PERSPECTIVE…

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A deadly fire flared up in a Colorado supermarket. None of the good people inside had a fire extinguisher.  Nine customers died before society’s designated first responders could get there, and by then the fire was so intense it killed the first of those responders.  As soon as more responders arrived and began fighting the fire, casualties stopped and so did the fire.

The media, politicians, and the President himself responded by demanding that the most efficient fire extinguishers be banned from private possession.

Yes, that’s pretty much what happened at the King Sooper market where the latest mass murder occurred, only the fire came from the muzzle of a gun wielded by a madman who had gone under society’s radar and passed a background check.

I’ve heard, but not yet confirmed, that the premises where the atrocity occurred was a gun free zone hunting preserve for psychopathic mass murderers, where law-abiding citizens were forbidden to carry guns for defense of self and others.  As usual, the murders stopped as soon as the cowardly gunman faced armed defenders.

I’ve just returned from the Rangemaster Tactical Conference in Dallas, where genuine experts on these matters such as Tom Givens and Ed Monk confirmed that death tolls are cut dramatically short when would-be mass murderers are resisted with lawful, countervailing deadly force. This simple, incontrovertible truth has been known since the beginning.  But the same mass media that demands decent people be deprived of the most efficient defensive firearms, or even rendered entirely helpless, continues to make it clear to every thwarted loser full of hate that mass murder will give him longer than “fifteen minutes of fame,” and indeed make him the focus of CNN reporting for days.

I’ve taught for decades that the fire extinguisher is a direct analog to the defensive firearm. It is an emergency life-saving rescue tool for the first responder – the citizen actually at the scene when deadly danger suddenly manifests itself – to extinguish lethal threat and clear a lane of safety for the innocent until society’s designated official first responders can arrive to take over.

Feel free to make that point to the editor of your local newspaper, or the host of your local radio talk show.

The innocent victims cry out to us from the grave to not let their deaths have been in vain.

52 COMMENTS

  1. That last sentence is chilling.

    I finished MAG 40 in Live Oak about 10 years ago, and still recall discussing the fact that criminals know exactly where and when to strike. They identify the “white bread” — targets they know will allow them to create mayhem and take lives indiscriminately through quick, violent action.

    It seems that there is seldom a “sheepdog” in the crowd – a careful, armed, deliberate person who can make a difference. It’s really frustrating.

  2. A bit off Mas’s topic, but since he mentioned fire extinguishers……………..

    They have a life span and need replaced from time to time. When you replace one/them, get the family together with the expired unit and start/extinguish a few small fires so the family knows how to operate them. If the extinguisher doesn’t work, it’s a clue you’ve been derelict and need to be more vigilant. It might justify buying another new one so the family learns about operation. Doesn’t hurt to have one in each vehicle either.

    Like with a firearm, practice makes competence.

  3. Playing devil’s advocate, the fire extinguisher is actually a flamethrower. It can be used to stop a fire (controlled burn) or start a fire. One might argue that a fire extinguisher can only be used for noble purposes, unless you consider the fact that a fire extinguisher was the focus of discussion being used as a weapon during the recent January 6 “insurrection” at the Capitol.

    • @Jon,

      First, good point regarding the two uses of extinguishers.

      Second, please stop propagating the untruth that Officer Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher. So far, there is no evidence of blunt trauma to his head.

      • read carefully. He did NOT say it was used as you suppose he said. He merely said it was “a subject of discussion”. I remember reading what was later proven fase, that a flying fire bottle striking hiis head was proximal cause of death. As of now, actual cause of death has been kept hidden.. FOIA requests are so far being sandbagged…… the susla smoke and mirrors game.

    • No one “Plays” devil’s advocate. The person who uses this term rarely actually cares about the topic, they only care about arguing.

      • Absolutely false. One cannot fully discuss a topic without analyzing all sides and viewpoints. You have to “what if” a topic, a lot, to fully cover and understand it.

  4. It has been said that you don’t not have fire extinguishers just because your town has a fire department. Firearms and law enforcement is exactly the same. YOU are the initial 1st Responder.

