Calling gun-blog owners & writers.

Over the past few years, I've enjoyed reading the thoughts, facts, opinions and general musings of gun-blog owners.

As I've told people in the past, on September 11, 2001, I drew a hard line in the sand. On the day this nation made the biggest single mistake of its entire two-century plus existence by electing Barack Obama, I poured concrete in that line.

In a recent e-mail exchange with someone I know at the National Rifle Association, I was informed that by today's estimates, it is widely believed that over 100,000,000 Americans are law-abiding gun-owners, with over half that number owning more than one gun.

I'm proud to be counted in that group.

My wife and I only have a small--very small--handful of friends who do not (presently) own a firearm. BUT. . . they have exactly zero problems with us, or any other law-abiding citizen owning and carrying a firearm. Guns just ain't their thing.

We absolutely respect that.

On the other hand, we have exactly ZERO friends who are anti-gun. That is ZERO as in none, nada, zip.

And we won't, either.

Prior to the anointing of the marxist community rabble rouser, we tolerated a few friendships with individuals or couples who were (are) anti-gun, but none actually belonged to any of the communist groups like the Brady bunch or Center to Prevent Violence or whatever nonsense name these asshats have from one year to the next.

We both told those handful of friends before the concrete even finished drying and setting up in our line in the sand that so long as they believed that the Second Amendment (and other portions of the Bill of Rights) didn't apply to every American, they were no longer welcome around our campfire. What's more, we did not return messages or e-mails, and on those occasions that we might see them in the grocery store or a restaurant, we didn't even acknowledge their existence.

Harsh? Maybe so. But every time I see a young man or young woman with a tired look in their eyes and their BDUs still on because they just got home from Hell itself (Iraq, Afghanistan), I ask myself how can I have a friendship with someone, anyone who would willingly undo the very freedoms these young men and women are risking their LIVES to defend?

I once wore a uniform and swore the same oath these young people did. Now that I'm older and hopefully wiser, the sacrifices and risks we took seem all the larger and more severe.

No, my wife and I as well as our family choose to associate with those who respect the Bill of Rights and who do not wish to deny us any aspect of them.

Put simply, we think gun-owners are some of the finest, most honorable and unselfish people you'll meet anywhere. That goes for gun-owners in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, France. . . anywhere.

For the second post in a row, I bring up A Girl And Her Gun's incredible, powerful and moving post about her experience with our community when she made the decision to become self-reliant and sought our community's help, assistance, and guidance as she began exploring what firearm was appropriate for her.

When I sat out to write Above Reproach, the goal was to always write this book first and foremost for the gun-owning community. My objective was for it to be an affirmation of who we are, what we're about, and most important of all, why we're right in our thinking and our actions. Because it is a novel and I had the luxury of creative freedom, I worked to make it entertaining and to make the principle characters people that you and I could relate to.

There are no super-CIA/SEAL/Delta heroes in this book. There is no super-huge government conspiracy--only anecdotes that illustrate real-life, present-tense government idiocies and the idiots who are responsible. There are good cops in the book as well as a few bad ones--just like real life.

There is no super-hero who is the solution to the problem scenario presented in the novel. Instead, the solution becomes everyday, ordinary American citizens who chose to lawfully exercise their Second Amendment rights in order to defend themselves and their fellow citizens.

In other words, in the situations detailed in the book, virtually anyone reading this post right now who is a gun-owner, and especially a CHL holder, can see themselves in this book.

For the gun-blog owners and writers, I'd like to offer you a free look at the book. I'll give my e-mail address here, and if you're interested, I'll e-mail you the book in your choice of e-pub format (most readers), Mobi (Kindle) or a PDF (computer screen viewing).

All I ask is that you also include the name and url of your blog for verification.

A colleague told me I was crazy for doing this. When I asked her why, she replied "What's keeping them from e-mailing it all over and you'd never get paid?" My response was simple and almost without thinking. "They're fellow gun-owners. Sorry, but that's just not how we think or do things." We loan our guns to fellow gun-owners for hunting trips or travel or someone's wife or daughter are going to be at the house or a hotel by themselves and all the husband/dad has are long guns or large caliber handguns. We hand our guns over almost unhesitatingly to complete strangers at the range and say, "Hey, try this one," while unabashedly asking, "I'd sure like to fire a round or two out of that baby."

We're gun-owners. We know who we are and what we're about. And that's why I have no trepidation about making this offer.

