Category: Safety

From a friend:

Violent criminals and governments always keep and bear arms. Always.

They lose their ability to function if they do not retain the ability to project their will through the deliberate consolidation of the ability to administer violence.

Criminals, because they are lawless sociopaths, don’t fear their victims, the police, courts, or prison. – But they do fear armed prey.
Governments, because they must, through themselves, or through proxies, so that they can self-protect and ensure compliance with laws. – But they do fear an armed populace.

All disarmed / physically disadvantaged people – and nations – rely on others to project strength and the threat of violence to protect them. All of them, without exception.

The decentralized ability to administer violence at will is the coin of the realm. Without it, criminal savages ravage the defenseless. Governments oppress and subjugate the defenseless. The inarguable fact is, that when people do not have the civil right to protect themselves, they are subject to the whims of all those stronger than they are.

Whether or not this is done by criminals or the government is only a matter of scale. Knowing this, why would you allow yourself to be disarmed?

Modern High Technology™ strikes again.
AK & I have often observed that newer cars are actually computers that have 4 wheels, seats and let you drive them around.

Too many screens? Why car safety experts want to bring back buttons.

Over the past two decades, iPad-like touch screens in cars have evolved from a niche luxury to a pervasive industry standard. These often sleek, minimalist, in-car control panels offer drivers a plethora of features and customization. However, previous studies suggest these every-day conveniences may come at cost: more distracted drivers. Though regulators have spoken critically of in-car screens in the past, a prominent European safety monitor is going a step further and requiring physical buttons and knobs for certain commonly used driving features if car makers want to receive a top safety score.

Starting in 2026, according to The Sunday Times, the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) will only award its top safety rating to new vehicles that use old-fashioned buttons and levers to activate indicators, hazard lights, and other critical driving features. The new requirements could force automakers who use the safety rating as a selling point to reassess the amount of driving features they make accessible only through touch screens. Though these voluntary standards are limited to Europe, a battle over buttons is gaining momentum among drivers in the US as well.

Euro NCAP Director of Strategic Development Matthew Avery described the influx of potentially distracting in-car screens an “industry-wide problem” during  an interview with The Sunday Times.

“New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving,” he said.

What happened to all of the buttons and knobs?

Touch screens are ubiquitous in new cars. A recent S&P Global Mobility survey of  global car owners cited by Bloomberg estimates nearly all (97%) of new cars released after 2023 have at least one touch screen nestled in the cabin. Nearly 25% of US cars and trucks currently on the road reportedly have a screen at least 11 inches long according to that same survey. These “infotainment systems,” once largely reserved for leisure activity like switching between Spotify songs or making phone calls, are increasingly being used for a variety of tasks essential to driving, like flashing lights or signaling for a turn. Consumer Reports, which regularly asks drivers about their driving experience,  claims only around half of drivers it surveyed in 2022 reported being “very satisfied” with the infotainment system in their vehicles.

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Gun Control Advocates Urge Utah Gov. to Deny Funds to Train Teachers for Armed Classroom Defense

Gun control activists are urging Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) to reject a bill that would fund training for teachers who want to be armed for classroom defense.

The Associated Press reported that gun control activists gathered at the Utah State Capitol on Monday to pressure Cox to reject the funding bill.

On March 1, 2024, Breitbart News noted that two pieces of legislation — one aimed at arming teachers in particular and the second at allowing school employees other than teachers to be armed — passed the legislature and were headed to Cox’s desk.

The bill aimed at teachers puts in place funding to provide free training for teachers with concealed carry permits who want to be able to defend their students and themselves in the event of an attack.

Christy Belt, Timpanogos Academy fifth-grade teacher, engages in an exercise, designed to help teachers make good decisions in active shooter incidents, at the Utah County Sheriff’s Office shooting range on June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

The AP pointed out that legislation provides a “free…annual program training them to defend their classrooms against active threats and to safely store, carry, load and unload firearms in a school setting.”

The bill sponsor, State Rep. Tim Jimenez (R), responded to criticism by stressing that the goal of armed teachers is to provide a “strictly defensive” response to would-be school attackers.