    • for no known reason I can work out, I happen to have been the “Johnny On the Spot” in quite a few fires, brush, home, car. Having put out close to a dozen fires quickly enough to avoid any, or at least signficant, damage or loss of life, only one time did I have a fire bottle wiht me…. and that was a last minute unconscious decision. It ended up saving a family whose car lit itself on fire as they drove up a long grade on a freeway. I never had carried such a device before. Happened to notice the thing and tossed it in. Every one of those times, I had the fire out or well under control before the firefighters arrived, the two times they WERE called. The rest of the time, we simply cleaned up the mess and moved along, no real damage despite the massive adrenaline rush.
      I suppose the bottom line is knowing the nature of fire, and how to deal with it, as an entity, and being ready always to respond with what is ready to hand.

      On the other hand, I DO regulalry have with me, upon my person, the other kind of “fire extinguisher” but so far have never had occasion to take it out and deploy it in response to a “situation”. And I am VERY thankful that has beene the case, and pray that pattern continues. I hate the adrenaline rush that comes when the ship hits the span.

  5. Here are a couple of links that also discuss some of the details of (and media misinformation about) the above shooting:

    https://spectator.org/boulder-colorado-shooting-gun-control/

    https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2021/03/23/store-chain-in-boulder-shooting-asked-open-carriers-to-stay-out-in-2019-n42430

    As you can see from these articles, the American Left sells firearm prohibition as the “Silver Bullet” solution that will magically cure violence in America. As is the usual case with Left-Wing Ideology, their ideas only act to make the situation worse rather than better.

    That is one thing that you can “take to the bank” when it comes to left-wing ideology. Their ideas are always sold as solutions to make things better. When their ideas are actually implemented on the ground, the result is to always make things worse.

    With left-wing ideology, their proposed “cures” always end up being “worse than the disease”!

    Given the failure rate of left-wing ideas, it is truly strange that left-wing ideology is so popular among the general population. It points out that the human race is not yet truly intelligent and rational. Rather, most people are still ruled by emotion which is where left-wing ideas make their appeal.

  6. Would it be possible to do a column on the research from that conference you attended….so that we can use some of it when we take on anti-gun extremists on our own social media? The fight takes place at all levels, and education uninformed people on the various social media platforms is one part of that fight. Thank you.

  7. In a surprise announcement today, President Joe Biden woke from his coma and said “Hey, sorry that I’ve been out of it for awhile, but the dope Kamala had me on finally wore off. I really like firearms and hope that everyone in the country buys 2 this month. I am also cancelling my calls for trillions of dollars in unfounded mandates and don’t really want to destroy America after all. Peace out.”

    Happy April 1

    • Mark – “Happy April 1”

      For me, April 1st is no fun anymore. It used to be that an intelligent person could read news stories, on April 1st, and have fun picking out the “Fake News” stories from the real stories.

      Unfortunately, all our current media sources publish nothing but fake news, propaganda and political spin stories in this modern age. How are we expected to pick out the lies that are told because it is April 1st from the lies that are told because it is “propaganda as usual”?

      I guess maybe the challenge with our modern media is to try to find something that is actually true!

      Unfortunately, looking for a true story in our modern media can be compared with the classic story of Diogenes. According to legend, he was in a habit of carrying a lamp even in broad daylight. When asked why, he would reply that he was looking for an “honest man”.

      I guess I REALLY DO need to use my reading lamp when viewing a newspaper or when watching news on TV. When someone asks me why I am using a reading lamp even though adequate sunlight is pouring through the windows, I can reply that I am “looking for a true story”. 🙂

      • Look no further than the New York Times and Pravda where all stories are true, written by honest non-partisan journalists. 🙂

  8. I’ve lived in Denver for more than 30 years and recently drove to Boulder on business, likely along part of the same route the killer took. I have heard NOTHING in the media about why this monster chose to drive from his home in Arvada to this particular grocery store in Boulder about 20 miles away. Maybe this will come out in his trial, maybe it won’t. Maybe there won’t BE a trial since his lawyer has indicated he’s considering the insanity defense. Recall, he used a Ruger 5.56 mm AR -15 type pistol purchased legally. (How long do legal purchasers have to wait to even find one of these nowadays?) He attacked six days after taking the Ruger home. Sounds like premeditation, even careful planning to me.

    • My thoughts exactly and the Federal Bureau of Incompetence had him on their
      radar the whole time. Funny how that works.
      Dano

    • The store “Soopers” advertises as “the one-stop store for kosher foods.” Now do you get it?

      • Jimmy,

        I’m not sure I am catching your drift. You wrote that the store sells kosher foods. To me, that might mean the owners are Jewish. It definitely means some of the customers are Jewish. The terrorist has an Islamic or Arabic, name. So, I guess he may have committed an anti-Semitic terrorist act.

