Here’s what Newt Gingrich has to say about preventing more atrocities like the recent one at the Florida high school: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/16/newt-gingrich-after-florida-shootings-heres-practical-proposal-to-protect-our-children.html.
Of course, certain elements of major media don’t want to hear anything that doesn’t fit their agenda: https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2018/02/16/cruz-missile-ted-cruz-just-nuked-chris-cuomo-for-gun-control-subtweet-and-it-was-brutal/.
And, some perspective from Second Amendment lawyer David Kopel: http://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/359363-What-if-there-were-serious-gun-controls%3F.
And people conveniently forget that we tried an “Assault Weapon” (sic) ban. Studies after it showed it did nothing.
Thank God it had a “sunset” provision in it or we would still be suffering under it. The anti’s plan is to enact a law and, if that doesn’t work, enact another, and so on never thinking of repealing the ineffective ones. Last count there were close to 25,000 gun laws on the books. If the anti’s had their way there would likely be 100,000 plus (and no guns in civilian hands).
After some of the more well publicized vehicular attacks (Lass Vegas Dec. 2015 – NYC bike path Oct. 2017) as well as the use of delivery vans to contain explosives there was no outcry to ban motor vehicles. No “What do they need V8 or 6 cylinder engines for? Everyone should be limited to 4 cylinder except the Police & Military” Let a firearm be involved and there is a knee JERK reaction to ban or restrict the object as well as demonizing it’s collective users regardless of how benign most uses are.Unless we see factual evidence refuting anti-gun claims I predict we will see even some pro second amendment politicians cave in against gun rights.
I Recently Became An NRA Life Member !!!
HEY, watch it there, Bucko!!!! I DRIVE one of those nasty eight cylinder rigs. And the only critter ever killed with that thing is the crazy doe ran headfirst into the side of it at full tilt. Wished I coulda brought her home for supper, but the locals informed me I had to leave it there to rot.
amd every one of the laws desribed in Kopel’s piece are unconstitutionsl. Further NONE of them have prevented AY of the mass shooting about which every nitwit out there is so knicker-be-knotted. Proof positive federal solutions are NOT any solution at all.
The best solution to ALL these ugly events is being implemented in Ohio. The FASTER plan WORKS, and costs taxpayers NOTHING.
As an NRA certified instructor for several years I’m proud to say none of the 7,000 students I taught to get a concealed license have ever been arrested
for an illegal use of a firearm. When are you coming back to our range for a
Glock Match?
John G. Wyoming Antelope Club Fl.Chptr., Pinellas Park, Fl.
Hell, John, when IS your next Glock match? I thought your club had stopped running them. Gonna be at the one in Tallahassee next Sunday if you’d care to come up and join us.
Emotions run high after incidents. Emotions offer ineffective solutions. Flailing impotently at inanimate objects and those opposed offers temporary emotional solace, but will not solve the problem. If enacted, the consequences adversely affect more who are not involved than hinder those who would cause harm. People need to feel better whether or not their machinations actually accomplish the goal. What they tried last time didn’t work, so they want to do more of that in hopes this time will be the charm. Rational thought does not enter the process, so irrational name-calling and finger-pointing become their solution. The real problem is attempting to replace emotional responses with rational thought. At the root of that is getting politicians to understand that the wailing minority is getting exponentially more attention on account of noise. They do not represent rational solutions no matter how many votes may be perceived.
Well said.
I agre with Mr. Gingrich’s recommendation to read “Day of Wrath”, by Wm. Fortschen.
It should be a MUST READ
David Kopel’s article is fantastic!
It would be interesting to know what Col. Jeff Cooper would have had to say about this situation. In some ways I am glad he is not around to have to witness such madness on the part of the liberal politicians. I can remember the Cooper Color Code system from his training days. Looks like Bloomberg is at it again with all the students marching on Washington D.C.
