Captain Carroll “Lex” Lefon, USN. 1961 – 2012

Thank you Mr. Chairman and thanks to each of you for an opportunity to address this committee.

My name is Bryan Strawser – I live in Woodbury, Minnesota. I’m a 20 year corporate security and crisis management professional.

I am a NRA Instructor, a Minnesota Permit to Carry Instructor, and a member of the board of directors of the Oakdale Gun Club, one of the largest gun clubs in Minnesota.

Like others, I am here on my own time – and I’ll be here tomorrow taking a day off of work and grad school.

I am here to testify in opposition to SF458

Given the time constraints, I will make a few simple points.

First, much of the testimony around this bill today has focused on the 40% of firearms transactions as the basis for this proposed legislative change. This number is based on a sample of only 251 transactions 20 years ago.

This number has been challenged as recently as a few weeks ago by the Washington Post who described the use of this figure as deserving of two Pinocchinos for its level of falsehood.

Second, criminals are not going to follow the requirements of this law. As we have heard in testimony this evening, the criminal element will continue to trade in firearms illegally.

Third, This bill calls for a permit to purchase fee of $25 and requires a firearms transfer to happen at a federal firearms license holder – who may charge another fee not to exceed $25.

This law makes it more expensive for the law abiding citizen to follow the law.

The US Government’s own National Institute of Justice in a January 2013 memo stated that universal background checks will not be effective unless they are coupled with mandatory firearms registration, a firearms surveillance program, and a crackdown on straw purchasers.

Finally, we’ve heard a lot today about the tragedies in Sandy Hook, Aurora, and other mass shootings. Nothing in this bill would have stopped or prevented those horrible situations from happening.

I agree that there are challenges with the background check system in the United States and here in Minnesota. Let’s get the right records into the system and start prosecuting the criminals that are violating our existing firearms laws. The right place for these sorts of criminals is behind bars – not on the streets.

I strongly reject the notion, as many here do, that the actions of criminals are in any way shape or form – the fault of law abiding citizens – or law abiding gun owners.

Thanks for your time.

Master Trooper Greene’s death was one of the first line of duty deaths that happened during my brief stint in law enforcement.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to find the fine column that was published in the Indianapolis Star the next day by one of their editors who was one of the first upon the scene and assisted first responders with Master Trooper Greene’s injuries. I have a hard copy but it’s packed away in preparation for my move.

He died shortly afterwards, leaving behind a wife and two children.

You can see his memorial today just north of Indianapolis on the southbound side of I-65.

IN HONORE CASORUM.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

At the dinner, Hopkins rose to gave the toast:

“I suppose you wish to know,” he began, “what I am going to say to President Roosevelt on my return.”

“Well, I’m going to quote you one verse from that Book of Books… ‘Wither you goest, I will go; and where thou lodgeth, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.’”

Then, he quietly added, “Even to the end.”

You are not forgotten.

Hey, @MotherJones @sidhubaba, how is this story is.gd/tXiZEU turning out so far? kthxbye

— Gura & Possessky (@GuraPossLaw) March 31, 2012

Last night, I landed back in Minneapolis from a short trip to San Diego. I was just a few miles from home and was stuck in a brief bit of traffic when I happened to open Google Reader, thumb over to the “Friends” section, and noticed a new post at Lex’s blog.

I saw that the post was from Whisper, an occasional guest poster, and I gave it just a very brief skim – then my heart stopped when I read the words below accompanied by a photo of the missing man formation.

When Lex “left the keys in it” for me to be a guest blogger here about a year ago, we didn’t discuss what to do in this occasion. I am at a loss. I did feel the need to provide one place for your tributes and condolences to collect.

I knew then that one of two things had happened – either my friend Carroll or his son, a Naval Aviator himself, had perished. Lex had retired from the Navy as a Captain a few years ago and had only recently returned to flying as a civilian contractor flying the F-21 as an adversary aircraft at TOPGUN.

I quickly learned that it was the Captain himself who had died in an aircraft crash at Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada. I nearly drove off the road. I haven’t been right since.

Some perspective here is needed.

I began reading Neptunus Lex not long after he began blogging in 2003. If my memory serves me correctly, I learned about him from Lt. Smash, who sadly no longer blogs to my knowledge.

Over the years, we exchanged a number of e-mails and comments on each other’s blogs around a number of topics. We shared some interests in common – history, cycling, the Navy, technology, and blogging. He was one of the few bloggers that I read on a daily basis, and he rarely failed to entertaining or challenge my thinking with his prose.

Ironically, this week I was in San Diego for the first time in nearly a decade. I normally would have jumped at the chance to try to hoist a glass with Lex but knew that he was at Fallon during this week. I thought of him often as my hotel was just across from North Island where he used to serve when still on active duty.

I was sad that I wouldn’t get to connect with him on this trip – and figured that there would always be another time.

I should have learned when Mike passed away at age thirty eight in 2009 that you should count on there being another time. This is a lesson I’m afraid we’re all doomed to learn again and again in our lives.

There is a great tribute to Captain Carroll “Lex” Lefon, USN (Ret) by Chap over at the USNI Blog and an open thread on Neptunus Lex where you can leave a note for his family.

My heart breaks for his family.

Here are a few of my favorite writings from Lex:

• Five Years In – a great moment of courage on the bridge
• The Empty Chair – a tradition of remembering those that have gone before us
• The Big Day – when Son Number One received his wings of gold
• Ulysses – on his retirement from the Navy
• The Elephant in the Room – on his daughter’s heroin addiction
• On Faith – thoughts on religion

Update – I had forgotten a few that the group at the wake reminded me of last night:

• Name Tags – what happens when a bunch of Naval Aviators all use the last name of their CO at an Air Force base?
• Beliefs – as opposed to certainties
• The Worst Day Ever – when Terry was killed
• Signing the log book – obtaining immortality
• I’ve met them – about DEVGRU or “Seal Team Six” as they used to be known
• Five Years On – on the 5th anniversary of 9/11
• Pay Off – remembering a jerk, thankfully
• Lady Dying – When we lose a pet
• We has a sad – how pets grieve
• Old Ghosts – on humility and learning to be a leader

There are many others – such as his fabulous Rhythms series, about life on an Aircraft carrier.

His next to last post, Streamer, ended with these lines, which perhaps seems almost a premonition now:

It’s funny how quickly you can go from “comfort zone” to “wrestling snakes” in this business.

But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses.

Last night, I hoisted a few fingers of Bushmills in his memory.. or as Lex would say: “For Strength”.

Fair winds & following seas, Captain. You will be missed.

Now, I deplore gun violence – but I don’t believe at all that the method to minimize violence is to diminish the ability of law abiding citizens to own, carry, and use firearms in their own defense. That’s why, along with many others across the nation, I’m holding my own candlelight vigil to show that a handgun can do wonders to protect innocent lives from harm.

For the curious: Springfield Armory TRP 1911, Sideguard leather, Wilson Combat magazines, Federal HST ammunition (.45), & Chris Reeves small Sebenza knife.

You can learn more about the intellectual underpinnings of the other side over at places like Common Gunsense.

“One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that ‘violence begets violence.’ I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure (and in some cases I have) that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.”

Col. Jeff Cooper, “Cooper vs. Terrorism”, Guns & Ammo Annual, 1975

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.