Suicide Prevention Saturday... just one more

Ta-da! I am live, says so through the little thing that says you are live. Um, uh, I'm a minute early, sort of, almost. For those like CNT and Gwebs that are already out there, let me know, how is my audio? Are we good? Um, I am— I cannot believe how weird it was that I did not put this up before, like less than an hour ago. So I'm a little bit, um, distressed and behind the thing. The audio is so normal. We won't tell Paul. So, um, all right, so I've got this streaming to Facebook personal, Facebook Great Surf Shooting School and YouTube. Um, and, uh, what am I, what am I looking at? Oh, so anyone who comments on my Facebook personal, I'll just let you know it's telling me I can't respond to you, so I will do that later. Uh, hey Ghost, how are you? Um, all right, it is, is it time? It is time. It is actually 9. G-Webs and I were listening/watching the Realize Concealed Carry fashion show. I'm just reading the subtitles because unfortunately they're having some audio issues, and it's sort of funny because you know that some of the subtitles, not quite what they are actually talking about. But anyway, it is Suicide Prevention Saturday, and it's because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths you hear about in the media are generally suicide. And if we want to save lives, we have to start focusing on where we are losing the most of them. And of course, we have, um, lots of things we could talk about. I'm gonna try to stay on suicide prevention stuff and saving lives, um, because what did I say— call this one? Just One More. So the power of one more is a book that I literally just got in the mail today, and I did want to chat on it just a wee bit because it's super duper important. Um, for those of you who have never heard of Ed Mylett, he's a super kind of, um, he's a really cool person to listen to. He interviews really cool people. I'm not trying to hawk his book for you. I'm just saying that I picked up the book, I opened it up, and he just talks about having good habits and do stuff that just one more is how we all become, um, better and how we can win, basically. So I wanted to share that with you all. Oh yes, DJ would also, you know, because DJ is always helping me, uh, make me realize here, in case you want to buy it, like I said, not hawking the book, I just really like the first page. It's like We make things so much more complicated than it needs to be. And sometimes it's just doing one more thing. It's making one more phone call if you're in business and sales. It's doing one more push-up at the gym when you are, you know, when you said you're going to do 10, get to 10 and go to 11. Calling one more person that you're thinking about because one of the things we talk about often on these Saturdays is what? Reaching out to people.. And I'm just gonna give you all a blanket thank you for the folks who reach out to me and check in and say hi because it really does make a difference. So, oh my goodness, I kind of missed the whole chat thing. So I know that DJ was here, is here, don't know, still probably. And C&T says hi to everybody. Ghost Tactical. Hello, sir. G Web Design, like I said, we're joking about the audio at the concealed carry fashion show. I think that's everything. All right, I got caught up to everybody. So one more thing, it can be very simple. This is why I also love little tiny books like this. This is a daily meditation on the Psalms, and I'll have to think about what I'm looking for or what I need to study. I just go find the date for today and read it. Now, today is May 28th, and it says Psalm 142, verse 4: No matter how faint my spirit is within me, you are there to guide my steps. So for those of you who are Christians out there, the word of God is reflected in the Bible, written by the Bible. Everybody says it different. And whether you're Christian or not, no matter how faint my spirit is within me, you are there to guide my steps. We often will take ourselves for granted for so many reasons. And remembering that you are amazing, whether you believe in God or not, whether you believe in higher power or not, it's like if you get into the science of what's happening right now, your mind should be blown. Let's think about just a single breath, right? Take a breath in, take a breath out. What just happened? Oh, let's see. Hmm. Your heartbeats, your chemical reactions that went on in your chest to take the oxygen out of the air that you just brought in and then disperse it through that heartbeat that then oxygenated your blood, which then made thoughts happen here. And now there's all these electrical impulses that are going everywhere. And now you can hear what I'm saying. And you can see me most likely. Um, and it's just crazy. Oh, the Mario! Now the Mario's got a Saturday night he can pop in and say hi. Hi Mario! We are so doing part 2. Um, for anyone who missed it, last week we did a pre-recorded show with Mario. You can check that out, but we are definitely going to plan to do another, um, who's and what's it a part 2 of, uh, of Mario because we talked about PTSD, we talked about saving veterans. Um, I did do a little tease. I'll let G-Webs wants his money back because it was literally a 30-second, um, uh, commercial on Aiming for Zero last weekend. And for anyone who wants to know how I did in Aiming for Zero, I have no idea. Go look at practice score. I never looked. I just went to raise awareness, raise money, and I don't know where it came in. I had some fun. Hello, Ms. Tara. Hope we're helping break up your boredom of recovery, because I think that's the worst part of recovery is being bored out of your mind because you can't do stuff. Hey, GT3, just saw you turning off. So you pop over there a little earlier. All right, so power one more. I'm going to go back there one last