David Bottomley's Blog

This article is intended for those who are pro-gun, so that we might better understand the thoughts and motivations of gun control proponents. It is not intended to explain why the anti-gun position is wrong- I have other articles that do that. In studying anti-gun individuals, I have determined that they all fit into at least one of three groups, and sometimes multiple groups. They are as follows: 1. Ignorant - The first group is simply ignorant of the facts, which is not surprising given the misinformation peddled by the mainstream media. These people can often be educated and turned to our side through the use of facts, statistics, and the application of logic. I would estimate that probably 50% of those who promote gun control fall into this category. They truly believe that more laws can control the behavior of evil people, and they have fallen for media-peddled myth that guns are not used defensively, and that they do not reduce violent crime. This category is where peo

After a mass shooting, predictably, the mainstream media and many leftists came after anyone who dared to defend gun rights and the Constitution and stand in their way of a plethora of gun control proposals - none of which, even gun control proponents like Dianne Feinstein admit, would have prevented the shootings.  None of which, most gun owners agree, would pass Constitutional muster.  Europe, with extraordinarily strict gun control regulations in place, has more mass shooting deaths per-capita than the United States.  The US has a homicide rate less than over a hundred other nations- nearly all of which have strict gun control laws in place.  Nevertheless, many on the left scream for the government to 'do something' to solve the problem.  To many on the right, asking the government to solve any problem is akin to asking a dog to solve an algebra equation - it's simply not possible, nor in this case is it legal.  If homicides or suicides were a crime that gun control cou

Let me start out by saying that I was born a white male, with primarily European ancestry, and I'm a protestant Christian.  In the eyes of some on the left, that means that I must be a bigoted racist, bathing in white privilege.  But I'm not, I'm a Conservative Republican.  But wait, those on the left say, that just confirms it!  No, it most certainly does not and those with even a passing understanding of Republican Party values and American history know better.  The Republican Party was founded on the bedrock principle of freedom that continues to hold true today.  Frederick Douglass summed up his belief in the Republican Party: "I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.".  As with many things, there is important historic context to explore here.  Let's review these historic facts: The Republican party was founded in 1854 to stop the spread of slave

What do you think of when you think of #fakenews?  CNN?  MSNBC?  The whole gaggle of mainstream media?  If you do, regardless of what else you might think of Donald Trump, you must admit that he's a PR mastermind.  Because - you may recall if you think hard about it - the origin of the #fakenews stories was actually the mainstream media.  They were in the first stage of the 5 stages of grief, right after the election: denial.  They were so upset that Trump had been elected that they sought to de-legitimize the election in any way possible and one of the refrains they came up with was "#fakenews" - they claimed that people had been hoodwinked by "fake news" articles on Facebook and elsewhere (pot, meet kettle?) and somehow that threw the election to Trump.  The left, in their coastal elite bubbles, simply could not (and still cannot) fathom that there are still people out there who would vote for Trump.  But today, when most people think of fake news, they think

Like it or not, in the very near future we'll be sharing the road with self-driving cars, and in some states they are already on the road.  I for one welcome this revolution.  The primary reason is safety, but there are other benefits as well.  Initially, most self driving car systems including systems designed by Tesla, GM, and Google (Waymo) all require a human driver to be available for 'standby' ready to take over driving if the automated systems detect an obstacle of situation that they can't negotiate, but in the not too distant future, you'll be able to sit back and relax as any other passenger.  As unsettling as it might sound for some people, self driving cars (as currently tested) are approximately 10 times safer than even the safest human drivers, and 40 times safer than new or inexperienced drivers, in terms of at-fault accidents.  Where automated vehicles really shine though is their amazing ability to drive defensively.  That is, their ability to detec

For many years now, the future of energy production has been quite steadily moving toward distributed generation.  Solar power, with increasingly more efficient panels for decreasing cost per watt, is at the forefront of this revolution.  Traditionally, most states have adopted what is called net metering, which simply means that your electric meter runs backwards when a customer generates more power than they are using.  In effect, they are providing power back into the electric grid and powering nearby homes.  This saves the utilities from spending millions to build expensive 'peak load' natural gas power plants that are spun up only when the demand is at it's highest and beyond the capacity of it's more traditional plants such as coal or nuclear, which often corresponds to the sunniest times when cooling demand is at it's peak.  It also saves utilities in that they don't have to spend millions more to upgrade the expensive distribution system to get that peak

They're calling it Generation Z.  Those born between roughly 1995 and 2010 are the most conservative generation in over 70 years, and the largest generation in terms of numbers.  They are about to become the next large voting demographic, replacing millennials, and they will have an obvious impact on the result of elections for a long time to come. They care about societal issues, but they have little faith in government to get things done.  They believe, according to those who have studied them, in entrepreneurship, work, innovation, and fiscal conservatism.  They are fierce supporters of individualism and the personal freedoms enshrined by the Constitution.  According to Goldman Sachs, "A recent Harvard Business Review article suggested that nearly 70% of Gen-Z teens were 'self-employed' (e.g., teaching piano lessons, selling goods on eBay) vs. just 12% that held a 'traditional' teen job (e.g., waiting tables)" They have never been without the Inte