The trick is always the same. Recast an issue as evidence of Western "structural oppression," blame the social relations and institutions that constitute the West, then con people into believing that overcoming them advances humanity toward a higher, more conscious order.
Remember the name Kaylub Giamanco. A carpenter. A father. An armed citizen who heard gunfire and went toward the danger.
According to reporting, the 36-year-old father of two was driving home for lunch when he heard shots near Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, where his children attend. Carrying a concealed firearm with a permit, he followed the gunman inside and fatally shot him, ending the attack. In those terrible moments, an ordinary working man accepted an extraordinary risk to protect children.
That deserves recognition without hesitation or embarrassment. Responsible gun ownership has a human face. Here, it is the face of a father who had both the means to intervene and the courage to act. The right to keep and bear arms includes the ability to defend innocent life when danger arrives and every second matters.
Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were killed. A seven-year-old child who uses a wheelchair was shot in the face and hospitalized. Those losses and injuries must remain at the center of this story. No tribute can erase the suffering of these families.
According to his brother, Giamanco is struggling with guilt because he could not save more people. That is a heartbreaking burden for a man who risked his own life to stop the killing.
Kaylub, the responsibility for this atrocity belongs to the person who committed it. You deserve gratitude, support and the time and care needed to live with what you witnessed.
We cannot know how many additional lives your intervention protected. We can recognize the courage it took to enter that school and confront an armed attacker.
America should honor that courage. Defending the Second Amendment and protecting children belong in the same conversation. So do secure schools, responsible firearm storage, effective law enforcement and the determination to confront threats before families are left grieving.
A carpenter went out for lunch and found himself facing a nightmare. He stepped forward when innocent people needed help.
You are a hero, Kaylub. May your community stand beside you with the same resolve you showed when you stood up for its children.
THE MARTYR’S VETO
Semi-related to this post but there is a point where prudence warps into fear.
“Don’t show it! They might get angry!”
That sentence should embarrass a serious civilization.
Don’t show the punishment! They might radicalize!
Don’t speak too plainly! They might riot!
Don’t enforce too visibly! They might make him a symbol!
Don’t we have better things to do?
Isn’t this beneath us?!
Nonsense.
Follow that road long enough and you’re no longer sovereign. You are negotiating with anticipated outrage.
We’ve been tip toeing around these barbarians for decades. Where has it got us? The west is nearly overrun in the name of “tolerance”.
Public justice isn’t bloodlust. Its memory made visible. Civilizations have always understood that law has to mean something beyond ink on paper. The beast in man does not study white papers. He studies consequences.
That’s why the spectacle matters. Because evil should NEVER be allowed to believe civilization has become ashamed of defending itself.
If extremists turn a lawful sentence into martyrdom, that’s their mythology, not ours. We don’t owe them control over our symbols, our courts, or our courage.
A fortress that lowers the gate every time the enemy howls has already taught the enemy how to command it.