Guns in America

"Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum _est" (A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands.)

Lucius Annaeus Seneca "The Younger" ca. (4 BC - 65 AD).

The words of Lucius Seneca were spoken around 60 AD. That shows that in his time, a civilized Greece faced the same dilemma we are discussing today. I have found no law(s) banning swords in ancient Greece. Yet, Greece still lives today.

Another senseless tragedy has stuck America with the cold blooded slaughter of innocent concert goers in Las Vegas. The slaughter is incomprehensible and difficult to accept by anyone with any degree of decency and civility. The loss is tremendous on every level and I believe, has forever changed America’s perception of security and guns in society.

Since the tragedy at Newtown, the issue of gun control has resurfaced with a vengeance. Everyone from the common citizen to well known celebrities have given their input with varying degrees of extremes. I do agree that something must be done to avoid future senseless acts of violence against innocent people, but this issue is not about guns, its’ about senseless violence by people with mental and emotional issues when they get an agenda and get their hands on guns.

Violence has been around since the dawn of man and will continue to exist regardless of the method. These unstable people we’d like to control can just as easily kill a lot of people with a knife, explosives, chemicals, or blow up a building full of innocent people. The 9 -11 hijackers killed hundreds of innocent people, and they were only armed with box cutters! If unstable people have a point to make, they will make it with or without guns. They will either find a way around any ban or come up with some other sick way to make their point (like the hijackers). What they come up with, may be even more gruesome than people being shot. Remember folks, that’s why they’re unstable, they don’t think rationally. With that being said, I don’t believe any law or policy will be as effective as most anti gun people would have us believe.

Several societies around the world have weapons bans, yet the violence continues with and without guns. Mexico has one of the most stringent gun policies in the world and look at the problem they have. In Mexico, a common citizen cannot own a gun without first going through time and money consuming red tape gauntlet which is not worth the effort. Yet, the criminal elements in Mexico now have guns that match or exceed the firepower of law enforcement and the military, and that’s with a full ban. Most of the criminals’ weaponry is easily obtained through the black market and other illegal means to circumvent the so called “law”.

“The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become”.   Mark Twain

While its’ not fair to evenly compare the American policy with Mexican policy, but, the principal remains the same. Violence is violence and people who suffer with mental and emotional problems and have agendas will express themselves regardless of any ban, law, or policy and human nature is a commonality we all share, be it good or evil.

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws”. Plato”.

The problem with coming up with a solution for this issue is that whatever policy is enacted, it must be one that directly addresses the issue of senseless violence against innocent people and not a kneejerk reaction that would create unintended consequences and set our society up as a victim of oppression. The tricky part to any reasonable  policy will not be a ban or restriction on weapons in general or certain weapons, but first,  how to determine who can and who shouldn’t be allowed to own a weapon and how to keep weapons out of the hands of mentally unstable people.

Who and how will mentally instability be determined? At what point do character quirks stop and instability start? What about a very clever psychopaths such as Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, or Ted Kaczynski who can easily pass a psychological evaluation and fool psychiatrists, or worse, the awkward reclusive kid who no one realizes is a psychopath because he’s never been evaluated. I don’t believe for one minute that there is one set method to determine who is at risk for a psychotic episode incident involving a mass shooting or some other gruesome crime.

As of 2 days before this posting, many of the suggestions on gun control I have heard are based purely on emotion, politics, personal beliefs or flat out irrational. Any new anti violence/gun law policy based on these traits cannot be used in consideration during the making of any policy, much less, one that will deny people their rights. Already many overzealous radicals have suggested banning all weapons across the board. In a perfect world, that may sound like a good solution, but in today’s imperfect world, where there are too many what ifs, exceptions, and shades of grey, and not to mention the 2^nd Amendment of the Constitution, such a radical policy would only apply to legally licensed gun permit holders and those who have legitimate needs to have a gun.

Many gun control lobbyists and anti gun people want to attack the issue of gun control at constitutional level and trying to repeal the 2^nd Amendment. They claim that the amendment is archaic and was written for a different time when single shot muskets were the norm. I agree, but much of its intent still holds merit today. What these anti gun people fail to realize is that the when our founding father wrote the amendment, it was intended as a well-regulated armed militia composed of all able bodied men to defend against aggressors against the colonies and the government. YES, the government. The founding fathers wanted to create a nation where people were free to live their lives without fear of oppression from a government with a military, armed citizens assured that government authoritarian rule would not happen such as it did in England.

