GunSMART: An Able Steward

Every Gun Safe and Gun Mature Citizen
understands the implicit spirit in - and - the explicit intention for
- the Second Amendment - as intended by General George Washington
being a natural Provision in the Freedom of the new American Nation
to be invoked in Liberty - as necessary for the Security of a Free State -
and through her constant Illumination - forever purposed - and proceeded -
across all generations to the last - by the duty of the Common Defense.

And in that same Faith - decisively undertook -
in God - and - in the Providence of God in Country,
thou - should now undertake to cross the same Delaware
with Washington - in thy own spirit - to train to become
after that last cold and bitter Wintering at Valley Forge
- a constant and Able Steward of the Gun.

 Every
GunSMART
Citizen - is a -

S - Safe
M - Mature
A - Able
R - Responsible
T - Trustworthy

Steward of the Gun.
---<--@

3. An Able Steward
is Safe, Mature, and quite Proficient
- in the keeping and the use of the Gun -
Fully understanding of the Power of the Gun.

That the Power of the Gun - is to kill -
and that this is a Power - utterly without recall,
without remorse to Life, without prejudice to Liberty.

The Vision of the Gun Able Citizen

is of one secure in a knowledge of the truth 

that the Power of the Gun is - never its Virtue.

So that an Able Steward,
in order to rightly Respect - the Power of the Gun
obtains for him or herself, an understanding of its Virtue.

That the Power of the Gun - is distinct from its Virtue;
that this Virtue is - Valor - and - Valor which is
the greatest expression of all Martial Virtue
and the order - and - purpose by which
all Martial Virtue must forever
distinguish themselves
from all Virtue.

For one is a fool who knows not
how to rightly respect - the Power of the Gun -
who in never seeking the truth of its Virtue and of its Liberty
can not be defended by its Power.

And another such a one
so taken by the Power of the Gun
who submits one's soul to the Allure of Arms
in the seeking to serve and to worship its Power
becomes a lowlier fool, who exceeding not the Ignorance
of the first fool - but transcends it - so infinitely so - that
he proceeds with great evil - and does great harm.

For those who serve the Sword
never serve the Sword by their Ignorance.

For
- as in the first fool -
the Ignorant
when Danger is near
may hearken to the Wisdom that arouses
their spirit to waken from the slumber of the dust.

But
- as in the second -
those who have become
by their own free submission
- evil-inspired -
are those who fear
no other ruin
more than the ruin that Wisdom herself
may call down upon their heads,
who have made a choice 
to remain unmoved.

Truly, the Sword of the Nations know of each of them
who - of its own truth - became intimate with them
only by their own Ignorance and Malice -
to their great and terrible regret.

For the Sword
that must fight against
each our own Ignorance of the Sword
- in Truth -
is the Sword that must likewise stand
against each our own Betrayal of the Sword
- in Justice -
before the LORD and before All
the Nations before God - is -
that selfsame Sword of the Nations.

And so
- they who become evil-inspired
by the Allure of their own arms
shall - against the Admonition of All
in Heaven and on the Earth -
forever know of a willful deliberation
(and the Despoliation of the Sword in them
come never by any accident of nature).

Thus,
during a time of greatest need
their own Nations shall forsake them
(and burden of their own Arms

shall work to crush them).

So that
even as their own swords are failing them,

their evil works shall die with them.

For verily, this is true -
by Providence and Gospel admonition:
all who serve the sword
shall die by the sword.

An Able Steward
does not - and - never will serve
the base nature of any Nation's Arms.

And because of it - not in spite of it -

proceeds in Confidence of his Freedom,
and through it obtains to a Maturity of its Virtue -
in Liberty, bearing its Burden firmly in the Right.

That the Virtue of Arms
wields the Power of the Gun -

for the Power of the Gun is to kill

but the Virtue of Arms is Valor
and preserves the soul 
against War.

Valor is Virtue - brightest against War,
as a Spear - set against the ensuing Darkness,
constantly aflame - with a Sacred Remembrance -
All that - in Light - must arise to lead Virtue into Battle,
commanding as Charity commands, is Valor ascending
to realize itself - in all Martial Virtue - for God and Country
in each Person of the Soldier - unto Victory - and unto Peace.

One then proceeds - to learn
of the Proficiency and the Skill
specific to each particular weaponry
seeking to Master its every utility
without ever succumbing
to the Allure of Arms.

And that the Nation is to be defended 

not by the sheer might of its Arms
but by the Virtue of its Arms -
as a Gun Able Citizen.

---<--@

*At the conclusion of this series,
I shall post a simplified version of GunSMART
and the GunSMART oath.



To my beloved nieces 
- Aleksis, Clara and Leila -
and their common generations
utterly deserving of safer schools,
saner communities, and abler mentors -
upon a brighter world, under nobler skies.

GunSMART: A Mature Steward

Every
GunSMART
Citizen - is a -

S - Safe
M - Mature
A - Able
R - Responsible
T - Trustworthy

Steward of the Gun.
---<--@



Every
GunSMART
Citizen - is therefore -

2. A Mature Steward
adequately cognizant of his or her
personal role in the keeping of the Public Trust
as a public Citizen bearing private witness
of our Liberty in the Virtue of Arms.