Living With Them: Carrying your gun should be a natural and familiar thing to do.

As I got ready to go out this morning, I slipped on my canvas brush jacket and put on my silverbelly hat. And, as an integral part of my morning routine, I stuffed a Smith & Wesson 2 1/2-inch Model 19 into my belt. I got to thinking about the column that I wrote last week that included the admonishment to live with your defense guns and this compact revolver sure fit that bill.

Many moons ago, as a young peace officer, I discovered the Model 19 revolver and found that I shot it pretty well. I’ve never been without one since then and particularly get along well with the 2 1/2-inch version. A pair of them have lived with me for years, sporting pinned barrels, recessed cylinders, smooth magna stocks and grip adapters. Extra ammo is carried in HKS speed loaders and Bianchi speed strips.

Not being monogamous, I have also had a long-term relationship with the Commander-size 1911 pistol. One old friend is a Colt lightweight that has had Novak fixed sights added, with a gold bead in the front and a trigger job. The Colt also wears a set of custom silver stocks with my badge in the center of each panel. My newest is a Border Special from Nighthawk Custom which I had a hand in designing. It, too, wears combat fixed sights with a gold bead on the front sight.

Through the years, I’ve certainly shot and tested many defensive guns, revolver and semi-automatics, but these are the two designs that I always come back to for my personal use. They are like old friends, and we have seen some rough, dangerous times together. I give the revolvers the edge for accuracy while the Commanders get the nod as pure fighting guns.

I was fortunate to have had good advice from old Rangers, other lawmen and gunfighters not only about gun selection, but about using them when the chips were down. Col. Jeff Cooper’s teachings were also a great help. I tried to listen and remember when my elders were speaking.

It all comes together when you combine quality guns with the commitment to shoot them often and a lot. As time goes by, and it does take time, a fella will settle on guns that just suit him. The proof is in how accurately and how quickly one can get lead in the air.

I’m not, for one minute, suggesting that my choice should be your choice. Just know that the selection process takes time and commitment. Once you’ve been down that road, you’ll find that it’s hard to quit winners.

Gun-Free School Zones & Shootings Statistic (2024 Updated)

Report Highlights:

  • There have been 2,646 school shooting incidents in the U.S. since 1966. Of those, 2,205 (94%) occurred after the 1990 School Zone Safety Act (Amended in 1995). (Source)
  • There are 1,325 total State Gun Laws per this 2022 report. (Source)
  • The Federal government has been enacting Federal Firearm regulations since 1934.
  • The correlation between population density and school shootings is more profound in population density than in firearm legislation.
  • There is no standard “School shooting” definition in the U.S. The Secret Service defines targeted attacks, while most data includes incidents when a firearm is brandished, fired, or a bullet hits school property.
  • There were 238 school shooting incidents during the National Assault Weapons ban, 293 in the decade before, and 347 in the decade after.
  • 62% of school shootings (as defined) occurred during non-school hours (1970-2022).
  • Firearms were used in 61% of targeted school attacks, and 39% used knives between 2008 & 2017.

Firearm legislation for the past 80 years

On December 30, 1974, Anthony Barbaro walked into Olean High School in NY, killed 3 classmates, and injured 11 with a .30-06 rifle, 12 gauge shotgun, and smoke bombs. For more than 50 years, America’s school shootings have filled headlines around the world.

It’s tragic; people are tired of seeing the senseless loss of innocent lives in educational settings. Despite mounting gun control laws on the Federal and state level, school-related shootings continue to rise (2023 being the highest year yet, with 388 school shootings in only six months). Regardless of political affiliation or thoughts on well-regulated militias and the right to bear arms, one thing is clear; what we’ve been doing for the past forty years isn’t working.

Each school shooting incident in America reflects one thing, children are vulnerable. Schools tend to be easy targets while simultaneously producing mentally ill individuals with an unstoppable intent to harm others.

Unfortunately, we still have a lot to learn about school shootings. There are a lot of unanswered questions. But what we can do is investigate the changes between societal shifts and legislation over the years and spark meaningful conversations about stopping school shootings. Of course, the clock is ticking down to the next horrific headline, so we need to start these meaningful conversations now.