“Politicians prefer unarmed peasants”.

By repealing the 2^nd Amendment to our constitution, we are opening the door to total government control of our lives. Once an armed controlling group, be it terrorists, criminals, or the government, realizes that another has no means of defense; they will immediately assume total control and oppression will follow soon after. History has repeated this over and over as have mass murderers.

                               
Chairman Mao, (China)
Adolf Hitler (Germany)
Manuel Zelaya  (Honduras)
Fidel Castro  (Cuba)
Bashar al-Assad (Syria)
Kim Jong-un (North Korea)

I’ve included Mexican President Calderon (Mexcico), with other oppressive leaders to demonstrate how banning guns from citizens creates oppression. It leaves the common man defenseless against anyone with guns.

Another proposal is to ban only assault and fully automatic weapons from civilian use. In principal, I am against this because I believe it will eventually set precedence for further bans, and I still firmly hold to the belief that the government should not be the one to decide this unless we the people vote for it. But, due to the changing times and from what is currently happening, I do feel that some level of restrictions on assault weapons should be put in place. As a gun owner myself, and former infantryman, I would love to own an assault rifle of some type but I really don’t see a need for owning one. I will not insist on owning an assault rifle solely because it’s my right. But that’s just me. I know other gun owners who refuse to give up their “right” to own an assault rifle only because they have the right yet, never own one. Personally I think that’s a little childish and a matter of confusing privileges with rights.

I don’t claim to have all the answer for this problem but I do believe that any policy that is implemented must consider both the will of the people as a whole and the rights of the responsible gun owners. Any policy must be well thought out and not left with loopholes, confusing language, and full of ridiculous conflicts. And as difficult as it may be, this policy should be conceived without any political agendas, ear marks, or nepotism. The security of our society is at risk and should be taken seriously, not politically. No one group should be allowed to impose their will on the rights and privileges on another out of resentment, intimidation, or emotion. Gun shows should be better regulated or treated more like gun stores where background checks are required.

The issues of the definition of mentally/ emotional unstable should not be integrated to the policy, but used only when considering licensing and that determination should only be made by qualified personnel trained in the field, not politicians.

If I have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, I will defend that, with a gun if needed, for without the 2^nd Amendment, all the others are meaningless. 

Body Language

Well, today, I'd like to tell you about a study I read about in some science journal I read while in the DMV waiting room. Since it was the DVM, I obviously had enough time to not only read the entire article, but also War and Peace and half of Sun Tzu's "Art of War". (and yes, my license photo does look like I was hung over). Anyway, I found the study also applies to personal security as well as meeting new people. This study was originally conducted to determine if body language and eye contact had a significant role in meeting new people and avoiding others.

It has been said that body language accounts for up to 60 % of communication. The study in question was conducted to determine what effects eye contact and other body language has between strangers and the probability of interaction if eye contact was made or not. The results were quite amazing to me but I can also see how women could or would avoid eye contact to avoid a misunderstanding. The key in this study's result would be body language that accompanies eye contact.

In the study, which was conducted at night, women would be asked to walk into a dimly lit parking lot to a specific vehicle to determine the effectivenes of the lighting. Unbeknownst to them, a male test subject, a neatly dressed and groomed male who was unaware the woman was part of the study, was instructed to walk across the parking from his vehicle to the business at the same time, then asked to describe the woman in parking lot. He was under the impression the study was about the business, the woman in the parking lot was mentioned to him at the time he left his vehicle.

Here's where the results get interesting. Fourteen of the twenty women who saw the male subject walking towards them all made eye contact and acknowledged their presence with the male subjects walking towards them in the parking lot. At this point, the male researchers conclude that appearance was more likely to result in personal contact because of personal appearance and first impressions. It was at this point that a female researcher on the panel then decided to turn the tables and add another aspect to the study and included a threatening looking male subject in the test. Three thug looking males with criminal backgrounds were inserted into the male roles and the test was conducted again. When the male subjects were dressed in grungy clothing and disheveled appearance, Nineteen of the twenty women avoided contact and the women either departed from the direct route or cowered during their route to their vehicle across the lot.

