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Title: Army vet with AR-15 stands guard outside high school
Source:
WND
URL Source: http://www.wnd.com/2018/02/army-vet ... nds-guard-outside-high-school/
Published: Feb 26, 2018
Author: Staff
Post Date: 2018-02-27 07:26:16 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 9329
Comments: 74
Enough is enough, says an armed U.S. Army veteran in Indiana who has decided to take student and teacher protection into his own hands after the horrifying Florida school shooting and threats of school violence rocked his own town. Mark Cowan says he is keeping watch outside North Side High School in Fort Wayne with his AR-15 and a handgun – at least until added security is in place. Cown told WANE-TV 15 that he’s standing guard to protect students and defend them against anyone who might threaten their safety while they’re in school. He has been in contact with local police and the school resource officer. “I [decided] to get my butt off the couch and come out here and keep an eye on these kids and teachers. They deserve it,” Cowan told the news station. “They all deserve a right to go home every night without fear of what’s going to happen during the day.” In addition to being an Army veteran, Cowan is a member of Oath Keepers, an organization of former police officers, first responders and veterans. “These kids mean a lot to me,” Cowan told WANE-TV 15. “These teachers mean a lot to me … this is my community, and they need protecting. And our law enforcement, as good as it is, can’t be everywhere. So it’s people like myself and the other Oath Keepers that say, ‘I’m gonna take up that slack.'” However, the school district doesn’t appear to be thrilled by Cowan’s efforts to provide more security. “We take the security of our schools very seriously,” Fort Wayne Community Schools spokeswoman Krista Stockman told WANE-TV 15. “We understand he has a right to be out there, but we do not believe it adds to the safety of our students. At North Side, as at all of our schools, we have security procedures in place. In addition. at North Side, we have armed police officers in the building every day.” As WND has reported, the idea of having armed military veterans and law-enforcement officers act as guards to improve school safety is not new. Action star Chuck Norris, an Air Force veteran, has promoted the idea for several years in his exclusive weekly column. “Which one of our fine law enforcement or military personnel (in any branch) wouldn’t consider it their greatest duty and honor to take a paid or volunteer shift as a guard infront of our schools protecting those precious souls?” Norris asked in his Feb. 19 column. And in 2013, Norris pointed to Israel, arguing that it’s a “beacon of light for how to protect our children in public places.” “Israel mandated armed guards at the entrances to all schools in 1995, and those guards are backed up by special police forces,” he wrote. “Despite that school defenses are primarily intended to thwart terrorists, they also deter any would-be psychos who would cause harm to their children.” Norris continued: “Back at the home of the brave, the U.S. faces multiple mass shootings on academic campuses and the majority still refuses to post any type of armed guard or even unarmed security at schools to protect our children. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 70 percent of public schools do not have a police officer, and more than half (57 percent) have no security staff. There is an old-fashioned term for that lack of security response in these times: stupid.”
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 22.
#1. To: Gatlin (#0)
Good job Oathkeepers. Parsons loathes you because you defend the Constitution.
I find there is no psychological check run on Oath Keepers members to determine their mental condition and no criminal background check either. If they are ex- military, there is no determination made to see if they suffer from severe PTSD. Shockingly, someone doesn’t’ even need to have any current of prior service in the military, police or first responder to join. Any John Doe can receive “huge discount on Oath Keepers memberships.” Instead of paying $40.00, for just $29.95 per year....you get: And the right to stand across the street from a school with an Oath Keepers patch on your cap while armed with an AR-15 and a pistol. Reading their membership application, the best I can determine that even the school shooter Nikolas Cruz could have joined and stood across the street from the school with an “Oath Keepers” patch and his AR-15. A quick search of 82 shootings on the internet shows that at least 28 of the shooters had been in the U.S. military. Military veterans are more than twice as likely to be mass shooters. Mass Shooters are Disproportionately US Veterans. So what we have here now is an individual sporting his “Oath Keepers” patch who has not been vetted in any manner dressed in civilian clothes and wearing sun glasses with a pull-down cap standing across the street from a school with an AR-15 and pistol. Is this what you REALLY want….is this what we REALLY need?
What a colossal load of steaming bullshit! It's unbelievable what your fevered delusional mind comes up with.
