It is December 7, Pearl Harbor day. There remain many timeless lessons of preparedness from this pivotal historical event. One of those many is, keep monitoring your radar and when there is a blip thereon, don’t ignore it.
Another is one we’ve seen repeated of late. Consider the 2022 invasion of the Ukraine, when that nation only then rescinded its anti-gun policies and feverishly, desperately, armed its citizens with true (fully automatic) assault rifles, which helped a rabbit of a country hold off the Russian bear. When the BBC interviewed me in my capacity as president of the Second Amendment Foundation after the atrocity at the school in Uvalde and asked me almost contemptuously, “What is the validity of the Second Amendment in the 21st century?” my answer was simple: “Ask a Ukranian.”
We saw it again on October 7 of this year, when Hamas invaded the kibbutzes: those who were armed at best fought off the attackers and at worst, made them pay a terrible price in blood for every innocent they slaughtered, while the unarmed were hopelessly overwhelmed and savaged.
December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor. Did you know that the last invading enemy pilot to die was killed on American soil by an armed American citizen?
Please read my article on the topic, here, published some time ago in my Ayoob Files series in American Handgunner magazine.
Remember your heritage. Stay armed and ready. And remember that when people say “Forewarned is forearmed,” the operative term is “forearmed,” because if you are unarmed and helpless the “forewarning” gives you only a little more terror before you and yours are destroyed.
One commonality among historic invasions and attacks are the indicators that were ignored or dismissed. Recent reports indicate that Israeli intelligence knew of the Hamas attack plans a year in advance but chose to believe they couldn’t/wouldn’t carry them out. Multiple middle eastern males seeking lessons on flying but not taking off or landing airliners prior to 9/11? We now have China with a huge military, a declining population and potentially collapsing economy beside a nuclear armed North Korea with a starving population and a mentally unstable leader (like we should talk!). Defensive preparations or preemptive actions must be based on what your opponent is capable of, not what you think he may do.
Exs grandmother gave books on Christmas. One year the book was “East Wind, Rain”*, IIRC. Written by the officer that was the Army IG in Hawaii pre-war and for the attack and ended up as MacArthur’s Chief of Staff. Wish I could recall his name, the currently available book of that title might not be the same book, but B&N lists it under military history.
Some fascinating stuff in the original about the pre-war military and their attitudes and state of (un)readiness. All applicable to us in our daily lives. And, should be in our minds when we go to the polls.
Historical note: per the book, when the Pacific Fleet moved their home port from San Diego to Hawaii, the CO wasn’t Admiral Kimmel. That Admiral regarded Pearl Harbor as a trap and only had ships there for required maintenance. Despite pressure allegedly from Presidential level (screaming displeasure from wives and merchants), he declined to change his deployment posture. (Fleet was some distance from Pearl, with clear fields of observation and fire.) He was relieved by Admiral Kimmel (who apparently read the prevailing winds) and the rest is history. No idea how to verify.
The rest of the book is war in the pacific at very high level, if you’re interested.
* Per post war prisoner interviews, the phrase was the “go” signal for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
You may be talking about Elliot R Thorpe a retired Brigadier General who wrote “East Wind, Rain”.
You are giving the world excellent advice, Mas. I just wish they would have you on as a guest at FoxNews. The lessons are there, for those who have ears to hear.
That incident on the island of Niihau inspired a song named, “They Can’t Take Niihau, No How.”
👍👍👍
Mas,
Thanks for this…. Unfortunately remembering Pearl Harbor doesn’t get much press anymore.
I was reading your article and you said “As one historian put it, “Everything from 5″ ship’s guns to regulation Colt .45 pistols and privately owned hunting rifles had been pressed into service” as the Americans responded to the sneak attack.” I remember my grandfather, who was on the NYPD in December of 41, saying the fear of imminent invasion on the American homefront caused the department to reachout to other sources to arm their cops with more firepower. He said they ended up borrowing long guns from the movie studios based in New York at the time, so for a while, it wasn’t unusual to see beat cops armed with 1873 Winchesters, 45-70 Springfield trapdoor rifles, and other cowboy guns. At the time, they would even have been the genuine article.
Some anti-aircraft shooting advice using rifles and machine guns: 1) Shoot on fully automatic, or mass the fire of several other rifles from a group. 2) If a hostile aircraft is coming right at you, aim just above the nose of it. 3) If a high-performance, hostile aircraft (like a jet) is going by, aim two football fields (200 yards) ahead. 4) If a hostile helicopter or other “slow” aircraft is going by, aim half a football field ahead. The heavier a bullet or slug is, the greater the impact is likely to be when it falls and hits. So make sure that you wear a helmet and an armored vest, and avoid looking straight up as much as possible. Tracer ammo is handy, as you can aim it as if it were a fire hose and bring the stream back into a moving target. Enemy balloons and other aircraft are likely carrying NBC (not MSN) weapons, and you have 15 seconds to finish your MOPP (“gas mask”) procedures after receiving the NBC warning. Also remember to put your head between your knees and pray. Only God knows how the current situation will turn out.
