Children, Firearms, Safety, and Security

Chicago, IL—Let me begin with my personal story. I grew up in poverty, raised by a dysfunctional single mother who was mostly absent. By the age of 14, I was emancipated, living on my own, working full time at night, and attending high school during the day. Thankfully, I had a good sense to always stay  one step ahead of child protective services and foster care.  I learned early how to survive in a harsh world, and part of that survival was understanding the value of personal protection.

As a child, I was fascinated by guns. TV shows like Roy Rogers and Dragnet portrayed firearms as necessary tools for the good guys. I understood early on that guns weren’t just toys—they were instruments of security in a world with dangerous people. By the time I joined high school junior ROTC at 13, I was handling real weapons: M1 Garands, Browning Automatic Rifles, and .45 pistols. We were taught military discipline and, more importantly, firearm safety.

At 13, I saved up money to buy my own .22 rifle. No bureaucratic red tape, no mandatory age verification. This was before the federal government stepped in with the Gun Control Act of 1968, an overreach that only complicates law-abiding citizens’ access to firearms today. On rifle team day I took that cased rifle and a box of 50 rounds of ammunition with me to school on the CTA bus, and no one batted an eye. Back then, there was a respect for guns and those who handled them responsibly. That sense of responsibility is precisely what’s missing in today’s conversations about children, firearms, and safety.

Now, let’s talk about your kids and firearms. The harsh truth is, in a country with over 400 million guns in circulation, your children will inevitably encounter one. Will they know what to do? If you’ve chosen to shield them from guns entirely, you’re setting them up for danger, not safety. Ignorance is not a safety measure—it’s a liability. The most irresponsible thing you can do as a parent is leave your children ignorant of firearms, thinking that because you don’t own a gun, they won’t encounter one.

Children are curious by nature. Telling them something is “off-limits” without providing context or knowledge only makes it more tempting. If your child stumbles across a firearm—whether in your home, a friend’s, or elsewhere—will they know to handle it safely or leave it alone? That’s a question every parent must answer. And if you haven’t equipped your child with the knowledge and respect for firearms, then you’ve failed in your duty as a protector.

At around eight years old, you should introduce your children to firearms. Teach them firearm safety—every rule, every caution. Then, under your supervision, let them shoot. This takes the mystery out of guns, satisfies their curiosity, and instills a respect for the power of a firearm. The earlier you teach them, the more ingrained this respect becomes. Remember, it’s not just about today’s safety—it’s about preparing them for tomorrow’s reality. Whether it’s participating in shooting sports or, God forbid, defending themselves in an increasingly dangerous world, firearm knowledge is essential. -

In our modern society, we’ve turned firearm ownership into a taboo. The left would rather have you believe that by teaching your child to shoot, you’re endangering them. But the facts tell a different story. Many times, children have successfully defended themselves and their families with firearms. We don’t talk about those stories enough because they don’t fit the anti-gun narrative.

There’s another reality that the left doesn’t want you to face: when the world plunges into war again, or even when your child is drafted into military service, those who know how to handle a firearm will have a head start. Equality means that your 18-year-old daughter could be called into combat just as your son could. Would you want her entering the battlefield without any prior experience with guns? Of course not.

To those parents who shudder at the idea of their child handling a gun, I say this: By refusing to teach them, you’re abdicating your responsibility. Not teaching your child about firearms is, in itself, a form of neglect.

For the adults who have never touched a gun, it’s time to wake up. You’ve been conditioned by a society that wants you dependent on others for your safety. The truth is, when danger comes knocking, the police will not be there to save you. They’ll only arrive to clean up the aftermath and write reports. Self-defense is your responsibility. Don’t outsource it.

It’s time to arm yourself and your children with knowledge, not fear. Firearm safety is about responsibility, discipline, and survival. Those are American values

QUESTION: Can Drones Flown at Airports Save Lives? The Answer may be YES!

Los Angeles, CA—I had a brainstorm while watching a news story of those dangerous and sometimes deadly bird strikes that plague airports.

I wasted no time in calling my American Airlines pilot pal to ask him his thoughts on my idea.  He loved the idea and is convinced it’s inexpensive, workable and lifesaving.  Wow! This is the very same buddy that got me hooked on drones!  

For some reason birds love airports and thrive in the critical runway areas where planes take off and land.  They are often seen as high as 5,000 feet and collisions between aircraft and birds have been catastrophic.

When you try to deal with the airport bird problem battle lines are drawn between the airports and the bird lovers.  Poisoning or shooting the birds is not on the table as a viable solution.

My idea is a simple one.  Airport workers could use small drones to stalk and chase the birds away.  Today airports must use workers in various ground vehicles to chase the birds.  Fences and brush too often keep the workers from getting close enough to the birds to frighten them away.  

I’ve had birds actually attack my drones in the air.  Thankfully I’ve evaded them so far.  I know birds have a sense of hearing and survival and my drone like airplanes can’t seem to intimidate. However there are other ways! 