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Lawman Tactical offering course to teach women about gun safety and self-defense

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT)- Lawman Tactical Guntry Club is holding a new event to teach women about gun safety and self-defense.

The series, called ‘Women’s Wednesday,’ launched last week. The next session begins on March 13th. Women who attended the first session last week will spend the next couple of weeks practicing in the shooting range.

“I think that just knowing that I am capable as a woman of protecting myself and learning the correct way, when, how, and what to do is super important,” says Ginger Whitler.

Whitler says her husband offered to sign her up for the series as a birthday present. The first session was held in a classroom and started with the basics. Instructors say nearly a dozen women attended.

“Women can learn how to handle a gun, and what the parts of the gun are,” says Whitler.

Bryan Bishop owns Lawman Tactical and created the curriculum for the sessions.

“You know, learn how to hold a firearm, how to operate a firearm, and just get more comfortable with holding a firearm to protect their family,” Bishop says.

And the feedback was great, so we had to try it out for ourselves. Bishop taught us how to load and fire a gun.

Bishop says classes like these and self defense classes are needed now more than ever.

“We want to give women the confidence that they can protect themselves. We want to provide some realistic training, just for females. With hand-to-hand combat training, like learning how to defend themselves when someone is trying to choke or grab them and get away from that,” Bishop says.

More information about ‘Women’s Wednesday’ and self-defense classes can be found here

Georgia Bill Makes Property Owners Liable for Injuries in Gun-Free Zones

Georgia House Bill 1364 makes property owners liable if a legal concealed carrier is harmed while barred from being armed for self-defense on the owner’s property.

HB 1364 says, “Any lawful weapons carrier who is prohibited from carrying… and who is injured… shall have a cause of action against the person, business or other entity that owns or legally controls such property,” according to 11 Alive.

The bill is sponsored by State Rep. Martin Momtahan (R).

Momtahan explained his motivation for introducing the legislation.

He said, “All we want to make sure is, if you’re in the store or anywhere and it has a ‘no gun’ sign, then that store needs to understand they have absolute custodial care of that person [who’s denied the ability to be armed].”

The text of HB 1364 clarifies that any posting that bars legal gun owners from being armed for self-defense must be accompanied by signage that makes clear the land owner understands his custodial duties:

Any public notice posted on a property that includes language which provides that weapons are prohibited on such property shall also contain language citing this Code section and providing that any lawful weapons carrier who is prohibited from carrying his or her weapon, including a concealed weapon, while on such property shall be under the absolute custodial care of the person, business, or other entity that owns or legally controls such property.

 

Lakewood Church Shooting Bodycam Released

Bodycam footage from the Lakewood Church shooting shows multiple off-duty officers working on the church security team engaging a 36-year-old would-be mass murderer. The attacker, reportedly a Muslim transgendered woman named Genesse Moreno, brought a rifle with “Free Palestine” written on it.

Ultimately, the church security team shot and killed the woman, who was an illegal alien with a criminal history and mental problems.

Tragically, the social misfit terrorist also brought her 7-year-old son Samuel. He took a round to the head that was apparently fired from the security team.

While it’s always easier to Monday morning quarterback a dangerous situation after the fact, particularly if you weren’t the one in the middle of the fire fight, there are some takeaways every police officer, security team member and, simply put, gun owner who carries a gun for self defense can walk away from after watching the video of the attack and ensuing shootout at Lakewood Church. In the videos released, it appears at least one of the Houston cops did not quite rise to the level of training needed to handle such a situation. Far from it. Specifically, the bodycam from “Officer Moreno” (yes, the officer shared the same last name as the shooter) showed a poorly-trained officer struggling to properly hold his gun

Moreover, “Officer Moreno” didn’t exactly aggressively engage the perp. To the contrary, it was almost as if he was hiding from the homicidal attacker. His barricade tactics seemed nonexistent as well. He’s lucky he didn’t get killed.

