Summer is Coming.
This should, in and of itself, make you think seriously about your particular level of preparedness and training. For those who live in an area of the world which has numerous seasons, you probably are going to put your winter/cold weather clothing away. At the same time you should be checking your medical kit to see if any of them are still good. Medical gear expires, it becomes cold or heat damaged, you should check it. You should also make sure that whatever medical equipment, like tourniquets, are in proper working order/condition. If you do not have one yet, get yourself a CPR mask
, and make sure you know to properly administer CPR. Seek out training for this and other medical related things. These are not just applicable to your family, but it is applicable to your everyday life. Make sure you have water in your vehicle in case someone is visibly overheated. Make sure you have some good sunscreen, and make sure you understand why all of these things are important to have.All of this stuff should be common sense. It should be, but it is not. If you are going to be at sporting events for your kids, have medical equipment specifically designed for them. Pediatric tourniquets are very important, just like aspirin, because when a kid needs a tourniquet your CAT will not work, just like giving someone showing the symptoms of a heart attack the right dosage of aspirin will help save lives more than anything anyone can do (other than prevent them).
Changing gears and since the NRA convention was this week I want to point something out, something which I have been hearing both sides and intelligent people mention.
Please stop using the term "Gun Violence" as it is total and complete left wing propaganda. It is not a real term, it is a made up term designed specifically to target firearms in such a way to as to negatively affect its perception. The definition of "Gun Violence" is very weak.
Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a gun (firearm or small arm). Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and suicide, or attempted suicide, depending on jurisdiction. Non-criminal violence includes accidental or unintentional injury and death (except perhaps in cases of criminal negligence). Also generally included in gun violence statistics are military or para-military activities.
You read that correctly, suicide or attempted suicide is gun violence? What? The stats they use are completely skewed to include police involved shootings which are completely lawful, legal and justified. Even though they say they do not include justifiable uses of firearms, no statistics actually make the distinction of the two.
Beyond the obviously common sense stuff here, the fact is that we do not use these types of terms in any other capacity. Where are the statistics for "Bat Violence" or "Knife Violence" or "Car Violence" or "Fist Violence" ? Where? No where, they do not exist. If they did then this would actually give credence to the term, but they do not. Please stop using the phrase "Gun Violence" in any capacity. Anyone who uses it should be corrected immediately and the concept is simple. It is either legal and justified use of a tool or its criminal and illegal. That is it. It is just violence. The difference between you shooting or stabbing someone is only relevant when you are already committing a criminal act in the process (like a robbery) and even then it is only important because of other possible charges as well as sentencing guidelines/impact scores. That is it. So stop using the fake left term propaganda term and start using the true, factual term.