It can happen anytime, anywhere. Even on an Army post like Fort Hood, or a police station, as happened in Washington D.C. back in the 90s.
Are YOU ready?
Armed?
Proficient?
Or is it your day to play sheep?
Joe Waldron
July 21, 2012
Email to the Yahoo WA-CCW list: Reporting and preparedness.
[I’m expecting a guest post for tomorrow that will amplify greatly on this theme.—Joe]
Gun control advocates sputter at their own impotence. The National Rifle Association is politically ascendant. And Barack Obama’s White House pledges to safeguard the Second Amendment in its first official response to the deaths of at least 12 people in a mass shooting at a new Batman movie screening in suburban Denver.
Jennifer Agiesta and Jack Gillum
July 21, 2012
Calls for gun control stir little support
[This is good but we need to keep pushing while the enemies of freedom are on the defensive.
Why do you need a gun in the mall, the restaurant, or the movie theater? Because the mentally ill and others with evil intent know no boundaries.—Joe]
I’m over a 1000 miles away and as far as I know don’t know anyone that was in the theater that was shot up last night. But still it’s very upsetting and my sympathy goes out to all those who were injured, killed, and/or had family and/or friends there. I’m just glad the murderer didn’t think past getting and using guns to do his evil deed.
The following is from putting on my “black hat” to do a threat assessment of our vulnerabilities to mass murders in public spaces.
It could have been much worse had the murderer chosen to use something other than guns as his weapon of choice. In a sense we could say that it’s a good thing guns are readily available because if had he used other tools the carnage could have included everyone in the theater.
There are indications the guy that shot up the theater in Colorado had mental health issues so we may never know and/or understand what the motivations might have been. Trying to make sense of the actions and/or thoughts of the mentally ill is a fools errand. But assuming the goal was maximum carnage there were better ways to accomplish this.
What follows is one way that someone could have killed more people in the same exact location. This is modeled on the plan used for the Happy Land Fire (87 dead) and by the Columbine murderers. The Columbine bombs failed so they made up an alternate plan on the spot when the first plan failed. The first plan was actually pretty good but really needed more people and they should have tested their explosive devices. Read the book Columbine for a much better understanding of what happened and the motivations. Had “Plan A” worked there could have been thousands dead.
If the murderer was able to get long guns into the theater then getting multiple backpacks into the theater should have been possible too. For example one could prevent the emergency exit from latching (duct tape for example) and then make multiple trips to the parking lot to retrieve a set of backpacks. Place the backpacks at each of the exits. The backpacks contain a timer, thermite, and propane tanks. Set the timers for simultaneous ignition of the thermite. The thermite (easily made from iron and aluminum) will melt a hole in the propane tank and ignite the propane. The theater patrons are trapped in a fiercely burning room. If the fire doesn’t get them the smoke inhalation and/or mass panic will.
Using easily available materials the murderer could have been a mile or ten away when the event happened and may have never been caught. When using a gun the odds of them getting caught are much greater and they are much more likely to be stopped before they run out of victims.
People that care about the victims should be glad we have guns in this country and encourage more sane and law abiding people to carry them almost wherever they go. It gives the crazy and the stupid an easy path to being caught and/or stopped before they can do the maximum damage.
give them 1 day to turn in the guns, then anyone caught with one would be shot on site.
Answerer 1
July 13, 2012
In response to the question, “If you were in charge of gun control for your country what would you do?”
[And by the end of day two the police and military would have rounded up all the anti-gun people and have them hog-tied, sheared, deloused, and ready for deportation to North Korea.—Joe]
I didn’t know there was this much interest in the history of underwear:
A revolutionary discovery has hit the world of underwear: Women 600 years ago wore bras.
The University of Innsbruck said Wednesday that archeologists found four linen bras dating from the Middle Ages in an Austrian castle. Fashion experts describe the find as surprising because the bra was commonly thought to be little more than 100 years old as women abandoned the tight corset.
I have always wondered about the motivation for bras. I’ve always been skeptical of the claim that “it hurts to have them bouncing around unsupported all the time”. I can see that being an issue once a woman wore a bra for any length of time but the same claim would be made about your arm if you carried it in a sling for a few years.
If it were true unsupported breasts were painful even for women that had never worn a bra it would have been an evolutionary handicap 10’s or 100’s of thousands of years ago. Under those circumstances “Darwin” would have selected for breasts that met the nutritional needs of the young while not inhibiting mobility.
