in other words
The Gun Doctor: Should You Be Armed?
By Wolfgang Rotbart
This article may be somewhat
more controversial than previous ones
as it will deal with the question: Should
you as an individual be armed?
At the extremes, there are those
who feel that virtually everybody should
be armed and those who believe that only
law enforcement & the military should
be. I think the answer lies in between
and is very much dependent on the indi-
vidual and the circumstances.
We have a tenuous Constitu-
tional right to the right to keep and bear
arms, but just because an individual can
arm himself, it doesn’t necessarily fol-
low that they should.
With every right comes respon-
sibility and every firearm owner should
know his legal responsibilities under the
law.
For the individual, several ques-
tions should be asked and honestly an-
swered regarding firearm ownership:
Are you legally entitled to own
a firearm? In general, you cannot pur-
chase, own or sometimes even be in pos-
session of a firearm if you have a felony
conviction, are under a restraining order,
some misdemeanor convictions or any
within four years, been dishonorably
discharged from the military or been ad-
judicated as mentally ill or incompetent
along with a few other cases.
Are you willing to accept the
tremendous responsibility that comes
with possessing a firearm? You literally
have the power of life and death in your
hands. There should be nothing flippant
or casual about firearm ownership.
Are you willing to live with the
fact that you might be forced to take a
life in order to save your own or those
you love? I know one woman is ex-
tremely hoplophobic (i.e. having an ir-
rational fear of weapons themselves as
opposed to the natural anxiety regarding
the damage they can inflict). By her own
admission, she would not be able to use
a firearm to stop an attack even if her
own family were being killed one by one
in front of her. This woman should not
possess a firearm for obvious reasons.
Are you quick-tempered, over-
indulge in alcohol, drugs or just very
impulsive? Once you pull the trigger, it
cannot be undone. Some people seem to
think that using a firearm to settle a dis-
pute or make a dramatic point is accept-
able. Of course, these folks also should
not own a firearm.
Are you pre-
pared for the fi-
nancial and legal
Columbia County
Circuit Court Notice
consequences of using a firearm in self-
defense? No matter what the circum-
stances, no matter how justified you may
be in using a firearm for self-defense,
you will almost certainly be sued by
someone if you do. Many homeowner
“umbrella” or general liability insurance
policies specifically do NOT cover fire-
arm related incidents. It would be wise
to check your policy and consider get-
ting protection specifically for this, es-
pecially if you also carry a firearm on a
regular basis.
Do you have children living in
your home or visiting on a regular basis?
When and where I grew up, there were
readily available, loaded firearms in vir-
tually every home, but all the children
were quite aware of the (usually pain-
ful consequences) of even getting near
a firearm without Mom or Dad’s permis-
sion and there weren’t any problems. Of
course, today, even if your children are
well disciplined in this matter, you cer-
tainly can’t assume that the neighbors’
children, and many adults for that mat-
ter, are and therefore stringent care must
always be taken to ensure that firearms
are properly secured. I intend to discuss
this in detail in my next article.
Do you have an occupation or
pastime that presents greater than aver-
age risks for assault? I recall reading
about incidents in The Oregonian for
may8
2012
7
scenarios as diverse as pizza delivery to
auto repossession to home invasion.
Do you transit high crime areas
regularly or live in such an area? Almost
every community has relatively safe ar-
eas and others that are quite dangerous.
However, no place should ever be con-
sidered absolutely safe.
Are you in an especially vul-
nerable group? Violent crime is over-
whelmingly committed by relatively
young males physically in their prime
and much of their crime is directed
against those who are generally badly
mismatched in a direct physical confron-
tation – women, disabled & the elderly.
There is a saying that God made men,
but Samuel Colt (inventor of the revolv-
er) made them equal.
I welcome ideas for topics for these arti-
cles. Please email them to: Wolfgang@
WolfgangTheGunDoctor.com or call me
at 503-429-7342 10:00 – 5:00 M – F
Wolfgang Rotbart is an AGI-certified
Master Gunsmith and a NRA-certified
Basic Pistol Course Instructor. He
works as a gunsmith and as an Oregon
Concealed Handgun Safety Course In-
structor. You may visit The Gun Doctor
website for more information at: http://
www.wolfgangthegundoctor.com/
Public Certification Test and Drop Sites
for the Primary Election to be held
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
As you are aware, the State of Oregon is in the midst of
significant budget cuts which severely affect the court’s ability
to meets its public mandate to uphold the law and constitution
and to safeguard the state’s justice system. We can no longer
provide all of the services we have traditionally provided.
Service to our community and to its access to the court system
The Public Certification Test of the
Apr. 27 – May 14 During Library Hours
will be curtailed.
counting equipment for the Primary Election
May 15, 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
The Oregon Judicial Department has lost 201 permanent
to be held on May 15, 2012 will be held
FTE since the 2007-09 biennium 12 % reduction. As of May 1,
SCAPPOOSE CITY HALL
on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. The testing will
2012 we will be losing an additional 51.61 FTE. This will affect
33568 E. Columbia Ave.
begin at 11:00 AM in the County Elections
the Columbia County Circuit Court as follows:
Department. The public is welcome to attend. Apr. 27 – May 14 During Office Hours
• The Columbia County Circuit Court will lose two
May 15 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Drop sites for the election will be as
additional employees. This comes in spite of the employee
follows:
furloughs and wage freeze.
MIST BIRKENFELD RFPD
• The three circuit court judges will cut their support
12525 Highway 292
VERNONIA LIBRARY
staff from two to one with their judicial assistant taking on
Apr. 27 – May 14 During Office Hours
701 Weed Ave.
the courtroom clerk duties and the docketing function being
May 15, 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Apr. 27 – May 14 During Library Hours
combined into one docketing clerk.
May 15, 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
• Traffic citations will be scheduled for only two days
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
a week: Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
ELECTIONS DEPT.
RAINIER CITY HALL
Defendants coming to the court for traffic arraignments at any
230 Strand St.
106 B St. West
other times may or may not be able to take care of their citations.
St. Helens, OR 97051
Apr. 27 – May 14 During Office Hours
• The court phones will be open from 8:30 to 3:00 PM
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Mon. – Thu.
May 15, 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Monday through Thursday. Closed on Fridays.
Election Day - May 15, 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM
• The court will be closed on Friday except for
A drive-by drop box is located in the lower
CLATSKANIE LIBRARY
pre scheduled restraining order appearances, stalking order
parking lot.
11 Lillich St.
appearances, in custody arraignments, and immediate danger
appearances in the morning. In addition the judges will only
hear pre-arranged special appearances in
their chambers in the morning. On Friday
afternoons staff will be working behind
closed doors trying to catch up on data
entry and filing.
• Because the court is closed for
filings on Friday, under ORCP 10A, “if
the period so computed relates to serving
a public officer or filing a document at a
public office when that particular office is
closed before the end of or for all of the
normal work day…the period runs until
the close of office hours on the next day
the office is open for business.”
• Copy requests may take up to
one month to process.
• Entry of judgments may take
LTC#29629-C
up to one month to enter.
We are very sorry we have to
Licensed tax consultant • Full service payroll
2245 Baseline St., Cornelius
(Across from Fred Meyer)
implement these changes which cause
Personal & small business bookkeeping • QuickBooks assistance
Open
everyday
delay to accessing justice and threaten
CORPS, S-CORPS, LLC, Partnerships • Personal one-on-one service
503-530-8119
at 9 a.m.
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