Saturday, June 6, 2009

A Ridgeback Weapon System

Every state recognizes the need for self-defense, that is, the need to defend itself, but they don’t all recognize the need of the individual to defend himself. Many states throughout history have preferred that the individual citizen remain defenseless rather than risk the possibility that he might take up arms against the ruling authority. The US was formed around the view that the citizen is to be primary. His right to self-defense is not to be infringed. His right to bear arms, even at the risk of his using them against the established government shall not be infringed.

Those who favor a centralized government would like to see those American Second Amendment rights infringed. In fact they’d like to see them eliminated. In Europe there is a move toward centralization in the form of the EU. In America, the Left Wing hankers after all things European. In the case of Centralized Government they would very much love to follow suit. They would love to turn over the government of the US to some larger governmental body like the EU or the UN. The fact that many nations in the EU are refusing to take the final step of giving up their independence to a centralized EU government hasn’t deterred their American followers. The American Left Wing does not like America as it was conceived. It would prefer that the US become a Socialistic State with a centralized government, a state that would need to protect itself against its citizens, a state that would be extremely fearful of an armed citizenry.

We have all heard of Karate, but perhaps we didn’t realize that Karate was developed on Okinawa in response to a weapons ban. There is no need to learn to fight with just your hands if weapons are available, but if weapons are forbidden by the ruling authority, as they were on Okinawa, then the choice is between contenting yourself with defenselessness or learning some alternate means of self-defense. Some will find other ways to defend themselves if weapons are denied them. Many of the Okinawans learned to make their bare hands into weapons.

Here in the US the anti-gun Left Wing has gone a long way toward denying our Second Amendment. Yes, you can have a gun in the house, but if you shoot someone with it, even someone who has broken into your house, you may still go to jail. And, in many states, you may not carry your gun outside. Outside if you need to defend yourself, perhaps you can employ Karate if you know it. If not, then perhaps you have a dog that knows the equivalent of Karate.

By “self-defense,” I mean defense of one’s self, one’s family and one’s property. Many dog breeds have been developed to assist their owners in self-defense: the Doberman Pinscher, the German Shepherd, the Rottweiler, The Giant Schnauzer, the Beauceron, the Bull Terrier, the various breeds of Mastiff, the various variations of the Pit Bull, Belgian Malinois and similar Belgian breeds, the American Staffordshire Terrier and several other breeds.

If you shudder when you read that “Murderer’s Row” of dog breeds, perhaps you live on the Left. However, be comforted, you Left-Wingers, with the knowledge that your Legal Profession, which overwhelmingly shares your Leftist views has been hard at work in the filing of law-suits against the owners of any of the above dog-breeds guilty of doing its job. Self-Defense in any form is frowned upon by the Left Wing.

One may notice that despite my subject title I haven’t included the Rhodesian Ridgeback in the above list. I am inclined to think that some “softening” has gone on in this particular breed. Breeders fearing Left-Wing law suits have voluntarily disarmed this breed to a significant extent. There are discussions in Ridgeback discussion groups about whether an owner’s Ridgeback would come to the owner’s defense if it was really really really necessary – because the dog typically doesn’t seem as though it would. Most are friendly, will let anyone pet them and strive to be “good citizens,” meaning that they won’t represent or cause harm to anyone. It isn’t likely that any Okinawan who learned Karate was going to strive to be a “good citizen,” at least not in accordance with the definition imposed by the authorities. The Okinawan authorities defined good citizens as disarmed citizens.

I live in San Jacinto California where it is illegal to carry a gun outside the house in the city limits where one is most likely to be mugged. If one gets outside the city where muggers never go, it is okay to carry a gun, but if one is concerned about muggers or other forms of accosters, then one ought to get a dog. Any on the above list will do. Whether or not the particular dog you get will actually mug a mugger may be in some doubt; because all breeders of the dogs on the above list worry about law suits. However, the mere sight of your Rottweiler or a Bull Mastiff late at night should be enough to deter a mugger. So perhaps that’s good enough for these times.

When I worked in Aerospace the term “weapons system” was applied to programs such as aerial tankers and cargo transports; which were not strictly speaking weapons. Nevertheless the Air Force chose to call them weapons systems. An aerial refueling tanker was capable of refueling bombers and fighters on their way to do their job. These bombers and fighters were “weapons” so what of the system that refuels them on their sorties? The Air Force chose to call them weapon as well. The same thing is true of the C-17 cargo aircraft which was capable of transporting troops and weapons near where the soldiers would be using their weapons in battle. So the C-17 was known as a weapon system as well.

The Okinawan was denied weapons like those wielded by the authorities; so he made his hands into weapons. He created a weapon system from what was available to him. And anyone wanting to walk at night in a city where he is denied the ability to defend himself with a knife, gun, or club may want to follow the example of the Okinawans and obtain a deferent sort of weapon system. Yes, he or she can go to class and learn Karate, or, if she has neither the time nor the inclination to do that, she can go to a local breeder and buy a Belgian Malinois, for example. The Okinawan wasn’t always using his hands as weapons. He would also push his plow, carry crops, and feed himself with his hands; so too would the Belgian Malinois be a household companion, play with the kids and the cat and not be a nuisance when company showed up. But out on a walk at night where muggers lurk, he would be a weapon system. He would be on guard – like a cocked Okinawan fist.

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