You can watch for yourself.  Here’s the video on Twitter.

And YouTube:(age restricted)

On Finland’s new ranges, Puukko knives and Sisu

When Soviet Red Army troops poured across the Finnish frontier three months after the outbreak of World War II, Simo Häyhä, a farmer and member of Finland’s Civil Guard, laid down his pitchfork, picked up his M28-30 Mosin Nagant, jammed his Puukko knife in his belt and calmly went out to kill communists.

Häyhä shot more than 540 Red Army troops in just three months — most using iron sights — becoming the most successful sniper in history. Häyhä survived the Winter War, died at the age of 96 and remains one of Finland’s most celebrated national heroes.

Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä is credited with killing more than 540 Soviet troops during the Winter War of 1939-1940.

Today, Finland maintains a tradition of arms seldom seen outside of the United States. There are approximately 1.5 million registered firearms, but it is estimated there are about the same number of unregistered firearms, which were secretly cached after World War II and the Winter War. The Finns cannot afford to be disarmed, which even their government understands. Their country of 5.6 million people shares an 830-mile border with Russia, which has a population of 143 million, so the Finns can never stop preparing to fight the Russian Bear.

Tensions escalated last year after Finland joined NATO. Russian saw this as a threat and vowed to retaliate. The government in Helsinki took this very seriously. Unlike the Biden-Harris administration, which views law-abiding American gun owners as a threat, Finland incorporates armed civilians into its national defense strategy, so they decided to boost civilian firearm training to help counter the latest Russian threat.

According to the Guardian, the Finnish Defense Forces started by building 300 additional shooting ranges to “encourage more citizens to take up the hobby in the interest of national defense.”

“The present government aims to increase the amount of shooting ranges in Finland from roughly 600-700 up to 1,000. This is because of our defense model, which benefits from people having and developing their shooting skills on their own,” Jukka Kopra, a Minister of Parliament who chairs the country’s defense committee told the British newspaper. A government spokesman added that the new construction will include “rifle” and “tactical” ranges.

Takeaways

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How is American Freedom Too Sensitive for Public Spaces?

If a freedom-loving NRA member from, say, 1994, had been able to look into a crystal ball and see 30 years forward to today, they’d no doubt be pleased and perhaps a bit jealous, but also a little perplexed.

They’d notice the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in D.C. v. Heller (2008), McDonald v. Chicago (2010) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which together decree that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right. It protects each law-abiding citizen’s right to own and carry firearms for self-defense and for other legal purposes. They’d be pleased to see this.

They’d notice the massive expansion of constitutional carry, the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005 and the huge growth in gun ownership and of concealed carry in general and, again, they’d be pleased.

They’d see all the new and useful carry options in handguns, holsters and more and would likely be a little jealous.

Indeed, they’d marvel at the renaissance for this freedom.

But they’d also shake their heads and clench their fists at the endless, and often novel, attacks from gun-control proponents on our Second Amendment rights.

And then, finally, they’d have to be perplexed as they wondered what this “sensitive-places” thing is all about.

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The Age of Lawlessness

Violent crime peaked in 1993 within the United States. Since then, it has trended downward due in great part to the “broken windows” style, proactive police work, video surveillance everywhere, and the increase of concealed carriers. In 2020, the year of the Covid 19 lockdowns, crime spiked again in the wake of the rioting surrounding a particular incident of police action.

What has followed since is an increase in lawlessness. The combination of police being afraid to do their jobs due to progressives seeking to prosecute them even when they do everything right, along with progressive prosecutors who confuse justice reform with simply not prosecuting violent offenders, has led to a complete breakdown of law and order in urban areas.

Police retirement is at an all-time high, and recruitment is at an all-time low. The movement to defund and hamstring police while simultaneously not prosecuting violent offenders is a social suicide pact that is gleefully embraced by large cities, so here we are.

For many years, the leaders in the self-defense community have warned, “You are on your own; nobody is coming to save you.” While it has always been true in the sense that the police simply cannot arrive on time to stop an in-progress assault, now it is quite literally true that police may never come at all. Response times are at a low, and many departments are running on skeleton crews, so depending on where you live, you may get no response, no matter what the situation is.