I’m convinced that a drone equipped with a small electronic loudspeaker emitting a siren, horn or some frequency could solve the problem.  This would frighten or annoy the birds into finding peace elsewhere.  The drones of course would harm no birds or planes. 

The most vulnerable portion of airplane flights is during takeoff and landing.  Flocks of birds have shut down jet engines on multiple occasions.   

Pilots are required to report bird sightings and that consumes a significant amount of time and paperwork.  Fewer birds mean more efficient flight operations in addition to improved safety.

This morning I spoke briefly with one of the bird experts at Cornell University.   His first thought was that this idea might well be an effective solution.  That expert promised to bring this up with his peers for discussion.

This idea merits immediate research and testing by the slow moving FAA. 

Since this idea is potentially life saving to please feel free to send this around to other people interested in the safety of our skies.

The FAA and CNN Agree on Using Drones For Electronic News Gathering!

This is an Align quadcopter with a Panasonic GH4 4K motion picture camera perfect for electronic news gathering assignments. 

Atlanta, GA—All Federal Aviation Administration regulations were and are conceived and written in blood, literally!  That is, that there is a deadly aircraft accident behind every rule.  That has always been the case except when it came to drones.

We all must take safety seriously and any legitimate concern deserves study and respect.  The drones are somewhat expensive and their owners simply don’t want them damaged through recklessness.

For some strange bureaucratic reason the FAA has outlawed the use of a drone to make money.  As un-American as that seems, they’ve gotten away with this form of economic tyranny.

The FAA has always allowed the use of drones for recreation and hobby activities with scant few restrictions.  Rather than make rules just last month they’ve finally issued a few advisory Dos and Don’ts for those drone operators using devices that weigh less than 55 pounds.

There are now well over a million little multi-rotor camera drones in the hands of Americans. Still there’s still never been a reported fatal, serious injury or property damage accident with a multi-rotor drone.  There is still no blood evidence available for any traditional FAA rule making.   

The FAA like all government agencies wants to build their kingdom and expand their power and jurisdiction whenever possible.  Drones are the perfect excuse to give us much more government we don’t need.

TV news organizations have been buying drone video footage from freelancers willing to assume the risk of doing battle with the FAA. 

Lost somewhere in this shuffle are any concerns about our First Amendment rights to capture images with cameras.  Many news organizations have already acquired drones and have been using them clandestinely or at least experimenting with them.  

One drone use application has suddenly been  granted with an exciting and groundbreaking agreement between the FAA and CNN allowing for the use of various drones in their news operation.

The obvious safety concerns for drone newsgathering are related to flying over the heads of people and their property.  Are drones a safety threat? Statistically the answer is a resounding no!

Chicken Little, is a folk tale with a moral in the form of a cumulative tale about a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase "The sky is falling!" features prominently in the story, and has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent. Versions of the story go back more than 25 centuries; it continues to be referenced in a variety of media.  Thankfully Chicken Little’s prediction has not yet been realized. 

Rather than making rules based on real blood, when it comes to drones the FAA has taken the Chicken Little route. 

Common sense for drone operators would dictate that avoiding close contact with people or delicate property is necessary.   Rather than fly directly over crowds photographing the action from a 45-degree angle is safe, reasonable and will provide superior video or still images.

A multi-rotor drone operator would be foolish to begin flying in an urban setting or areas where there are too many trees.  Learning the ropes in a wide-open field until reasonable control skills are acquired is a must. 

We all know about those epic and deadly news, rescue, military and police helicopter crashes.  There is no question that drones are much safer than helicopters.   Should there be a camera drone mishap in an urban area the likelihood tragedy or property damage is nearly zero!

I’m convinced that there will never be a notable accident with a drone being used for newsgathering.   There will be some mishaps that will damage the drones but the public and their homes will remain unharmed.

A Window into Civilian Drones, the FAA and Congressional Oversight

Washington, DC—The FAA was very tight lipped about the drone regulations they are drafting for public comment later this month. 

An FAA official claims they are releasing a Risk Based Proposed Regulatory Program that will integrate commercial drones into the airspace. 

Judging from today’s Congressional hearing they are attempting concentrate on educating the operators of small consumer drones and more serious regulation of anything else.  

Oddly enough they never once mentioned using drones for news video news gathering and only touched lightly on filmmakers.

Once they release their draft drone rule package it must be published and then there is a routine schedule for inviting public comment. Once that period passes the FAA will then set their rule in concrete.  That of course can be challenged later both by Congressional action and litigation.

The FAA seems to be coming to grips that the small camera drone operator will be nearly impossible to regulate.  They are currently haggling with the manufactures about geo-fencing software manufacturing requirements and packaging FAA rules and guidelines with the drones at the point of sale.

The larger drones that will be traveling greater distances and have by nature a higher risk have cumbersome licensing, vehicle air worthiness inspection and registration in their future. 