So I have always thought there must be some other evolutionary point to bras. Was it some sort of sexual attractant to change the shape and make a woman appear more youthful and/or healthy like red lipstick and other makeup? Or perhaps it could have been just the opposite; A means of suppressing visible clues as to the gender of potential victim in situations where the risk of assault was high.
And even more intriguing is that the latter hypothesis could mean that the invention and acceptability of the easily concealable firearm will reduce and/or remove the need for bras. We can only hope and keep teaching our women to be able to effectively defend themselves.
I just might attend this. I have a life membership at the gun range and it’s only a few miles away:
As Seattle and the state weigh tighter gun control measures the King County Sheriff is locked and loaded. He’s ready to take the gun control debate to the firing range.
It’s an upcoming campaign event called, “Shootin’ With the Sheriff,” and some say the timing couldn’t be worse.
…
Strachan’s “Shootin With the Sheriff” campaign fundraiser happens July 27 from 6-8pm at Wade’s Gun Shop in Bellevue.
And that the anti-gun people are wringing their hands and whining makes it all the more attractive to me.
Lawmakers in Prince George’s County, Md. hate guns so much they want to brand anyone convicted of violating one of the state’s convoluted firearm statutes. Stab someone with a knife, and the county won’t care or take notice of you after you serve your time. Sell a handgun that’s not on the state’s list of approved firearms, and the Washington suburb will mark you as a criminal and hold you up to public ridicule.
Emily Miller
July 18, 2012
MILLER: A scarlet letter for guns: Prince George’s public registry shows county’s priorities are misdirected
[A scarlet letter is a mild way to describe a number of gun laws. The original “scarlet letter” was for adultery which is generally looked down upon and even considered a criminal act in some places. Unless of course you are the President and have a ‘D’ after your name. But gun ownership in our country is a specific enumerated right.
The Second Amendment, as ruled by the courts, should be treated like the First Amendment. Is there a state approved list of religious books? Does the state require a background check for each book purchased? Does the state require records on the purchaser be kept for 20 years for each book sold? Such laws have a chilling effect on gun ownership and they need to be treated as such by the courts and gun rights activists.
We are winning but we still have a long way to go. Maryland is as unenlightened in regards to gun ownership as societies that stone adulterers.—Joe]
New shooter Julie from last week and her mother invited me out to dinner on Sunday night. Julie said she wanted to go shooting again—soon!
We went to the range again last night and she shot 200+ rounds through my Ruger Mark II. I had her doing timed drills such as a modified Bill Drill. From the first timed exercise to the last she cut her time, while getting equivalent hits, by about 25%.
As I was giving her a ride to the bus stop she asked about the laws in regards to purchasing and carrying a firearm. She expressed puzzlement as I told her about Seattle (where she lives) law banning the carrying of non firearm guns (including Airsoft and slingshots) but real guns are okay. But for the most part didn’t see significant obstacles to her getting a gun of her own.
Today she sent me a text message asking for a link to buy cheap ammo online.
There are plans for another reality T.V. show involving guns:
Iconic Casting has issued a call for shooters from all walks of life to cast a new shooting competition program which will be filmed for CMT – Anyone is welcome to apply. They are eager to begin interviewing prospective participants as early as this week. Check out their flyer today and follow the instructions in order to be considered for the next big shooting competition reality show! No need to be an ‘expert’ to appear on the show!
H/T to Kevin I. from the Lewiston Pistol Club.
Here’s a challenge for you. Explain inherent, inalienable, rights and extend the concept to the right to keep in bear arms.
Oh, and do it via a few Tweets to someone opposed to gun ownership.
Here is my attempt:
The United Nations is flea-infested, hygiene challenged hellhole of soulless despots, tyrants, anti-freedom, human-rights violating global gangbangers who wish to shore up their power by having the United Nations put forth a treaty that would restrict the access to guns by their people, thereby ensuring the tyrants can continue to kill, control, rape and plunder innocents with impunity.
Let’s get one thing straight: more access to guns leads to more freedom. Limiting access to guns leads to more innocent death, destruction and tyranny.
Once again, the United Nations is on the wrong side of freedom. This isn’t surprising since the United Nations has a statue of a handgun with a barrel tied in a knot in front of their rat-infested New York building. We should melt that statue and turn it into bullets for free Americans.