        The fact that no one in the store shot back puzzles me, because I think of Colorado as a pro-gun state. John Farnam lives there. Looks like some of the citizens of Boulder have not learned the lesson that when you are unarmed, you are as helpless as a European Jew in the 1930s and 1940s. Since the store owners and customers failed to learn from history, they repeated it. They had their own mini-holocaust, because they were unarmed sheeple.

        Is that what you were implying, Jimmy?

      • I have seen this information published slesewhere. Not just “we have kosher foods” but the place has a large Jewish patronage, and they have much more of that sort of product than the normal stores in that chain di. Also consider: this incident happened just a few days before Passover….
        Furthe,r most folks in the upper middle class, the typical patrons of this store, who are Jewish, eschew the possession and use of firearms in self-defense. which is very strange considering what the Jewish people in particular have suffered at the hands of various radical systems.. communis,t nazi, and now mozzie. The JPFO is despised by a large part of the nationwide Jewish communituy, a sad state of affairs. Many of the rabid antigun political groups have a signficant number of Jews amontgst them and NO I am not bashing them, I am merely pointing out their naivety and head in the sand positions.
        THIS entire thought stream is conspicuously absent the media hype on ths incident. They’d rather blame the nasty black-and-ugly GUN the guy used than even hint there was an underlying idealogy to the incident.

        Seems this SOOPER place is part of the Kroger system, along with others (Fred Meyer in my area) and yes, they have a system wide no guns policy. They never have state complying signage, thus are ignored by armed residents of most states. The tiny glock cartoon with red circle and slash are NOT legal notice in most states, thus can be ignored with impunity. Not sure of COlorado’s laws, though. My state and the next one south, that is the situation. The worst can happen if I am “made” armed inside is to be asked to remove my firearm from inside the buidling. I can return at will, unarmed. I don’t… planty of places to buy grits.

      • Tionico,

        When you mentioned that some Jews are oddly anti-Second Amendment, I immediately thought of George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. It may be that they are simply atheists who were born Jewish. Then again, George Soros is probably not an atheist, because he believes he is god!

        Rabbi Joseph Potasnik is against the concealed carry of firearms, I believe.

  9. Great perspective as always Mas. I often use your profound wisdom when speaking to those who fear guns for no other reason than what the media tells them.

  10. Well Mass you hit the nail on the head, ‘by a madman who had gone under society’s radar.” But the family knew about him, his friends knew about him, and his classmates knew about him. Yet, no one did anything about helping this “madman.” Same thing in Atlanta, no one took action to get that “madman” help. It’s apparent the laws of this country are written in favor of the mentally ill to walk among us and seemingly able to take out their problems on anyone they come in contact with. Parents and other family members should be able to provide help to those who would do others harm.

    • Also the FBI knew about him but probably not that he would do something like that.

      In response to some other questions, a couple of the victims were pro-gun advocates. Why they weren’t carrying is a mystery to me. Or maybe they were and couldn’t act for some reason. CO is shall issue and has state preemption. Kroger’s has a corporate policy against OC but not CC as far as I know. And anyway the enforcement mechanism is the trespass law not making a criminal offense out of ignoring no gun signs.

      • Richard, the one pro-gun advocate I know of at the King Sooper was the slain responding officer, who was murdered from ambush before he could effectively engage the cowardly murderer. Can you fill us in on the other(s)?

    • The analogy of the fire extinguishers is indeed spot on, but half the American people are so dumbed down they will not be benefited by Mas’ simple, appropriate, wise example. Kool-Aid drinkers, deluded dummies, they are.

      • Kool-Aid drinkers and deluded dummies? We all march to our own tune, by choice.

        When it comes to the “dumbed down” concept, I don’t look at the person, per se, but what influences they have had, to bring them to the unreasonable conclusion in their judgement.

        Mas is highly mentioned throughout my classes and yes, I use the fire extinguisher analogy in just about every class. Then I mention the NRA’s Personal Protection In The Home, and so on.

        My anology to the “dumbed down, they are the zombies, think Walking Dead, first two TV seasons.

      • It does not quite fit though.
        “How do you stop a bad guy with a fire extinguisher?”

        I agree that TO ME, a firearm is used the same as a fire extinguisher or a seatbelt. But to the anti-2A people, they will simply say that they would never want to ban fire extinguishers or seatbelts – because they never end up being used as weapons.

