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Friday, January 14, 2011

No Shout Out for Joe

"To disarm the people...was the best and most effectual way to enslave them." — George Mason

During the Tucson Memorial pep rally President Obama recognized the so called heroes of the January 8 shooting. He acknowledged the intern who checked the bleeding from Gabrielle Giffords’ head, the woman who grabbed the gunman’s spare magazine and the 74 year-old retiree who brought Loughner to the ground. I did not hear him give a shout out to Joe Zamudio, who knelt on the shooters back and held him down.

So who is Joe Zamudio? Joe is a 24 year-old, gun tooting, Arizonian who believes in the law and the Second Amendment. You see, Joe had just walked out of the Walgreen Drug Store after buying a pack of cigarettes when he heard the shooting and commotion in the shopping plaza. Joe, who always carries a gun, immediately raced toward the commotion with his hand on the butt of his gun and releasing the safety. Joe was ready to take the shooter down. When he got to the scene he saw that 74 year-old 74-year-old Bill Badger, a retired army colonel had already knocked Loughner to the ground and had grabbed his gun. Joe was ready to shoot, but this young man with a quick thinking mind knocked the gun from Badger’s hand and when told that Badger was not the shooter he jumped on Loughner’s back, grabbed his arm in a hammer lock and knelt on his back holding him down until the police arrived.

Zamudio told interviewers latter that he was ready to shoot, but he was blessed that he did not have to go to that place.  You can see Zumudio’s interview with Ed Schultz on MSNBC by clicking here. You can also see his interview with Geraldo Riviera on Fox News if you cannot stomach Ed Schultz by clicking here.

Zamudio took responsibility of a citizen. I know there of those of you who will say he was crazy for running to the fracas ready to pull his gun and begin shooting. The fact is that he did not. In the time required to blink you eyes Zamudio was able to make the correct decision and leave his weapon holstered. I am sure had he seen Loughner standing and firing he would have shot and probably killed he shooter. The 31 students at Virginia Tech would have been so fortunate to have a Joe Zamudio close by.

When Zamudio charged the scene of the massacre he was also risking his own life as the gunman could have fired on him. I don’t know if he thought about that, you will have to ask him. It is like a soldier who takes instinctive action in combat — they really don’t think of the risk while they are doing it. They have been trained for such situations. I don’t know if Zamudio was trained, but his instincts were sound.

In days to come we will hear the voices from the left calling for stricter gun controls. They will resort to the old and tired argument that banning guns will stop the deaths by guns. I suppose banning knives will stop stabbings and banning alcohol will stop drunkenness — oh we tried that one and didn’t work out so well.

The left does not like an armed citizenry because it sees it as a threat to their dreams of big government. They don’t want a nation of Davids who can challenge the walls built by emperors a thousand miles away.

There is one weapon that kills 37,000 people and maims thousands of others each year. The manufacture of this weapon is regulated by the government. To use this weapon you need to be trained and licensed by the government. Even the substance that fuels the weapon is regulated and taxed. It is after all not the automobile that causes these deaths and injuries, but the nut that holds the steering wheel.

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