Don't let your children be victims of the ''Culture of Sheep''

By Tim Inwood

Earlier in May I recounted a story from my youth in “Time for the sun to set on the Culture of Sheep”, where I complained of having been punished for
defending myself. When it comes to the “Culture of
Sheep”, I had barely scratched the surface in my
disdain for what it has done to my country. My desire
to examine and discuss how to undermine this national
disease of indoctrinated weakness aimed at all of us
is without bounds. This is a complex subject and I
have truly puzzled over how, from where we began as a
nation, did we arrive at this sad state? Let's face it
friends - many people in this country are so wimpy they're
afraid of a sharp stick, let alone a gun!

Considering how this country got its start, I don’t
know how this happened. Brave people made the
hazardous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to make a
new start in the North America. The trip was fraught with
danger, and many died in the process. It took
monumental courage to do this. How did those intrepid
people, brimming with individual bravery, sire so many
descendants that now willingly embrace the victim
status?

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Granted, some who came to the New World were
pacifists. But even the “Friends” (also known as
Quakers) who came to America participated in the
American Revolution. One of my ancestors was one of
these “Fighting Quakers”, and old Daniel Collett is
buried a mere fifteen minute drive from my home. In my
own family there are still Quakers, and we still debate
pacifism, non-violence, etc… Personally, I don’t
understand the view that if someone attacks you that
you allow it and consent to be a victim. However, if
they want to take the attitude that it is in God’s hands,
and not fight back, that is their decision. I don’t
insist that they fight back, but I also expect them to
respect that I have a different view. I will not be a
victim. I certainly do not go looking for trouble, but
if attacked I will defend myself as necessary. I teach
my children the same.

These folks embracing pacifism were the distinct
minority at the nations founding, yet the view
that the victim must respond with non-violence and
submit has come to be very prevalent in our society,
with catastrophic results. By 1976 it was codified in
many American cities, including Washington D.C., which
banned handgun ownership. They even banned keeping an
assembled loaded gun in your home. The end result is
that D.C. has become the murder capitol of the United
States. Hopefully the decision in Parker vs.
Washington D.C. will stand, and end this nonsense.

I suppose it is not so important to understand how this cult of victimhood got started, if we simply
recognize and reject this failed policy as something
that encourages criminal behavior. It is something
that is to be combated with the truth.

The truth I want to examine today is the issue of
how the “Sheep” have promoted disarmament in the form
of ridiculing gun owners and youth and firearms.

Some states require registration of gun owners. The
Illinois Firearm Owners Identity (FOID) Card made the
news recently when “Daily Southtown” columnist Howard
Ludwig got a FOID for his son Howard David “Bubba”
Ludwig. You see, Bubba’s grandfather had given him a
firearm as a gift. Under the strict view of Illinois
law it is required that he had a FOID. The thing that
made this news worthy was that Bubba is ten months
old. Now I am not sure if Mr. Ludwig’s motivation was
obeying the strict letter of the law or wishing to
make it look bad. Nevertheless he got national
attention with his reporting of this card being issued
to his baby.

The national news media railed about
this in outrage that this child was issued a FOID in
Illinois. I watched many a reporter and guest talk
about the danger of teaching children about guns. They
would carry on about how Illinois issuing the FOID
card to a child right after Virginia Tech was just so
outrageous. They were nearly foaming at the mouth by
the end of the segment. I sat there incredulous as I
thought, “do these fools think the parents are going
to leave the gun in the child’s room with him now?”
(Here lad, teethe on this loaded gun…) Come on folks!
Clearly the intent of these media talking heads was to
ridicule the parent for allowing the child to have a
gun in the first place, but also to spur Illinois to
put an age limit on how young one can be and get a
FOID.

