Russell,Russell wrote:This is the first time I've weighed in on this, I have been suspending my judgment until a consensus seemed to have been reached within the community, and it seems like it has, so with that in mind...
I understand the want to quell the personal attacks against HEMIzygote, and that is for a good reason. However, I do not fault anybody FOR attacking, as when he authored the original thread, there was an immediate outpouring of sympathy and care for what he had to "go through". But after the members of this community that had connections within the media and law enforcement began to research this and were coming back with negative reports of this ever happening, it was like a stab in the back not only for the members who showed support and sympathy for him, but for the texaschlforum.com community and the state-wide CHL community as a whole.
We pride ourselves on not only our compassion for one another, but also for the trust we place in each other. When we meet another member off of these forums somewhere, we know with almost absolute certainty that that person is an outstanding citizen and an upright person. Heck, when I first came here the members of these forums helped me out with just about every question and issue you could encounter when carrying. Matter of fact, I actually had a member of these forums mail me a holster to try out when I was holster shopping for the first time, all without even calling me! It was all done through private message here. On top of that, Jbirds1210 is sponsoring my first NRA membership (Thanks again btw!) so that I can become even more politically active and stand up for what I believe in.
Show me another forum where that kind of compassion, sympathy, and trust takes place in the firearms community and I'll gladly sign up and take part.
I am not saying that HEMIzygote has lied for whatever reason, but when it sure seems like it, this community is going to take it personally, and for good reason. A good place to be has been created and grown here, and we want to keep it that way.
Extremely well said. That pretty much sums up my feeling about this also.