Sunday, January 27, 2013

Liberty -- A Peaceful Revolution in America

To all who have discerning eyes, it is apparent that the republican form of government established by our noble forefathers cannot long endure once fundamental principles are abandoned. Momentum is gathering for another conflict — a repetition of the crisis of two hundred years ago.... Another monumental moment is soon to be born. —Ezra Taft Benson, The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner, Deseret Book, SLC, 1986, 27.

I Have to Share This Story - by my brother Greg Denning

The following is a note from my little brother, Greg Denning. Check out GregDenning.com or DeterminedLives.com. From the book “Return From Tomorrow” “When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, the 123rd Evac entered Germany with the occupying troops. I was part of a group assigned to a concentration camp near Wuppertal, charged with getting medical help to the newly liberated prisoners, many of them Jews from Holland, France, and eastern Europe. This was the most shattering experience I had yet had; I had been exposed many times by then to sudden death and injury, but to see the effects of slow starvation, to walk through those barracks where thousands of men had died a little bit at a time over a period of years, was a new kind of horror. For many it was an irreversible process: we lost scores each day in spite of all the medicine and food we could rush to them. Now I needed my new insight indeed. When the ugliness became too great to handle I did what I had learned to do. I went from one end to the other of that barbed wire enclosure looking into men’s faces until I saw looking back at me the face of Christ. And that’s how I came to know Wild Bill Cody. That wasn’t his real name. His real name was seven unpronounceable syllables in Polish, but he had long drooping handlebar mustaches like pictures of the old western hero, so the American soldiers called him Wild Bill. He was one of the inmates of the concentration camp, but obviously he hadn’t been there long: his posture was erect, his eyes bright, his energy indefatigable. Since he was fluent in English, French, German and Russian, as well as Polish, he became a kind of unofficial camp translator. We came to him with all sorts of problems; the paper work alone was staggering in attempting to relocate people whose families, even whole hometowns, might have disappeared. But though Wild Bill worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day, he showed no signs of weariness. While the rest of us were drooping with fatigue, he seemed to gain strength. “We have time for this old fellow,” he’d say.”He’s been waiting to see us all day.” His compassion for his fellow-prisoners glowed on his face, and it was to this glow that I came when my own spirits were low. So I was astonished to learn when Wild Bill’s own papers came before us one day, that he had been in Wuppertal since 1939! For six years he had lived on the same starvation diet, slept in the same airless and disease-ridden barracks as everyone else, but without the least physical or mental deterioration. Perhaps even more amazing, every group in the camp looked to him as a friend. He was the one to whom quarrels between inmates were brought for arbitration. Only after I’d been at Wuppertal a number of weeks did I realize what a rarity this was in a compound where the different nationalities of prisoners hated each other almost as much as they did the Germans. As for the Germans, feelings against them ran so high that in some of the camps liberated earlier, former prisoners had seized guns, run into the nearest village and simply shot the first Germans they saw. Part of our instructions were to prevent this kind of thing and again Wild Bill was our greatest asset, reasoning with the different groups, counseling forgiveness. “It’s not easy for some of them to forgive,” I commented to him one day as we sat over mugs of tea in the proceeding center. “So many of them have lost members of their families.” Wild Bill leaned back on the upright chair and sipped at his drink. “We lived in the Jewish section of Warsaw,” he began slowly, the first words I had heard him speak about himself. “My wife, our two daughters, and our three little boys. When the Germans reached our street they lined everyone against a wall and opened up with machine guns. I begged to be allowed to die with my family, but because I spoke German they put me in a work group.” He paused, perhaps seeing again his wife and children. “I had to decide right then,” he continued, “whether to let myself hate the soldiers who had done this. It was an easy decision, really. I was a lawyer. In my practice I had seen too often what hate could do to people’s minds and bodies. Hate had just killed the six people who mattered most to me in the world. I decided then that I would spend the rest of my life, whether it was a few days or many years, loving every person I came in contact with.” Loving every person . . . this was the power that had kept a man well in the face of every privation.” By George G. Ritchie/Elizabeth Sherrill and Gary Amirault (An excerpt from the book “Return from Tomorrow” by George G. Ritchie with Elizabeth Sherrill, published by Fleming H. Revell, A division of Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI., pgs. 113-116)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Save America!

"My peaceful but powerful Revolution has begun. My voice will be heard. I took an oath to protect the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath has no expiration, so help me God."

-- Jeffrey Denning, noncommissioned and commissioned military officer, Iraqi war Vet, former federal air marshal, Warrior SOS founder, writer, firearms instructor, Mormon, father of six children, lover of freedom, red-blooded American

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Letter to my US Reps -- Gun Control and Mental Illness


Dear Honorable -----, 

As a former local and federal law enforcement officer, as well as a military veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I strongly oppose any ban on high capacity magazines or so-called military or assault-style firearms.

As a combat veteran, there is no one who hates and opposes violence more than I do. But, I am also experienced enough in law enforcement to know that banning guns or high capacity magazines will not reduce crime or gun violence. Banning firearms or magazines usurps the freedoms and liberty of those who obey the law -- those who wish to protect themselves and their families. Criminals do not obey the law.

From shooting sports to hunting, and from firearms collection to self-defense, I urge you to please oppose any and all legislation designed to stop millions of law-abiding citizens from gun or magazine ownership.

The facts revolving around the terrible incidents at the most recent school shooting were incorrect. There was no so-called military assault-style weapon used in the school, and the gun in the trunk of the subject's vehicle was not in the AR family of rifles. To me, it appeared to be a shotgun.

There are so many more facts needing to be addressed, like the annual FBI uniform crime report, which shows that more people were bludgeoned to death by hammers and clubs than were killed by rifles; and that banning firearms does not make an area safer. For instance, Chicago has had more firearms violence than in many years past. On the corollary, Florida concealed carry permits are up and the violence is down. These are just two brief examples of reasons to allow law-abiding citizens to continue to own, purchase, use, sell or transfer firearms according to the laws currently in place.

Certainly many things ought to be done to help our society become less violent. Strengthening the most fundamental unit of society -- the family -- will help alleviate many social ills. Avoiding and prohibiting violence that our children are exposed to in the media and in video games will do much more to help control violence than any attempt to "control" guns. After all, whether using a claw hammer or an illegally purchased or stolen firearm, the criminal element will not be entirely stopped unless his mind and heart can be changed.

In sum, I plead with you to help design, support and sustain any legislation that supports and strengthens traditional family units while allowing law-abiding veterans like myself to keep and bear arms. Moreover, please be cautious about measures or legislation that may be introduced that may negatively impact veterans (or citizens) who suffer from PTSD from legally owning firearms. As a founder Warrior SOS, I have talked with many veterans about PTSD. Having PTSD is not like what Hollywood says it is. It may be classified as a "mental illness", but this certainly does not mean that veterans who suffer from this will go "crazy" and begin shooting up kindergarten classrooms, as horrible as that comparison sounds.

Thank you very much for your time.

Very Respectfully,

Jeffrey Denning