The Information Battle: San Bernardino

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Truth from Tragedy


San Bernardino. Add it to a growing list of horrific tragedies that continue to rock our nation and cause us to ask hard questions, not only about the situations but about ourselves.
Let’s start with what we know.

First, in case you hadn’t noticed, we have a biased media. Gun control was on the lips of nearly every news-person as soon as the story began to break. Everyone jumped on Google maps to see where the nearest Planned Parenthood was to the shooting. Workplace violence was the general consensus at the beginning. I understand wanting to have all the facts before reporting things, however, in general, the media’s coverage was shameful.
Second, out of all fifty states, California has the strictest gun laws as rated by the Brady Campaign. That is fact. “California also has no provision in its state constitution that explicitly guarantees an individual the right to keep and bear arms.” It is not an exaggeration to say that California is not a gun friendly state.
Third, one the murderers who perpetrated this event, Tashfeen Malik, pledged her allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the emir of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Maybe I’m way out of line, but I have to think that Malik didn’t do this on a whim. And let me go a step further and say that her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, most likely shared his wife’s sentiment concerning al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State. I’d bet a difference of opinion on an issue like this would be a deal breaker for most relationships. Just saying.
Now, let’s put what we know together to help us understand where we go from here.
Gun laws do not work to protect the citizens of the United States. The strictest gun laws in the country could not stop these two vile murderers from doing what they did. As I discussed in a previous article, the heart of each individual is the problem, not the inanimate object called a gun.
The hearts of Malik and Farook were what caused them to commit these heinous crimes. Hearts darkened with the hate and  barbarity of a system that is completely foreign to who we as Americans truly are.
That system is radical Islam. Have no doubt, what these two evil people did is being cheered by every member of ISIS. What these people did, there are thousands who wish that they could do the same and more. The people who think like this are our enemy.
We bare our enemies no bitter hatred. We do not wish violence on them or seek a fight. But when an individual’s life is threatened, it is their God-given right to defend their life and the lives of those around them.
That is what the Second Amendment is truly about: the ability to defend yourself. God gave us the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The ability to protect those rights is enshrined in the Second Amendment.
This is what our own President had this to say after the shooting:

Sadly, he is not alone in his complete disregard for the Constitution, the document that he swore, not once, not twice, but three times, to uphold. Far too many of our leaders believe that making guns harder to get will solve this problem. That is complete and utter nonsense. Not only that, it is unconstitutional and dangerous.
We must stop eating the media’s narrative. We must start thinking for ourselves and pushing back when we see our laws and rights being trampled. We must tell the truth to ourselves and those around us.
How do we do this?
This a question that I’ve been asking myself for several years. There are many good answers, however there is one I want to focus on today: The Information Battle.
No matter what, you cannot change a person’s mind. They must change it for themselves. However, what and how a person thinks is determined in large part by what information that they take in. When the mantra of ‘more gun regulations’ is repeated over and over, by the media, social media, friends, co-workers, our President and leaders, what do people eventually start to believe? “Obviously we must have more gun regulations!”
The only way to counter that is with truth. Many do not want to hear the truth but that does not alleviate us of our responsibility to speak it. So join me in this “Information Battle”. Share the truth. Never stop sharing the truth.
Jonathan Paine
@painefultruth76
painefultruth1776@gmail.com

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