As explained in Concealed Carry Magazine some years ago, these anti gun people’s brains process this information very differently. I have tried on many occasions to talk sense to them when the conversation comes up, but they are locked into fear and ignorance at every turn. There is a lot of factual information on the subject available to access these days, but they consistently refuse to educate themselves on it. They prefer instead to remain in a fantasy world of make-believe and approach every situation like this by animating the tool with knee-jerk rhetoric designed to only fulfill their agenda, not solve any problem. It’s insanity cloaked in fear, and rammed down our throats with a healthy dose of “good intentions” as lubricant. Makes me sick. There’s just no talking any sense to them. What to do….
Excellent and concise evaluation of my own encounters with “hard core” anti-gun people. Mr. Tom Yarbrough (above) was very fortunate to encounter a receptive “ant-gunner”. I, on the other hand, constantly have experiences like you outlined above. Jeff Cooper pushed the term,
“hoplophobic” (irrational fear of firearms – https://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/phobias.html#h) and I truly believe that this condition prevents (some) people from having an open mind about this subject. I have been met with indifference, refusal to discuss and outright venom-spewing. They always use the term, “common sense _____” but none of their ideas has the least bit of that. What to do….
Back in the ’50’s we were trained to “duck and cover” under our desks to avoid being incinerated by an Atomic Bomb. Let that sink in. But today, viable tactics could be taught to students and teachers that would have a chance of being effective against a shooter (even if the school ignores the most obvious approach of using armed plain clothes guards). Active resistance, using all things at hand as weapons or as tools to escape through locked windows can and should be taught. Duck and cover would not have been effective in the ’50’s and sure as hell has not proven effective in today’s world.
I’m pretty confident this won’t be reported on CNN…..https://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2015/02/04/columbine-massacre-survivor-introduces-bill-to-end-gunfree-school-zones-n1952681…
Most folks here are familiar with the fact that several schools in Texas already encourage teachers to be armed and trained. This link is to an interview with the Chief of Police in Argyle, Texas. He explains the concept very well. Of course, the media involved get several things wrong as usual. He is not the Sheriff as the heading says, rather, he’s the Police Chief and the backdrop for the Chief is the Dallas skyline, not Addison. The Chief though gets everything right.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/19/texas-sheriff-who-allows-teachers-to-carry-firearms-leaves-msnbcs-jaw-on-the-floor/
I challenged, courteously, a very anti gun, anti assault weapon person by asking her if she had ever seen one (an AR15) up close. Of course she hadn’t. I asked her if she would like to. She sort of surprised me by accepting. We agreed to go to a nearby range in the near future. First we stopped at my house to view a very well made simulation of a cut-away AR15 cycling. She was surprised to understand that the function was the same as her husbands hunting rifle. (He is Deceased). We then went to the range. I set a target at about 35 yards to make sure she would hit it. I fired a couple rounds so she could see my arm and shoulder, etc. She then fired about thirty rounds, did quite well, HAD A BALL, and has since taken her target to family gatherings to show what she did. Perhaps not a total convert, but she came away with a much greater understanding of the pleasures of gun ownership, and the sporting and competitive uses for firearms.
Tom Yarbrough,
Nice to hear a positive story. Looks like you found an open-minded liberal. Will soon be an endangered species.
My range has one day a year where anyone can come and shoot rifles, pistols and shotguns FOR FREE!!! First they go through a safety briefing, and of course, all shooting is well-supervised. For several years I would invite many people, maybe ten to twenty, and very few would show up. Of course, the ones who did show up loved it.
Why do I feel like I am in the movie “Groundhog Day”? That I am trapped in an endless time-loop? Is it just because it is February?
No, it is because the Leftists and their Media Lap-Dogs are busy “dancing in the blood” of helpless victims yet again. How many times have we seen this cycle repeat? And it is all done SOLELY to advance the Left-wing narrative and ideology here in the United States. All to push the goal of the disarmament of the American Citizen so that an armed citizen will no longer be an impediment to the Leftist agenda.
No one in their right mind believes that more Gun Control will make anyone safer. No one in their right mind believes that the millions and millions of semi-automatic rifles and handguns, already owned by Americans, can be taken off the streets. It is a “Pie-in-the-sky” con-job to even sell the concept. I don’t believe that even the most naive anti-gunner is THAT STUPID. Nor will any other type of new “Gun Safety” law have any effect. Hell, look at all the laws already on the books as illustrated by Mr. Kopel! Even these existing laws are poorly enforced!
