I get it, that most of you guys have a deep seated fear of recognition badges. With several trophy shops up and down O street, do you all break out into sweats, just driving by those places?
I think the folks on this forum are way to paranoid about a symbol of compliance and recognition, which is all a badge is.
Funny, I never wanted one, like I do now.
I want to thank everyone here for participating in this decision on badges, and any more ideas on the subject are welcome.
Thank you for making your thinking and decision-making process clear.
You believe that pins, medallions, and badges are all equal and mean the same thing. You believe that these things are all the same:
...and that all of them will give the same meaning to people who see them.
This is in response to the people who are discussing the idea of carrying a CCW badge as said on the
http://www.areagency.com/ website:
"
You're threatened with deadly force, but your gun is out and pointed at the felon. You have your Concealed Handgun Permit Badge with you. The police pull up to the scene and the dirtbag shouts, "He's going to kill me. SHOOT HIM!" WHAT DO YOU DO? You display your BADGE to the police and shout, "DON'T SHOOT. I'M A LEGALLY LICENSED HAND GUN OWNER.""
...and according to you, all those things are the same, and the idea is perfectly fine. (I note also that I had to do some work to make the badge, the medallion, and the pins similar-sized, which they most certainly aren't.)
And, as
an NRA Certified Instructor
this is your own personal opinion. I'll note that you took the NRA class only a few weeks ago, you probably haven't even been credentialed yet by the NRA, and you haven't ever taught an NRA class, so I wouldn't throw around that certification too much yet...
...but anyway, here's my thoughts on your contentions:
I think that
1) You have made a lot of remarkably personal derogatory comments to a lot of other people,
2) You have made a lot of commentary that didn't have much in the way of logic to back it up, (nor much structure),
3) Your personal opinions, while apparently completely valid to you, make no sense to me at all (A: the pictures above are not similar as there is a significant difference between a badge, a pin, and a medallion; B: carrying a badge on your person to show people is an invitation to legal charges; C: your contention that wearing a badge is somehow "showing colors" seems ridiculous as the operative part of CCW is the "concealed" bit; D: showing immediate support for someone who is, according to witnesses, violating the requirements for teaching CCW classes, unsafe in said classes, and pushes selling an item that
not one legitimate nation-level trainer says is a good idea ---this just seems like a bad idea, not that listening to stories on the internet is proof, but it certainly doesn't seem like a reason to unilaterally
support him, either.)
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, Gary. (This isn't Bruce using a pseudonym, is it? Trying to drum up support? Or are you a business partner with Bruce?) However, when you think that those opinions should influence other people, you are going to find that first they have to make sense, and secondly you have to be able to logically support them.
And among other things, comments like:
I get it, that most of you guys have a deep seated fear of recognition badges. With several trophy shops up and down O street, do you all break out into sweats, just driving by those places?
...really isn't going to help you.
I'll note that I think you are wrong in just about everything you've attempted to argue. That's my own personal opinion, though.
Oh---I'm an NRA Life member. That doesn't make me automatically support anyone else who is an NRA member. So when you say:
I have decided to show a little support for my fellow NRA member, Bruce Swartz, and I will drop by his table tomorrow and purchase one of his badges.
...I see no reason to push that Mr. Swartz is an NRA member, nor that you are. I'm just not sure why that is relevant. Just like I don't see any reason to continually shout that I'm an NRA Life member, because I didn't do it to gain recognition or make it easier to network.