In the past, gangsters would steal Browning Automatic Rifles from places like the National Guard Armory in Mt. Ayr, Iowa. You might want to check with appropriate State Governors for official armory arms approval instead of doing burglary, which is often still considered a crime, unless you are of an exculpated group, for example, of politicians and their minions. You also may have have to beat various terror groups through the armory doors. You should have a better chance to succeed if you are already NG.
Clandestine Communist Organizations (CCO’s) worldwide have traditionally been the biggest threat to free nations. Hopefully you are also UC (Under Cover) in sufficient strength in a CCO, especially in the current Blue states, to deprive the growing local CCO’s from taking over armories, factories, police stations, gun shops, and everything else. May you especially secure anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons from enemy hands. Just remember that although the best cover may be said to be a blown cover, if an enemy knows that you know that they know that you are UC, “conditions may apply!” T Y.
What a great read. Thanks for the link to your previous article. This should be read every December 7th. Yes, we need to remember our heritage.
Enjoy the holidays and thanks for making my year a better year.
Discoveries have been made about all three of these “invasions”. Just as Pearl Harbor, the others were “make happens”, and if we look at EVERY SINGLE “incident” of civilian violence in our own nation, they also are ‘make happens’ created by guess who? The validity of the second is more relevant now than at any other time in history. And now, our Democrat party has declared that maga republicans are domestic terrorists.
That’s right: ask a Ukrainian. Ask an Israeli. Ask the victims of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Ask a Cambodian in the 1970s. Ask the Jews and others sent to concentration camps by the Nazis in the 1940s. Ask an Armenian in 1915. Guns = freedom from oppression.
I can seldom find the words. Certainly not as effectively as Mas and some notable others.
Thankfully, we have people like Mas in the world to help the likes of me along.
(OTOH, few would accuse me of not having a lot to say and saying it often)
Pearl Harbor holds special thoughts for me, although I was born nearly 20 years after it occurred.
My godfather was a Marine who watched the first waves of airplanes fly over the bay and saw one of the first bombs to fall. Thinking it was an American pilot, he said, “Man, someone is gonna catch Hell for that!” He and his mates then returned to the ship and fought as best they could … much like in Massad’s article below.
My mother-in-law, born on Oahu, was a teen sitting the kids of officers just outside the gates of Pearl Harbor. She suffered from asthma her entire life likely caused by the smoke that day.
But this article dramatically lays bare for me the impact of American determination in the face of extreme. It also makes the very basic truth of the Second Amendment clear that it should NEVER be questioned that arms for self defense and defense of country in the hands of faithful courageous Citizens are a force to be feared by Evil.
More should reflect on how relevant it still is today in light of the conflicts in places like the Ukraine and Israel … and that such crises could very well be delivered to America.
I just think of the liberal academics of my former country who demanded and got some of the most severe anti gun laws in the Western world. Their present “prime minister” (lower case is deliberate) is continuing this and the results have been textbook.
And let us learn from the Mencheviks (spelling?) of pre-soviet Russia. they raised a striog resistance to the bolcheviks trying to take over and impose communism in Russia. Their downfall was when they were in Moscow I think it was, outnumbered and surrounded, they took refuge in a large government buidlihg, I believe it was the Kremlin. Negotiations went o over some time, and the Bolcheviks declared that if every man of the Resistance were to xit the main doors at the front of the building, lay down their rifles, they would be free to walk down the steps and on down that street, unharmed. They “bought” the lines, and thus began the exosus from the Kremlin’s shelter. Thousands of thsoe men walked out, laid down their rifles, and continued down that main street. then were directed to turn into another street and proceed for some distance. At some poit dwn that side street, the Bolcheviks opened fire upon them with machine guns, killing every one of them. They were allowed to walk free, alright..just like ducks in a line, till they got to the millpond and were mowed down forever.
There is something to be said about hanging on to your guns until they pry them from your cold dead hands. The real lesson here is never trust those who have declared they want to destroy you. Take them at their word.. they ARE out to destroy you. And NEVER surrender your tools for defense.
Quote of the Day:
“Si vis pacem, para bellum” (Translated from Latin: “If you want peace, prepare for war”) – By Roman Author: Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
I’m against strict gun laws. We introduced them in the UK and they don’t work.
But the argument ‘the US needs armed ciitzens to deter invasion’ is fanciful. You could probably defeat the rest of the world combined. US arms spending is more than the next 13 countries combined.
A large skilled population, no borders with enemies. Wide oceans they’d have to attack across. A rich sefl sufficient land….
The number of countries the USA has invaded keeps growing. The number that has invaded the US has been the same for over two centuries; Zero.
“The number that has invaded the US has been the same for over two centuries; Zero.”