That the Vision of Gun Maturity is - in spirit -
fully realized in the National Remembrance
and in the living Traditions of the Republic
as a common duty to the Common Defense
and the Stewardship of the National Arms.

Mature Stewardship 
fully cognizant of the antecedent reality 
that continually forms and informs the Gun culture
stands to safeguard this reality at its source.

So that all evil
as it pertains to the Gun culture
as it should - presently must always exist - may
ever find its efficacious remedies not through Laws
that endanger its intrinsic accountabilities in Liberty
but through Mature Stewardship of its Freedom
and the Duties and Responsibilities particular to it
that are in keeping with the National Common Weal.

A Gun Mature Steward
therefore, exercises Gun Maturity
as an affirmation of the Second Amendment.

And recognizes from this Maturity 
- in the spirit and virtue of the Nation's Arms -
what is necessary in Liberty and what is extraneous in Legality
specifically as it pertains to the Gun culture in the Republic -
its conservation, adaptations and necessary evolution.
---<--@



To my beloved nieces 
- Aleksis, Clara and Leila -
and their common generations
utterly deserving of safer schools,
saner communities, and abler mentors -
upon a brighter world, under nobler skies.

GunSMART: A Safe Steward

Every
GunSMART
Citizen - is a -

S - Safe
M - Mature
A - Able
R - Responsible
T - Trustworthy

Steward of the Gun.
---<--@

Every
GunSMART
Citizen - is therefore -

1. A Safe Steward 
and knowledgeable of Gun Safety
rules and principles - specifically
in the National sense.

That the Vision of Gun Safety is - in principle -
fully expressed in the Second Amendment
as necessary to "the Security of a Free State".

This implies
that the Gun is - firstly -
an instrument of the Common Defense.

And
that the Gun is - lastly -
only the extension of its first purpose.

So that all evil 

as it pertains to the Gun per se

that is specific to the free expression 

of the National Spirit and its Sovereignty

begins from Unsafe Stewardship.

- selah -

A GunSafe Steward 
therefore, exercises Gun Safety
as a vindication of the Second Amendment.

And recognizes from
this awareness in the Nation
what in spirit must animate all other
derivative Gun Safety rules and principles
in their individual and personal sense.
---<--@



To my beloved nieces 
- Aleksis, Clara and Leila -
and their common generations
utterly deserving of safer schools,
saner communities, and abler mentors -
upon a brighter world, under nobler skies.

The Interlude

Found in the interlude between hope and hope - is a prayer
and this prayer is lifted by those wings both left and right
that from both near and far they may soon take flight
unto God and the Light, and an end to the night.



I wrote this and posted it on my Facebook page around Christmas time -

Believe me, Connecticut,
the hurt you feel is bigger than yourself
and this is not such a bad thing...

It only means that it must be shouldered
by something much more than
just your own community.

We feel it here too...

I feel it when I think about the things
that must be done to rightly remember the fallen
after this season is over...

It is indeed confusing
to experience such a thing,
especially during a season
such as Christmas.

(We had a Yuletide typhoon [Pablo]
that took and orphaned many of our own children;
it struck us in the south but was felt all over my nation.)

If only we could forget it all...
even for just a moment.

But since we can not forget,
we certainly may (and must) rely on the shelter
of the peace of our togetherness
in this hour of suffering.

So
may the words,
deeds and prayers
of all people of good will
be with you...and with all of us.

That God may soon
bring us peace.
---<--@



Things today, they stir... as they always must.
For the nation must now endeavor to right itself.

As the survivors struggle to piece together their lives -

may we all find strength in the quiet we found in the interlude;

in that solemn silence, at each somber vigil, by that respectful calm

let the actions demanded by the needs of the day be always tempered.

If there is a means to be found,
to advance the end by which every citizen
is empowered by the Bill of Rights to bear arms
let this be a solution that works,
let it be a national solution.

For if the worst happened in Sandy Hook -

if things are not now made right in their memory,

(and the memory of all who under similar guises 

have been so brazenly stolen from our midst)

how shall next one be... but unbearable?

Grounds for unity in hope must be broken 

that common foundations may be established
in the building up of new mores and strictures
sanctified by the remembrance of these things
- if they are not yet made - must now be made.

Thy togetherness, America, as a nation

not thy lingering divisions - is the only force -

capable of making it right - for all of thee!

Be thus, O Land of the Brave,
that thou may ever know
this is for certain -

Unity is Eternal.

---<--@

I have my own proposal
to add to the growing pool of ideas
toward a workable solution to the problem
of gun-related violence in the US
as well as in the Philippines...

It is called Gun SMART 
and it's still a work in progress...

Salutation #163

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution introduces to the people - equally engaged in that Republic undertaking of Country - the right (and the duty) to bear arms in the common defense of the nation.

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

It underpins two essential concepts of American Constitutional Liberty - Freedom and The Common Defense (of Freedom) - concepts which must be well defined for its essence to prevail as truth in the will of the people.