If you're interested, e-mail me at: anordinaryamerican@gmail.com

Thank you, and best regards.

J.D. Kinman
Author, Above Reproach

Gun owners rejoice--it's here!

Heh heh. Please forgive the self-effusiveness, but I just got word that Above Reproach is now live and available for sale and download on Amazon.com.

I'd teased it a bit a few weeks ago, calling it the "novel for gun-owners written by a gun-owner."

In doing so, I got some interesting feedback, all of it positive but one remark in particular stuck out. My apologies for not remembering exactly who said it, so I'll paraphrase.

"It's not just a gun-owner, but a GUN-LOVER. . ."

So true.

I love guns and the gun world. Yes, we have a very tiny minority of assholes in our midst, but they are just that--a tiny minority.

On the side of this blog, I have linked to A Girl And Her Gun one of THE most succinct self-expressions about what it means to become a gun-owner and join this non-exclusive group of now just over 100,000,000 Americans, and who knows how many more life-loving, freedom-seeking individuals in other nations like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Central and South America, Europe and elsewhere.

Gun-owners. We are a special breed. We are of all colors, races, religious creeds, economic backgrounds. . . we're white collar and blue collar and sometimes no collar at all. We are a rare group that strives to be inclusive rather than exclusive. We WANT more people to legally own guns and join our inclusive group because we stand for a lot of things like individualism, independence, freedom, patriotism and self-sufficiency.

Unlike so many other groups, if someone doesn't like firearms, we're okay with that too--just as long as you don't try to take ours away from us. I have nothing against vegans. . . right up until they tell me what I should be eating. Then they have a fight on their hands.

That is a challenge we face daily here in America, but thank God we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our friends in other countries are not nearly as fortunate.

In the forward remarks of the book, I salute my "many friends" from these countries and hope that the words and scenarios in the pages therein give you inspiration and reason to continue fighting for your RIGHT to self-defense and self-determination.

A lot of things went into Above Reproach and its writing, but above all, a lot of love of country, of my fellow citizens and for the freedoms we have directed the course of the book. And at the base of all of that, is the Second Amendment which protects and gives strength and teeth to the other amendments.

Many other fine writers have acknowledged gun-owners, but I've only seen a handful of other writers who openly embraced the Second Amendment and the armed citizen as he and she is embraced in Above Reproach. Matthew Bracken does it in his books, William W. Johnstone did it in his, especially the Ashes series and a few one-offs.

What I attempted to do in Above Reproach was to present everyday Americans--people just like you and me--who unwillingly found themselves in a situation in which the police could not help them. It was either take your own defense into your own hands, or suffer the horrible and all likelihood fatal consequences. The scenarios are all too real and all too easy to happen, and without armed citizens, all too likely to succeed.

Between the advance copies sent out (and my thanks to Old NFO for graciously volunteering to be an advance reader--his feedback was invaluable and much of it incorporated into the first round of revisions), proof copies and discussions on a handful of gun-related discussion forums, word is beginning to get out. I've been approached with several radio interview requests, a couple of mid-sized newspaper interview requests and more opportunities. Some gun stores are requesting posters of the cover, and I've received over a hundred requests for signed 5x7s of the cover.

And this is all before the book was even available for purchase and download! To say I'm both humbled and overwhelmed would be a Texas-sized understatment, if such an oxymoron is even possible. But this is simply another indication of how tight the gun-owner community is. We take care of our own--as A Girl And Her Gun point out in her post--and we take care of those who take care of us and who do not demean us.

We're finishing up the cover and copy for the print edition and it should be available by mid-May. By that time, Above Reproach will be available at the iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony e-Reader, Baker & Taylor, Kobo, Copia and a host of other retailers and e-tailers.

The second novel is in progress, entitled Altar of the False Gods and in which the Second Amendment plays the role of protector against Big Business and Big Government and Wall Street as small and independent businesses develop a strategy and tactics to not only ensure their survival, but to continue growing and profiting by taking market share away from the heretofore untouchable colossal giants of business.

To all who have helped, all who have read and all who have supported me on this journey, you have my unending gratitude. The title of my blog is "An Ordinary American," and is epitomizes what we can do, as ordinary Americans, in this great nation by banding and standing together and being the best we can be.

Thank you.

Stormtroopin', Stranglehold, Just What The Doctor Ordered--Ted Nugent exposes Barack Obama.