This test, which turned out to prove more than intended, thanks to the woman in the panel, showed that eye contact and body language speaks more than one realizes and can determine the outcome of an encounter with a stranger.

When questioned afterwards, the grungy guys stated that the women who avoided eye contact and showed signs of fear appeared far more vulnerable than the one woman who did make eye contact and showed confidence because they feared the women who made eye contact could more easily identify them or fight back if they attacked first.

This test reenforces my belief that  appearance and confidence will trump a thug's intent because his intent is solely based on either perception or deception. Basically, a woman's confidence and body language will trump a thug's efforts most of the time, mainly because of his fear of failure.

Take this test for what it's worth to you, but I strongly believe that your confidence and your body language with strangers speaks volumes about you and can protect you.

Trust me, if I don't shave for two or three days and walking around in my work clothes, people treat me differently than when I'm clean shaven and wearing a tie and slacks. Perception means a lot but better safe than sorry. Think about that when you leaving the crowded mall to your car after four hours of power shopping!

My Skewering of Vivant Security Systems

I've posted about Vivint Security Systems on this blog and have personally dealt with this company personally as they tried to sell me on their ultimate security system but, I ultimately rated them as a D as a business after a little research. Now, as an Army veteran who found this ABC News report on them, I now demote them down to an F- with all kinds of malice!. If there was a lower grade, believe me, I would rate them as low as is possible! BTW, the Better Business Bureau has demoted Vivint to a big fat F*cking F. And, I'm not one to curse.

 I feel compelled to relay this information on Vivint to my security minded followers after finding this report on ABC News. As you well know, many businesses will readily jump on whatever hot bandwagon is popular simply for the sake of profits after having their legal team write contracts with legal loopholes and shady wording on their contracts and have their sales force promise all kinds of pies in the skies to make make the sales and lock them into legal quagmires. Well, as this ABC report clearly shows, Vivint appears to be just another money hungry company jumping on the veterans bandwagon to take clear advantage of US vets by means of legal mumbo-jumbo for profit by "legally contractual" means. Just another reason to avoid this deceptive and disgusting alarm company.

At this point, I wouldn't let them install their system in my dog's house. As a Desert Storm and 19 year US Army vet, I feel like an innocent kidnapped virgin sold as a whore for some scumbag's profit who will will just use me for my body then discard me off to the side of the alley as soon as the band wagon profits dropped.

Vivint, let me ask you something. Where is your focus? Veterans who answered their call of duty to defend the very democracy that give you the opportunity to live a prosperous life, or financial gain for your corporate officers and shareholders? Is your personal luxurious life more important than the lives of patriotic Americans who have sworn their lives to the US Constitution and sacrificed their lives? Can you possibly be that f*cking shallow? Really? A fancy car and mansion is more valuable to you than a fellow American life who is willing to stand up for your rights and the basic human rights of others less fortunate? For your personal gain??? Then you hide behind legal "contracts" you deceptively wrote for that purpose?

Vivint, go ahead and hide behind the deceptive cloak of Capitalism, the American Dream, The US legal system, The dog eat dog world, every man for himself, who ever ends up with the most toys, wins, the every minute there's a sucker born mentality, however your sick mind can justify your pathetic behavior. You will NEVER win and ultimately wind up just another has been company who attempted to undermine true American truth!

OK Vivint, before you sic your legal team on me for defamation and slander, let me ask you this? How many lawyers do you have on retention and payroll willing to risk their legal careers versus how many military vets since WWII and truly patriotic Americans willing to stand firm for vets over a company who was re-branded from APEX because of customer complaints? Just remember Vivint, there is enough on you online to for us to prove our point regardless of your overpaid legal team. Your legal maneuvering will NEVER override the truth because financial gain can never beat out the American patriotism of American vets and true Americans!

Suck it up buttercup! Oh sorry Vivint. did I offend you or legally violate your profits and reputation over my sacrifice which is not legally standing? Are you now searching for some other legal recourse to stop me from interfering from you rightful legal profits? No problem Vivint, go ahead and throw this 19 year vet in jail and see how your profits skyrocket. Not only will that show your shallowness, it'll also clearly show your deceptiveness on your support on "VETERANS" except the ones you intentionally screw by your "legal means" as you see it by your legal rights.

Vivint, you've been called out. One hundred fifty one other vets and bloggers have this post waiting for you to slam me, sue me, throw me in jail, and shut me the f*ck up or get off the veteran bandwagon. I'll lay off. I promise as a non-commissioned officer who's word is better than any or  business legalities. I'll be watching and waiting.

My post on Vivint, Dec 2013:http://adventpersec.blogspot.com/2013/12/vivint-security-alarms.html

ABC News Post, May 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyiAMfU6Q8I

Was my 18 years of military service just spent for someone else's sole purpose of personal financial gain? What about my friends and brothers in arms who gave the ultimate sacrifice? Was it for some CEO and investors' profit? Is that what we Americans are fighting for?

P.S. Vivint, You must pay $5,120.00 for me to remove this post from my blog because your representative showed me this figure on his"official" Vivint paperwork. Sorry that the salesman is not an "official representative" but only a sub contractor who has no official capacity but, that is the only contract I have before me which I was deceived into signing. Sorry I cannot show it to you but, that is the legal agreement that was signed by your representative and not subject to scrutiny by any party herein included. When you pay the $5550.00. (administrative and processing fees included), I will remove it from this blog and notify the Better Business Bureau, The Consumerist, Consumer Reports, and Scam Businesses.com, and several other scam sites, to show the claim as "resolved". Please be advised that these are the legal terms as stated by US laws such as the ones you used on our US vets and and as such, don't necessarily mean that anything was actually resolved. It simply means that you made a lame attempt to contact your victim, probably via robo calls which you will probably attempt to consider a legitimate call to evade responsibility. All the while, without providing the promised services you actually promised laughing your a$$ off on the way to the bank.

By paying the $5,550.00 fee. Vivint must agree that we cannot fully guarantee that all derogatory posts against Vivint will be removed from internet sites as stated in this agreement once you have agreed and paid the fee. Advent, here as known as, the awesome company will make every effort to remove any and all derogatory and negative posts about Vivnint that have been posted by Advent Personal Security as known by it's known history of posting negative blog posts and review postings regarding the the deceptive claims made by Vivinit Seccurity Systems.

How do you like them apples Vivint? F*ck with one vet, you f*ck with all vets since from all branches of service since WWII and all true Americans. Is that worth a buck?

To my readers, feel free to search Vivint on YouTube and Google reviews: Formerly known as APEX.

Disclosure: I normally don't interject my personal feelings in my posts but this one is the exception as not only am I an Army vet but, I have lost friends in Iraq and Afghanistan and feel that this scam is the lowest form of  douchebaggery any American can do over the life of another American who sacrifices his or her life for the American way.

As a neutral researcher, I believe in being open and looking at both sides of every story. I personally dealt with Vivant and it was the only company I considered to having install a security system in my house even though I worked for a rival company a few years back. In theory, Vivint's system is awesome and have found many positive things about Vivint.  But, after a bit more research, I found that their monitoring was not only lacking, but their sales methods were a bit on the shady side. After some further research and talking to some Vivint owners, I found that the the company practices we geared more towards profits from monitoring rather than security. I was really disappointed because I thought I had found a good secure system but eventually came to find out that Vivint was only a re-branded company (APEX), that had changed names because of high customer complaints.

Although Vivint changed names, their sales and service practices hasn't really changed much. From this point on, I'll let you decide by doing some simple online research. I would like to ask any more vets or Americans who are willing to stand by side once again against this this greedy behemoth, to please contact me if and when when we must do battle against this anti vet greedy business.

Are You Being Watched?

Voyeurism

The act of one obtaining sexual gratification from observing unsuspecting individuals who are partly undressed, naked, or engaged in sexual acts; broadly :  one who habitually seeks sexual stimulation by visual means.

One of the crimes I despise most is voyeurism.  Not only does this crime violate peoples' privacy, the perpetrator goes the extra step and distributes this violation online for other perverts to further violate the victims' personal life. Imagine you most intimate moments captured on video and distributed online for others and possibly being exposed to the wrong people. Aside from extortion, the humiliation and questioning of your integrity is now in question. 

