Quote of the day—Bob Barr

The gun-control shibboleth urged by the Left as the solution to every mass shooting incident, coupled with the government’s “run, hide, and fight” strategy for dealing with an active shooter, make as much sense as advocating duct tape and plastic sheeting as a way to thwart acts of terrorism.

Bob Barr
November 29, 2022
BARR: ‘Run, Hide, and Fight’ Makes As Much Sense As Duct Tape To Stop Terrorism
[Nothing says, “Please don’t shoot me” like multiple jacketed hollow points.—Joe]

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12 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Bob Barr

  1. When I took classes at FAS back in the 90s, one of the clear messages was that the best way to win a gunfight is to not get in one. They taught that you should put your ego away and try to get away from an attacker first, and only if backed into a corner actually engage in a fight. Running away is a good strategy even if it contradicts the cultural edict to “fight like a man.” Makes sense to me. What’s the issue here?

    • I think the difference is between a targeted confrontation and an active shooter.

      If you run in the first situation the other guy claims a win and stands down. In the second case the guy sees it as a loss and pursues you or tries harder with the next closest victim.

      • I see your point.

        However, given the potential legal issues that could ensue from shooting someone—even an active shooter—I personally would not second guess anyone who chose to run if possible.

        I realize that “I don’t have $200,000 to spend on going to court” falls into “that’s a problem for later” territory under those circumstances. But. I think I’d probably run unless I perceived no other choice. Even though it isn’t particularly noble.

    • I took those classes too, but there’s a huge difference between a situation where someone wants to relieve you of your wallet, and where someone else is trying to rack up a body count higher than the last monster to do so. It’s also a matter of one individual running away, vs. a whole schoolroom full. Entirely different strategy and tactics. Particularly for police, who learn in Active Shooter training to run towards the sound of gunfire, where under most circumstances private citizen/defensive students are taught to run the other direction.

      • You might want to look at videos on the ASP channel to get a realistic view of how dangerous it can be to surrender to a robber. A not insignificant percentage of compliant victims are still injured or killed as a result. The many videos that John has collected over the years shows this.

      • Defens, if someone points a gun at you demanding your wallet, the prudent view is to take that as a threat to your life. If you assume that surrendering your wallet will keep you alive, you’re gambling your life with an opponent who has already demonstrated an utter lack of morals or respect for others. There are plenty of cases of robbers who after getting the money decided to kill the victim, either for s**ts and giggles or to eliminate the witness.
        In civilized places, a gun pointed at you in the commission of a crime absolutely IS a threat of death and therefore IS a justification for self defense with deadly force.
        The same goes for rape, even ignoring the fact that in at least some states (like NH) it is listed separately as justification for deadly force (as is arson, without a requirement that the building be occupied at the time, interestingly enough).

  2. Not that I would put much stock in anything Bob Barr says. As he’s as controlled an opposition as the communists could make.
    Having grown up with four older brothers one learns you lose nothing by fighting back.
    And I’ve not seen one mass shooting where backing down got anyone, anything.
    Israel figured that out a long time ago, the hard way.

  3. “You will win 100% of the gun fights you are not in.”

    That’s one of the standard mantras in GunWorld, because it makes sense. Practice Situational Awareness, heed Gavin de Becker’s cautions in The Gift of Fear, remember John Farnam’s “Don’t go stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things at stupid times,” etc.

    All well and good. In my classes I preach “If you leave your car’s spare tire at home some days because you don’t think you’ll get a flat that day then ignore all the learned advice and depend on your clairvoyance. But if you’re not clairvoyant, then you are carrying a gun because someday, all your best efforts at avoiding trouble may fail, so carry the damn gun. Everyday, all the time, everywhere it’s legal. If you’re going to leave something at home it should be your fucking cell phone, not your gun.”

    Those of us who have encountered bullies early in life learned very quickly that the only way to deal with a bully is to defeat him, and if it’s a physical confrontation that means responding immediately with as much violence as we can bring to bear; in GunWorld (and real life) that often means “a major caliber and in large quantities”. See Marko Kloos’ “The Gun is Civlization” essay for clarification.

    Are there risks to fighting back? Absolutely, but welcome to Planet Earth; life here is not risk-free and never has been. Something, eventually, will kill you. Hopefully it will be simple old age a great many decades in the future, but if a gangbanger or escaping armed robber kills you walking into Home Depot at 36 because you weren’t paying attention to your surroundings, you don’t get to die of old age at 93 surrounded by your grandchildren. As Tam Keel has said “I don’t want my last thought on Earth to be ‘I wish I had my gun’ “.

    So, “Run, Hide, Fight” may have its place, or at least the “Run, Fight” parts. Will’s comment RE: Correia’s Active Self Protection Youtube channel is valid – Bad Guys are exactly that, bad guys, and depending on them for benevolence is too freqently a large mistake. ‘Stay Alert, Stay Alive” – remember those posters?

    If you work in a Victim Disarmament Zone – aka, “Gun Free Zone” – you should be so alert and aware it almost hurts. And it will, when you start paying attention, but it becomes automatic and completely painless pretty damn quickly.

    • “The only way to deal with a bully is to defeat him, and if it’s a physical confrontation that means responding immediately with as much violence as we can bring to bear.”
      We can only speak to people in the language they understand, and for too many bullies, foreign, domestic, private business or government, that language is force.

    • Thanks Francisco.
      “You will win 100% of the gun fights you are not in.”
      True, but as you posit.
      “You will lose 100% of the fights, you refuse to fight when confronted.”

  4. “make as much sense as advocating duct tape and plastic sheeting as a way to thwart acts of terrorism”

    Of course – that’s the point. It’s a burden shift. The Government can’t protect you, the Government has never been able to protect the Individual & never will. But at the same time, if they advocate you buy plastic sheeting and duct tape “just in case” and you don’t; but then something happens, they can point to that and say “see, we said buy plastic and duct tape and they didnt’. If they’d have just followed instructions from their government things would be fine. Next time they won’t walk down that alley in that short skirt. What were they thinking.

    — There now the government has done something, but now it’s your fault.

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