  11. On the “disastrous consequences of disconnected leadership” mentioned in the campaign website of New York State Ali-Baba politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Her Newspeak disparagement of the term “surge” regarding the sudden recent tidal wave of greatly semi-orphaned, often diseased, sometimes criminal, and all-too victimized alien Wanderers of possible anti-Yankee (Red Sox fans?) political allegiance, is reminiscent of an explanation of Marxist “speech-policing” in Orwell’s novel “1984:” “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words to express it.” AOC’s “not a surge” and “imperialism” rhetoric is hostile to FREE SPEECH and, by extension, to FREE THOUGHT. Her blatant contempt for Constitutional freedom is the flip side of the history of socialist massacres of so many people following socialist coups like the orchestrated attempt at a genuinely foreign-compromised takeover that we are experiencing now. We are in a particularly existential crisis already, make no mistake, exacerbated by exploitative and often duplicitous “climate theory.” Add to that the proven precept that no such thing as a competent communist economist has ever obtained. AOC is as disconnected as can be to our successful American traditions. Her habit of simplistic speech-policing is a clue to having short-sighted hostility vs. her “ordinary people’s” firearms ownership, individuals’ firearms serving to preserve freedom and safety so well when bearable in significant abundance. And a recent U.S. aerial attack om SYRIA triggering an unbalanced expatriate SYRIAN to massacre 10 unarmed citizens in wishfully pacifist Boulder, CO might be considered as due as anything to our country’s actual “disconnected leadership.” Speaking of the Devil, predicting his longevity in office reminds me of the Yukon River Ice Break-Up lotteries. From the frying pan into the fire we may suddenly go, like so much left-over Chop-Suey.

    • Strategic Steve,

      Isn’t it amazing how many people from south of the border want to come to Los Estados Unidos and be oppressed by racist white supremacist America? I’m afraid that if white people like me don’t stop oppressing minorities, the minorities may return to the continent from which their ancestors came. Life in America is so unbearable with all these white supremacists around.

      Just stop it white people, stop being racists! Our nation needs to heal, so you Republicans need to heel to the woke folk like All-Out-Crazy (AOC).

      • Roger:

        I’m going to coin a new term here. Americans In Name Only (AINO). This description fits AOC, her squad, and most Demoncrat politicians in the USA. These despicable creatures are determined to radically transform our nation into a Socialist police state with them in absolute control of every aspect of our lives. To these traitorous evil politicians, we are simply disposable peasants who they rule over and serve at their pleasure. In other words, they treat us as slaves and about half the population, including the vast majority of the descendants of slaves, goes along with that, as long as they receive their free stuff.

      • Tom 606,

        Great idea, Tom. We can put all the America haters who happen to be citizens in one group and call them the Americans-in-Name-Only Society (AINOS).

  12. The problem with intervening to put down a mass murderer is the blowback afterwards even if you succeed with no additional victims. If you are caught in such a situation, many if not most self defense experts recommend limiting your response to escaping from the scene. To hell with everyone else even if you have the tools, skills and opportunity to save them.

    • Unfortunately true. With the vast hordes of greedy trial lawyers eager to make a name for themselves and lots of money, plus politically motivated prosecutors wanting to advance their careers, being a good guy isn’t such a great idea anymore. I pack iron nowadays to protect myself and family/friends only and if you have to shoot someone belonging to a more favored ethnicity/race which you’re not a member of, may God help you as you will need it. You may be a hero, but a very poor one, and might even spend some time in the Big House if the liberals have their way, for some ‘racist’ terminating one of their criminally oriented constituents.

    • Kendahl,

      My guess is that what you are writing may depend on the jurisdiction. Perhaps in a red state a hero may be viewed as a hero. In a blue state the hero may be guilty until proven innocent after a long trial. During the trial every action of the hero will be scrutinized to see if even one error was committed. If the self-defense shooting was perfect, the hero may be set free. The aftermath of the trial would find the media telling the blue state citizens not to take the law into their own hands, as the vigilante did. Self-defense by citizens should never occur, the hero just got lucky this time. Fighting with criminals is a job only for the police, according to the media. They believe guns in a home make the home less safe, not more safe.