So how do you protect yourself from this perverted crime? Well, for starters, read the

Safety in a Hotel post here http://adventpersec.blogspot.com/2014/01/safety-in-hotel.html

Aside from being spied on in hotels and other places, you must consider places like your own home and other familiar places where webcams are installed. Since the advent of webcams, perverts with basic hacking abilities have figured out how to hack into commonly used webcams people use every day for security and other purposes. 

Webcams are great for many uses but unfortunately, developers did not consider security when developing the cams.  Therefore, many webcams out there are streaming video with absolutely no security from hacking or "tapping in". Since most webcams are connected to a computer, once a hacker gains access to your computer, the webcam is under full control of the hacker to turn on and off as he wishes.

What happens once this happens? It get's post online on sites such as, http://www.opentopia.com/ and http://www.insecam.org/ These are just two site where webcams are streamed but there are many many more.

The webcams on these sites have been easily hacked because most are not secured or password strength is easily guessed. Is your password strong enough? Or, are you more concerned with convenience. Are you willing to risk your webcam capturing your private moments? One simple solution is to cover your webcam lens with a piece of tape or disconnect it until you need to use it. 

Don't let your private moments go viral.

Open Carry in Texas.

As we've now heard, Governor Abbot's open carry law has passed and will go into effect in January of 2016. This will allow licensed Texans to openly carry a weapon in most places, people must understand that there will still be some places that open or concealed carrying will not be allowed. Surprisingly, Whataburger, a true Texas tradition, has already publicly stated that openly carried guns will not be allowed in their restaurants. Personally, I find that as a insult from Texans to Texans but I will not contest it because I understand that the Whataburger is just another corporate entity that has has succumbed to profiteering and the poilticlal correctness movement in favor or profit over truth and constitutional rights. Ok, I get it, it's about corporate greed before true Texas traditional and constitutional rights. Whataburger, I love your burgers but I'm sadly disappointed in your decision to to to defy a true Texas right over profit and political correctness!

I'm going to put my neck on the chopping block here and tell you why I think open carry is not a good idea. Before the haters and anti gunners start their whining, hear me out. I'm a proponent for the Second Amendment, gun ownership, concealed carry permits, guns for self defense, and self defense in general. The main reason I am against open carry is because I do not believe people will understand that criminals are not afraid of open carriers because you're armed and also because people who fear guns will eventually whine to the point that their safety is more important than your right to bear arms. Some liberal wussy politician will eventually make a big fuss and make all gun carriers look the bad the bad guy. Kind of like the global warming conspiracy theorists. Anyway, here's what I predict,

Gun thefts.

Here's a guy sitting on a park bench watching his kids play in the park. He feels secure because he thinks no one will mess with him because he's armed. A criminal will see this exposed gun as an opportunity for a free gun and possible robbery of the gun owner. Many open carriers just don't have the training with gun use and ownership. Untrained open carriers have this belief that showing they're armed is enough to keep them safe. I predict many stolen guns and armed robberies. I can take his weapon away and turn it against him before he knows it's gone. He has no locking mechanism on his holster. If I later commit a crime with his gun and it's traced back to him, he'll be legally held responsible.

Racial profiling.

These two guys walk into the restaurant your at with your family. They're both openly carrying. You get a bad feeling about the guy on the right and decide to call the police because you're convinced he's up to no good.

The guy on the left has an extensive criminal history including rape, aggravated assault and narcotics use. He's on parole and should not be in possession of weapon but cannot be questioned by law enforcement about carrying. The guy on the right is military combat veteran, reserve county deputy, addiction counselor, lay minister at his church and father of three. This happens all the time even without the guns. Profiling is a societal norm commonly accepted by our society due to preconceptions of races and racial perceptions.

Accidental shootings.

Some leather holster have been known to misform over time and press against the gun trigger causing the gun to fire after some movement or pressure is applied. I recommend a plastic or composite type holster with a locking mechanism to avoid accidental discharge or theft.Unintentional discharges will happen. This will also take time from police officers' time as they must investigate these accident which will take time from their regular duties and patrols.

Stand your ground shootings.

Road rage or any incident of confrontation will be taken as a threat to life and claimed as "I feared for my life" shootings. "He looked threatening and cussed at me, I feared for my life so I shot him".

Lost guns.

