In this Saturday, June 29, 2019, photo, Cindy Bullock, Timpanogos Academy secretary, participates in shooting drills at the Utah County Sheriff’s Office shooting range during the teacher’s academy training, in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah. About 30 teachers in Utah are spending their summer learning how to stuff wounds and shoot guns as part of a training held by police to prepare educators for an active shooter scenario in their schools. (AP Photo/ Rick Bowmer)

There’s a lot of talk about how civility has declined in America since Donald Trump took office.

They are right, of course.

I was driving in Los Angeles the other day, and people behaved like animals. The homeless people downtown looked quite sane compared with the lunatics in BMWs piloting their murderous machines like go-carts, driving with their knees while they text with one hand and sipped their frappa-latte with the other.

Ijits of the highest order were driving on the shoulder and using turn lanes to go to the front, then cut people off at the last second, flipping them the bird as they did so. I thought I was in Mexico City or New Delhi … except for the flipping-off part. It would have been funny, had it not been so dangerous.

It was so bad that–when a fleeing robber crossed into oncoming traffic and nearly hit me head-on bypassing stopped cars at an intersection–I wrote it off as just another LA psychopath trying to save ten seconds. Then five police cars came around the bend after him, and the helicopter with the spotlight.

Americans are wound up and stressed out, sure; but civility was cratering long before Donald Trump took office. Many people took his election as a cue to turn the a**hole up to 11. Our loss of civility is a feature, not a bug.

Speaking of a**holes: the riots after the UK election inspired me to go get some pistol practice this morning in anticipation of our own 2020 extravaganza coming up soon.

I went to the San Diego GlockStore for a spring, then The Gun Range for 30 minutes of practice. In both establishments, I noticed something:

Everybody … was … polite. Everybody. Super polite.

Patrons were courteous and patient with one another in the parking lot. Customers waited their turns and said “please,” “thank you,” and “sir/ma’am.” Nobody yelled at the (armed) employees to hurry up with their order. I felt as though I’d stepped into a time warp.

It’s not like people were walking around in terror of one another, worried about dissing someone and getting capped. On the contrary, everyone seemed relaxed, comfortable, and friendly.

All present seemed to understand one another, to know within those two micro-communities–

AROUND HERE, WORDS AND ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.

In Los Angeles, it’s almost impossible to conceal carry. A**holes know, as long as no cops are watching, they can curse, threaten, and road-rage against others all they want. Nobody can do anything about it. If they call the cops, it’s your word against theirs–assuming the cops even show up. They are pretty busy chasing down poo-flinging maniacs.

Little community exists in LA now. It’s one vast camp where people go to get theirs. Why not illegally cut off some chump? You’re never going to see him again, so fork him. Use your car as a battering ram and force your way in. And if he protests, give him the one-finger salute and laugh at his impotent rage.

Liberals like to go on and on about kindness, how we must be kind to one another, that kindness is, like, super important. They seem to operate under the delusion that–if you raise awareness on Facebook about #kindness and #civility–the masses will have an epiphany, and utopia will unfold. Everybody is really good and *wants* to be nice to one other–they just need you to remind them on social media!

They expect John Wayne to reform Liberty Valence with hashtag slogans. It’s an unparalleled denial of human nature.

Any of us human beings can be mean. We do each other a favor when we correct one another’s evil or thoughtless tendencies. That’s a large part of what produces a strong, peaceful community. Some people need more correcting than others. As the old Texas joke goes: some people need killing, and slogans aren’t going to cut it with those who have lost all perspective.

So if you want to have a strong, safe community, arm responsible, law-abiding adults. Arm as many as possible. Teach them safe usage and storage practices. Allow them to conceal carry. Make them partners in law and order, not begging men-children. As Ronald Reagan said (paraphrasing Emperor Hadrian): Peace Through Strength.

There’s a mistaken belief that the hallmarks of slavery are forced labor and no property of one’s own. That’s wrong. Down through history, untold numbers of slaves prospered, rose to administrative positions, and had their own houses and servants (just think of Joseph in Egypt).

Really, the hallmark of the slave from ancient times to the present has always been the same:

SLAVES HAVE NEVER BEEN ALLOWED TO OWN AND CARRY WEAPONS.

The United States is becoming a nation of complacent slaves. Just give us our lattes and our iPhones, and we’ll do what we’re told. Accepting responsibility for our own community and safety scares us. Our owners handle that; we just want our toys and sweets.

To those hungry for details:

I put a lot of lead downrange. I practiced with a Glock .45, a Glock 9mm, an antique Romanian Tokarev pistol, and then a few rounds with a custom-built AR-10, chambered in .308 and augmented with a scope and heavy sniper barrel (very useful if you ever need to kill a semi-truck or a dinosaur from 500 yards):