Gun Rights: Don’t Fall for the ‘Just a Civilian’ PsyOp

If you pay close attention, you can determine a person’s mindset by just listening to them for a minute or two. I have watched the comedy specials of Tom Segura and tuned into his various online ventures for a while. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising for the social media algorithm to push a recent clip from Tom’s “Your Mom’s House” podcast, co-hosted by his wife, Christina, into my daily feed.

Tom sets it up by saying that he’s a big fan of those “stay safe out there” videos. He’s obviously being facetious and then he plays a video clip of a gentleman, with whom I am unfamiliar, who recommends that, rather than rely on your phone’s light, you should carry a genuine flashlight. This thirty second clip of a guy recommending that citizens carry a Surefire flashlight sends Tom and his wife into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, as though it was 1974 and they were watching ‘Blazing Saddles.’

The hosts then proceed to discuss the seemingly ludicrous idea of carrying a flashlight on your person and describing it as a “police-level” light. Tom’s wife, Christina, chortles about how ridiculous it was to expect a woman to carry a police-level flashlight in her purse and then further comments that “f***ing thoughts like this” are the reason she goes to therapy and takes Prozac. The video clip from Segura’s podcast is about 11 minutes long, but the first two minutes are the most illustrative regarding the mindset of Mr. and Mrs. Segura. 

My sons and I discussed this video clip on Student of the Gun Radio recently and pondered how the subject of carrying a flashlight as a matter of course could be so funny. How could seemingly educated and successful people see that idea as so foreign or strange as to break out in hysterical laughter at the idea? Surely there are funnier things on the internet. 

A ‘Police-Level’ Flashlight?

As mentioned at the beginning, if you close your mouth and listen to people speak, you can gain a lot of insight as to their mindset. Remember, mindset is a neutral term. Some people have a fiercely independent and prepared mindset. Some embrace the victim mindset and truly believe that it’s the responsibility of someone else — the government — to keep them safe.

In addition to Tom’s and Christina’s the derisive laughter at the video of a man suggesting that people carry actual flashlights, we have their verbiage. Both said “police-level” when describing the light. It’s not a leap to deduce from the behavior and manner of speaking that their mental state is such that they can’t fathom a civilian ever needing such a tool. Those kinds of things are reserved for government employees. You know…professionals. 

The ‘Just a Civilian’ PsyOp

The example of these human sheep, people who find it absolutely hilarious that there are crazy people out there carrying actual police-level flashlights, is just one symptom of a larger, more insidious psychological operation that’s been perpetrated on the citizens of the United States for over a century. As people who have been fully steeped in Hollywood culture, it isn’t surprising that the Seguras would react this way.

This conversation led my son, Zach, to point out the network television show “The Rookie” and how the topic of civilian gun ownership is treated. The Hollywood writers pepper gun control themes into the scripts and the actors spew it to spread that agenda. For fun, I put in the words “the rookie tv armed citizen” into a search engine and got the following response . . .

In The Rookie, “armed citizen” storylines often involve either citizens legally carrying guns (like a militia) who get involved in police matters, or dangerous individuals falsely claiming citizen rights (like sovereign citizens), such as the terrorist Marvin Reynolds, highlighting the line between vigilantism and real crime and challenging officers like Bradford and Nolan. A significant incident involved a group of vigilantes clashing with robbers, where armed civilians (like Shelf) shot at robbers, but also got hurt or left behind, showing the messy reality, as seen in episodes like “Hit and Run” (S4E8) and “The List” (S3E19). 

Of course, ‘The Rookie’ is hardly unusual. Hollywood writers, for both television and movies, generally operate in lockstep using derogatory terms like “vigilante” or “right wing militia” or “take the law into your own hands” to describe citizen gun-owners. Slave terms like “gun permit” or “registered gun” are used to convince viewers that citizens are required by law to have permits to own firearms and that guns are really only legal if they’re registered with the government. The left-coast writers’ implication is that the draconian gun rights restrictions in force in the Glorious People’s Republik of Kalifornia are (or should be) the rule, not the exception. 

Does this kind of propaganda work? Many years ago, a veteran who had been stationed in California and Illinois joined our training team in Mississippi. The man asked what he needed to do to register the guns he was bringing with him. Mississippi, of course, has no firearm registration scheme and is a constitutional carry state, but this man, despite being a military veteran, had been psyop’ed into believing gun registration was normal and the rule. 

Government PsyOp

Every time I hear of a tyrannical government body — federal, state, or local — passing some kind of unconstitutional restriction on gun rights, I ask rhetorically, ‘Are the police exempt?’ We all know that the answer is invariably ‘yes.’ It doesn’t matter the state or jurisdiction. Look up any legislation that prohibits carry, limits capacity or bans some configuration of a firearm and you will find a sub-section in the legislation that exempts government employees from that law.

As a citizen of the constitutional republic that is the United States, it should make you angry, disgusted, insulted or some combination of all three that your elected representatives believe they have the authority to create rules to apply to the citizen peasant that don’t apply to elitist members of the government. When politicians create a law that applies only to citizens but exempts the government, that’s the textbook definition of tyranny. 