Youth and firearms has been a touchy subject in the
United States for years. Prior to the Gun
Control Act of 1968, there was no Federal minimum age to own a
gun. In fact, I seem to recall some reporter made a
point at that time that he ordered a gun mail-order
for one of his children and was appalled that the gun
was delivered. Yet it was also a time where school
shootings were unheard of. In those days it was left
to states and the common sense of parents whether or
not a child had access to a gun. It pretty much worked
fine then.

Today those promoting the anti self-defense culture,
AKA the “Culture of Sheep”, have hissy fits at the
idea of children using guns, let alone getting
training in their use. While a story about a ten month-old makes national news with derision, what does not
get national attention is the many times kids using
firearms fight back against criminals in their own
homes. In my article “Time for the sun to set on the Culture of Sheep”, I talk about Jeff May’s heroism
that was generally ignored by the national media. Here
are some more stories the promoters of the “Culture of
Sheep” did not want you to hear about.

The Sun, Gainesville, FL, 10/10/94
State: FL
American Rifleman Issue: 1/1/1995
Like a scene from the hit movie "Home Alone," a
12-year-old Archer, Florida, boy used his wits, and a
gun, to protect himself and his family's property.
While the boy was watching TV, a burglar entered the
farm house through an open side door. Seeing the
intruder, the youngster retrieved the family's 12-ga.
shotgun and fired one shot, sending the perpetrator
packing. A newspaper report said the youth is an
experienced hunter and has taken a course in gun
safety.

The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, MI, 5/29/91
State: MI
American Rifleman Issue: 8/1/1991
Sleeping in the basement of the family home, a
15-year-old Detroit, Mich., area boy was
awakened by the sound of someone moving around the
house. Getting a shotgun out of a
closet, he confronted one of two intruders. Ordered
to stand still, the 16-year-old burglar
instead came at the armed teen, who fired two shots,
wounding him and putting him to
flight. The wounded youth was hospitalized and an
accomplice arrested.

The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio 3/4/93
State: OH
American Rifleman Issue: 5/1/1993
Darren Yakunovich didn't expect to be holding a rifle
on a friend, but that's how it worked
out when the 17-year-old Kipton, Ohio, youth stayed
home from school to catch a burglar
who had hit his parent's home several times
previously. When the erstwhile friend walked
into an upstairs bedroom, Yakunovich held him at
gunpoint until police arrived.

The News-Review, Inyokern, CA, 12/14/89
State: CA
American Rifleman Issue: 3/1/1990
Eighteen-year-old Vern Benadom was home sick when he
heard someone enter his family's Ridgecrest, Calif.,
home. He went to his parents' bedroom, got a shotgun,
loaded it and waited in a closet. When one of two
intruders entered the room and began grabbing guns,
Benadom stepped from the closet and ordered the
prowler to put up his hands. The student then captured
the accomplice and held both for police. The suspects
were identified as escapees from a nearby youth
correctional institute.

The Register, Des Moines, IA, 11/19/86
State: IA
American Rifleman Issue: 2/1/1987
When 16-year-old Brian Urbanek saw a man approach his
family's Cedar Rapids, Iowa, home, he woke his mother
and grabbed his .410 shotgun. As he loaded, he heard
his mother yell and ran downstairs to find her
grappling with the knife-wielding intruder. After
several warnings, Urbanek fatally shot the man. A
juvenile court judge found the youth innocent in the
slaying, saying the boy was only trying to protect his
mother.

The Union, Sacramento, CA, 7/15/86
State: CA
American Rifleman Issue: 10/1/1986
After a heavily armed gunman broke into Jeremy
Sterger's Wilton, Calif., home, killed his brother and
his father's girlfriend and wounded his father, the
14-year-old boy ran to his room. Turning off the
lights, the boy got his .22 revolver and took cover
behind his door. When the intruder entered, the youth
fired three times, downing his assailant. His father
arrived and shot the man once more with a .22 rifle,
killing the gunman. No charges were filed against the
Stergers.