I would be extremely grateful to be proven wrong. See if you can do that by going right now and use a pseudo-name with all other false information to join. You will find that you can join the Oath Keepers as a “John Doe.” I have shown you their membership application….NOW, you PROVE me wrong. I have shown you how Nikolas Cruz could have joined Oath Keepers and become an Associate Member. Stop with the insults and show me where I am wrong. PLEASE….show me how Oath Keepers members are vetted with background checks in any form or fashion….PLEASE.
You have no fricking clue what their vetting process is Parsons. Your only agenda here is to defame Oathkeepers - just like it has always been, even at Liberty Post. Your badged "brave heroes" sure fucked up last time around - now here's a group of Patriots who have come up with a possible solution. You won't see any of these guys cowering behind a car during the next school shooting.
Of course you will chose to ignore the fact that one of your Gods, Matthew Fairfield, while as president of a Oath Keepers chapter was jailed on 54 criminal counts related to his alleged storing of a live napalm bomb at his home, along with other explosives kept at a friend's home. And that he had already had been sentenced to two years' probation for carrying concealed weapons. Then in Tennessee, thre was an armed man driving a pickup truck emblazoned with an Oath Keepers logo arrested in a bizarre scheme to place two dozen officials in a town under arrest. Oh, there was another Oath Keeper, Charles Dyer, was arrested in Oklahoma for the alleged rape and forcible sodomy of a 7-year-old child; he was also charged with possessing a grenade launcher that had been stolen from a California military base in 2006. There are MANY other cases, I could go on and on…but you should get the message and understand it. Yet YOU don’t seem to and you show that you completely satisfied without any reservations whatsoever that these types of individuals are eminently qualified to stand across the street from schools armed with an AR-15 and a pistol….proudly displaying their Oath Keepers patch. Give me a fuckin’ break….you stupid asshole.
Fricking liar - properly vettted Oathkeepers standing guard at schools is a workable approach. Yet you still think the cops will "save the children" even after you've seen that they will cower in fear when innocent lives are on the line. The only "oath" a cop swears to is that he makes it home alive at the end of his shift.
They are not “properly vetted.” They never have been and probably never will be. All Rhodes wants in the monthly memberships dues coming in each month. Wow….look at what we have here: And now you want to let domestic terrorists stand across the street from schools armed withAR-15s and pistols....wearing their Oath Keepers’ patches? Come, on....please say it ain’t so.
So your absurd claim is that Oathkeepers will allow just anyone to stand guard in front of schools? Maybe some of the members in the past have been unsavory characters, but as you say about cops - "it's just a few bad apples". That certainly applies here. Your agenda here is to denigrate a group of veterans and COPS who refuse to follow UNCONSTITUTIONAL orders and have a plan to offer protection to schools. Would you be on-board with this if the group worked together with the local police departments who could run background checks on any of the volunteers and weed out those who do not pass muster?
#28. To: Deckard, GrandIsland, A K A Stone, misterwhite, Tooconservative, hondo58, buckeroo, Liberator, and Everyone (#22)
(Edited)
Maybe some of the members in the past have been unsavory characters, but as you say about cops – "it's just a few bad apples". That certainly applies here. Listen, Grasshopper....a rooster crows only when he sees the light. Put him in the dark and he will never crow. You have seen the light and you’re crowing.
People react in variously different ways for many reasons. I could never automatically blanket label it fear, although that may sometimes be the final determined reason. Until I had a thorough understanding to the situation... I would just say they “freeze” for some unknown reason. Remember the story about the Army Master Sergeant, a veteran of WWII in Euorpe, I posted where he froze when it was time to throw the WP grenade and the instructor had to grab it out of his hand and throw it down range. If you are wanting me to endorse the Oath Keepers under a special qualification you have established....I simply cannot do that. Take the money factor out of it, remove Rhodes from the picture, establish extreme vetting procedures and I would still have problems....because the Oath Keepers would remain an independently formed civilian armed militia responsible to a single person in command with no oversight by any independent civil authority.