time. Right? Power one more. Just do one more thing. You don't have to do a ton. You can just do one more. And don't make it difficult. Don't make it hard. One of the posts I put up on Facebook this week was to make sure that you're looking for love and compassion within yourself. Before you go and look for it for somebody else or in somebody else. Um, and I'm just curious where the heck I put it. Find peace, love, and compassion within yourself before looking to others for it. That's what I said. And I think I'm smart sometimes, because I think often we want to have everybody else make us happy, especially when we're dealing with depression, anxiety, things like that. So remember, you are your own best resource. However, you have to continue to get training. Like I said, this is where something as simple as a daily meditation on the Psalms— um, I have so many other books, and you know, my kid books, um, I love them. Uh, Sneetches on Beaches is one of my favorite books because it talks about Sneetches on the beaches with stars upon thars. For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, the adult version is simply that so often, um, maybe, maybe I do, maybe I don't, um, uh, so, uh, the, the Sneetches with beaches on the beaches, the short version of the story is the Sneetches with stars upon their bellies were the special Sneetches., and they looked down upon the Sneetches with no stars upon thars. And then this man came along and had a star belly making machine, so he got all the money for the Sneetches who had no stars to get stars on their bellies. And then the Sneetches that had the stars on their bellies decided they needed the stars off, so the same man built another machine that took the stars off. And so at the end, there's this figure 8 going through where people are getting their stars on, stars off, stars on, stars off, and no one remembers who was who. So why did I tell you all of these things? Is because we are our own happy place. We are where we have to find our happiness, our contentment with all the craziness that is going on this week. And I don't really— can't talk about it because I just hate crime. But you know, I do this for you guys all the time. All right, so kids dying, getting killed, total suck. Murder is not okay. It doesn't matter what someone runs somebody over with a car, blows them up with fertilizer, or shoots them dead in a school. Murder sucks. As gun owners, we get beaten to death, like the stars or no stars, as if somehow because we own a firearm, um, that we're responsible for children dying in schools. And we're not. And so this week is super hard for me, and I try to stay off and not learn about a lot of stuff. Okay, sorry guys, um, It's so not my favorite thing. So anyway, Gina will come back in a minute because I bet you she's about to walk the stage. So anyway, yeah, so all these folks are down at NRAM and having to deal with all the craziness, and I think I'm about as happy as I could be to not be down there right now. All right, as gun owners, not only do we want to raise awareness for suicide prevention to help save lives, We also want to have, um, we want to have solutions and not get beat up because a murderer did a murderous thing. Um, and it's not my fault. I'm the person who goes and picks up spiders and brings them outside. I catch my flies and get them out the window. And, um, and it's one of those things where, uh, I don't think we need to arm all teachers. The studies actually show all we have to do is make it so that a gun-free zone no longer exists. The studies that have been shown regarding all of this is that when the FBI, the Department of Justice, Department of Education, Secret Service, all of these people got together and did studies, 10 years of studies after Columbine, and it was like, how do we stop school shootings? Okay, communication between students, faculty, families, community leaders, being heard. Violence is a subset of not feeling understood. Um, and so we have the solutions, and that's probably the worst part of all of this, is that, um, there's lots of solutions. We can't save everyone, but we can save more than we've done. And gun-free zones are where these things keep happening. And they keep saying, take away the guns. It's just like, ugh, bad guys know that the truth of the matter is criminals love gun-free zones. But when you bring that to our legislators, they say, oh, you just want your gun everywhere. And it's just, it's such a hard thing. So when we have a hard week like this, and when I say we, I'm talking about America, whether you're a gun owner or not a gun owner, having your heart ripped out. Because regardless of whether you're a parent or not a parent, we all know the loss of a child is horrible. And this was not my plan for Suicide Prevention Saturday, but here we are. Um, because we have to deal with so much grief and sadness, this is the perfect time to talk about suicide prevention, because managing our emotions and being able to feel and be sad and understand that there is healing on the other side. I wish that we would focus more when a tragedy happens like this, that we are talking about healing and that we are talking about how to help those families, how to mend the hearts that have been broken over the loss of these children. And you don't have to know the kids and you don't have to be neighbors or any of that. But the thing that is most hypocritical of all to me when it comes to our media coverage of this is that there are children dying every single day. There are kids being shot every single day. However, because they are Black and because they are Latino and because they are gang members they do not get the attention that these kids got. And yeah, maybe they're 12-year-old kids, maybe they're 14-year-old kids, and oh, they're gangbangers. So it's just so disingenuous of