Yet, by insisting that more gun control laws and targeted-action against “Assault Weapons” and “Large-Capacity” magazines are the only viable options, the Left and their media allies have effectively shut-down (for years) ANY measures that WOULD ACTUALLY WORK. This ensures that the Left retains the “Anti-Gun” plank to run-on in election cycle after election cycle. They WANT more blood in which they can DANCE!
The Left and the media will continue to stymie any effective action until things get so bad that Congress givens-in and starts down the path of disarmament. The path that leads to a Leftist takeover and the destruction of America as it was founded.
I say it again. There can be no bargaining or compromise with the Leftists. They are greater enemies of America than Russia, China, North Korea and the Islamic Terrorists combined. We must shut down and utterly destroy the gun control movement. Even if it takes the passage of an additional Constitutional Amendment so as to strengthen the 2nd Amendment and make Gun Rights so iron-clad that no judge or politician (no matter how left-wing) can taper with them. Whatever it takes. Either the Leftist gun-control movement goes down or America goes down. It is one or the other. Yes, things ARE THAT BAD!
TN_MAN, One only needs to look to the south of the much needed big beautiful border wall to see the reality of strict gun control. Mexico, with only one retail outlet for firearms which can only be purchased after exhaustive background checks and bureaucratic hoops, has a gun death rate exponential higher than the U.S. To my knowledge we are not finding mass graves of gunshot victims. Interestingly enough, the Mexican government is presently studying expanding gun rights for citizens to protect themselves and their families.
Dennis – With respect to the big beautiful Border Wall, I have a brilliant suggestion for President Trump.
As you know, the Leftists are infamous for their use of propaganda and misdirection. They routinely use misleading labels to hide their true intentions (EX: They say “Gun Safety Measure” when they actually want Firearm Prohibition). Currently, they are the main impediment to getting the funding necessary to build the wall. Well, I suggest that Trump and the Republicans take a page out of the Left-Wing play-book.
I suggest that President Trump do the following:
1) Declare that the wall, when built, will be named the “Che Guevara Memorial Wall”.
2) Declare that the funding will include the services of “Social Justice” Artists to decorate the wall with heroic images of Che Guevara and his accomplishments.
3) Very quietly and in the fine print of the enacting legislation, he should also include every “state-of-the-art” security feature possible in the design of the wall. Any decoration must be such that it will be not interfere in the core security function of the wall.
The proposed legislation may then be brought up for a vote in both Houses of Congress. It would be very interesting to see how many of the Leftists would be willing to vote, on the record, against the “Che Guevara Memorial Wall”! 🙂
In the NRA-ILA Armed Citizen website a search for AR-15 only shows 6 stories? Hard to believe America’s most popular rifle has only been reported 6 times for defensive use in the last several years. I wonder how many stories go unreported? Facts are needed to counter emotional responses.
I listened to the first 2 hours of Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk podcast today – lots of interesting stuff, especially the anti-gunner that wanted to ban everything and thought he knew more than he did.
It was interesting hear Tom handle him – every time Tom asked him a question, instead of answering he’d lecture and ask a question – Tom didn’t let him get away with it.
You can stream or download here:
http://guntalk.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts
I think it’s hour 1 of the Feb. 19th show (Anti-Gunner FAIL in the title).
The anti-gunner phone call starts at the 33:10 mark if you want to jump directly to it.
George Prudden and Captain Bob, I heard a Congresswoman the other day bemoaning the expiration of the so called Assault Weapons Ban as if it had had some far reaching and positive results in curbing deaths due to shooting.
Liberals never let facts get in the way of a good emotion driven knee jerk reaction. It is an exercise in frustration to attempt to use reason, logic and facts to argue or debate with them. Liberalism truly is a mental disorder.
But we already knew all of that.