In fulfilling my purpose, I wish to call to your attention that the Montana Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) recommended Thursday that Elmer “Stewart” Rhodes, Montana lawyer and founder of the Oath Keepers, be disbarred for violating his attorney oath, according to a recent filing. Based upon the foregoing factual findings and legal conclusions, the Commission makes the following recommendation: 1. That Elmer S. Rhodes be disbarred; 2. That he be required to comply with the notice provisions of Rule 30, MRLDE upon disbarment; and 3. That he be assessed the reasonable and necessary costs of these proceedings in accordance with Rule 9A(8), MRLDE. FILE - In this April 16, 2015, file photo, people stand ready to check in volunteers at a staging area outside Grants Pass, Ore., where the local chapter of the constitutional activist group the Oath Keepers was supporting volunteers serving as armed guards for a gold mine on federal land where the claimholders are in a dispute with a federal agency. The federal government and southern Oregon miners have each taken a step back from tensions over the claim. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File) The case, opened a year ago, involved a trio of issues: 1) On April 28, 2014, a federal judge in Arizona filed an ethics grievance against Rhodes for appearing in court “without license or an application to appear pro hac vice.” The latter is a requirement for a lawyer who wants to practice in a federal court located in a state where he or she isn't licensed. Rhodes did not respond to the Judge’s grievance. 2) On May 12, 2014, Rhodes’ Arizona client Michael Roth lodged a complaint against his lawyer, stating that Rhodes had provided incompetent representation and had abandoned him in his civil suit in federal court. Rhodes did not respond to his former client’s complaint. 3) On July 30, 2014, the Commission on Practice set a hearing date for Rhodes to answer to these grievances in person. That date was later adjusted by a day in an amended order. Rhodes did not show up for his hearing. According to federal court records, Rhodes had a second Arizona client, Jennifer “Jade” Jones, who also found herself without a lawyer in the middle of a civil case in federal court. While it does not appear that she filed a complaint with the ODC, she complained to the federal court. "I am the plaintiff the above titled action," she wrote the judge. "I have been unable to reach my attorney, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, for several weeks." A series of confrontations Since the Oath Keepers’ founding in 2009, the organization has engaged in a series of confrontations with the government, the most notable of which was the heavily-armed standoff against the federal government at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada. These confrontations started in 2011 in the Arizona town of Quartzsite when the Oath Keepers inserted themselves into a vitriolic, small-town fight between two factions. Protesters had been arrested at two City Council meetings, and two months later the Oath Keepers assembled in Quartzsite to fight the tyrannical government, prevent martial law, stop the encroachment of the “New World Order," and "restore the republic." Calling all freedom troops! Oath Keepers Muster! Quartzsite, Arizona! -- Oath Keeper blog entry, July 31, 2011 The Oath Keepers, led by Rhodes, gathered to hold the “Quartzsite Liberty Rally” against the town's then-Chief of Police. The two protesters that were arrested were Michael Roth and Jennifer Jones. Current trouble with Montana is not Rhodes’ first rodeo In May of 2012, Rhodes was publicly admonished by the Arizona Supreme Court and fined $600 for acting as the Quartzite protesters’ attorney when he wasn’t licensed to practice law in Arizona. According to his online biography, he had clerked for the Arizona Supreme Court in 2004, so it seems unlikely he was unfamiliar with the licensing laws. Even following this admonishment, he continued to represent Mr. Roth and Ms. Jones in Arizona, filing several federal lawsuits on their behalf. Citing family illnesses, Rhodes filed a request to be released from the some of these cases in late 2013/early 2014, but by April of that year, he simply stopped participating in one of the Jones cases. On April 15th, for example, he failed to appear by telephone for a status conference, and on the 18th was removed from the case by the judge. 04/18/2014 ORDER, Mr Rhodes is discharged from representing Plaintiffs in this matter; the Court will send a letter to the Montana State Bar Association regarding Mr Rhodes' failure to represent his clients and respond to court orders; Plaintiffs Jennifer Marie Jones and John Lavern Jones are now unrepresented in this matter[.] Rhodes was indeed too busy on those days to represent his client. He was leading the Oath Keepers in another confrontation at Bundy Ranch in an armed standoff against the Bureau of Land Management
