Most of us know Jackie Robinson, he was the first player to break Major League baseball’s color line in 1947. Few of us remember Branch Rickey, Rickey was the the GM for the Brooklyn Dodgers. As the story goes Rickey was eager to integrate the Dodgers and was considering Robinson.

From Wikipedia:
Rickey was especially interested in making sure his eventual signee could withstand the inevitable racial abuse that would be directed at him. In a famous three-hour exchange on August 28, 1945, Rickey asked Robinson if he could face the racial animus without taking the bait and reacting angrily—a concern given Robinson’s prior arguments with law enforcement officials at PJC and in the military. Robinson was aghast: “Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?” Rickey replied that he needed a Negro player “with guts enough not to fight back.”After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to “turn the other cheek” to racial antagonism, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $600 a month, equal to $7,651 today.

Robinson lived up to his promise and let his play do the talking. He won a world series, a league MVP and was consistently one of the best players in the league. He excelled at all aspects and is given credit by some for innovating modern base stealing. He did not respond to angry fans and showed tremendous grace under outright hatred and abuse. We would all have forgiven Robinson if he’d lost his temper more often and fought back- the fact that he had the courage not to makes him a transcendent figure.

I think Robinson understood the racial climate of the times, segregation had been a way of life for so long and many saw no reason to change it. Among these people were extremists, truly hateful racists that were never going to be reached; but the bulk of the population were not so extreme and could be moved to change. By seeing athletes like Robinson and Joe Louis achieve excellence and greatness despite tremendous adversity from racial animus it elevated the moral cause for action to stop segregation and racial discrimination. Robinson went on to be a successful executive, the first executive VP of a major American corporation (Chock full o’Nuts), he also founded a bank and worked as a broadcaster.

Robinson knew how and when to fight- refusing to participate in an old timers game in 1969 to protest the lack of minorities in management and front office staffs.

Today it is frequently the advocates who shout the loudest that get the most attention. Part of this is our media saturated society- part of it is fundraising and rallying the base. Do these advocates reach the moderates whose minds they might change? I propose that they do not and only make issues more polarizing.

Gay marriage is one example, most people do not hate or fear gays. Conversely most gays just want to be tolerated and have equal protection under the law. Unfortunately many of the advocates that get the most attention are extremists. Gay groups that demand blanket acceptance and are downright hostile to religious people calling them ignorant or hateful. On the other sides fringe groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church or other hateful bigots get attention. Moderates are unlikely to change their minds and only become stronger in their views when they are called names and made to feel stupid, ignorant or hateful. You cannot fight hate with hate.

My friend- Adam, a gay man wrote a heartfelt letter to his mother explaining his feelings about her and his faiths and why he thought gays should be able to marry. He didn’t name call and he was respectful of her feelings while explaining his own. He gave her space to change her mind without pressure or ultimatums. He could have pointed out hypocrisies in her life or used stronger rhetoric that might have been more satisfying for a man who has faced quite a bit of adversity for his sexuality.

American’s opinions regarding gay marriage have evolved dramatically to the point where a slight majority now favors it in most polls conducted. Twenty years ago many gays were closeted and being gay was misunderstood by many Americans who didn’t even think they knew a homosexual. Over time gays have emerged, most of them seeking only tolerance in their communities. More Americans know and see gay couples and even families with children. They go to the same schools and in some case the same churches and temples. They live on the same streets and have similar lives. Moderates aren’t more accepting of gays because they saw a pride parade with militants french kissing in public or wearing provocative clothing. These kinds of displays only reinforce their position of being reluctant to tolerate legal gay marriage.

I encourage gay marriage advocates to be more like Jackie Robinson. Understand and empathize with the other side talk to them about their feelings and reasoning. Ignore the bigots and their traps. Provide solutions for the other sides problems. I think gay marriage laws would get more support if they all included protections for religious institutions. Take away the argument that churches might be sued for discrimination if they refuse to perform gay marriage ceremonies. In our free society private people and groups must be free to discriminate not without social consequences but without force of law. There will be churches and organizations that will embrace same sex marriage and gays can make them even stronger with their patronage and encourage more of them.