My comment, I have published on several other sites: 1. Address the murderer, not the tool he used be it a pistol, rifle, knife, machete,hammer, axe, hatchet, rock, crow-bar, car, truck, etc. It’s the Evil individual who is doing the killing, NOT the inanimate object they used. 2. After a jury trial and conviction of the individual he should be executed the next business day after his conviction. The execution method of the jurisdiction’s choice as long as it is televised on ALL news outlets as the MASS MURDERER of “XYZ” School. 3. DO NOT under ANY circumstances publish his name. 4. Gather ALL public records that refer to him and destroy them as if he NEVER existed. 5. Read a proclamation that this is what MASS MURDER will get you!
I submit that this will have much more influence over these EVIL people than anything that is now being done.
@ Bill T – Sadly, the people enslaved to the left-wing worldview are mentally incapable of “Addressing the murderer”. Their world-view and entire political philosophy is based upon the core concept that “All human are inherently good”. This means that no human can be the root cause of evil. In their minds, if a human does evil, then something (external to himself) made him do it!
Therefore, when these bloody mass shootings occur, the only options left to them are to (1) totally re-evaluate and change their core philosophy of humanity and politics or (2) blame the inanimate object for the carnage. Once a core political philosophy becomes set, it is extremely difficult to change. It becomes a basic part of the individual’s mental makeup. As they say, “the leopard does not change his spots”.
That is why it is generally useless to try to talk logic and sense to a leftist on the topic of gun-control. Their core is already set as hard as concrete. Logic and reason just bounce off of it.
Sadly, on this topic, the gun-grabbers cannot be bargained with. They cannot be reasoned with. They cannot be persuaded to see the true nature of the problem. All we can do is utterly defeat them. I say it again. We must utterly destroy gun control as a political movement. We must make the Prohibition of Firearms a political dead issue as was done to the movement for the Prohibition of Alcohol. Otherwise, the Left will persist to chip and chip and chip and chip away at our gun rights and the 2nd Amendment until nothing is left. And, as they destroy this part of freedom, the leftists will pat themselves on the back and proudly proclaim about their good works in defeating the evil NRA and getting those evil guns off the streets!
We are not fighting reasonable people in this thing. We are fighting fanatics that are as crazy, in their own way, as the most radical Islamic suicide bomber!
Bill T,
Your comment makes WAY too much sense for half of the American people. Sadly, instead of viewing the murderer’s execution we will be hearing about his marriage within four years.
Here’s a money-making idea for someone in Hollywood, or someone who produces TV shows. Produce a half-hour drama where a vicious criminal gets tried, then executed. Begin with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. After a while, casting directors could simply cast made-up villains, not historical figures.
Imagine the audience for a show where you get to see some justice for a change. After all, most movies make us hate the bad guys, then cheer when they get their just desserts. Now imagine all those viewers watching the commercials that go along with that half-hour drama. The TV producers can charge a lot of money for those commercials. The NRA should produce this show. Then they might have the money to go against George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, and all our other enemies.
If we can’t see justice done in the real world, the next best thing is to see it done vicariously through TV.
And excellent letter posted by Ted Nugent shared with permission.
Makes perfect sense though I fear will be largely ignored by the anti-gun crowd as it does not fit with their misguided agenda.
Truth, logic, commonsense, goodwill, decency & genuinely caring about a safe world for our children takes genuine intelligent thought, deed and action.
It will be up to those of us who actually know the facts and truth about guns and gun ownership to counterpunch the insanity of runaway emotionally driven counterproductive ravings to ban this or that gun or ban this or that ammunition.
We are once again witnessing a tsunami of emotions blinding people to the truth. All good people want to save innocent lives and are genuinely dedicated to do everything conceivable to do so.
We hear ravings of “we must do something!”
If the child is drowning in the river we could toss him a cinder block. That would qualify as something but clearly not the right something.
We must face the facts and do many right things, but never any wrong things.
The first step would be to be honest in the conversation.
FACT1- An AR15 is not an “assault weapon”. We send our US Military heroes into battle with assault weapons and we would never hinder them with a semi-autoloading rifle.