Why aren’t more citizens angry and insulted? Because the “Just a Civilian” psyop has been so successful. At their very core, all gun control laws, regardless of the specifics, are a part of a nationwide psychological operation to convince Americans that the government has the absolute authority to deny the rights guaranteed in the Second Amendment at their whim.

Gun control laws that exempt government employees and law enforcement officers further the psyop that civilians aren’t as important or in possession of the same rights as those who work for the state. The inference is, the lives of government employees are more valuable than those of mere citizens. You see, in California, a street cop carries an FN Model 509 loaded with a 17-round magazine because they might need it to defend their life. A citizen tax-slave of California is restricted to a 10-round magazine when facing the exact same violent felon. 

Here’s another one. Tyrant politicians in blue states regurgitate rote gun control industry talking points about the AR-15 being a “weapon of war” and having “no place on our streets” as they’re designed to “kill as many people as possible, as fast as possible.”

Okay, let’s take them at their word. If they truly believe those statements, why are their employees exempted from laws that ban those rifles and sent out on the streets on a daily basis with those “weapons of war?” If the AR-15 is an instrument of evil, why are their police forces armed with them? Oh, I forgot…the rules don’t apply to those who work for the state, only to the peasant class. 

The Worst are the Veteran Sycophants

I fully expect Hollywood leftists, Democrats, and politicians to support the “Just a Civilian” psyop. It’s what they do and it’s in their interests. However, there has been a disturbing trend going on for some time, veteran influencers supporting that gun control narrative. You are an intelligent and informed person and you don’t need me to call them out individually.

Whether on their YouTube channels or as guests on podcasts, far too many veterans — and even one is too many, particularly the recent GWoT vets — use terms like “civilians” or “citizens” coupled with the phrase, “don’t need that.” These folks, through arrogance, hubris, or shear ignorance, spout cliches and talking points where they’re careful to skirt the edge. They say, “I support the Second Amendment, but…” or “I think you’ll agree that no civilian needs…”

Recently the algorithm pushed a post into my feed from Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety where they used a quote from a retired US Army officer announcing that he supported the Second Amendment, but reasonable restrictions, dangerous carry , blah, blah, blah. 

Never forget retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling doing his best Benedict Arnold impression while displaying his superior weapon-handling skills for CNN’s cameras while calling the AR-15 a “full semi-automatic” rifle.  

As a twice honorably discharged, combat-decorated veteran, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, a document designed to protect the liberty of the people and restrict the behavior of the government. These sycophant veterans were required to take the same oath I did, but they either didn’t take it seriously or thought thirty pieces of silver were more valuable than their thonor. 

I realize that we’re still in our “thank you for service” era and that those who didn’t serve in the military have been cowed into believing that they’re not allowed to question or disagree with a veteran without fear of being labeled as unpatriotic. That is exactly why the civilian disarmament industrial complex uses these turncoats to spread their propaganda. 

Listen up, I’m going to go ahead and give you permission right now to call BS whenever BS is encountered. The idea that mere civilians need to shut their mouths and remain quiet while traitorous oath-breakers spew the “Just a Civilian” propaganda needs to end today. 

Need I remind you that these United States weren’t founded by government bureaucrats. The men who stood on Lexington Green and the Old North Bridge in Concord were citizens. They were civilians with parity. Those men possessed the same muskets and cannon as the red-coated minions of the state who were sent to disarm them.

If we were truly to embrace the spirit of the Founding Fathers and adhere to the letter of the Bill of Rights, a compact by which all states in the union are voluntarily bound, we would view gun control in a very different light.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The only gun control permissible by the Constitution would be restrictions upon the behavior of the state. The government. When we follow the founding principles, the citizen, the American civilian, has more right to possess arms than their employees, not the other way around. The inalienable rights codified and guaranteed by the Compact of the Republic put restrictions on government, not the civilian. 

If you find yourself squirming in your seat or uncomfortable with the previous assertions, congratulations. The “Just a Civilian” psyop has worked on you. You’ve been convinced that the government has the authority to parse out rights when and as they see fit. They’re the masters and you are the slaves — comfortable slaves perhaps — but slaves nonetheless. 

For that one guy out there still saying, “But the courts said that some gun control is allowable,” I invite you to read TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242, “Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law.”. The United States of America is not a democracy and never has been. Tyrant politicians know in their black hearts that it’s not lawful or constitutional for them to vote to ignore Second Amendment. Judges know that it violates their oath to rule against the Constitution. That’s why the “Just a Civilian” psyop is so important to them. They need to convince you that “reasonable restrictions” on your rights are lawful and the sitting government has the ultimate authority to decide how the Second Amendment is defined. 

To use a popular modern phrase, we need to be “Awake, not woke.” Remember, a psyop only works if the targets don’t recognize it for what it is. Whether we’re talking about liberal podcasters, Hollywood script writers, government bureaucrats or turncoat veterans, you need to see the terms “just a civilian” or “civilians don’t need that” for what they are — psychological warfare used to convince you that the God-given rights codified by the Bill or Rights aren’t rights at all, but privileges doled out by your masters in government. Again, I don’t care if someone “served honorably,” BS is BS and propaganda needs to be called out when it’s used. 

 

Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.