Sorry, I can’t quite agree with your view of history. The British certainly invaded the U.S. during the War of 1812. They burned our Capitol and were in the process of invading Louisiana when they suffered a defeat at the Battle of New Orleans.
During the days of the “Old West”, raids across the Mexican Border, some by bandits and some by organized military units, were fairly common. Even today, our Southern Border leaks like a sieve. It is entirely possible that terrorists are using our open border to set up “Cells” within the U.S. to facilitate future attacks this very minute.
While they don’t qualify as invasions, the attacks at Pearl Harbor and the 9-11 attacks caused serious causalities.
Finally, in these days of interconnected technology and engineered “gain-of-function” viruses, a nation does not have to be physically invaded to be attacked. Everything from biological warfare, to chemical warfare, to smuggled nuclear devices, to terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure, to cyber attacks, to internal riots and civil strife, etc. is possible.
The view that the U.S. is “sitting pretty”, and is so secure that an armed populace is totally unnecessary, is one that only a person wearing “Rose-Colored Glasses” could hold. The World is growing more unstable and dangerous by the day. It is delusional to think that it is growing more secure under the left-wing regimes that currently rule the West. Ukraine is in open war, the Middle East is unstable and could break out into a general war at any time, we have a possible war brewing in South America, and it would not surprise me for China to jump on Taiwan at any time. Why not, given the general incompetence of the current Regime in Washington, D.C. combined with the limp leadership in today’s Europe?
In summary, our 2nd Amendment Rights have, in the entire History of the United States, NEVER BEEN more necessary than they are today. The American People instinctively sense this truth. That is why firearms and ammunition supplies are flying off the shelves and sales are going through the roof! (Praise the Lord and pass the Ammunition! 🙂 )
See this link:
https://www.guns.com/news/2023/11/28/nics-black-friday-gun-sales-numbers-hit-record-high
nicholas kane,
There is little fear of an invasion, but America can commit national suicide. We are being “invaded” right now, through our southern border. The invaders are smart enough to not bring weapons, so we let them in.
Russia, China, North Korea and Iran could try to gang up on us by launching so many nuclear missiles at us at once that they would overwhelm our defenses.
If I wanted to destroy America, I would find a way to knock out our power grid for one year or more. We cannot live without electricity. We now have more guns than people ( which I think is a good thing), but we would eat each other, and after a year it is estimated that 90% of us would be dead.
Americans suffer from a form of brain cancer called “Communism.” You can see the devastating effects of this mental disease in American cities. Our cities are in worse shape than Hiroshima and Nagasaki are today.
The worst cancer isn’t communism, it’s liberalism. THAT is an increasingly dangerous disease of willful ignorance.
And your point is?
There is one reason we don’t get invaded. You think we should “dial it back”?
I think I’ll go buy at least one more gun and a couple cases of ammo.
Ed Padgett,
I agree with you. However, I use the word “Communism” to cover liberalism, socialism, Marxism, Leftism, and some of the more extreme Democrats, not all Democrats. I even believe atheism, feminism and the theory of evolution are tinged with Marxism/Communism. Basically, Marxists don’t want to be known as Communists, because it conjures up images of failed states with brutal dictators. But the dream of Karl Marx was Communism. He believed Capitalism would lead to Socialism, which would lead to Communism. Also, as a child in about 1969, I remember adults talked about Communists a lot, then some sort of societal hushing of that word occurred, and it sort of disappeared. I use the term “Communist” because I know Marxists don’t like it, and to shake my fist at those who hushed it away in 1969, and to point out what the Democrats/Leftists final goal is.
They want to divide us, and they are having a lot of success. They want to be known as “liberals” and “progressives,” which are nicer words. I aim to make them mad by calling them “Communists.” I admit it can be confusing.
“The number that has invaded the US has been the same for over two centuries; Zero.”
And perhaps it is BECAUSE of our armed populace that we have not had an “invading force”? As mentioned in the article above, the Japanese chose not to invade because of the perceived threat by the number of civilians on the US mainland.
Isn’t it curious that back in the day of the “animal rights protests” that they never threw paint on the leather jackets of the Hell’s Angels?
nicholas cane,
The reason the USA is not invaded is probably due to a number of reasons, but having our guns is one of those reasons. Yes, the land mass of even the 48 states is too big to conquer. Yes, we have the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico as buffers. Yes, we have wonderful neighbors to our North and South. [That would be Canada and Mexico, for those of you with deficient educations, if any of you are reading this blog.]
We have our guns to defeat a tyrant, and his army, should one try to rule over us, and to protect us from crime, to manage the animal population, and to eat the animals that taste good, and to have fun, and to compete, and to enjoy mechanical inventions, and to collect historical specimens.
Europe has great food, architecture, literature, music and art. However, it has always been the land of BIG GOVERNMENT AND BIG WAR.
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