I’d like to recommend two excellent books. The Santa Shooter, by Marcus Allen Weldon, and, Good Gun, Bad Guy, by Dan Wos.
Good Gun, Bad Guy is the answer to the question, “Where do I go to understand where anti-gunners are coming from, and how I can counter their arguments?” Dan is a professional musician and entrepreneur. Although his father taught him about guns and hunting, he gradually bought into the media’s anti-gun arguments, thinking those who carried guns were sort of crazy. Then a late-midnight run-in he and his wife had with a street-tough made him rethink things. Like me, Dan decided he owed it to his wife and family to never again be helpless in the face of a criminal. While studying the gun issue and self-defense, Dan began to see how little anti-gunners and their media co-conspirators cared about facts, and how eager they were to put the People of the Gun in a bad light.
Good Gun, Bad Guy shows what Dan learned about the gun debate over the years, and he’s learned a lot. Dan’s book is rare in that while he gives plenty of the latest facts, figures and examples for the pro-gun side, he presents his facts by creating dialogues between pro and anti-gunners on various aspects of the gun debate. He sets up discussions on gun ownership, the gun-grabber mindset, the unintended consequences of gun laws, and the fear and ignorance motivating anti-gunners.
In these dialogues, Dan exhibits a keen understanding of the thought processes of the antis. Describing their arguments, he lays out explicit counter-arguments to them. It reminds me of reading Plato’s dialogues where Socrates debates those of his day who held illogical, uninformed, unfounded, emotional, and cultural biases. Dan’s debates take me back to many a debate I’ve had with antis. He not only exposes the flaws in their arguments, but explains to us just WHY these folks think as they do and arrive at their false conclusions. He doesn’t dislike antis, he believes most are ill-informed and driven by the media’s campaign of fear. He gets inside their heads so his readers can have empathy for their feelings and help them understand their own biases that keep them from seeing the truth.
Except for institutional gun-grabbers (the media, politicians, and the dedicated few political fanatics in the anti-gun movement), Dan believes that most people are ruled by their emotions regarding guns, especially fear. Fear is a primary motivator of human behavior. Good Gun, Bad Guy is the best book I’ve read on reaching out to those who irrationally fear guns with logic, facts, and understanding. This is a “must have” in every gun owner’s library.
Marcus Weldon’s The Santa Shooter is an entirely different kind of book. Detroit media dubbed him “The Santa Shooter” after he was arrested for defending himself and a friend in a gas station shootout. Marcus’ story is as gripping as a good crime novel, but is all true. As a teenager growing up in Detroit, he got caught up in the instant gratification and style of the hip-hop/gangsta culture. This got him arrested as a juvenile offender. However, Marcus’ intelligence, along with his upright parents, faith in God and a loving minister and church family, led him to reject the loser lifestyle and set his sights on something better.
You’ll be impressed by Marcus’ honesty. He tells you the mistakes he’s made without excuses. Then he’ll tell you what he learned and how he determined to improve. He became a great father, and a caring citizen dedicated to helping local youth not repeat his mistakes. By 2014, he was an entrepreneur, working three jobs, prominent in City programs to help troubled youth, and known by local media and politicians.
He was working a Christmas party as Santa for a liquor distributor that employed him as a spokesman that December night in 2014. After the party, a friend, who was one of the models playing an elf, had a low tire. Marcus followed her to a gas station, found her tire was flat, and that her car had no jack. While waiting for a tow truck, his friend went to the sales window of the gas station to get some water. Suddenly, things got ugly.
Two Arabic men had pulled to the pumps. One got out, went straight to Marcus’ friend, pushed her violently and started screaming at her from inches away. He had liquor on his breath and was high. When Marcus told him to back off, the man shoved him hard and strode back to the car speaking Arabic, then rummaged in the car for something. As the man stood and turned, Marcus saw a revolver in his hand. He drew his own licensed semi-auto and a gun battle began in which both Arabs were shot. Marcus, still in his Santa outfit, was arrested soon after. The media dubbed him, “The Santa Shooter”.
An old saying goes, “A conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, and a liberal is a conservative who’s been arrested.” Once arrested, Marcus learned why it’s called a “Legal system” and NOT a “Justice system” in America. The book is subtitled, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, and the reader will see how just being in the wrong place at the wrong time can totally upset your life.
The Middle-Eastern community is large in Michigan. He had to deal with the personal and financial costs of the legal system, the media looking for a sensational story, political friends who abandoned him now that he was accused, job loss, depression, death threats, lying witnesses (including police), one of his witnesses disappearing so he wouldn’t have to testify, and a prosecutor playing “hide-the ball” with favorable evidence that should have been given to his lawyer right away instead of months later. Yet, Marcus found steadfast support from his family, true friends, his faith, his minister and church family, and nationwide help from pro-gun people who cared more about his case than his race.
If you want an example of what a meat-grinder the legal system is, even for an innocent man, read this book. If you seek an inspiring story of a man who refused to give up, read this book. If you need to why it’s essential that you get skills and legal training before you carry a gun, read this book. Both The Santa Shooter ($20.00) and Good Gun, Bad Guy ($16.99) are available on Amazon.
Image: Screen Shot: http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/163443844-story