Ted Nugent
July 17, 2012
More guns equal less goons
[I suspect Nugent may be exaggerating. I’m not convinced the UN is flea-infested.—Joe]
They distinguished themselves by being the first group of ruffians to hold a sitting Attorney General in criminal contempt over the so-called Fast and Furious “scandal”. Let me translate: They pandered to the ageing-fat-white guy demographic that makes up their base and the Board of the National Rifle Association (NRA), by attacking the black Attorney General who happens to work for the black President.
Cliff Schecter
July 15, 2012
Fraudulent and fictitious
Congress’ latest vote is another example of political nihilism – this time with Democrat support.
[Let me translate: Argumentum ad hominem is the best he can do. And, no surprise, he has a history of this when it comes to the NRA.
But what do you expect from a bigot? 300+ dead Mexicans, as planned by this administration (H/T Kevin and Robb), just don’t matter to them or Schecter.—Joe]
Is it really that funny?
Both of the new shooters this week asked me, “How many guns do you have?” They both laughed when I truthfully said, “I don’t know.”
I don’t know how many computers, shirts, or pencils I have either.
If shooting paper silhouettes of people is not murder, then looking at porn is not adultery.
Timothy A Campbell
July 13, 2012 Tweet
[This Internet thing exposes the crazies in the anti-gun crowd.
With the intellectual capacity of our opponents at this level it’s no wonder we are winning.—Joe]
I had not fired a gun since March and then this week I had two new shooters to take to the range.
The first new shooter was Maggie who went last night:
This was after shooting about 40 rounds. Nice group!
After about 80 rounds I gave her an USPSA target:
Tonight it was Julie’s turn. Julie is the daughter of this new shooter I took to the range nearly three years ago:
As I pointed out to Julie her group was smaller than that of the shooter in the next lane over. And after a couple more targets almost all of her hits were in the black at the same range.
After a couple hundred rounds I gave her an USPSA target:
Those smiles will bring tears to the eyes of the Brady Campaign people. Keep those smiles coming folks!
A third new shooter, Kelsey, is currently scheduled for a trip to the range on July 28th.
How many times must Bloomberg be told to keep his own house in order before he runs around complaining about the rest of the country?
Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA Chairman
July 13, 2012
BLOOMBERG NEEDS TO PLUG POLICE LOCKER ROOM LOOPHOLE, SAYS CCRKBA
[I understand Gottlieb was asking a rhetorical question but I’m going to treat it as if it were serious.
Alan, your question presumes facts not in evidence. There is no evidence that Bloomberg responds to being told anything. This is true no matter how many times he has been told.
The more appropriate questions are:
—Joe]
Hat tip; Uncle
This is the first I’ve heard about it. I can’t say I’d be surprised. Federal gun restriction has always had racial motivations, among others. One of the “problems” of recognizing black people’s citizenship rights was stated openly– that such would allow them to go about armed anywhere they went. We could fix this gigantic mess by simply repealing the NFA of 1934 and the GCA of ’68. This country got along just fine without them. As it is, we’re still festering in FDR’s aftermath.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are busy trying to figure out what it is they should pretend to believe during the upcoming election.
Unfortunately there are many individuals in the state and in this country that look to the bill that I am carrying as really un-American. And I will tell you that I am probably as American as anyone else.
Leland Yee
California State Senator
July 12, 2012
Author of gun control bill SB 249.
‘Bullet Button’ Supporters Intensify Campaign Against State Sen. Yee
[Do the see the way he did that? He changed topics between sentences. He may be technically, as in living here since the age of three and being a naturalized citizen, as American “as anyone else” but the bill is not “American”. And he did not defend the bill as being “American”. It is an obvious infringement of the Second Amendment and I think this quote demonstrates he knows it.—Joe]
For six years, the NRA has closely monitored this effort for an Arms Trade Treaty.
We have watched with increasing concern and, one year ago, I delivered to the Preparatory Committee our objections to including civilian arms in the ATT. I said then … and I will repeat now … that the only way to address NRA’s objections is to simply and completely remove civilian firearms from the scope of the treaty.
That is the only solution. On that there will be no compromise. American gun owners will never surrender our Second Amendment freedom. Period.
Wayne LaPierre
July 11, 2012
Wayne LaPierre Fights for the Second Amendment Before the United Nations
[He apparently didn’t explicitly tell the UN this so I’ll say it for him. The UN can have my guns when they reanimate their cold dead hands.—Joe]
It seems like any comment about gun safety issues and you get NRA morons crying about gun control and throwing a hissing fit claiming someone is trying to take away their manhood.
MarilynManson
August 26, 2010
Comment to Md. GOP says gun shot broke campaign office window.
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]
