Wisconsin are working on a teleporter, one for the sole purpose of beaming police officers to the scene immediately. And if you are, my apologies. But if you’re not working on a teleporter for the sake of beaming officers “to the scene,” I ask you:  what fluffy, fantasy world do you live in that has caused you to conclude that it is irresponsible for private citizens to have the capability to protect themselves and possibly annihilate the criminal who will have an average of thirty minutes to do whatever he wants with you until police arrive? What cock-a-me, undignified upbringing did you have?

You know the saying “crazy people don’t know they’re crazy”? Insanity is defined as something of a detachment from reality. The previous three officials  have all illustrated at least a partial detachment from reality. They implied and heard things that weren’t said or remotely suggested, and they reasoned with the ability equivalent to that of a cucumber.

Anti-gunners don’t emphasize mental health evaluations and measures for shooters because their logic is akin to a crazy person. And like a crazy person, they don’t believe in the value of mental health measures.