I doubt that Ted Nugent ever envisioned the travesty that has become the 44th president of the United States when he wrote songs like Stormtroopin', Stranglehold and Just What The Doctor Ordered.

Just as Nugent spoke metaphorically at the NRA's Annual Meeting in St. Louis this past weekend, the titles to the above songs also speak--not so metaphorically--the tragedy that has become America under Barack Hussein Obama.

The biggest tragedy of the Obama misadministration is the not even subtle attack on the First Amendment, in particular, Freedom of Speech.

During the pre-Revolutionary War days, to even criticize the King of England was an egregious offense punishable by a variety of ways including public whippings, being put in the stocks or being jailed. Our Founding Fathers knew then that stifling the public opinions of the citizenry as it pertained to views on the government was a dangerous enemy of Freedom.

So they wrote that into the very First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

They gave the People the strength to protect and defend it with the Second Amendment.

But under this total asshat of a president, to criticize him--metaphorically or not--borders on a criminal offense.

By now, everyone reading this should know pretty much what Nugent said at the NRA meetings. If you don't, you can google it.

I heard, nor read, zero physical threat to Obama or any elected leader from Nugent. What I did hear was a strong metaphorical message to ride into the election polls and get rid of the sanctimonious, communist bastards presently in power.

And for the record, Nugent did not simply focus on Obama. Anyone involved in this administration, including House and Senate members was included.

Freedom of Speech. Exercised by an American citizen. Now being investigated as a harassment measure by the Secret Service.

Bullshit.

The Black Panthers--the enforcement arm of Eric Holder and Barack Obama--put out a bounty, publicly, on George Zimmerman's life and this administration doesn't say a damn thing about it.

Eric Holder and his coordination and orchestration of Fast and Furious that resulted in the murder of a United States federal lawman, and this asshat president continues to back his racist thug attorney general.

Thirty-two states either proposing or passing voter ID laws and the Obama administration is challenging every one of them.

Message? Obama cannot win the 2012 election without massive voter fraud.

But these hypocrites state that voting and any restrictions whatsoever is a civil rights issue. And in the same breath, they sic the Secret Service on Ted Nugent for exercising his civil rights via free speech.

Clean house this November.

Arm yourself, then let the kangaroo court of all kangaroo court trials begin.

First, arm yourself. To the teeth.

In case you need a refresher as to what happens when race-baiting sewage like Jackson and Sharpton and other sloughed off bacteria so vile that even the body's own rectum rejects it spur on hate and divisiveness.

Anyone here remember 1992?

Los Angeles, to be more specific. April 29th, 1992 to be exact.

Now we have a repeat performance on the table for Orlando, Florida thanks to an absolute asshat airhead of a so-called "prosecuting attorney."

First off, I'd like to know which law school lowered its standards to allow such a legal nincompoop to steal oxygen from them for the three years it takes to earn a JD degree. Secondly, since it is more than obvious that her appointment, Corey's that is, is politically fueled so as to gain favor with the blacks and the liberals, just how STUPID can the liberals actually be?

So Angela Corey grandstands and charges Zimmerman with second degree murder.

Only one problem: Intent.

Oh, and motive.

Corey will have to prove that Zimmerman had intent to murder Trayvon Martin on the night in question, which means it was a pre-meditated act. If that is the case, then what was the motive?

Manslaughter? Absolutely. I will not back away from the fact that Zimmerman was and is a bonehead. He thought he'd just trot right out there and play Superfly with Martin and instead (apparently) got his ass kicked--and kicked bad enough that he was forced to use lethal force to defend himself.

If only he'd stayed in the damned SUV. . . but he didn't and now he's been arrested on second-degree murder charges. He'll beat those charges, and if a Florida jury somehow manages to act like a California jury and he IS found guilty, an appeal will overturn it faster than you can say "No justice, no peace" in your best mushmouth Sharpton imitation.

Then Florida will burn and be looted.

But then again, maybe not. Floridians are armed. Heavily. If rioting and looting occurs and the Black Panthers fulfill their threats, then look for an open season on that one certain breed of cat and afterwards, "endangered species" will not even begin to describe them.

But a race war is what Jackson and Sharpton and others of their ilk want. Race race race race. It's a hate crime. White on black crime is always a hate crime and always racist.

Me? I'm still waiting on prosecution and civil rights investigation and apologies from Sharpton and Jackson and other rectum-rooters for this little incident in 1992:

Trust me--a lot of folks still have this image burned into their mind and will not, I repeat WILL NOT, allow such a travesty to happen again.

Be it black on white or white on black or black on black or white on white. . . it will not be tolerated.

Those who want a race war, fine. Get on with it. Just go do it in another country and leave my country alone.

I propose that all the blacks and whites and hispanics that want a race war be given the opportunity, weapons and real estate to do so. The rules will be simple:

Last idiot standing loses.

America wins.

How to make money giving the bird to people you don't even know.

How cool is that? Give the bird to someone you don't even know and there's a good chance you can make a few bucks off of them.

A good friend of mine and former employee is doing just that--and making four-figures a month to boot.

He's a writer--a very good one--and he's also a marketer, a very good one, and he's combined the two.

It's called social media and Ben Wallace has used Twitter to go from the depths of absolute obscurity in Amazon.com's rankings to literally owning the top spots in his genre--comic fiction.

He did almost all of it with Twitter.

Now, before you quit reading thinking that if you're not a writer/author, it won't work for you, let me assure you that it will.

As a retired marketing/ad agency executive, believe me when I tell you this: The advice and technique Wallace gives in Giving the Bird: The Indie Author's Guide to Twitter will work for virtually ANY small business.

Let me, a guy who has marketed for giants like Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Sears, American Airlines, Pearle Vision, Sonic Drive-Ins, JC Penney, Sprint all the way down to home-kitchen based confectioneries assure you that, yes, it WILL work.

Simply substitute the word "writer" or "author" where it is mentioned in the book and replace it with whatever profession or business or service you provide. Then follow it, keep at it, mine it, nurture it and your followers will grow and as your followers grow, so will your reputation and thus your business and thus your income.

This is not one of those ripoff direct-response piece of crap ads you see all the time where you read, scroll down the page, read some more, read a few testimonials and then get hit with the "To discover how to do this yourself and make gazillions of dollars working just mere nano-seconds a day, send $99.95 to this address and blah blah blah."

The book costs $2.99 and I cussed Ben up one side and down the other for pricing it that low. He's got thick skin, though. After all, he used to work for me and that tends to callous up the skin pretty quick.

The book is only available in e-book format which makes perfect sense--it is using electronic media.

It takes about an hour, maybe two to read, then go back and re-read/skim over some sections.

Then, start putting it into play. Manage your expectations as nothing huge happens overnight--which you don't want. You want to build a solid, firm foundation and that is something Ben emphasizes in the book.

His main forté is comic fiction and I've bought several of his books and enjoyed them thoroughly. He's a gifted writer and his style is to write as though he's sitting across from you at a table conversing while the two of you chew on french fries and eat hamburgers.

Oh, and he's one of us, too. When he interviewed with me right out of college, he showed me a bunch of spec work for various handguns.

Need I say more? Buy his book, read it and learn from it and pass on the advice to other entrepreneurs you know.

With this bunch of bozos in Washington running our big businesses into the ground, small business is going to be the only financial engine our nation will have left--so let's make it happen.

Buy the book. You won't regret it.

If you are one, you will relate to this.

The year is 2016 and the United States has just elected the first woman president. A few days after the election the president-elect, whose name is Debra, calls her father and says, "So, Dad, I assume you will be coming to my inauguration?"

"I don't think so. It's a 10 hour drive."

"Don 't worry about it Dad, I'll send Air Force One. And a limousine will pick you up at your door."

"I don't know. Everybody will be so fancy. What would your mother wear?"

"Oh Dad," replies Debra, 'I'll make sure she has a wonderful gown custom-made by the best designer in Washington ."

"Honey," Dad complains, "you know I can't eat those rich foods you eat."

The President-to-be responds, " Don 't worry Dad. The entire affair will be handled by the best caterer in Washington ; I'll ensure your meals are salt free. You and mom just have to be there."

So Dad reluctantly agrees, and on January 20, 2017, Debra is being sworn in as President of the United States . In the front row sits the new president's dad and mom.

Dad, noticing the senator sitting next to him, leans over and whispers, "You see that woman over there with her hand on the Bible, becoming President of the United States ."

The Senator whispers back, "You bet I do."

Dad says proudly, "Her brother is a Pilot!"

A Memorial Day for one.

Thank you, Lord.

Would the Kardashians just please go away.

Message to the no-talent, no-brains, lucky sperm/egg club airhead sensations who draw in other no-brain airheads like moths to flame:

Go away.

I'm still trying to figure out, like a great number of other rational Americans, just what the draw is over these girls.

They're not pretty--in fact, they look more like summer intern projects at the School of Plastic Surgery and Cosmetology.

Brains? Where?

Personality? Where?

Talent? You've got to be kidding.

Is it any wonder we're going down the sewer tubes in this country? We have skyrocketing gas prices, skyrocketing taxes, record-setting un/underemployment, the lousiest most ineffective bunch of elected bozos in our history (both sides of the aisle), a president who is the laughing stock of the world and rather than being overly concerned about any of that, we're more concerned about what the next grocery store magazine that caters to those with room temperature IQs is going to say about the Kardashians.

And if not the Kardashians, then whoever the next schmuck on American Idol happens to be. Or Dancing With the Stars. Or whatever "reality" show du jour is "the thing" at the moment.

I find it not just sad, but extremely disturbing and telling when only .45% of the population in America cares enough to serve at least one tour in the military defending our freedom and keeping us strong, but over 22% have some sort of affinity or feelings or "deep concern" for what happens to oxygen thieves like the Kardashians who contribute zilch.

We've got problems.

Texas tan-line.

Don't mess with our Texas cuties.

'Nuff said.

But damn the music was good.

After having wrapped up the book and getting it sent off for formatting and distribution, I was at the bank today doing some hocus-pocus with "pay me" and "pay you" accounts.

I saw a young lady wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and I couldn't help but chuckle. She was my (adopted) daughter's age. Maybe a year or two younger, which would have her chasing the end of her teenage years.

We talked and she gushed about how cool the music was of the 70's and I agreed.

The 80's gave us Prince and Boy George, but thankfully that little ol' band from Texas was able to kick their ass, along with a blaze of blues known as Stevie Ray Vaughn. But both Texas legends were throwbacks to an earlier era with ZZ Top being a solidly 70's originating band, while Boy George was a throwback to, to. . .  to what, I'm not sure. A failed sex-experiment somewhere in Sweden with a couple of transgenders on LSD?

*Shudder*

The 90's? I was too busy working sixty to ninety hours a week and shoveling as much money as I could into every investment portfolio I could find to even turn on a radio. The start of the new century began much the way the 90's ended--work, work, work. But every time I turned on the radio, all I heard was either garbage, or. . .  wait for it. . .

Music from the 60's and 70's. They called it Classic Rock.

I learned about the world serving in the military. I learned about people serving in federal law enforcement. I learned about making money working in Madison Avenue. And what I learned there was that when we used songs and soundtracks from the 60's and 70's, response to our commercials skyrocketed.

In 2002, I was making my plans to retire. In the ad agency world, especially if you were a creative, you made obscene amounts of money in an obscenely short amount of time. If you were smart (most weren't), you invested heavily because by the time you turned forty/forty-five, you were too old for the biz any more and you started either planning for retirement and a career change, or a career as a freelancer.

Social media was getting big and I was still trying to figure out how to program numbers into my cell phone. Thank God for admins and personal assistants that kept up with technology.

Some colleagues of mine at an agency called D'Arcy, Massius, Benton & Bowles in Troy, Michigan achieved the impossible: They got Led Zeppelin to sign over partial rights to a Zeppelin song to be used in a television commercial. For a car. An American-made car. The Cadillac.

After seeing the commercials run on the Super Bowl, I called up one of their managing directors I was friends with and congratulated him--then asked him how much it cost.  "$10 million smackeroos, plus residuals," he replied.

Have you heard of any major advertiser paying some rap-crap gangster $10 million to use his song music noise in a television commercial--or for anything else?

I find myself over at YouTube somewhat often and in between searching and viewing videos on airplanes and guns and Dobermans, I'll run across some classic music.

The Eagles, Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Bob Seger, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Deep Purple, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, Grand Funk Railroad, Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Atlanta Rhythm Section. . .

The list goes on and on.

I get a chuckle at reading some of the comments on some of the YouTube videos, especially from the kids my (adopted) daughter's age or younger. Stuff like, "Damn! I wish I'd been born back then when there was GOOD music," seems to be the norm.

I don't miss bell-bottoms and I don't miss all the long hair and hairy faces. Hip-huggers are back and lower than ever (to my chagrin now that I find myself in a father role to a young lady that thinks thongs and low-slung jeans are THE thing. . .) and more midriff is once again showing.

We had good music back then, even if we had crappy clothes.