Black In America – Mark Kelly Finds His Blackness?

Black in America - Mark Kelly Finds His Blackness Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

On 8 January 2011, in Tucson AZ, Congresswoman Gabrielle – Gabby – Giffords was shot along with 18 other people during a “meet your Congresswoman” constituent meeting, held in the parking lot of a supermarket. Jared Loughner drew his handgun, shot Congresswoman Giffords in the head before turning his gun on the crowd. Miraculously, Congresswoman Giffords survived and against all odds has made a remarkable recovery.

Black in America - Gabby Gifford's WeddingGabby’s recovery has doubtlessly been aided by the selfless devotion of her husband, Captain Mark Kelly whom has been steadfast, devoted and constantly by her side. Love has miraculous healing properties. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they both not only love one another, but are in love with one another. I could not imagine a trauma of this magnitude happening to my wife, but I do know that I would be devastated. I have joked that if anything ever happens to her, they’re going to have to put my hospital bed next to hers.

I not only fully understand Captain Kelly’s new found activism for “gun control,” I would expect no less. You cannot expect anyone to be completely rational and pragmatic about an issue that so nearly resulted in the death of a person they love. Because of this tragedy, Mark Kelly has started a political action committee – PAC – to fight for gun control. Last I heard, they had a budget of over $10 million dollars.

A Crusader Is Born

Mark Kelly presents himself as a gun owner, staunch 2nd Amendment advocate that believes in sensible gun laws. He makes no bones about his owning guns. Evidently he is a fan of the “Government Model .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. We’ll ignore the fact that had his wife been shot in the head with a .45, she wouldn’t be here today, because I’m sure he would argue that was beside the point. Nevertheless, she was the first person shot and was hit by the first bullet in Loughner’s magazine.

Black in America - Colt 45

Government Model 45

It is not that the .45 caliber is a more lethal round, it just happens to be larger, heavier and has more kinetic energy. It would not only have penetrated her skull, it would have smashed it and sent bone fragments as secondary projectiles all throughout her brain. The resulting trauma would have resulted in instantaneous death.

Since Captain Kelly is not an uneducated man, one must presume that he knows this. Thus one must question his true motives and commitment to the expressed agenda of his PAC. Firearms are not safe. They’re not designed to be. They are designed to deliver destructive force to whatever target is in front of them. If you believe that guns are the problem, it is intellectually disingenuous to attempt to pick and choose which guns, in which configurations are acceptable. Any firearm can take a human life.

Trading In Fear

One of the main arguments has been the supposed ease with which these so called, “military style” weapons can be obtained. To hear the proponents of total gun confiscation say it, these weapons can be obtained without a background check and absolutely no oversight whatsoever. They’re sold on every street corner across America, right? Most often these suppositions are expressed by people who have never been anywhere near one of these street corners where a transaction of this nature might occur. Imagine Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O’Donnell down in Harlem, Compton, Watts or the South side of Chicago. They must be clairvoyant because they certainly seem expert in what goes on in these neighborhoods.

Of course, isn’t that sort of the whole problem? This entire debate has come about – ironically – not because a sitting congresswoman was shot in the head. Not because a movie theater was turned into a killing zone. I might point out that none of these mass shootings occurred in depressed, inner city, minority communities. This entire debate came about because some young – mostly white – school children were gunned down in an up scale suburban community where, damnit, these things just are not supposed to happen!

Black in America - Zombie Apocalypse?

Zombie Apocalypse? Or Inner city people coming to get your stuff?

What is the fear? The fear is that our protected – mostly white – suburban communities could become as dangerous as our inner cities. We cannot have that now can we? After all, people move away from the inner cities, pay higher tax rates, pay higher mortgages for the illusion of safety. Though often unsaid, the flip side of this logic is that armed minorities are coming to get you. I’ve put into words what far too many white people feel on a visceral level. It manifests in seemingly one of two ways. On the one hand you have those – many whom have very little of value to anyone but themselves – who are arming to protect their homesteads from the “Zombie Apocalypse.” Of course the Zombies are colorful stand-ins for inner city people who did not prepare for the collapse they’re so looking forward to. On the other hand, you have those who believe we can pass enough laws to totally disarm everyone and thus prevent the whole scenario in its entirety. Of course, both sides are deluded.

Black In America – Mark Kelly Finds His Blackness

Black in America - Mark Kelly buys a gun

Mark Kelly’s trip to a gun store.