the media to act like it's a school shooting, therefore it's the most heinous thing ever. I'm like, no, all loss of life is horrible. Um, It's just, it's crazy to me just how it gets so jaded and so overwhelming because kids are dying every single day and nobody says a peep until it's a schoolyard. And I'm like, kids dying in the streets in the cities is a horrible thing and the media doesn't want to talk about that. So as gun owners, again, if we're looking to prevent violence, if we're looking to save lives, I think we have to talk about these things more. We need to talk about how do we heal, how do we build better communities, how do we make it so that when a tragedy happens, instead of dividing our country further, we're talking about how we bring our country back together. Um, so it is, uh, It is what Mike says. Most legal owners are trying to stop an evil person. Yeah, none of us are here for murder. Um, most people that I know that have firearms, it is 100% for self-defense. It is not to hunt and kill anyone. It's not because we're paranoid and think that there's horrible things everywhere, although there are kind of horrible things everywhere. Um, I'm like, I'm like, I'm laughing at some of the cute comments, but I'm actually not going to post the ones I'm laughing at because it's inappropriate, possibly. So, but yeah, so here's a check-in for Suicide Prevention Saturday, right? Emotions are real. Everybody has them. Some of us can regulate them better than others. Some of us feel more deeply and have a harder time. Let it go. Okay, well, this I'll put up. Yeah, Vanessa has hunter food. That's— that, that makes sense. That's not murder, that's food. So, oh yeah, no, so I immediately went to, um, the fava beans dude, which I can't even think of what his name is. But anyway, yeah, we're not gonna go there. Um, so anyway, how do you deal with your stuff? Right? You understand it's always— there's good days, there's gonna be bad days. You make sure you have simple tools like taking a deep breath, putting your shoulders back, really feeling that, okay, wait for a moment and go back to what I said before. Think about all the amazing things that happen just within your body when you take that breath, right? Oxygen is getting sucked out of there, the blood's getting oxygenated, the energy is going to your brain. You've got all of these things that are just naturally happening. And if you ever have doubt, just put your hand on your heart and feel that heartbeat that goes on and on and on without you have to do a thing. Because I don't know about you guys, but I know for me, I feel like I'm treading water a lot and I'm struggling to stay on top of the water a lot. There's so much to do. And to remember, be like, okay, I can be thankful. 'cause I don't have to work to have my heart continue to beat and keep me alive. So Charlie Cook, who's currently doing the CCW fashion show at NRAM, or no, it's over now, you know, he does a gratitude list every single day. And it's one of those things where sometimes it's hard. You're like, what's to be grateful for? Everything sucks. I'm like, yeah, I got those days too. And I'm like, wait, does it? Does it really? Or what could this mean? Am I just not paying attention? Um, and yeah, CNT, dark humor is a good way to deal with bad things. Um, the challenge in our society these days though is like people get upset over all sorts of stuff. So I'm just like, it's like, remember that treading water thing? It's like, okay, some days I can be me. With you if we're one-on-one, but in front of an audience, I'm like, I'm gonna reserve that dark side for right now, or various other things. Yeah, as far as all of our new gun owners, I have no idea how they're dealing with it. I've had a lot of weird and interesting new students that I just, you know, they're like, oh yeah, it's— oh, I wouldn't do that, or or the, well, yes, but, right? We all understand what I'm saying when I say yes, but. It's like, well, I have a gun, but I think you should do it the way that I think you should do it. I'm all for freedom. And yeah, so there's always good stories and no, the media does not put them out. There are daily stories of people using guns for self-defense in a positive way. And the only people who get that information out there are people like you and I, G-webs, all of us that are watching right now. Let's see. Let's see, dozens of emails in the last week as a teacher and pro-A. Pro-2A from teacher friends that were pretty anti-gun. Yeah, um, and oh yeah, oh my gosh, I am running the, uh, National Train a Teacher Day, and I haven't announced it because I was going to announce it this week and I didn't because I'm like, oh, I am not sure I want to send my National Train a Teacher firearms thing the day after a school shooting. And part of me is like, nope, that's a perfect time to send it, but again, it's hard to decide what is going to make the most sense. So, and plus it's been crazy. Like I said, the whole thing of paddling to stay up, it's, it's been, it's been crazy. So I saw y'all last week. I left— no, I was already in New Hampshire then. Did my Aiming for Zero Sunday, came home on Monday, taught, came home, and it was home on Tuesday, uh, went to a meditation class because that's important, um, taught Tuesday afternoon, and then left Wednesday morning to go to Foxwoods with my girlfriend for birthday. We're there Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and I won $500. Yay! So anyway, I'm home now. I'm teaching all day tomorrow. I get Monday off, gonna go see my kid in the parade, and then I'm flying to California on Wednesday. So I'll see Gina out there, maybe. But as far as the paddling, sometimes we have to remember that, okay, Where's my heart? Okay, awesome. It's doing all that work. I don't do it. So it can feel like you're doing one less