Editorial

Time for a Paradigm Shift

David A. Lombardo

"Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown. And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth savin', then you better start swimmin', or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin'."

Ironically those words penned by Bob Dylan in 1963 in protest to the establishment take on a new meaning today. 

"Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway; don't block up the hall. For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled. There's a battle outside and it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times they are a-changin'." 

Indeed, there is a battle going on in this country, and it has many fronts. We have those who take from the system and complain while doing it. They are the fourth or fifth generation of takers who bleed the system dry rather than lift a finger to better their position. Those complainers are getting louder and more violent. Their flames of raging self-indulgent entitlement are constantly being fanned by those narcissistic community organizers with phony divinity titles that get rich off of the chaos and hatred they spread. 

And then we have ISIS, al Qaeda and a seemingly never-ending host of psychotics whose sole intention in life is to kill as many people as possible before getting blown up themselves. I don't know which, if either, is worse, but combined they are the jaws of a vice powerful enough to squeeze the life out of the democracy. 

It is oft quoted by liberals that we are two Americas, and I must reluctantly admit I agree. We have those socially deviant miscreants on one side and the law-abiding, hard-working, tax payers who prop up an ever-increasingly heavy burden while dancing in between gunshots, muggings, mass murders and beheadings on the other side. 

With my apologies to Dylan, the times are indeed changing, and the pendulum has begun to swing back. John Q has had just about enough of the chaos, bloodshed and attempts to brand him with the evils of the world, when it is precisely that evil that's attempting to do the branding. 

Now all this may sound like one of my typical rants, except this time I have Interpol on my side. The International Criminal Police Organization is a non-governmental organization facilitating international police cooperation. Established in 1923, Interpol is hardly known for its support of the private ownership of firearms, yet about a year ago, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said the U.S. and the rest of the democratic world is at a security crossroads and suggested an answer could be arming civilians. 

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Noble said there are really only two choices for protecting open societies from attacks like the one on Westgate mall where so-called "soft targets" are hit: either create secure perimeters around the locations or allow civilians to carry their own guns to protect themselves. 

"Societies have to think about how they're going to approach the problem," Noble said. "One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves are so secure that in order to get into the soft target, you're going to have to pass through extraordinary security." Personally, I'm for getting out ahead of these problems before John Q completely loses control. 

It won't be long before Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's metaphor becomes reality with crystal clear lines drawn in the sand: there will be sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. But the sheepdogs are going to be getting very busy and won't have time to look after the sheep anymore. I suggest it is time for a paradigm shift. We've endured decades of continuous attacks on our Second Amendment right with government doing everything it can to deny law-abiding, hard-working people the right to defend themselves, yet mayhem abounds and is growing. That philosophy's worked out really well, hasn't it? I think it's time for sheep to come into the light and earn sheepdog status. 

"The line, it is drawn; the curse, it is cast. The slow one now will later be fast. As the present now will later be past, the order is rapidly fadin'. And the first one now will later be last for the times they are a-changin'."