In a stunt to generate some publicity, Captain Kelly set out to show on video tape, how easy it is to acquire a military style rifle. With cameras in tow he went into a Tucson, AZ gun store to purchase an AR-15 style rifle. He also purchased a “Government Model” .45 semi-automatic pistol. After filling out the paper work, he was told there was a waiting period on the rifle. It had been taken in as a sell and there is a 20 day waiting period for law enforcement to run the gun to make certain it had not been used in a crime. Uh oh! What’s this? It seems Captain Kelly succeeded in proving that there are laws, regulations and oversight involved in purchasing a firearm.

In subsequent interviews Captain Kelly stated that his intentions were to prove how easy it is for anyone to acquire these types of weapons. Evidently, the owner of the gun store was listening. He contacted Captain Kelly, returned his money and told him that the sell was being cancelled. His reasons? It was clear that Captain Kelly was not purchasing the firearm for his own personal use. Why is this important? Most people are unaware that if you go into a gun store and say that you are purchasing a firearm for someone else – they could be standing right beside you – the store owner is obligated not to sell you that firearm. Why? Because the presumption is that the person you’re buying the firearm for, is not legally able to purchase the firearm for him or herself. Yes, that’s the law… believe it or not.

Reality Check

Black in America - James Holmes

Colorado Shooter – James Holmes

We often take so much for granted. If I as a Black man, had ordered all the ammunition, firearms, and tactical gear that James Holmes purchased, it would have been delivered by an ATF SWAT team. This is a reality in America that minorities know all too well.

I was out on a shooting range one day when a white guy walked up to me and asked me if I was Benjamin Moore. I had never met him and was surprised he knew my name. Come to find out, we had participated in some on-line forums. He saw me, figured, Black guy, with guns, must be Ben Moore.

We exchanged pleasantries for awhile, then he got around to the question he was dying to ask. “Have you heard about the upcoming race war?” He asked. “What?” I replied. “The race war?” “What race war?” Then he explained that he had been hearing that the Black people were planning to rise up and kill all white people. I nearly busted a gut laughing. When I had finally gulped enough air to speak again. I gave him the facts on what it means to be Black in America.

The first thing I pointed out was that Black people are only 12% of the population of these United States. We do not own any firearms manufacturing plants, nor do we own any munitions plants. Thus, we would have to buy are weapons and ammunition from white people.

Further I pointed out, if Black people were going to start such a war, we would have to start it on a Friday after 5pm and it would have to be over by Monday morning at 9am. Why? Because we’ve got to be back at work, working for “whitey.” We’ve got mortgages, rent, cable bills, car notes the usual. I walked off and left him standing there like a penny waiting on change.

Being Black in America is far different than most white people assume. The entire gun control issue left reason and rationality behind long ago. Now both camps have become fear merchants. The NRA is pushing the coming “Zombie Apocalypse.” The anti-gun side is pushing the same thing with just a minor twist. They pretend they’re rational because they don’t believe in Zombies… yet, they are attempting to convince everyone that they’re in danger from guns. For them, firearms are the Zombies. Both sides are deluded. We need rationality.

Questions The News Media Never Asked About The Dorner Case

questions the news media never asked headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

There are questions the news media never asked regarding the Christopher Dorner Case. This is troubling because we live under a Democratically elected, Constitutional Republic. Many people are convinced that while our form of government may not be the best there is, it is far and away better than any of the other ones out there.

In order for our system of Democracy to function, we require a fully informed voting public. Thus, our News Media – “The Fourth Estate” – is crucial to the functioning of our free society. We depend on our News organizations to ask the questions that we, the public cannot. We also depend on them to get answers to those questions. Sadly, to date, there are questions the news media never asked regarding the Christopher Dorner case. I intend to ask a few.

Questions The News Media Never Asked

  • Why were there no surveillance videos of Christopher Dorner related to his commission of a crime?
questions_the_news_media_never_asked_Surveillance_cameras

The Camera Never Blinks

The reality is, we live in a surveillance society. You cannot go to the corner store or the shopping mall without being recorded by several surveillance cameras. You certainly cannot enter a parking garage without appearing on their “security cameras.” Could someone who had cased the garage avoid the cameras? Possibly. However, his victims would not have been avoiding those cameras. Chances are, the car in which Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence were murdered in, was in clear view of a camera. Thus the question is why no video of the crime?

The same question applies to the “ambush” in which two officers were shot, one being killed. There are a limited number of routes to exit the area in which this ambush occurred. You’ve got a clearly defined window of time. You’ve got a clearly defined location. With all the different surveillance cameras – many controlled by the State of California – where are the video clips showing the suspected vehicle leaving the area?

We’ve seen surveillance video of Christopher Dorner purchasing SCUBA gear. We’ve seen a clip from a surveillance camera of him entering a motel or some other establishment. Thus, we know that LAPD did collect surveillance videos in their investigation. However, where are these crucial video clips that would prove Christopher Dorner was at least in the area?

  • Cellphone tracking data, where is it?

Of course some of you might suggest that surely Christopher Dorner dispensed with his cellphone during his crime spree and his subsequent run from Law Enforcement. Living in our modern world, we all leave electronic “bread crumbs” wherever we go. Our cellphones are communicating with cell towers. The GPS in our cars and in our phones are pinpointing our exact locations. As an LAPD officer, Christopher Dorner would have known this.

questions_the_news_media_never_asked_stop_tweetingHowever, the San Bernardino Sheriff felt it necessary to request that the media covering the final stand off, stop tweeting for “officer safety.” This indicates that they believed that Christopher Dorner had a “smart phone” with which he could monitor the “Twitter-verse” for tactical updates. Was this merely a precaution? Or did they have reason to suspect he had a cellphone with Internet access? If he did have a cellphone, there should be tracking data that would place Chris Dorner in the areas where his alleged crimes were committed. Although they claimed that the trail had gone cold, they continued to search in the “Big Bear” area and never left. Could it be, they had cellphone tracking data putting him in that area?

  • Where is Christopher Dorner’s computer?

We are told that he wrote an 11,000 word manifesto and posted it to his Facebook account. Surely he had a computer. What all might be on his hard drive? Who was he communicating with? What else had he written? Notes? Plans? Perhaps personal rants against the LAPD? Following the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, we saw pictures of the destroyed and battered hard drive from Adam Lanza’s computer. Where’s Christopher Dorner’s computer?

  • Where are the pictures of Christopher Dorner’s stash of weapons?
questions_the_news_media_never_asked_richard_jewell

Richard Jewell

Law Enforcement never misses an opportunity to put on public display the weapons they recover from a dangerous suspect.  Remember Richard Jewell? He actually saved lives when the Olympics were in Atlanta. He called in a suspicious backpack in a park and got people away from it. It was in fact a bomb and blew up. The federal government suspected his involvement and made a great show of executing a search warrant on his apartment and displaying paramilitary books he owned.

questions_the_news_media_never_asked_james_holmes_evidence_collection

FBI at the apartment of James Holmes, the Aurora shooter.

Richard Jewell was eventually exonerated, but not before his name was drug through the mud. He eventually was given a medal and praised for having saved numerous lives. Following the mass shooting in Aurora Colorado, the news media covered the execution of a search warrant on the home of James Holmes. We saw FBI evidence technicians taking truck loads of evidence out of his home.

questions_the_news_media_never_asked_BranchDavidianCompoundFire

Branch Davidian Church complex burned to the ground by the Government.

Even following the Branch Davidian Massacre in Waco, TX, although the church commune was burned to the ground, the ATF managed to bring pristine, never even touched by smoke, assault rifles out, laying them on a table for the news media to photograph. Where are Christopher Dorner’s weapons? If his driver’s license could survive the fire, surely some of his weapons did.

Based on his “manifesto” you would expect to see quite a few. As yet, I haven’t seen such a display. I know they searched a storage facility he supposedly owned, they searched his mother and sister’s homes. If they’d found anything that would paint him in a negative light, I’m sure we would have been treated to a press conference. Perhaps I just missed it. Did you see it?

Resurrecting The Fourth Estate

When there are questions the news media seems to be avoiding, it becomes incumbent upon us to ask them. We need to ask them over and over and over again until we receive satisfactory answers. If you agree, please contact the major news outlets and ask them why they haven’t asked these questions.

What the government, be it State, Local or Federal gets away with once, it will do it over and over and over again. As I’ve said in my previous articles on the subject of Christopher Dorner, he may well have done everything they’ve accused him of and more. However, what if he was not guilty of the crimes he was publicly accused of?

We certainly saw no signs of either extensive planning or an exceptional use of weapons and tactics. Based on the LAPD shooting up vehicles without checking to make certain the occupants were Christopher Dorner and certainly no efforts made to effectuate an arrest or allow surrender, what we had was a government sponsored “Hit” with multiple assassins. This is what a “shoot on sight” order amounts to. Also curious was the eagerness of common patrol officers to engage what the media told us was a highly trained, extremely dangerous felon. One would think that prior to engaging such a suspect, they would wait for backup. Particularly if you had reason to suspect he had fully automatic assault weapons and possibly a .50 caliber rifle. Those things will punch holes through Armored Personnel Carriers. There are a lot of questions the news media never asked. We certainly should be asking them.