      Portland, Oregon had more than 100 nights of leftists burning down businesses this summer. Other cities had almost as much destruction. But the media would rather focus on one day when some Trump supporters wrongly entered the Capitol, did some destruction and a few lives were lost in the chaos. They didn’t even burn the Capitol down, but the media act as though January 6th was the day the Right tried to start a revolution, and overthrow the federal government. I think if the Right wanted to overthrow the government, they would bring at least one gun, wouldn’t they?

      • The fact that the American Left controls both the Executive Power of prosecution and the narratives of the Anti-American Media is most troubling. It is a fearsome combination.

        With this combination, the American Left can target just about anyone who falls on their radar as an opponent or as a political sacrificial victim. The Left eagerly exploited the death of George Floyd to push their agenda. This put Derek Chauvin on their radar. We are seeing the results in action. They are going their utmost to send Chauvin to prison for the rest of his life. They have a team of a dozen or so high-priced lawyers doing a tag team match on the single lawyer that is defending Chauvin. Plus, they pillory Chauvin in the media with hundreds of stories indicating his guilt. Does anyone really think that Chauvin is truly being afforded a “Fair Trial”? Do you?

        Recently, they sent their team of Federal Prosecutors and Media attack dogs after Rep. Matt Gaetz. They have tarred him with a sex scandal.

        Now, I don’t know if Rep. Gaetz is lily-white innocent or not. I do know that he is supposed to be entitled to a “presumption of innocence”. He should not be tried in the press. I also know that Rep. Gaetz is a Republican and has been an opponent of the American Left. Which makes this recent attack on him very, very convenient for the Left. Doesn’t it, though?

        The fact is that the American Left has adopted the “politics of personal destruction” as a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). They can target just about anyone who gets in their way or who presents a favorable “Target of Opportunity”. Targets like Derek Chauvin or Kyle Rittenhouse who are not important (in themselves) but are only important for propaganda purposes. Or political targets like Rep. Gaetz and former President Donald Trump.

        No wonder that Republicans in Congress act like a bunch of cowards all the time. They ALL KNOW that if they make too much noise and become a bother to the American Left, they (and maybe their family, too) will be targeted for “Personal Destruction” by a combined Federal-Prosecution/Media-attack blitz job launched by the American Left. No wonder they run scared all the time and hide like a rabbit with the hawks flying overhead!

        The above dishonest and oppressive tactics, of the American Left, should convince anyone, who has neurons firing in their brain and who has not already been indoctrinated, that the Leftists are totalitarian oppressors. It is literally as “Plain as the Nose on your Face”!

      • Yes, and NOT ONE FIREARM has so far been confiscated on that day in the Capitol zone.NOT ONE.

        By the bye, I was near enough to Portland last weekend to have seen a news piece that the count in Portland is now above two hundred consecutive days of mayhem. Same old donnybrook at the Federal Courthouse, more fires, more windows busted, feewer arrests.
        I have long maintained that this will continue until the direct and immediate consequences to the destroyers provides more pain and inconvenience than their present success provides. I can think of one way to end that nonsense, but they won’t do it. My method will provide a total cure in less than three days, if fully carried out. But “the” prefer the mayhem.

      • TN_MAN,

        The Left has a lot of power, as you point out so well. Usually when you want to weaken an organization, there is some way to attack its funding. It would be so wonderful to de-fund the government, the media and the Left. Problem is, since they can print money, they probably don’t need the money they get from our taxes. Also, most people would be way too scared of the consequences if we were to ever try to stop paying our taxes.

        I don’t see one state governor who has the courage to stand up to the federal government, and simply say, “It is the job of the federal government to keep illegal aliens out, but since you are not doing that, we in the state of _______ will police our own border.”

        I wish President Trump would stand up and say, “Hey, all you Americans who want me to be President again, let’s start our own country.” Then watch the states who support Donald peacefully secede and form a new nation. Maybe call it The Constitutional States of America. But alas, I dream. I guess we are all communists now.

