Minnesota Firearms Training

Not all deadly force situations require a deadly force response. On Tuesday February 23rd a 32 year old man walked into a middle school parking lot and began to shoot at teenagers and staff with a high-powered bolt action riffle. It was then that a teacher tackled the gunman. “Benke confronted the 32-year-old gunman, tackled him and pinned him to the ground with the help of another teacher, stopping what could have been a much more violent encounter in a city all too familiar with tragic school shootings.” the Associated Press reports. AP also reports “Police said they aren’t immediately sure about what motivated Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood to target Deer Creek Middle School just after classes had ended for the day. Eastwood has an arrest record in Colorado dating back to 1996 for menacing, assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence, and he is believed to have a history of mental issues.

Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink praised Benke and called him a hero, and the math teacher’s status seems to be growing by the minute. A Facebook page called “Dr. David Benke.. A TRUE hero!” quickly picked up more than 1,000 fans by Wednesday morning.”

Making the decision to confront and disarm the gunman made Bebke a instant hero.

The men, Jason Robert Bourque, 19, of Lindale, Tex., and Daniel George McAllister, 21, of Ben Wheeler, Tex., were arrested and charged with arson of a building in the Feb. 8 fire at Dover Baptist Church, located 15 miles northwest of Tyler, Tex.

Because the building was a church, the charges were elevated to a first-degree felony, said Thomas Crowley, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That felony carries a sentence ranging from probation to 99 years to life in prison, Mr. Crowley said.

“We’ve been looking at these guys for a while,” said Mr. Crowley. “But we had to paste together information.” He said various techniques led members of a special task force to the men, including DNA evidence and phone tips. A motive for the fires was still being investigated, federal authorities said.

The men had attended the First Baptist Church in Ben Wheeler together, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Sunday.

The string of fires damaged or destroyed 10 churches across three counties in Texas, including Smith, Henderson and Van Zandt. Before Sunday, nine of the blazes were considered arson but the 10th fire, which was set on New Year’s Day at Little Hope Baptist Church in Canton, Tex., was deemed arson on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Crowley said.

That means more charges against Mr. Bourque and Mr. McAllister are possible, Mr. Crowley said. No people were reported injured in the fires, the authorities said.

Bond for the men was set at $10 million. They were being held at the Smith County Jail in Tyler, pending a Monday court appearance in Smith County Court, Mr. Crowley said. Mr. McAllister was arrested in San Antonio by the Texas Rangers and Mr. Bourque was arrested in Van Zandt County, Mr. Crowley said.

Investigators have said that the fires have followed no set pattern. Different types of congregations, including Methodist, Baptist, Christian Scientist and nondenominational churches, have been hit. The fires have broken out at different times of day and on different days of the week. Many congregations have hired security guards or have asked their members to stand guard at night.

The rash of arsons recalled a similar episode in Alabama in February 2006, when three college students from the Birmingham suburbs burned down nine churches over two nights. The students pleaded guilty to federal arson charges and received lengthy sentences.

After three church fires in Athens, someone set fire to two churches in Tyler, about 90 miles southeast of Dallas, on Jan. 16 and 17. Two days later, a church in Lindale, about 15 miles to the north, went up in flames. Then on Jan. 20, another burned down in Wills Point, 45 miles east of Dallas.

On Feb. 8, fires broke out at two Baptist churches in a rural area 15 miles northwest of Tyler. The men are charged in one of those fires. The fires were three miles apart and started within an hour of each other, said the Tyler fire chief, Neal Franklin.

This is a short list of some of the more publicized church shootings that have accrued on US soil.

February 14, 2010 – Richmond, California – Three hooded men walk into Gethsemane Church of God in Christ and opened fire and then fled the scene, as the singing of the choir was replaced by frightened screams. The two victims, a 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, were hospitalized.

March 8, 2009 – Maryville, Illinois – Suspect Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, walks into the First Baptist Church, and shoots pastor Fred Winters dead, point blank. Several church members are injured by a knife in the struggle to capture after the attack, The suspect also had stabbed himself, but survived, when his gun jams.

July 27, 2008 – Knoxville, Tennessee – A gunman opens fire in a church during a youth performance, killing two people and injuring seven.

Dec. 9, 2007 – Colorado – Three people are killed and five wounded in two shooting rampages, one at a missionary school in suburban Denver and one at a church in Colorado Springs. The gunman in the second incident is killed by a guard.