Even police officers and soldiers have been know to lose weapons. A civilian with minimal training will inadvertently forget a weapon where some criminal dirtbag or child could find it. The consequences could be devastating.

Officer Safety.

Regardless of how strongly you feel about your 2nd Amendment right or the legality of the open carry law, the police officer is the legal enforcer who must deal with the laws on a daily basis and make split second decisions. This poor guy who has sworn to uphold the law of the land will have to confront armed citizens every day. Aside from putting his life on line for our society's safety, He or she must risk every single encounter with an armed citizen multiple times a day. While YOU may be a law abiding citizen with your rights in the forefront, there is no way for him or her to know your intentions upon approach. For their safety, they must assume some level of hostility on your part and take every precaution to safeguard their lives while performing their duties. Just for a second, put yourself in their shoes and imagine pulling a stranger over who is carrying a loaded gun as you approach their car. Are you POSITIVE they are a law abiding citizen? I predict many people will get in serious trouble and or lose their right to open carry for challenging an officer's authority over their rights. I also predict some civilians will get shot by officer for challenging the officer's authority over their "rights" to open carry. Unfortunate, but it will happen.

Reciprocity Laws

While Texas may allow open carry, other states around Texas may not. People who live along bordering states may inadvertently forget they have a gun in the car when crossing state lines may get arrested if caught with a weapon. Now that Texas has made it legal to carry a gun, other states may not allow a gun in the vehicle. I predict many people will get into some legal troubles while traveling into Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico for having an accessible weapon in the car. Those surrounding states will now be extra careful to stop and search any vehicle with Texas license plates. God forbid you should get caught in Mexico with a gun. You're going directly to prison. You will not pass go or collect $200. Solitary with no chance of parole.

The Second Amendment

Sorry to burst your bubble but the second amendment does NOT trump your state laws. The US constitution has been challenged many times for this and has always lost to state laws. If you get busted in Washington DC or any other state for carrying an  unlicensed gun registered in another state, the second amendment does NOT give you the rights to carry a weapon in that state regardless of what you believe. Regardless of how you interpret the Second Amendment, (muskets or AR 15s) state law will usually always win. I predict many Texans still believe that the Second Amendment and reciprocity laws will guarantee their "RIGHT" to bear arms and wind up with criminal records.

Forgetfulness

People are human and forget. After openly carrying all day everywhere, people will forget they're carrying and walk into someplace where weapons are not allowed. Using cell phones in the church,  piano recitals and theaters are good example of this even though it's clearly posted and mentioned in the previews. People forget or just believe the that the law gives them the right to carry anywhere. Who really looks for the little sign on the door that states that carrying weapons openly is prohibited. I myself spotted a man with a gun in a place clearly marked with a 30.06  guns prohibited sign clearly posted on the front door. He wasn't paying attention when he entered but fortunately, I was able to discreetly inform him of the sign and being that he was a law abiding citizen, scurried out and left his gun in his car before re-entering the business. There will be times when people will not notice legal postings and carry into places where guns are not allowed and get into legal troubles.

I believe if Thomas Jefferson's words, the US Constitution and especially the Second Amendment but I also believe that today's threat is not so much from the government but the criminal element. In Jefferson's day, everyone had a at least one gun for true personal protection and hunting and was well versed in it's use, maintenance, and purpose, but remember that we don't live in Jefferson's days. Today, guns are and our laws are much more complex and must be learned before use and their implementation. Political correctness, public opinion, and laws must also be considered before we jump on the supposed overall encompassing Second Amendment, street justice, and claiming self defense like back in the days of Jefferson. Our society hes become very complex since the days of Jefferson and when our constitution was written. We, as a society cannot just revert back to the days of yore and claim our right to bear arms as a Constitutionally given human rights without regard to modern rights and law.

As I have mentioned many times before in this blog, We live in a different time, where things are different from times we learned in our history classes. As such, the times of Jefferson and colonial days, 2015 is very different as our laws our. This is where we as a society must accept this change and follow the new societal norm that we have created. Sorry if you don't agree with it, but you played a part in creating it whether you accept it or not.

