My Personal Manifesto

1. I no longer consider myself a Republican. I am definitely not a Democrat either. I am a bleeding heart conservative, if such a thing exists. I believe in and defend the Constitution of the United States. That includes Religious Freedom and the Second Amendment. I believe in gay rights. I believe in many programs that help the less fortunate. And I really hate big government and big business.

2. I believe citizens have the right to bear arms. I do. I have no problem with people owning firearms. However, I do not think ALL people are smart or sane enough to have one, and do, 100%, firmly, and without question, believe we need stricter gun controls. Gun permits and CCL's need to be determined by much more than a computer and a gun store owner. And they shouldn't be for life. They should have to be renewable, just like a driver's license.

3. I am all for stronger and more States' rights. Sure it means some states will get a little carried away with their legislation. (California, Massachusetts, and Illinois come to mind.) But as long as people have the right to pick up and move away, or vote out bad politicians, those problems will take care of themselves in time. (Everyone in Utah knows at least one Californian who has moved to UT to get away from the craziness of CA.)

4. I believe that as things currently stand, politics and representatives has put gay rights and religious liberty at odds with each other. I do not believe that it has to be that way. And I think that in time that will start to work itself out. I believe in gay rights. I believe in religious liberty. And I will work to help those two things work in harmony with each other.

5. Donald Trump is a complete arse.

6. I fully support the refugee movement. I live in one of the designated refugee towns. I am not in a situation where I can provide housing for someone. But I will absolutely give my time, skills, and money to assist refugees in whatever way I can.

7. Obamacare is a complete disaster. The state marketplaces are a complete disaster. Healthcare reform has been a complete disaster. And my opinions are based solely on my personal experiences using all of the above. I firmly believe we need more controls and safeguards. I believe the insurance system in this country is a complete crock. I do not think the government should run insurance. At.All.

8. There is a violence and narcissism problem in this country. And I believe the two things go hand in hand. The more narcissistic people become, the more they believe they have the right to violent, unchecked, harmful behavior. I don't know how this can be fixed or helped, but something needs to be done.

Roanoke Strong Unfolds on Social Media

Photo shared by Daryl Watkins from Creative Dog Media via the City of Roanoke Facebook page. I believe it was created to be shared, and therefore hope Mr. Watkins is okay with me sharing his beautiful image here without his explicit permission. Thank you Mr. Watkins. 

I live in Roanoke, Virginia, the town where the terrible on-air murder of two news reporters happened yesterday. Needless to say, our town is still reeling from the shock of what happened.
Not too surprisingly, in wake of the shooting, the national conversation has turned to gun control. (It's not yet a conversation in this town, and I don't expect it will be for a while.) I've explained my unusual background with firearms before, so I won't do it again today.
This story has hit not just "close to home" for me, but has hit my community, my town, and my world. I work in social media. This is my realm. And now someone has committed an atrocity in both my virtual and physical worlds. Of course I have a few things to say about it!
I can't think of any other instance where someone so flagrantly and blatantly flaunted their crime-in-progress online. I've heard of criminals stupid enough to share their spoils online, never have I heard of a crime-in-progress unfolding online.
The entire premise and concept scares me.
It scares me that someone was so desperate for attention and "glory" (after all, criminals of this nature often have a self-righteous belief that they are doing something good) that they would broadcast their crimes live.
Since the horrific Aurora movie theater shootings, there have been at least two more that I can think of without looking it up. I can't even wrap my head around how many school shootings there have been since Columbine. If there is one thing we have learned from these types of atrocities, it is that they will be copied.
And it all begs the question - will this spurn a new trend in online crime-in-progress streaming?
I pray that it will not. But I think we all know deep down inside, that it is inevitable.
Will it lead to social networks creating filters that search for such activity? (For instance, right now Facebook filters your posts for certain key words like wedding, marriage, birthday, baby, birth, born, etc., and makes sure those posts get seen by more people, using the assumption that people want to know when you get married or have a baby.) Will social networks be forced to start filtering for criminal activity?
I hate the concept, but just 30 hours after the shootings yesterday, I can foresee the need to prevent attention/glory seekers from taking advantage of social media for criminal intent.
(For the record, when I say I hate the concept, I mean I hate that there is going to be a need for it. Also, I hate that it will lead to some controversy about free speech and the First Amendment. I hate any time the First Amendment must be debated in the context of public safety. I love the First Amendment. Hate that it can be abused to hurt others.)
In my version of a perfect world, there wouldn't be crime (obviously). But in my more realistic perfect world (where crime is inevitable because no two people will ever think the same), we would be a better self-policing society. If there is one good thing that came out of yesterday, it is that as the shooter's activities were revealed online, his networks (I won't call them friends) didn't retweet or share his activities. They reported him. They told Twitter and Facebook what he was doing, and got him shut down. This is self-policing at its finest.
But it didn't work perfectly. Because before Twitter and Facebook figured it out and removed the offensive content, there were people out there who did copy and download the images and video. Because, like I said, no two people think alike.
I will let the rest of the world debate gun control and the right to bear arms. But for now, I'm going to focus on what I know best - social media - and work to make the world a better place there.