Ironically, most who have driven this political agenda of defunding the police are also entirely on board with civilian disarmament. Make no mistake, this faction wants you unarmed and helpless and wants to ensure that there are no police to protect you either, from the criminals that they intentionally set loose on your streets.

Those who support such policies remain willfully foolish until the point that their own door gets smashed in or they get carjacked, personally, even though they think such things only happen on the other side of town, not in their gentrified neighborhood.

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Concealed Carry Crime Stats 2024: The Impact of Permitless Carry on Crime in the U.S.

Report Highlights

  • There are 26 states with permitless concealed carry freedoms
  • Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of firearm-related homicides even though it has strict carry laws
  • 83% of states with permitless concealed carry have a homicide rate at or below the national average
  • 45% of states with no permitless concealed carry laws have homicide rates above the national average
  • 3 out of 5 of the safest five states in the U.S. have permitless concealed carry
  • 2 out of 5 of the top five most dangerous states in the U.S. have permitless concealed carry, and 3 out of 5 require permits for concealed carry
  • 84% of states have a lower violent crime rate in 2022 than they did before permitless concealed carry

Concealed Carry Crime Stats

In 2024 there are several states with open carry and permitless concealed carry laws.

However, there isn’t a positive correlation between permitless carry and criminality.

The following sections explore crime rates and homicides in states with and without permitless concealed carry laws.

States with Concealed Carry vs. Permit Required

State laws vary widely regarding when and how citizens can carry a concealed firearm.

Twenty-six U.S. states have permitless concealed carry, and Mississippi has some limitations regarding which calibers and how citizens can carry without a permit. However, nineteen states and Washington D.C. require permits for concealed carry of firearms.

Does Concealed Carry Reduce Crime

One of the more pressing questions about crime in the U.S. is whether permitless concealed carry reduces violent crimes and homicides. Unfortunately, we don’t have the data to support a conclusion on the subject.

However, several states with permitless concealed carry have lower crime rates today than they did before the passage of these new laws. Moreover, you’ll find the states with the highest and lowest crime rates have varying concealed carry laws.

By definition, only twenty-six states allow citizens to conceal carry firearms without a permit. Other states implement restrictions on how one can carry a firearm, and others require training and permits for any carry (open or concealed).

Moreover, it’s important to note that permitless concealed carry laws do not make it easier to obtain a firearm. Although state laws vary, Federal laws restrict certain individuals from purchasing and possessing firearms nationwide (even if purchased from private sellers).

States with Concealed Carry vs Permit Required

There isn’t a strong correlation between concealed carry rights and crime.

Concealed Carry Reduces Crime Stats

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Attack and Defense
Thoughts on a 10/7 style attack on America

So I just finished Kurt Schlichter’s new novel, The Attack.  It’s a fictionalized account of an October 7 style attack that takes place on a large scale in the United States.  It’s also a warning.

A person wearing a head scarf Description automatically generated

In essence, Iranian terror experts use America’s open southern border to slip in thousands of Islamist fanatics, sleeper cells who are primed to attack specified targets on command.  The terrorists don’t know their targets until the last minute, when they get guns, ammunition, and directions.  They also don’t know that they’re part of a massive effort.  This means that if they turn, or are caught, as a few do or are, they can’t give anything away.  They have minimal training, basically how to lay low, and to shoot guns and throw grenades.  They’re also equipped with web-linked cameras to stream their attacks, and the atrocities – rape, torture, etc. – that they perpetrate on their victims.  Also meth to pump them up for the attacks.

When the day comes, they attack public places, schools, the Atlanta Zoo, and so on.   The next day, with the overstretched police trying to protect public places and ordering people to shelter in their homes, they go after suburban neighborhoods, again placing torture, rape, and dismemberment videos online.  On the third day, the remaining terrorists attack infrastructure targets – substation transformers, oil refineries, etc.

