The slow police response to the school shooting in Uvalde highlights just how unrealistic it is to rely on the police for protection. The sad truth is that police rarely if ever intervene in time to stop a crime in progress. It is also a “fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen” (see Warren v. District of Columbia, D.C.Ct. of Ap. 1981).
Even if our society could ban all guns mass murderers would still have other extremely lethal tools available. For example, the numerous vehicle terror attacks in Europe that have killed and wounded hundreds of people (The most lethal was in Nice France which killed 86 people including 14 children).
Sen. John Cornyn, who is involved in discussions in the Senate, should forcefully advocate for providing more resources to support teachers and other staff, especially those with military training, to be armed if they so choose. The air marshal program and the arming of pilots after 9/11 worked very well — despite vocal opposition — to stop plane terror attacks, and so will providing more support for arming teachers and staff to protect our children.
Dr. Richard Griffith
Elgin, Texas
Virginia
Hercules
American history has long forgotten Pedro (Peter) Francisco, the Virginia Hercules and the giant of the American Revolution. He was mysteriously left alone on sea docks as a 5-year-old who spoke only Portuguese. Later, Peter, as he was called by the locals, was taken in by the uncle of Patrick Henry, the American patriot.
Growing to 6 feet, 8 inches and almost 260 pounds, Peter was apprenticed out as a blacksmith. At the young age of 16, Francisco joined the 10th Virginia Militia and would fight with bravery and courage in many battles such as the Battle of Germantown, at FortMifflin, at Stony Point, the Battle of Camden and at Guilford Courthouse, where he was bayoneted through his thigh.
At Valley Forge, Gen. Marquis de Lafayette convinced Gen. George Washington to forge a 6-foot broadsword specifically for Francisco. At the Battle of Camden, Francisco saw a cannon stuck in the mud with dead horses around it. To keep the cannon from falling into the hands of the British army, Francisco picked up the 1,100-pound cannon barrel on his shoulders and carried it off the battlefield. This act of strength and courage from this one-man army was spoken about to the entire American Colonial Army.
Also, to add to this living legend, Peter was recuperating from his bayonet wound to his thigh outside a tavern when nine British cavalrymen from the infamous and ruthless Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton Raiders surrounded him. At “Francisco’s fight,” Peter killed one of the raiders and wounded the rest, and to add insult to injury he took eight of their horses with him, leaving the proud cavalrymen the indignity of walking back to their camp and having to explain to Tarleton their sad story about the Virginia giant.
On July 4, as we honor and remember our American heroes who fought for our country’s independence, we also should remember this long-forgotten Hispanic hero, Pedro Francisco, whose acts of bravery, courage and strength helped win our freedom and independence.
Viva Francisco y viva America.
Jack Ayoub
Harlingen