The rules are going to cover all types of drones fixed wing or multi-rotor and the FAA seems to understand that one size does not fit all.

We will have to see what they do in the coming weeks.  The Obama Administration’s FAA has already put us well behind Canada, Europe and Australia.  Billions of dollars are at stake and the USA is now weaker as a result.

I wish the hearing today could have disclosed real direction but there were lots of questions with very few concrete answers.

Of course the pilots fables of near misses were no small subject of conversation.   They all failed to mention that no deaths or serious injuries have been reported.  Chicken Little is alive and sending out his alarms about falling skies. 

If you’ve got a couple of hours to watch bureaucrats and politicians reading prepared statements and tossing a few questions around you can see this below:

Hollywood Met My Drone Today!

Hollywood, CA—I have to blame my dear friend Pablo Lewin for my obsession with camera drones.  Lewin is a film director who discovered this marvelous and incredibly creative filmmaking tool and got me hooked and empowered with the latest high tech toy.

I’ve done a number of drone stories but today I was going to film a scene for Lewin’s latest film offering. I thought I'd let you in on the experience.

I can still remember that horrible accident in the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, actor Vic Morrow along with two children, My-Ca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), died in a nasty helicopter crash during the filming of the Twilight Zone  movie.  We've taken any safety risk out of our production! 

Helicopters can be deadly and they are too expensive for some filmmakers. Not to worry, the camera armed drones are here!  Today it was me and my drone that eliminated any dangers along with the impossible expense for a helicopter for our low budget film!

Here is the scene. We have not selected necessary music or voiceover for this yet.  I put up Patti LuPone’s version of Calling You from the film Baghdad Café. It’s very fitting for that video.  I love Patti's great work but we don't have the $$$ to put her great voice on our film.  Of corse donations will be accepted!

Stay tuned for this film from Pablo Lewin Productions.  He’s got some great actors and he also has done the principal photography.   

Here is the video scene that was shot using a DJI Phantom 2 and a GoPro Black Edition 3+ camera.  YouTube compresses the video too much but the film DVD be so much more cinematic!

Camera Armed Quadcopters, Public Safety and Privacy Examination.

Los Angeles, CA—When the topics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones are brought up so are the issues of fear, loathing and regulation.  Ignorance of the unknown is always a source of difficulty.  However take a look at the issues with an open mind. 

Aerial photography is not new, but until now it was just expensive.  We’ve co-existed with fixed wing airplanes and helicopters, all of our lives.  It’s settled law that we have no reasonable expiation of privacy outside of our homes and the other shelters we inhabit.

For nearly two decades we’ve been under observation from high-resolution cameras mounted on satellites.  We’ve all seen those incredible Google Earth views.  All of those privacy issues have been addressed and settled in the courts redundantly.

Suddenly we have great diminutive cameras and UAV’s to take them to the skies.  The privacy laws remain exactly the same.

There are huge advantages for these new UAV’s such as search and rescue, looking for lost pets, newsgathering video and filmmaking.   Safety inspection of roofs, transformers, power lines and elevated structures can be accomplished now with ease and without risk of injury.  

Additionally UAV’s have proven to help both sales people and buyers of real estate see a better view of those properties.

Aside from all of this, there is a long established hobby involved with remote controlled aircraft.  Millions of teens and adults have been enjoying this great hobby.

We’ve all seen videos and pictures of catastrophic helicopter crashes in our cities.  Death, destruction and horrible injuries occur when these things happen.  Those terrible accidents are somewhat rare but by no means isolated.  I lost two friends over the years in news helicopter crashes.

Now we have the small, light UAV’s and they're a game changer for the better.  Mishaps are not uncommon with the new UAV’s mostly due to pilot error.  The difference here is the UAV’s almost always escape damage!  Injuries are beyond rare and very minor if they happen at all.  UAV damage is proving to be somewhat less than that what would be caused by a thrown common tennis ball.

We all know about the large, heavy military UAV drones usually armed with weapons that governments use.  They cost as much or more than conventional aircraft and are simply not part of this discussion. 

The proliferation of these new small UAV drones like the one involved in the photo above and the video below will save millions of dollars for news organizations, businesses and government agencies as they reduce tragic accidents.

The video below shows what happens when a pilot loses control of a UAV in a populated area.  This should not have happened and it resulted from simple inexperience.  However you will see first hand the worst-case scenario of my own UAV mishap.  No damage or injuries whatsoever. 

My UAV was lost for nearly three months. The UAV and its little GoPro camera survived without single a scratch! They are both back in service today.  Nobody was injured nor was there even a hint of property damage. 

Should the battery die in an airborne UAV, they automatically go into a lower power mode and gently float to the ground. 

Watch the disappearance and crash landing of my UAV over the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles last January.  The little 64 Gigabyte SD ram card onboard saved and objectively documented the entire event.