{"id":714,"date":"2017-05-09T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/2017\/05\/09\/in-memory-of-friend-who-died-today\/"},"modified":"2019-08-16T18:27:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T18:27:44","slug":"in-memory-of-friend-who-died-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=714","title":{"rendered":"In Memory Of A Friend Who Died Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:8506,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.online-literature.com\\\/donne\\\/409&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260222061728\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.online-literature.com\\\/donne\\\/409\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-18 06:08:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-18 06:08:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8507,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/wncn.com\\\/2017\\\/05\\\/08\\\/person-shot-in-head-killed-in-fuquay-varina&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20170914055452\\\/http:\\\/\\\/wncn.com:80\\\/2017\\\/05\\\/08\\\/person-shot-in-head-killed-in-fuquay-varina\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-18 06:08:27&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-18 06:08:27&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8508,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ItsJennJacques\\\/posts\\\/10212086251846985?pnref=story&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8495,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.gofundme.com\\\/the-bob-owens-memorial-family-fund&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.gofundme.com\\\/f\\\/the-bob-owens-memorial-family-fund&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>\nI had a friend who posted a somewhat strange message on Facebook earlier today. I saw it at the time and just thought it a bit unusual. Within the last hour I found out that he had taken his own life sometime after that post. All I can feel is immense sadness that he felt this was the only way out of whatever was plaguing his soul.<\/p>\n<p>What came to mind when I found out was this excerpt from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.online-literature.com\/donne\/409\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John Donne&#8217;s Meditation XVII.<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend&#8217;s or of thine own were: any man&#8217;s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\nI am diminished. <\/p>\n<p>\n<b>UPDATE:<\/b> The friend in question was Bob Owens who was the editor of BearingArms.com. He was <a href=\"http:\/\/wncn.com\/2017\/05\/08\/person-shot-in-head-killed-in-fuquay-varina\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found dead<\/a> shortly after he posted the Facebook message I referred to above. I didn&#8217;t want mention his name before it really became public knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>I was a longtime reader of Bob&#8217;s from his Confederate Yankee blog days and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ItsJennJacques\/posts\/10212086251846985?pnref=story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was excited for him<\/a> when he was named editor of BearingArms.com. I first met Bob at the Lucky Gunner Bloggershoot in 2011 and would always see him at the NRA Annual Meeting. I spoke to him a few times over the weekend at the recent NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta and he seemed like the Bob I had known for years. Reading what others have written and especially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ItsJennJacques\/posts\/10212086251846985?pnref=story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that of Jenn Jacques<\/a>, I get the impression that whatever was plaguing Bob&#8217;s soul was well hidden.<\/p>\n<p>Pray for Bob&#8217;s family and especially for his wife and daughters. They will need all of God&#8217;s love to get through this tragic period.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Branca has mentioned setting up a college fund for Bob&#8217;s daughters. When I know more about that, I will post about it.<\/p>\n<p>If you feel that suicide is the only way out, reach out for help. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. Alternatively, email or message me. I&#8217;m not a trained psychologist but I am a good listener.<\/p>\n<p><b>UPDATE II:<\/b> A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/the-bob-owens-memorial-family-fund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for Bob&#8217;s widow and daughters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had a friend who posted a somewhat strange message on Facebook earlier today. I saw it at the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1546,1556],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bob-owens","tag-suicide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11062,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions\/11062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}