Rev. Billy Graham has passed away at age 99. Though I am not a member of his denomination, I have listened to and admired him for decades. I have always been struck by the purity, clarity, and persistence of his mission.

I don't have to ask that he rest in peace - I'm sure he's already there.

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After another soul-crushing killing spree at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the usual angry confrontation has begun between liberals and conservatives. How to protect our children from mentally disturbed actors like Nikolas Cruz? That is the issue.

Had he used a knife or a bomb, Jihadist style, we would not be seeking to eliminate knifes from public use, though schools would be protected from both, The issue of school safety must be addressed by "hardening" campus areas as Israel has done since the 1970s, when jihadists were attacking their schools with murder in mind. Israel has highly trained and properly armed guards who scrutinize everyone entering school zones. This method quickly ended the bloody Muslim attacks.

Liberal Americans always react to such shooting attacks by demanding firearms confiscation or prohibition, overlooking the obvious logical impossibility of success. They also fail to understand that such prohibitions are direct "infringements" of our fundamental Constitutional (Second Amendment) right “to keep and bear arms." In the face of a movement to prohibit a species of firearm (the AR 15) the American citizen (patriot) must stand to uphold that right. America is not Australia or England, where firearms are prohibited and seen as something evil. In America the citizen is protected from any federal government attempt to take away or infringe upon his right to keep and bear arms. But that protection is always in need of protection itself.

James Madison was a wise man. He foresaw this threat and created the Second Amendment to enable the citizen the ability to arm himself for self-defense and in order to protect against usurpation by the federal government. All of the liberal emotion engendered by the outrageous Florida attack must not affect our liberties as clearly established in our Bill of Rights. Another way, rather than prohibiting a firearm, must be found. The Israelis found that way by "hardening" school grounds.

All of the school and policing agencies utterly failed in this horrendous Florida event. The actor couldn't have had a more obvious criminal profile. No one did anything to prevent the bloodshed.

Don't blame the firearm for those should-have-been-responsible agencies.

America is the last truly free nation on earth - exemplified by our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and defense against the misuse of government power. No other nation on earth has established that sacred right.

I think the persistent move to restrict or confiscate firearms in America can lead to another, true revolution. Prohibiting firearms to law-abiding American citizens will never succeed in restraining criminals. Criminals will never comply with the law - that is the crux of the problem.

And, law-abiding citizens will always have a need for self defense against the criminal, be it man or government.

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I've just learned that President Trump has come out against the so-called "Bump Stock" which can simulate full auto fire from a simi-auto rifle. I think most firearms friendly people won't have objections to this, as long as this action isn't the prelude to more restrictions (a common fear). Most firearms enthusiasts have long since lost all trust in government on gun matters.

This stock has only been a gimmick until now. For almost all serious shooters this thing is an expensive ammo-waster, and ammo is expensive. Actually, the function of this stock can be easily replicated in other, simple ways. Still a gimmick, so let it go.