As fellow members of the state organization, I know you get questions about Stewart Rhodes because I do. I recently had a conversation with former National Oath Keeper Board Member Steve Homan. I need to begin by saying that Steve is a Marine, Vietnam veteran and received multiple medals including the Purple Heart (more than once). For a long time, he was my conduit to the national organization and he did a lot to support Virginia before we broke away. I am sure Steve was disappointed when we left, but he also understood on some level why we had to go. Steve made it another year and recently resigned after fighting the good fight for a long time. I think he was just tired of having to explain decisions he had not made. When he resigned, Stewart Rhodes called Steve Homan a coward. I find it odd that a man who never served in combat had the audacity to call a decorated veteran a coward, perhaps Mr. Rhodes should think back on his own actions. His unwillingness to attend his own disbarment hearing after leaving fellow Oath Keepers in front of a judge without representation seems awfully cowardly to me. I spoke with Steve for a couple hours and he shared a few important tidbits with me. One, there are indictments that have yet to be executed for some of the leaders of the national Oath Keepers who participated in the Bundy stand down. They may never be used but it is important information to be aware of and prepare for. Second, national has been unable to make payroll for several months. As many here in Virginia can attest, a large part of our disenchantment with the national organization was related to our observations of Stewart Rhodes and his financial behavior when he visited the Commonwealth. Watching expensive dinners being purchased and shots lined up at the bar all while using the Oath Keepers credit card gave many people pause. The high-performance Mustang rental car was another item that people noticed. Of course, there is the infamous helicopter arrival in West Virginia. When we were promised dues sharing for over two years and were told there was no money for it, we had patience. Later when I was told our bank account was set up and on the way, and when it never arrived the state leadership encouraged me to support moves that would allow Virginia the autonomy to be self-reliant. While many have not made the move from national to the state organization, Virginia is financially solvent; we have money and are no longer operating out of my personal checkbook. We are very frugal with your money and it is not spent on anything that does not benefit the membership at large. I now know that the actions of national resulted in many Virginians simply not paying dues to anyone. Honestly, I understand that and I would rather have people keep their money than send it to national for steak, liquor, and fast cars. I write all of this not to bemoan the wrong-headed actions of Mr. Rhodes or to lament the disrespect a combat veteran received but to let my fellow Virginians know that the national Oath Keepers organization is due for some close scrutiny. There have been multiple financial lapses including the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars. There have been bad decisions that have led to Oath Keepers being placed in compromising positions legally that could have been avoided. The financial structure of the national organization is questionable at best and my hope is that all Virginians have ceased to send money to that sinking ship. When Oath Keepers hits the national media please be prepared to explain that we all saw this coming. I have spoken with our Board of Directors and told them that we need to have ready answers for that day. I also want to encourage you to explain to people who ask that the Virginia Oath Keepers has been an independent organization since 2015 and that we have a voting board that can remove any officer for cause at any time, including the President. Hopefully, everyone understands that as your president I cannot introduce a motion, I only vote on the board in the event of a tie and I am duty bound to be impartial on most issues. In August 2017 I will be stepping down from my position. I am a long time believer in term limits and the future of your Virginia Oath Keepers depends on the organization reflecting the republican (not the political party) values we pledge our allegiance to when we renew our oath. Between now and then I am working to strengthen our focus on two of our three pillars that have been largely ignored these last few months; RTI including Constitutional education and non-partisan political action at the state level. Our winter statewide training will include a four-hour block of Constitutional education. I am encouraging all current and future state and chapter officers to attend these classes. We have all taken an oath to the Constitution, but many do not understand or know the document. We will also have a class regarding political advocacy and lobbying that will be the foundation of our efforts during the 2017 Virginia election cycle. While I will not be endorsing any candidates in the Virginia Oath Keeper elections in 2017, I would ask the membership to not support any candidate who has not taken these two classes. After all, we are the Virginia Oath Keepers, you deserve leadership that knows exactly what the oath means. In closing, I am asking all of you to work hard during these next few months to ensure the sovereignty of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 2017 is a crucial year for our beloved home, and the fight for the control of the House of Delegates, the State Senate and the Governorship is much more important than I think many people realize. The liberty of Virginians depends on people who understand that to honor our oath and ensure our freedom we must think locally and act locally to defend our republic. Please consider attending our statewide training in early 2017 and I look forward to seeing many of you soon. The Virginia Oath Keepers is an independent state-level organization and is not affiliated with Elmer Stewart Rhodes or the national organization he runs. We do not endorse his positions or statements.