The result is a six-figure civilian casualty list, massive economic disruption, and political turmoil.  The terrorists’ goal of cowing the United States into isolationism fails, however, in dramatic fashion.   The entire novel is written as an oral history from numerous viewpoints, including the terrorists and their leftist American sympathizers.

It’s a gripping story, and an unfortunately plausible cautionary tale.  How likely is it to happen?

Probably the biggest impediment to something like this happening in America is the aftermath of the 10/7 attacks on Israel.  Atrocities didn’t cow the Israelis, but angered them. Other nations, even many of those that the Palestinians of Hamas generally looked to for support, turned against them.  Hamas leaders are being targeted and killed, Hamas backers know they aren’t safe, and the Israelis simply continue to grind away, four months after the attacks happened.

And everyone knows that the consequences of an attack on the United States would likely be worse.

Or maybe not.  Our current president is senile and inept, our vice president is just inept – though neither Kamala nor Biden is named in the book, Schlichter’s version of Harris’s response to the attacks is picture perfect, an incomprehensible word salad that causes Americans to lose faith in her entirely.  The President and VP wind up being replaced by the unnamed Speaker of the House, who brings the hammer down.  (I was at a luncheon Friday with Speaker Mike Johnson and didn’t get to speak to him – we had to leave early – but I was going to tell him that his role in the line of succession is probably more important for the remainder of this year than it usually would be.  I did notice that there was a lot more security than I had seen at similar events in the past).

Okay, I said it was a cautionary tale, but once cautioned, what should we do?

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it’s always the same old tired, worn out ‘objections’ that have never happened.

Nebraska Legislators consider bill to alter self-defense laws

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – On Thursday the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard testimony on a proposal that would allow the use of force to defend yourself or someone else from serious harm without the “duty to retreat”—that is, the requirement for you to first try to leave the situation and go to safety, if possible.

It would also give you immunity from prosecution for using that justifiable force.

“I’ll address the first point of the bill removing the duty to retreat from our state laws,” said Sen. Brian Hardin, who proposed the bill. “Bills similar to this are often referred to as stand your ground laws.”

Hardin said this would provide an avenue to ensure that an individual who is already a victim of a crime and had to use force as self-defense is not also “victimized by the legal system.”

Supporters said it’s not just related to firearms.

“Whether armed or unarmed, the idea that citizens are required to endanger themselves by turning their backs and running away from a clear-and-present danger is nonsensical, especially when you understand the remainder of our self-defense statutes,” said Patricia Harrold, who is the Nebraska director of Women for Gun Rights.

Opponents said that’s not an accurate portrayal.

Under current state law you are not required to retreat first if you’re in your home or workplace.

“Traditional self-defense laws, like Nebraska’s, do not prohibit a person from using deadly force if they believe it’s necessary to protect against serious harm,” said Alison Shih, legal counsel for the gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety. “It merely requires a person to take an alternative course of action when they are in a threatening situation outside of their home, if they know that they can safely do so.”

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine also worries about the repercussions it could have when dealing with criminals.

“We have gang problems in Omaha at times,” Kleine said. “I’m worried about a gang involved with another gang and using this defense saying, ‘Well, I had to use deadly force because I thought this other gang member was going to draw it out on me, and so I shot.’

“So there’s all sorts of consequences for this that I think are unintended.”

Hardin disputed other critics, saying it would not give someone “a license to kill.”

His proposal first has to make it out of the Judiciary Committee before it can be debated on the floor.

Once again, experience is the best teacher, and the best experience is someone else’s.

Once Again, The Israel-Hamas War Shows the Futility of Gun Control

Last year, I wrote an article exploring some practical lessons from the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza strip. The biggest thing was that, as usual, a country had slid into anti-gun complacency. Everyone thought that it was somebody else’s job to protect people, so targets of all kinds were left vulnerable.

But, this time, the tables have turned. An Israeli operation at a hospital in the West Bank managed to drive the point home yet again. Instead of Hamas proving that gun control is worthless, Israel waltzed right into a hospital and proved it again.

I don’t bring this raid up because I want to comment on whether it was wrong or right to do this. Some people are saying they violated international law. Others are saying this was just a police action within their own borders to take out a threat that was using the hospital as a human shield. Everyone is entitled to either of those opinions or any other.