(I recall to mind the US Army motto: "This we shall defend".)

For the bearing of those arms - in and by itself - does not guarantee the life of liberty. Indeed, it might prove to be the death of it.



(On the Bearing of Arms)

Do I believe in guns? No.
Do I believe in the necessity of guns? Yes.

Furthermore,
I believe that the loftiest vision of weaponry
and its development in our world is to make itself obsolete -
in time.

I believe the necessity of bearing arms
provide the means to finally and eventually surrender their utility -
in time.

   (In the last great age of war
   that culminated in the Cold War,
   the nations built and developed weapons
   without an ultimate purpose in mind and heart
   and therefore, mindlessly submitted themselves
   to the truth which is implicit in the nature
   of all weaponry - destruction.

   Weapons were developed
   and refined to such a fine degree
   so as to make it - entirely possible -
   to make our humanity utterly obsolete.

   Weaponry were made to be the ultimate means
   to our own final and complete destruction
   and not the other way around.)

- selah -

Do I love guns? No.
Do I love what guns defend? Yes -
Most certainly.

I believe the means and the resources - to develop -
as well as - the will to wield - weaponry is entrusted to the nations
because the dream in making these weapons is to make safe our world -
not to undo it.

And that only its virtuous use (in the defense)
will lead all Mankind to this greatest of all desired (temporal) ends -
a world where (short of the appointed time, known to God alone,
when heaven and earth are made into one), God-helping,
peace is the rule and - not anymore -
the exception.

- selah -



I believe in a local defense industry
infused with this ethos and professing this motto:

"Filipino arms for the primary defense of the one Filipino nation".
---<--@



Bedevil the gun! 

Let us fear it,
let us make it a thing of mystery,
let us pour all our blame on it -
let us not understand it, 
that we may lay ourselves prone
to higher forms of slavery.



"The gun has played a critical role in history. An Invention which has been praised and denounced, served hero and villain alike...

and carries with it moral responsibility.

To understand the gun is to better understand history."

- Tales of the Gun, a History Channel series

The Unbelonging

When evil inspiration inspires,

remember your remembrance,

holding true to all things dear,

go the other way.

When the unbelonging beckons,

remember your remembrance,

drawing close to all things near,

go the other way.

James Eagan Holmes, you have no concept of community.

You still have no idea how much hurt you have caused. I don't know whether to be furious at you or to pity you; of whether you are a criminal or a victim.

But I sure am grieved for what you caused!

You have murdered your fellow Americans, betrayed the cause of your citizenships together. You stole the lives of your victims from their loved ones, dishonored their dignity, and humiliated their promise in front of God and your Republic.

(This is all not to mention what hardships you have now undertaken to place on the shoulders of your own family and friends as well as your own loss to the community that sheltered you.)

You sir, have made Colorado a lesser place by your presence in her and now, by your own deficiency, you have delivered yourself in her hands and in the hands of the Justice of thy own Country.

May God be with you and may He show You what you did not show your own brother and sister Americans in that theater.

I love the movies.

I have gone to the movies myself (on many Friday night occasions) with friends and family and am deeply disturbed by your crime.

You should be put in a room by yourself with Old Glory and the flag of Colorado to dwell for years as to what you have failed to do.

For it is what you have chosen to omit in your soul that is your true crime.
---<--@



Let us continue to pray 

for the victims and their families.

The hardest part of our remembrance
is always in the finer details, in the littler things,
where the truth is nearest felt.

If the pain is to be understood,
this wounding must be felt (again and again) -
the names have to be known,
their lives have to be glimpsed,
their tragedy re-lived,
their hopes seen and heard,
and their pain embraced.

Only then can the lessons be learned.
Only then can the horror be unlearned.
Only then can the healing be efficacious.
---<--@

A Personal Retrospective -



(20120728)

Cinema is an experience.

What we buy
when we see a "movie"
is this experience.

The product we desire
is an intangible reality that we get to keep (for always)
as (good or even better, better) memories.

The craft of cinema-making
encompasses a wide array of disciplines
that include humanities, arts, literature,
culture, and the sciences.

Film is only
the material for this experience;
theater is only
the medium for this experience;
the cast, the crew, the set, the props,
the time involved and the money invested -
all of these contribute toward this one event
so that when a ticket is purchased
or a licensed record is bought,
everything comes together.

We enjoy the experience of the "movies".

And since
this is an (intimately human) experience,
it tends to transcend physical (temporal) limitations.

- selah -

Now then,
when I was watching
the latest Batman movie,
from 10,000 miles away
here in the Philippines,
I kept on looking
at the fire exit
to the right of the screen.

Being conscious
of what had recently happened in Colorado,
I can not help but be this way.

(I wasn't afraid or anything, I was just conscious).

However,
since I love this experience
and I understand it - a whole lot more.

I simply will not let that nutcase blow it.
(Excuse me but that's what I told myself).

So I got my money's worth.



And Anne Hathaway frikkin' rocked.

Simply awesome.
---<--@