FACT2-An AR15 .223/5.56 rifle is not a “high-powered” weapon. The .223 round is so inadequate in ballistic capability as to be outlawed for deer hunting in most states. A standard 12-gauge shotgun loaded with #4 buck in every one of these mass shootings in confined quarters where NO RESISTANCE is met would be far more deadly and devastating than any AR15 rifle.
FACT3-High capacity magazines play no tactical role whatsoever when the shooter can casually reload at will when no one fights back. A standard 12-gauge shotgun would again be vastly more deadly.
FACT4-When local law enforcement is called to the shooters home 36+ times for alerts of violent and threatening behavior, then the FBI is alerted on 3 different occasions of threats to shoot up the school, and these professionals in charge of law and order fail completely to adequately investigate such threats, the “see something say something” manta becomes a joke.
After studying all these horrific slaughters, every one of these monsters gave repeated warnings over and over again and again to family, neighbors, fellow students, faculty and others that fell on deaf ears with no commonsense preventative action taken. VA Tech, Columbine, Aurora CO, Sandy Hook, San Bernadino, Orlando, Florida, all of them.
FACT5- If Eugene Stoner had never invented the Armalite Rifle (AR) way back in the 1950s, I am certain that these evil murderers would have not opted out of their evil ways just because that particular weapon was not around.
Again, they would have and could have perpetrated their demonic slaughter with weapons more deadly and available, like any old standard shotgun.
Assault vans were used in France and England. Home made bombs, box cutters, knives, machetes, rent-a-cars and hatchets can and have become assault weapons when evildoers choose to do so.
Which brings me to actual real-world solutions;
#1- When someone sees something and says something, for God’s sake, DO SOMETHING meaningful and look into it aggressively. The case is not closed until a meaningful conclusion can be drawn.
#2- Parents, family members and teachers must teach and stress kind, loving behavior from all children and never tolerate bullying, threats or any violent behavior.
#3-Teach children to pay attention to their surroundings, friends and fellow students. Teach them to identify bullying and harmful behavior and threats. Teach them to FOLLOW THROUGH!
#4-DEMAND meaningful action from law enforcement and school officials when threatening behavior, words and actions occur.
#5- We have armed security for our money, sporting events, entertainment events, VIPs, elected employees, businesses and so much more. It is time to have trained, armed security for our children at school.
#6- I know for a fact that in every one of these slaughters, there were good Americans on the premises that would have been armed and ready to intervene if the insane laws hadn’t forbidden them to do so. So much for shall not infringe. It is time to allow and encourage such responsible Americans to be armed and capable of defending innocent lives. We are out here ready, willing and able to do so. Unarmed and helpless is an irresponsible and suicidal condition and choice. End it now.
Citizens and parents who truly care will get beyond the overwhelming emotions following these tragedies and demand an end to these well known, proven, engineered dangerous conditions.
It is time to raise hell with our elected government employees and demand these simple upgrades for a safer society, safer schools and an end to these totally predictable scourges.
Be sure that you, your family and friends are members of the NRA. The NRA has always been on the side of law and order, firearms safety and firearms training. https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp…
When the coyotes are killing the cats in our barn, only an idiot would declaw the cats.
No more soft targets.
On the way back from the vet this morning, I passed several places that caused me to realize something.
If you go to a Social Security Office these days, an armed guard greets you. If you go to the local DMV office, there’s an armed guard. If you go to a school in other countries, there are not only hardened facilities but armed guards, some of which may be volunteers from the community (though you may not realize it). If you go to most schools in this country, you see none of the above.
OK, there’s gonna be a budget impact and that may infringe the budget milking the “educators” are doing, but let’s set priorities.
The one objection I’ve seen to armed school personnel that makes sense is identification. That’s easily solved with a pull on vest with SECURITY prominently on front and back. Sides too if someone can figure out a way to do that.
One of the pools of potential school protection I’ve seen totally ignored is retired high level security personnel. Many of those were trained to higher standards than law enforcement and had higher psychological and security standards. Many might do a day or so a week to have something to do.
Comments are closed.