God Bless Texas!

If you look at my profile on the left side of the page, you will note that I am a proud resident of the Republic of Texas. I am not a native born Texan but I did get here as fast as possible.

In my research, I noticed that victims of guns crimes typically take two different paths. Either they become rabidly anti-gun and look to the government for protection by passing new laws or they take matters into their own hands and decide they will not be unarmed should the situation arise again.

Personally, I am one of the latter. As a young adult fresh from the military, I was working as a property manager for a small realty company. On January 4, 1982 our office was robbed at gunpoint. The two gunmen escaped with about $6,000 in cash, some jewelry and my wallet with two weeks pay inside. The gunmen spent about 15 minutes terrorizing the five of us that were still in the office. My boss was so scared that he actually wet his pants during the ordeal. Fortunately, nobody was injured. Unfortunately, these thieves were never caught and brought to justice for this crime. I have to wonder how many others were terrorized by these two miscreants?

The next day, I went out gun shopping and purchased a Charter Arms British Bulldog in .38 Special. This was my first handgun and was purchased for one purpose, to ensure that I would not be an unarmed victim again. My boss had the same idea and purchased a small semi-auto in .32 for his wife and a .380 for himself. Never again would either of us be an unarmed victim.

My purpose to this little trip down memory lane is to mention a lady who I greatly admire for her actions after finding herself as an unarmed victim. Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, was in a Luby's restaurant in San Antonio on October 16, 1991. On that day, George Jo Hennard crashed his truck through the window and opened fire on the approximately 80 people inside. He managed to kill 23 people and wounded another 20 before committing suicide. Among those killed were both of Hupp's parents. Hennard managed to reload multiple times and still had ammunition remaining when he shot himself.

Dr. Hupp had left her pistol in her vehicle in the parking lot because of the restrictive laws in Texas at the time regarding carrying a weapon. During the slaughter, Hupp regretted following the law and making herself an unarmed victim. As she stated in testimony before Congress, "I realized that I made the stupidest decision of my life, I took my gun out of my purse and left it in my car. Because, as you well know, in the state of Texas it's sometimes a felony offense to carry a gun in your purse...I'm mad at my legislators for legislating me out of the right to protect myself and my family. I would rather be sitting in jail with a felony offense on my head and have my parents alive".

In the aftermath of the deaths of her parents, Hupp didn't look to the government for protection. Instead, she became vocal proponent of the right to carry. Her actions were key in the passing of the Texas law allowing concealed carry.

During testimony in front of Congress regarding the original assault weapons ban, Dr. Hupp made it clear as to the purpose of the Second Amendment. Some quotes from her testimony:

"As far as these so-called assault weapons, you say that they don't have any defense use. You tell that to the guy that I saw on a video tape of the L.A. riots standing up on his rooftop protecting his property and his life from an entire mob with one of these so-called assault weapons. Tell me he didn't have a legitimate self-defense use."

"Just one final statement. I've been sitting here getting more and more fed up with all of this talk about these pieces of machinery having no legitimate sporting purpose, no legitimate hunting purpose. People, that is not the point of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is not about duck hunting. I know I'm not going to make very many friends saying this, but it's about our rights, all of our rights to be able to protect ourselves from all of you guys up there"

Remember, the "guys up there" were the members of Congress that ultimately passed that original AWB in spite of her testimony. One has to wonder, maybe she scared the shit out them.

My hat is off to Dr. Hupp for her reaction to the killing of her parents that day and her stand in front of Congress. She realized well before the SCOTUS ruled in Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) that the police have no obligation to protect us. It is our right as well as our responsibility to protect ourselves.

Note: The quotes from Dr. Hupp's testimony before Congress are used with her permission. Although testimony before Congress is public record I felt obligated to contact her and seek her permission before posting this in the blog. Thank you Dr. Hupp for your permission to use your very compelling testimony and for your efforts in protecting and raising an awareness of the true meaning of the Second Amendment.

Here is one of the clearest videos of her testimony before Congress with some additional commentary by Penn & Teller: