Chestnut from Our Archives: Bang, You’re Dead

Originally published July 18, 2011 on Richardcyoung.com.

A real unpleasant way to start a day, wouldn’t you say? Well did you know that Americans suffer nearly 30,000 property crimes per day? Invading homes is big business. In America, a violent crime happens an astounding every 20 seconds. Makes your palms sweat, does it not? Yet, if you are like a lot of Americans, you are perhaps oblivious to what is going on around you.

In terms of home invasions, what do you think Omaha, Boston, Seattle, Alexandria, Columbus, Albuquerque, Nashville, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Baltimore, Charlotte, San Fran, and Newark all have in common? Did you mention Mara Salvatrucha? Nope, you probably missed MS-13. Mara is slang for a group of young people. Salva is short for El Salvador. Trucha means “on guard.” MS-13 is one of the nastiest, most dangerous gangs in the world. This festering crowd formed back in the early 1980s in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles. Early members were young kids of El Salvadoran immigrants.

Home invasion is right up the alley of MS-13. If you have seen young street thugs with teardrops tattooed on their eyelids, gothic lettering tatts, and the number 666 or certainly any form of MS-13, you are likely to be a whole lot closer to a member of Mara Salvatrucha than you may wish. Trust me, MS-13 makes some of the notorious motorcycle gangs look like The Beach Boys.

And if, by example, you should live in any of the cities I have listed above, you have company. Any interest in self-preservation for your family yet? I would click to Dick Young’s #1 Personal Security Must Have for a refresher or a new look. And just to play safe, read it twice. Next click on the link to read the article by police officer and trainer Richard Johnson. I particularly like and subscribe to Richard’s closing warning, “When given the choice between a long gun and a pistol, consider the paraphrased advice of trainer Clint Smith: ‘The handgun is what you use to fight your way to the shotgun or rifle you shouldn’t have left behind in the first place’.”

OK then, personal defense is not for sissies. And I know the stark reality of what I write can be a real day ruiner for some. Your spouse may in fact bark something distasteful to you along the lines of “I don’t give a lick about Dick Young’s personal defense preparations.”

I have always operated on the assumption that there is no downside in having taken the initiative and time to educate and prepare my own family members. In America, I am sorry to report, the Supreme Court is a single seat away from having our Second Amendment rights compromised. And two of the justices that I am most convinced have a Second Amendment weak spine were nominated by the strongly Marxist-influenced gentleman who for a short while longer occupies the White House.

As a personal security maven, the first question I have for any 2012 presidential candidate is, would you have voted to have confirmed any of the following four supreme court justices: Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan, Sotomayer? One millisecond of hesitancy or beating around the bush, and no vote from me. It’s that simple. And just to close the deal, ask your candidate why America has not obliterated the MS-13 scourge. I’ll tell you this, one good mission for Special Forces operators that President Obama had better be pulling out from Iraq and Afghanistan is to set a fire under the MS-13 crowd. Have a nice day.

Warm Regards,

Dick