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Help Prevent More Unnecessary Tragedies by Contacting Your Senator About S.1284 and S.689 Today

The tragedy at the Navy Yard is yet another wake-up call to both citizens and lawmakers that the United States needs legislative reform.

The Navy Yard, Sandy Hook, Aurora, Fort Hood, Tucson, Virginia Tech, Columbine, and several other unnecessary mass murders all had one strong, undeniable detail in common- mental health disorders.

Placing the blame on firearms regulations will not stop mentally ill persons from attacking and hurting others. The root of the problem is the mentally ill, not the tool the person chose for their attack. The real problem lies with sick persons who were not treated for mental illnesses adequately.

The time has come to raise awareness of mental health disorders in the public square and provide more resources to help ill persons. All individuals need to learn and identify the mentally ill among them, and help the sick and afflicted get help. Schools need to be given more resources to identify and serve mentally ill students.

The stigma of mental awareness needs to be lifted so that the ill will not be afraid to admit their sickness and reach out for help.

I urge you to support the mental health funding levels in the Senate FY2014 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill (S.1284) and to cosponsor and enact the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2013 (S. 689).

There has been a cut in state funding for mental health services and supports of nearly $5 billion over the last three years.  The Senate funding bill includes a roughly $107 million increase for much-needed, critical mental health services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and would fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at FY2012 levels. 

S.1284 makes important strides in investing in "upstream services" such as suicide prevention, consumer programs, Project AWARE, etc. to begin to address the treatment chasm (80 percent of children and 66 percent of adults that need treatment do not receive it).

In the wake of the the Navy Yard shooting, the Sandy Hook tragedy, Aurora, and all of the other national crises, bi-partisan legislation was introduced by Sens. Tom Harkin and Lamar Alexander to assist states and local communities in addressing mental health needs ("upstream" services). 

The Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2013 (S. 689) was passed by an overwhelming vote of 95-2 in April as an amendment to a legislative vehicle that has since been pulled from the Senate calendar.
 
I urge you to support the funding levels in the Senate FY2014 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill (S.1284) in any future spending package or Continuing Resolution and to urge the Senate to have the House consider the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2013 (S. 689). These important bills will help address the mental health and addiction needs in our state and communities.

You can show your support for this bill by contacting your Senator (click here to find your senator and her/his email address), and sending her/him the text in bold above.

Share this message on your blog, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. Help spread the word, and encourage everyone to not just "like" the post, but SEND THE MESSAGE TO THE SENATE TO SUPPORT SENATE FY2014 LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND EDUCATION AND APPROPRIATIONS BILL (S.1284) AND THE MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS AND IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2013 (S.689)!

You can learn more about this legislation on the Mental Health America website. 

Firearms, Gun Control, and the Second Amendment

My first real job out of college was for a homeless shelter for teens in Houston, Texas. At that point in time my professional ambition was to plan fancy fundraising events for the most deserving of charities. I worked there just short of one year before I moved back to my home state of Virginia. It was then and there that I got a job interview through a recruiter with "one of the oldest and biggest non-profits" in the U.S. I was shocked to find out that non-profit was the National Rifle Association. The job description sounded good, the company's location was ideal, and I had nothing against the NRA, so I went to the interview.

