Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey published a video on Facebook last week urging civilians to make sure they can properly defend themselves in the event that war breaks out. The five-minute long clip, which has quickly gone viral not only on Facebook but all across the Internet, was posted in response to the deadly workplace shooting that occurred just two days prior in nearby Orlando.
When Sherriff Ivey says “war,” he doesn’t mean a massive battle fought with ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs, but rather a war against mass shootings and deranged lunatics who are out to destroy human life. “What’s next is to fully understand that this is war, and you better be prepared to wage war to protect you, your family, and those around you if attacked,” he argued.
Sherriff Ivey went on to emphasize the fact that shooters feed off of fear, and in many ways depend on people running and hiding as opposed to standing tall and fighting back. “What they don’t count on is being attacked themselves, having to become defensive to save their own lives,” the Sherriff said. (RELATED: GUNS SAVE LIVES: Rampaging knife murderer in Minnesota mall was stopped by… guess what? A man with a concealed gun)
In the video, which currently has nearly 20,000 views, Sherriff Ivey urges citizens to train in self-defense and for those who have concealed carry permits to carry a gun on them at all times. “No matter who you are or what your position is on guns, there’s no denying the fact that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun or a knife is an armed and well-prepared citizen or law enforcement officer,” Ivey said.
To many people, what Sherriff Ivey says in his video is just common sense. It seems as though the news media is reporting on a mass shooting every other month nowadays, and what’s worse is that there’s no way average citizens can ever see them coming. Sadly, what starts out as a normal day in the office could turn into a day of shooting and violence in the blink of an eye. Therefore, it only makes sense to do as Sherriff Ivey says — to arm up and to prepare for war.
But incredibly, some leftists and gun control advocates are attacking Sherriff Ivey’s video, calling it, among other things, “controversial.” He is also being accused of being a “fear monger” and riling up vigilantes. Indeed, most politicians in Washington DC and even some in the police force believe that arming up and preparing for war, as Sherriff Ivey says, is not the answer to gun violence. Rather, they naively think that more restrictions on firearms will make our neighborhoods and cities safer.
Leonard Papania, the police chief in Gulfport, Mississippi, is one example of a police officer who doesn’t believe citizens should be given easier access to firearms. In a piece published last year in the New York Times, authors Campbell Robertson and Timothy Williams quoted Papania as saying, “We are a gun society and we recognize that, but we should be writing gun laws that maker us safer. Do you want every incident on your street to escalate to acts of gun violence?”
With all due respect, the scenario that Police Chief Papania described last year for the New York Times is simply not accurate. The most common argument that gun control advocates use is that if we have more guns on the streets, then the United States will turn into the wild west with violent shootouts happening on every other block.
Unfortunately for the left, these arguments are nothing more than fictional scenarios stolen from 1960s western films. The fact of the matter is that when more people are allowed to carry firearms, society is generally safer. On the contrary, when strict gun laws are implemented, there are less “good guys” with guns out on the streets and more of a chance that a mass shooter will be successful.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution makes it clear – the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon.
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