I will do that by relating the case to you where Joseph Rice, a former Army helicopter pilot who founded the Oath Keepers chapter in Josephine County, has joined a long list of former Oath Keepers to cut ties with the group citing concerns with its leader and founder, Stewart Rhodes. The reason Rice is breaking ties with Rhodes is that he had lost trust in the direction the Oath Keepers. He cites a record of poor leadership on a national level, a slow move away from the group’s core mission, and sees the group’s direction was dangerously far from its origins. Rice said, “Stewart is not a leader. He has no leadership ability. He self promotes.” The Josephine County Oath Keepers still exist, but without Rice. Rice has formed his own group, Liberty Watch of Josephine County, dedicated to community service and emergency preparedness. Rice said, “Oath Keepers in concept is a good organization. When you’re talking about those people who took their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, it’s important. But what we’ve watched, there was a philosophy in leadership that was vastly different.” That philosophy seems to increasingly be the personal politics of Stewart Rhodes. People are bailing out of Oath Keepers everywhere for many logical reasons while you, Deckard, continue to strongly support Elmer Rhodes without ever questioning his misguided direction or acknowledging his dismal failures. This disbarred lawyer moves relentlessly forward with his self-promoting drive to personal enrichment as you continue your programmed virtual ass kissing. Your sanity needs to be questioned and your purposes in life redirected. Stop associating yourself with every hateful thing you can find and attempt to create misery in the life of everyone you come in contact with. That needs to be done....NOW. There are better thing you can do thay will be personally rewarding and spiritually fulfilling.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestIn addition to being an Army veteran, Cowan is a member of Oath Keepers, an organization of former police officers, first responders and veterans.
#3. To: Deckard (#1)
(Edited)
Good job Oathkeepers
Is it?
#5. To: Gatlin (#3)
Reading their membership application, the best I can determine that even the school shooter Nikolas Cruz could have joined and stood across the street.
#8. To: Deckard (#5)
Reading their membership application, the best I can determine that even the school shooter Nikolas Cruz could have joined and stood across the street. What a colossal load of steaming bullshit! It's unbelievable what your fevered delusional mind comes up with.
Is it?
#11. To: Gatlin, Liberator (#8)
(Edited)
PLEASE….show me how Oath Keepers members are vetted with background checks in any form or fashion…
#13. To: Deckard (#11)
You won't see any of these guys cowering behind a car during the next school shooting.
So YOU say, and of course you would. Oath Keepers are like Gods to you.
#15. To: Gatlin (#13)
Yet YOU don’t seem to and you show that you completely satisfied without any reservations whatsoever that these types of individuals are eminently qualified to stand across the street from schools armed with an AR-15 and a pistol…
#19. To: Deckard (#15)
Fricking liar - properly vettted Oathkeepers standing guard at schools is a workable approach.
You can take your “properly vetted” and jam it up your biased ass.
#22. To: Gatlin (#19)
(Edited)
They are not “properly vetted.” They never have been and probably never will be.
Replies to Comment # 22.
#31. To: Deckard (#22)
Would you be on-board with this if the group worked together with the local police departments who could run background checks on any of the volunteers and weed out those who do not pass muster?
I would give serious consideration to that if I felt armed guards at schools would work. Many, to most all, schools already have an armed guard. Human nature is unpredictable and there is no assurance an Oath Keeper will not react the same as the same as Scot Peterson did at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
#52. To: Deckard (#22)
Your agenda here is to denigrate a group of veterans and COPS who refuse to follow UNCONSTITUTIONAL orders and have a plan to offer protection to schools.
I have no agenda. My only purpose is to expose you to the truth about the leadership of the organization you and so many others blindly and foolishly support.
#59. To: Deckard (#22)
So your absurd claim is that Oathkeepers ..
The claim about Oath Keepers is not absurd....and others have similar claims. Virginia Oath Keepers and the Status of the national organization
#60. To: Deckard (#22)
Your agenda here ...
I repeat, I have no agenda here....I am only making an effort to get you to open your mind while I expose you to the truth and challenge your blind obedient loyalty to Elmer Stewart Rhodes and his band of Oath Keepers.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 22.
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