I wasn't a fit for the position in their charitable wing, but was referred upstairs to a different "event planning" position. I got the job- a trade show and special events planning position in the membership division. It was a fateful turn in my career path- one that would almost always include guns. 

At the time I was hired I had never held a real gun before. I had held a few BB guns, and shot them at tin cans on a fence in a field in Mississippi. But I had never seen a gun range, let alone fired a real weapon. I was a Republican with a Southern upbringing, and that was enough to convince me (and the people that hired me) that I was in favor of the Second Amendment. But to be honest, I had never really thought much about it.

I didn't work at the NRA for long before someone took me down to the range, enrolled me in the range and firearms safety class, put a .22 pistol in my hand, and taught me how to shoot. "Punching holes in paper." It didn't take long for me to discover two things- I was a natural shot, and I really liked when things go bang.

I've never had an inclination to go hunting, nor do I expect I ever will. (Although I wouldn't mind removing one or two raccoons from the population behind my house.) But the range has always held a certain appeal for me. It takes skill, discipline, and focus to get a bull's eye. Just like an NBA player isn't guaranteed every free throw, or Tiger Woods a hole in one, shooting at a target doesn't always mean a perfect shot.

I left the NRA after a while and moved on to other (event planning) jobs, just to end up working at Beretta USA a few years later. Beretta is one of the largest firearms manufacturers in the world. I worked in the law enforcement and defense division, where we sold large numbers of firearms and parts to police and military.

While I worked at both organizations I dreaded telling new acquaintances, or even strangers, where I worked. Rarely was my employer's name met with neutrality; it was always met with a heavily biased response, whether positive or negative. I was called a "babykiller" more times than I can count. If the new person was pro-firearms, I was almost always asked what kind of guns I owned. Or I was subjected to the person's testimony of the Second Amendment, and a list of their favorite weapons.

Gun Control (Doesn't Work)

Guns and homicide by population (click on image to enlarge)

The topic of gun control has reared its vicious head in American politics yet again. In the interest of full disclosure, I would like to explain that much of my professional career has been spent working in the firearms industry. I worked for the National Rifle Association (in an event planning position), and for a firearms manufacturer (in a marketing and events position). That being said, I am very well-informed when it comes to firearms regulations across the country. However, in spite of what my professional background may appear to be, and my political affiliations, I am not a staunch defender of the Second Amendment. I am not passionate about the subject, but I am better informed on both sides of the argument than your average person.

After the topic began to resurface on Saturday after the tragic shooting in Colorado, I saw an internet meme go across Facebook that was just plain and simple wrong. (I didn't think to save it at the time, and the original poster has deleted since then.) It motivated me to dig up the real numbers about gun control around the world. The countries I used were the ones in the original meme.

Comparing the populations, number of homicides, number of guns, number of homicides, and number of guns used in homicides side-by-side is the best way to really understand what the problem in the United States is. It isn't the guns. It is the number of homicides!!!

Look at the differences between Finland, England/Wales, and the US.

In Finland, the annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population is 2.3.
In Finland the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is 0.41.

In the United States, the annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population is 4.6.
In the United States, the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is 2.98.

In England & Wales, the annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population is 1.1.
In England & Wales, the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is 0.1.

Do you see the difference? Guns aren't the problem. The problem is that AMERICANS ARE KILLING EACH OTHER!

Look at the chart this way-

Click on image to enlarge

That yellow line is the number of homicides. There are other ways I could make this chart more dramatic, but I like it straight-forward.

If there was ever an argument for the cliched and overused expression, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people," it is the facts right here. Other countries have plenty of guns as well. (Even the countries that Americans mistakenly believe don't allow guns, have plenty of guns.)

The problem is with our culture. Other "First World" countries do not have homicide rates close to the United States. The fact that Americans are resolving disputes and conflicts by killing each other is the real problem.  The solution is not to take away the gun (42% of homicides didn't use a gun), but to stop the culture of violence. The death penalty and/or life in prison is not enough of a deterrent to stop the killing. Already strict gun controls have not stopped the killing. The problem is with the culture, and that needs to be addressed.


Source for all facts: GunPolicy.org (a pro-gun control organization)