      • Roger:

        Don’t sweat it dude, we’re all comrades here in the Worker’s Paradise and I for one am proud to labor obediently and tirelessly for the benefit of Aunt Kamala and her cronies in the American In Name Only (AINO) aristocracy who rule wisely over us unworthy ignorant peasants. 😉

  13. The problem We the People face now is an unstoppable tyrannical government that controls every branch of government and every unconstitutional agency. The communist Democrats of course are in charge of the destruction now however when the socialist Republicans are in charge they are no better…even though those same socialist Republicans are introducing or reintroducing their unconstitutional and illegal gun control bills, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio just being two of them. The reason we are at this point is because the left loves and worships big tyrannical government and the right loves and worships their military and police…who enforce their unconstitutional and illegal laws. The 20th century should’ve taught Americans, the rest of the world uunderstands but still aren’t armed enough to make a difference, not to trust any government enforcement but here we are 100,000,000 million innocent lives less and the right loves to trust government enforcers. This is the government and domestic enemies our founding fathers warned us about. Law enforcement in America today are the domestic enemies and standing army our founding fathers warned us about. Our founding fathers would’ve been stacking tyrants by now while simultaneously causing a rope shortage. At this point is when the sheep on the right start defending tyrannical law enforcement who will unconstitutionally and illegally confiscate their firearms, Ruby Ridge and Waco should’ve also been a wakeup call but again nothing but more Stockholm Syndrome. The second amendment only works if you use it.
    R. McIsaac
    NYC Housing Police 1993-1995
    NYPD- After the hostile takeover to 1997

    • I have to call BS when you say, “Law enforcement in America today are the domestic enemies and standing army our founding fathers warned us about.”

  14. It’s telling that even in situations where return fire did not immediately end the killer, it overwhelmingly tends to end the killing.

    It gives me the impression that the most important factor in stopping an active shooting is someone else shooting back.

    • Sian,

      I believe I can give a real world example of what you wrote. I’m a little too lazy to go through Wikipedia this late at night, so I’ll just write from memory.

      In 1966 Charles Whitman took some firearms up to the tower at the University of Texas. Was it in Austin? Anyway, he was a skillful shooter, and killed people down below who were hundreds of yards away. Some private citizens got their rifles and returned fire, even though shooting from the ground up at a man on a tower is ridiculous. Nevertheless it worked. From that time on, Whitman had to stay away from the edge where he had been shooting. If I remember correctly, he never shot another victim, after the citizens began returning fire. They couldn’t hit Charles, but the harassing fire saved lives.
      Eventually two heroes ascended the tower and dispatched the goblin.

  15. We can thank “Mike the Bulldog” (just a suggested handle from here) Lindell for unearthing Dr. Douglas G. Frank’s decisive identification of a ubiquitous voting machine algorithm enabling a great nationwide 2020 election fraud. Even though we are well past the “safe harbor” date of electoral vote counts of 2020, the scientific certainty that significant election fraud occurred based on systemic, computer-based interpolation of data from the 2010 census with vote count manipulation throughout the 50 states will be impossible to ignore or cover up. At least two good things come from the revelations. One is a new estimate that Donald Trump got 80,000,000 votes and Joe Biden maybe 66,000,000. Secondly, that all states can be expected to require I.D.-verified in-person voting in the 2022 elections. Newly emerging honest social media and official reports of foreign collusion scandals involving corrupt “oligeeks” are eroding false news. Time now to ramp up appropriate corrective consequences for duplicitous and unrepentant frauds.

  16. Mas, I have my Concealed Handgun Permit in Boulder County and have shopped at that store frequently (very large, closer to Costco size). FYI, Colorado has no force of law behind a “no guns” signs so, as you know, it would merely be trespassing if your gun was spotted and you are asked to leave and refused. Boulder did try to ban a class of popular weapons and further restrict magazine capacity but the state preemption law defeated that nonsense. Open carry is banned in the city (I have no problem with that, dumb) but it wasn’t part of the lawsuit so has never been tested. Unfortunately, I’m quite sure the preemption law is on the chopping block and AR pistol bans are coming soon for Colorado.

  17. I’ve had to use that analogy before. The conversation went something like this: “Why do you carry a GUN? Are you a policeman?” (She knows that I’m not LE in any capacity.) My reply was, “No I’m not. And I’m not a firefighter either, but I have 3 fire extinguishers in my house, one in the garage and one in every vehicle. You have a fire extinguisher in your car, right?” As I suspected might be the case, her reply was, “No. That’s what 911 is for.” So I nodded and said, “OK, I see what’s going on here. You have been able to go through life pretty much unprepared, yet comfortable, knowing that people will always go out of their way to help you. That’s great! Good for you, really. But that hasn’t been my experience. You really shouldn’t project your life experience on to me. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s really unfair.” That gave her pause, but it didn’t really sink in, I don’t think. Unfortunately, sometimes logical arguments aren’t terribly effective when the opposition isn’t coming from a place of logic in the first place.

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