May 20, 2007 – Moscow, Idaho – A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.

Aug. 12, 2007 – Neosho, Missouri – First Congregational Church – 3 killed – Eiken Elam Saimon shot and killed the pastor and two deacons and wounded five others.

May 21, 2006 – Baton Rouge, Louisiana – The Ministry of Jesus Christ Church – 4 killed – The four at the church who were shot were members of Erica Bell’s family; she was abducted and murdered elsewhere; Bell’s mother, church pastor Claudia Brown, was seriously wounded – Anthony Bell, 25, was the shooter.

Feb. 26, 2006 – Detroit, Michigan – Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church – 2 killed + shooter – Kevin L. Collins, who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend, later killed himself.

April 9, 2005 – College Park, Georgia – A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church, where he had once worked as a security guard.

March 12, 2005 – Brookfield, Wisconsin – Living Church of God – 7 killed + shooter – Terry Ratzmann opened fire on the congregation, killing seven and wounding four before taking his own life.

July 30, 2005 – College Park, Georgia – World Changers Church International – shooter killed – Air Force Staff Sgt. John Givens was shot five times by a police officer after charging the officer, following violent behavior.

Dec. 17, 2004 – Garden Grove, Calif.: A veteran musician at the Crystal Cathedral shoots himself to death after a nine-hour standoff.

Oct. 5, 2003 – Atlanta, Georgia – Turner Monumental AME Church – 2 killed + shooter – Shelia Wilson walked into the church while preparations are being made for service and shot the pastor, her mother and then herself.

June 10, 2002 – Conception, Missouri – Benedictine monastery – 2 killed + shooter – Lloyd Robert Jeffress shot four monks in the monastery killing two and wounding two, before killing himself.

March 12, 2002 – Lynbrook, New York – Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church – 2 killed – Peter Troy, a former mental patient, opens fire during Mass, killing the priest and a parishioner. He later receives a life sentence.

May 18, 2001 – Hopkinsville, Kentucky – Greater Oak Missionary Baptist Church – 2 killed – Frederick Radford stood up in the middle of a revival service and began shooting at his estranged wife, Nicole Radford, killing her and a woman trying to help her.

Sept. 15, 1999 – Fort Worth, Texas – Wedgewood Baptist Church – 7 killed + shooter – Larry Gene Ashbrook shot dead seven people and injured a further seven at a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days in Fort Worth, Texas before killing himself.

April 15, 1999 – Salt Lake City, Utah – LDS Church Family History Library – 2 killed + shooter – Sergei Babarin, 70, with a history of mental illness, entered the library, killed two people and wounded four others before he was gunned down by police.

As many Americans live every day with a ” it can’t happen to me” attitude, it is time to step up and say Its not “IF” but “WHEN” something happens, and I need to prepare my fellowship for that.

Donna Jackson makes a decision that will change her life for ever. Mrs. Jackson makes the decision to take fate in to her own hands, and protect herself from a imminent threat. Mrs Jackson does not know the man is high on drugs and would have probably killed her. Mrs. Jackson made the decision not to wait for the intruder to decide the outcome of the situation. If you have never thought of your reaction to a situation like this, start now and contact Mind Sight, LLC to schedule your firearms training. “Don’t let fate be decided by the bad guy!!!!”

“The folks at United Nations… must be rubbing their hands with glee,” former congressman Bob Barr wrote in his Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial “‘Perfect Storm’ for UN Gun Control Agenda.

“The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales,” Reuters reported. “US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating forum, the so-called Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, ‘operates under the rules of consensus decision-making.’”

This is just the most recent attempt by the global/UN community to restrict or regulate Global/US Firearm Ownership. These talks come on the heels of a US/Mexico task force trying to implement gun control on a national scale. “The Binational Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border listed the assault weapons ban as a step the US should take immediately to improve security in both countries.” Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said “We especially encourage the debate on the issue of reinstating the 1994 US ban on assault rifles that expired in 2004. And we support further debate within the United States on whether to close the gun show and private sale loopholes in existing US laws, which create boundless opportunities for criminals to acquire illicit weapons,”

I believe it is time to stand together as responsible gun owners of The United States of America, and demand that The Second Amendment of the US Constitution no longer be infringed upon.  There are ways to protect the law abiding gun rights of Americans, while flushing out the illegal criminals who threaten our safety. It is clear to me that restricting legal gun ownership is not the answer.