Another huge debate in our society is gun control. Traditional we have had gun rights and are losing in some places while gaining in others so it is a different issue than same sex marriage. However the same philosophy applies, advocates like myself for gun rights need to understand the other side and reach out to it. The best thing gun owners can do is practice their right with extreme caution and responsibility. Gun accidents are at an all time low but there are still more than 800 senseless accidental guns deaths a year. As gun owners we must self regulate, there is no reason ever for a negligent discharge. We must be responsible for our guns and control them ourselves keeping them 100% secure 24/7. This is the most powerful argument for keeping the government from taking our rights. Gun owners also need to seek training and keep their skills up, so if they have to use them some day they are ready and effective.

Gun owners can take a cue from the gay community’s openess. Moderate gun owners need to let their neighbors know that they have guns and support the right of self defense. Moderates who don’t own guns need to see that for every stereotypical conspiracy nut with an arsenal there are 100,000 responsible sensible gun owners who take their right and their responsibility very seriously. Every day more than 1 million Americans carry a gun with them. They are next to you on the freeway, at the grocery store, walking down the street. Their guns do not pose any threat to you and in fact enhance your security even though you may choose to be unarmed.

We need to dial back on the rhetoric. I once posted a satirical comment on my facebook page urging the unarmed to post gun free zone signs on their houses. After an hour and one angry comment I deleted the post. While I don’t back down from the point- it was needlessly argumentative and polarizing. Some gun rights advocates have started posting a phrase ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ which means “come and take it” it is what the Spartans are reported to have said to the Persians when asked to surrender. I understand the passion and the righteous anger behind this sentiment. This kind of rhetoric might rally a base but it will turn off moderates closing their minds to our reasoning and evidence.

I have never been one to shy away from debate, I love it and am not afraid of arguments- I don’t take arguments personally and am rarely personally offended. However most people don’t want to argue or debate issues they believe. The develop strong opinions and don’t want to be challenged; they avoid conflict. Nobody wants to be wrong. It is rare that a person changes their mind overnight, it takes years and usually personal experience resonating with logic and information. Those of us who are advocates must remember this and do our best to be a part of this process. We have to learn patience and humility. We need to be more like Jackie Robinson was if we want to be a part of the movement towards the truth we believe in.

Police officers have a difficult and sometimes thankless job. They deal often with the worst among us and have a duty to engage bad people acting out violently. As a regular citizen with a gun- I do not seek out confrontation or criminals. I don’t have to respond to domestic violence calls or protect anyone other than myself and my family. This means I am much less likely to ever need to use my gun than a police officer. In fact even most cops never have to even fire their weapons at another human being.

Having said all of this I do worry that the wrong kind of people are drawn to police work. Some officers have authority complexes and short tempers. Police officers should be cool headed clear thinkers- and many are, but some operate on short triggers and don’t deal with stress very well.

There has been a lot of talk recently about CCW (Concealed Carry Weapons) permit holders and gun crime. Some in the media such as Mother Jones have made the inaccurate claim that CCW holders haven’t ever stopped mass shootings. The also warn about CCW permit holders accidentally will shoot innocent people. I was flabbergasted when some in the media used the story of Joe Zamudio to argue against CCW permit holders. Zamudio helped restrain the Gabby Giffords shooter and was armed that day.

Zamudio: (Interview on Fox and Friends)

“I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket here. And I came around the corner like this.” Zamudio demonstrated how his shooting hand was wrapped around the weapon, poised to draw and fire. As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. “And that’s who I at first thought was the shooter,” Zamudio recalled. “I told him to ‘Drop it, drop it!’ “

Zamudio then realized the man with the gun wasn’t the shooter after a brief struggle and then helped restrain the real shooter. Zamudio made the right call and didn’t pull the trigger.

In fact I have had trouble finding any case of a public shooting where a CCW permit holder shot an innocent person- none. Even the cases where they stopped a shooting such as the principle in Alabama they have only had to brandish the weapon. Maybe a reader can point one out for me, and I fully acknowledge that it could happen. Nothing is perfectly safe and we have to balance public policy for the greater good.

I also recently came upon this story, from the mass shooting in Oregon back in December. Nick Meli, a CCW permit holder saw the shooting going on and had taken cover to assess the situation.

Meli:

“As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them.”