UPDATE:
Ironically, or as proof of my point, the day after I wrote this, I went to work and was informed that a federal agent in the building I work in, accidentally discharged his duty weapon in the office! My partner who was on duty at the time heard the blast and went to investigate. Upon finding that there were no injuries, went back to work but noted the incident in his duty log. Apparently, this was the agent's second accidental discharge and is a fully trained firearms instructor!  If this can happen to a firearms instructor, when will a similar occurrences accidentally injure or kill an innocent bystander by accidental discharges by open carriers who are not fully trained or openly carry just because they feel it is they're constitutional right.

Folk's you MUST understand that just because you have the Second Amendment legal RIGHT to bear arms, it does NOT mean that you are immune from the legalities of the state laws governing the bearing of weapons! Every state define the misuse of guns, gun safety, ignorance of the law, or even the legal repercussions of  shooting another person differently. You MUST understand that even though the Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms, there are other laws that govern the standards and conditions that govern HOW, WHEN, and WHY you may exercise those conditions according to each state in the US. Those laws are set by the states and are NOT automatically overridden by the US Constitution!

As proof of this point, there are NO reciprocity rules or laws in the US that will excuse an ANY concealed or open gun carrier for weapons violations in the US who claims his 2nd Amendment right as justification. Just because you can openly carry in one state, does NOT mean you can openly or conceal carry in another state regardless of your licensing, certification, or misguide interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. This is proof that each state can have laws that seam to override the US Constitution. But, what many people fail to recognize is that, while the US Constitution may be the law of the land, the Constitution ALSO gives each state of our union, the right to have it's own constitution and the federal government must respect each state's constitution.

Suck it up Buttercup.
Dave

Too Easy to Hack Your Email

I usually don't post much on cyber security security because it is a such a large crime and the variations and techniques are so varied, I would spend way too much time on just that. Every once in while I will come across a cyber crime I will feel compelled to share with my readers for what ever reason.

In this particular hack, I felt was worth of your knowledge because it is ridiculously simple and I also feel it would most likely be perpetrated by someone you know.

This hack is being made known by the awesome Symantec technology company known for their security, storage and backup software. I thought it was cool of them to produce this video.



                                                                                                                                                                       
What could a hacker learn about you be accessing you email account(s) and how could they exploit the information they have access to?

Aside from getting to know more about your personal life, I also see the potential for identity theft by possibly getting more valuable information from your emails that could be pieced together to create your personal profile. That profile could further be used to apply for credit cards, loans, and various other things which would devastate your life.

Remember, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.

Take heed.
Dave

Advent Is Growing. Thanks To You.

Many Advent PerSec readers who have been to one of my presentations, have asked me why I don’t post articles about the subjects I talk about in the live presentations. The biggest reason I didn’t is that I felt posting the subjects online would drive down the attendance of the live presentations. My thinking was that people would not attend my presentations if they could just read about it online.

Well, after some thought and convincing by a reader who attended a presentation, I have relented. I did so but only with the readers’ understanding that reading about some of the security threats cannot replace seeing some of the demonstrations in person or the countermeasures I demonstrate in the presentations. In other words, reading posts online can never replace being there in person and seeing it for yourself.

Another reason I decided to bring more information to this blog is because Advent Personal Security as a business is growing at a good pace. I now have followers from 11 states in the US and a few from other countries. While I can handle the growth by myself so far, there is no way I can do presentations outside of my own community thereby neglecting many people of valuable information that could benefit them.

So, from now on, I will post most if not all the information discussed at my live presentations. There are some things I will not be able to post such as demonstrations and product use but I will try my best to inform my followers on how to protect themselves and be safe from personal safety threats. I am also looking into producing some Advent videos to post on the blog so, watch for those in the future.

Also, be aware that I am launching an Advent Personal Security website with almost 200 security products available. I am hoping to launch in early July 2015. Also, this blog may move to a different address around the same time but not to worry, I will leave a link to the new blog site and website on this page so you can visit and re subscribe on the new blog site.

Thanks to all my followers and customers for your loyalty and support. Your safety is my goal. BTW, I have managed to reinstall the Follow and RSS buttons which mysteriously disappeared for awhile but had my Advent email hijacked. If you have received any advertisements for a home security systems from adventpersecblog.com, please know that it was not me, it was probably from some teenaged Russian script kiddie hacker and you should disregard. I will never solicit your business directly. If you want to contact me directly, you can do so at dave@adventpersec.com

Dave

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:13