The Commercial News, Danville, IL, 11/10/80
State: IL
American Rifleman Issue: 1/1/1981
Eleven-year-old Jeffery Seyfert was alone in his
Danville, Ill., home when a stranger knocked
at the front door, then entered the house despite the
youngster's protestations. When the
youth pulled out a .22 revolver from behind his back,
the man fled.

The stories above barely scratch the surface of
children who have fought back against thugs. The
articles were pulled at random from the NRA-ILA Citizen” section of the American Rifleman. I simply used the
term “youth” to pull up these stories. However, I am
sure any number of ways to refer to a juvenile will
give good results.

These stories, while they made
their local papers, did not get national coverage. Why? I think a story about an eleven year old boy
driving off a housebreaker is very newsworthy. Well,
apparently not in the views of news producers and the
talking heads, who oppose self-defense, especially by
children. This is unfortunate as it conceals facts
from the public that shape public opinion and public
policy. The truth should be known.

When we do hear about children using guns, it almost
always negative, typically involving a school shooting
or accident. These are frequently blown out of
proportion by wall to wall coverage of the story. This
is a pity, as it quite unfair to the responsible
children who have been properly trained in the use of
firearms and are tarred by these incidents. When I
was a boy growing up in Ohio, we heard about Annie
Oakley hunting with firearms for food for her family
starting when she was only seven years old. This is
the stuff of legends, and would be outlawed if many
liberals had their way.

Now we hear of bills in the works to make it
illegal to make firearms accessible to children in the
home. These bills, if they became law, would make
felons of the parents whose children used guns to
defend themselves in the stories above. This is
madness.

At one time in this country, we exercised common
sense. Today we have zero tolerance. Zero tolerance, in
my view, equals zero intelligence, as it allows no
common sense or thinking by what should be a decision
maker. Whether it is zero tolerance in schools
towards drugs that leads to the expulsion of teenage
girls for taking Midol, or zero tolerance that leads
to kids being expelled for having a charm bracelet
with a tiny fake gun on it, it is idiotic. What we
have in this country are too many people that don’t
want to take a stand or make a logical decision. Hence
we see these “our hands are tied” situations.

My friends, when you hear of mandatory lock up your
gun laws, just remember this. When you hear the glass
break at 2:00 am the thug is not going to give you a “time
out” to go get your gun out of your safe. If he breaks
in at 4:00 pm knowing your kid is the only one home, he is
not going to give the child a break either.

If you are
a gun owner and parent with responsible children, then
please train them in the use of your guns at the age
you know they can handle it. Am I advocating the
arming of all children? Of course not. What I am
saying, however, is that we should allow those that know them best - their
parents - to make this decision. Not the state, and
certainly not the cultists of the “Sheep Culture”.
Resist letting the bleating “Sheep” bother you when
they ridicule you for teaching your children to not be
victims. Their agenda of don’t fight back has killed
hundreds of thousands over the last few decades. Don’t
let your family be a victim of their schemes.

Tim Inwood is the current Legislative Liaison and Past President of the Clinton County Farmers and Sportsmen Association, an Endowment Member of the NRA, Life Member of OGCA, and a volunteer for Buckeye Firearms Association.

Related Stories:
Time for the sun to set on the Culture of Sheep

National “Celebrate a Warrior” Day

Op-Ed: Road to bad laws paved with good intentions

Red Lake High - Another in the sad legacy of victim zone tragedies

AUTHOR'S NOTE: On May 14th BFA ran my article “Time for the sun to
set on the Culture of Sheep”. The response to this
piece was nothing short of spectacular. This was due
in large part to “The Talkmaster” Neal Boortz on his
national radio show. I personally want to thank Neal
for his leadership in talking about the “Woosification
of America”. The people who wish to take our rights to
defend ourselves from criminals need to be exposed and
deserve our scorn and contempt. This is an important
subject and we all need to do our part to fight to
protect our rights and restore the self reliant spirit
America once thrived on. I hope those who discovered
us via Neal Boortz radio show will come back to visit
us often. - Tim Inwood