Meli kept his eyes on the shooter and watched as he ended his own life. Meli, only 22 years old, assessed the situation and made the right call. He was ready for action but showed restraint because he could have made the situation worse by missing his target.

Now lets contrast that with the accidental shooting in Torrance early this week by the LAPD. A ex-cop is targeting LAPD officers and their families and has killed three people so far. The LAPD was on high alert and had stationed officers to protect specific targets identified as high value for the ex-cop. The suspect was known to have a dark grey Nissan Titan and had shot from this truck prior. At least 7 officiers where at the scene and prepared for possible combat. Around 5am a blue Toyota Tacoma entered the neighborhood. It was driven by a 47 and 71 year old daughter and mother delivering newspapers. The suspect is a 270lbs large black man. We do not know all the facts, it has been reported that the lights of the truck were off and that the truck accelerated away after the first shots were fired (which is reasonable of course) and was then fired on again by more officers. The lawyer for the women says that no audible warnings were given before the shooting began. Thankfully despite at least 46 shots one woman was wounded twice in the back and the other wounded from glass.

The LAPD has extensive training and resources like night vision and helicopters, (not reported what these cops had in this case) things the average CCW permit holder does not. In this case they also had the element of surprise and were ready to engage. These cops were on edge and it seems to have caused a major lapse in judgement. In my comfortable “armchair” I would ask why force was necessary before any id was made. Clearly the target was well protected and these ladies were not even close to engaging the actual target but merely in the vicinity. I would also question why it wasn’t obvious that this was a different truck driven by two older women. Clearly the officiers at the very least had flashlights.

I am not ready to convict these officers and I am certain they thought they were engaging the bad guy. More information will come out and the city ( taxpayers) will probably rightfully pay out a few million dollars to these poor women. The officers may lose their jobs.

CCW permit holders do have accidents and also do commit crimes but they are rare and according to some research on par with law enforcement. It is clear that with the power to carry a gun comes tremendous responsibility. It is also clear to me that being a police officer doesn’t necessarily make a person more qualified to carry that responsibility.

Mother Jones studied mass shootings and concluded that armed citizens would not have a positive affect on safety and that they had not stopped mass shootings: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/mass-shootings-investigation?page=2

My response:
Is it any wonder that more armed civilians don’t stop these shootings given that all but one since 1950 have taken place in gun free zones. A couple of important facts overlooked here: The principal in Alabama that stopped the shooting: His gun was in the car because of the school restriction. The shooter had planned to go to another school so he did stop potentially more deaths. There are other cases overlooked here such as the shooting at New Life church in 2007. The other major problem here is that Mother Jones looked at shootings were more than 4 people were killed. If armed civilians fight back many times they stop the body count therefore averting a mass murder shooting. By simply having the right to carry in schools some of these monsters won’t even attempt to attack a school.

Numerous studies show that guns are used defensively as often as 2 million times a year. The vast majority of the time the gun need only be shown to break off the attack.  One of the tactics on the left seems to be assailing the good because it is imperfect. Gun flights are horrible and should be avoided at all costs. It is almost always better to retreat and run from a gun fight even while armed. However when innocent children are slaughtered in great numbers it is obvious that a gun in trained hands could stop the killing. Imagine if the courageous principal had a gun and training. She may have been able to stop the attack or slow him down allowing someone else to overwhelm him or more kids to escape.

It is also important to note that Mother Jones also didn’t find a single person that did act in these cases and killed any bystanders, some of them lost their lives but they didn’t make the situation worse. CCW permit holders commit crimes about as often as police officers, the data shows they are very lawful citizens.

Mother Jones cherry picks their stats here but they ignore the fact that violent crime has dropped in every category since the lifting of the assault weapons ban in 2004. More than a million fewer people were killed in 2011 than in 2004. Having more trained people carrying weapons is not a panacea and certainly will not stop these mass shootings.However the evidence shows that they can make a difference.

Mother Jones also fails to mention that police officers have yet to make a real difference in one of these school shootings. In Columbine it took 2 hours for them to go into the school, heavily armed SWAT officers stood by and waited while a teacher bleed to death and many students were executed in the library. Even the school resource officer only managed to fire a few rounds at the shooters without hitting them.

The police cannot protect us, usually they arrive just in time to put up tape and start the investigation.