thing. At least that's my whole idea. So our media loves to create and divide us. Reminds me of James Bond movie where this media guy controlled people and governments. Yeah, so fiction is stranger— no, life is stranger than fiction. There have been a lot of times when my life has definitely been stranger than fiction. Or it could have been pulled right out of a movie, but media and control is a big thing. GT3 threw up the— I'm assuming this is the link for the lady who saved kids at a birthday party. And yeah, people have never had to deal with really bad situations, don't understand dark humor, and they also don't understand why people have guns. I really wonder about a lot of the conversations that I have about why people are so anti-gun in that, well, you don't need to bring a gun with you everywhere you go. And I'm like, so when was the last time you took your spare tire out of your car and left it home because you were planning on when you needed it? This is my new favorite 30-second question on this one. Because a spare tire for anyone who drives is something that they can understand. I'm like, so I don't need my gun everywhere, but you need your spare tire everywhere? How does that work? Love it. So anyway, hope you all like that one. Um, so, uh, yeah, and PNW, I'm totally with you. Uh, I, like I said, tonight was not when I was planning on talking about it. I've avoided posting on it all this week and trying to stay away from the stories and listening to it all. But as we most all of us have, we have the whole, um, and Ram and all our friends are down there dealing with all of that. But so here's something that's super important. Emotions. When was the last time you made a really good idea when you were super emotional? If you have, I need to know because I not have, I have not. Doing stuff from an emotional state, which is where it feels like the antis generally are coming from, the ones that intend to do good things, not the ones that are just trying to control us. Because there is no doubt that taking away guns is about control. It has nothing to do with safety whatsoever. But because people get emotion, like, ah, children died, and now we're going to have to take away everything from everyone to keep you safe. And it's just like, uh, no, bad people. Murderers should go to jail. Crime should be looked at as crime. If they're breaking laws, they're not good people. So going after law-abiding gun owners as much as everyone wants— I don't know, feels like it's horrible to say all the time, but it's like criminals are the bad guys. That's kind of how this goes. All right. Yeah, I do want to send it to everyone. It's just been crazy because I've been so crazy busy. And yes, I completely agree that emotions cloud logic. For those of us who've already been in self-defense scenarios, you know, it's hard to do the right thing. I've been, I've done force-on-force training. I suck. I'm just going to let y'all know, you don't want me to have your back. So, but we train. Or if we— like, I've had a knife held to my throat, um, for real, not in a force-on-force. This is way before I was, um, into guns and stuff. And it's just like, when you have someone holding a knife to your throat telling you that they're going to kill you and slice your throat, lots of things can happen. Your adrenaline, all sorts of stuff. Is that the place where I want to start making policy decisions? No, not really. So it's definitely one of these things. All right, let's see. You're gonna tell any new 2A friends who are feeling spotlighted to realize the responsibility of gun ownership never goes away when the news wears off or the evil in the world had the podium. Yeah, I just, it's one of those things. I just wish that we did not immediately. Oh, DJ, dude. You should have said put your banner up. Huh? That, sorry. Your comment made me realize like, oh, I didn't put that up. So, ooh, there's hooting owls out there. I just hooted back at the owls. Anyway, yeah, because DJ did the phone numbers and then I remembered to do these. And yes, of all people, well, I don't, sorry. For most of you, I don't know personal, personal, but Gina, I know she's got my back. So, oh my goodness. Yeah. And I also have a fire extinguisher. I don't know what G23 said. So anyway, one of the best things you're doing to improve mental health is to talk about it, right? And it goes all through all of these things and you know how I will cry for you. Not intentionally, just because I cry like crazy. And, um, you can talk with Mario last weekend or last week. I kind of did, but not a lot because that was when I could switch out cameras and stuff. All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a half hour. I will usually try to keep this short. I have a pistol permit class to get ready for in the morning. Uh, feel free to drop down any comments, ideas, thoughts for Suicide Prevention Saturday. I'm actually going to post up next week's plan because I can't believe I forgot to do this one until today. And I'll be flying in from California Friday night at midnight, teaching a permit class all day Saturday, and then popping on here Saturday night. That's how much I love you all. Make sure we talk about suicide prevention, talk about mental health awareness, do something for yourself. Go visit one of our friends from Walk the Talk America. Or hold my guns or all sorts of stuff. Check out the Ed Millett book because even if all you do, like seriously, if all you do is read The Power of One More and just think on that a little bit, it can make a difference. Little tiny chinks in their armor. And yeah, Mariam. And combat vet, the Vet Center is there for you. Uh, DJ, have fun. I'm guessing you're probably gonna go party now because it's Saturday night. You are welcome, Gunmetal Guy. And I am out here. I will see you all next week. Bye!