Instead, I want to take a look at the security situation in that hospital and compare it to most any hospital in the United States. Are there metal detectors at the doors? No. Are there armed guards who would stop people from simply walking right in with a rifle? Nope. Are there police there? Also, a big no in most places. The only thing stopping people from simply walking right in and doing whatever they want with a rifle is them choosing not to.

Sure, in many places, hospitals are off-limits to guns by some legal means or other. In this case, there may be some international agreement or something prohibiting soldiers from going in. In the case of U.S. hospitals, it’s often a sign that any private property owner can post prohibiting guns. In some jurisdictions, there’s a law on the books specifically banning guns from all hospitals.

But, do those signs have some magical quality that zaps guns into oblivion as the person carrying them crosses the threshold? Definitely not. The only thing that can stop people from hiding a rifle under a coat or in a violin case is someone who both physically checks everyone for guns and has the means to stop people should they reveal a gun and use it. Clearly this hospital (like almost all others) doesn’t have either of those things.

At the end of the day, a mixture of people’s goodness and people prepared to deal with those devoid of goodness is what keeps people safe. There are very few people who would enter a hospital with a gun and the intent to harm people. The rest of us either don’t carry a gun in or don’t do anything evil with it. For the rare person who isn’t good, there needs to be a good person (or multiple good people) ready to step in and stop bad things from happening.

In this particular hospital, the opposite was true. Instead of having good guys with guns, they were hiding bad people with guns. The Israelis, like this or not, went in there and took care of the problem before these guys could hurt any more innocent people.

Why Self-Defense Is The Only Type Of Violence The Left Won’t Endorse

After years of anti-cop rhetoric, violence is out of control in America’s cities. Smash and grabs, sidewalk attacks and old ladies being mugged in broad daylight — all just factored into the cost of living a metropolitan lifestyle. But these are not simply passive inevitabilities that somehow come to pass. They are active policy choices of a revolutionary left, firmly in control of every major city, that sees violence as a tool toward its political aims. In fact, there is only one type of violence the left will not condone — and the key to understanding it lies in these political aims.

The radical left may talk often of high-minded goals, but their ultimate goal is to eradicate hierarchy — the central push of the “equity” agenda. All must be made equal in order for all to be equally free. For classical liberals, this meant equal treatment under the law, unaffected by circumstances of birth. Yet for the radical outgrowth, this now means leveling all aspects of genuine human diversity. However, they do not truly seek egalitarian reforms, but merely to rejigger any form of traditional hierarchy (much of which had already been dismantled by their liberal forebears) and instead place themselves at the top. So the attack on hierarchy really becomes a spiteful, resentful attack on any form of tradition. This is the true nature of the radical left.

Traditional morality posits that the criminal is the “oppressor” of the “victim,” whom he victimizes with his crime. This has been the basis of virtually every legal system throughout human history. Yet radical left morality flips this notion on its head. The new “victim” becomes the criminal himself, victimized by the injustices of a hierarchical society that drives him to desperation: the thief stealing to feed his family or violence as the “language of the unheard.” The person on the receiving end becomes merely a casualty in the putsch to upend traditional morality, while the priests of the new morality consolidate their right to rule.

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Living with a gun

I never wanted a gun. There are days when I forget I have it, locked up in a smart safe under a pile of clothes in a dresser. I still take it out to the range about once a month, but I spend more time looking at its disassembled parts on the cleaning table — the harmless viscera of the killing machine — than aiming it at the target. At home, if I pick it up, I just hold its slick black body in my hand, fingers wrapped around the grip. It doesn’t feel as heavy as I thought a gun would be — 20 ounces. The weight of a Bible. Or, perhaps, of two human hearts. I put it back in the safe, cover the safe with jeans. But I can’t hide the unease I feel — or is it shame? — about living with a gun in America.

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Actually it’s a ‘power’ as people have rights.

Former Arizona AG: States have constitutional right to self-defense

Former Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich again on Tuesday argued the constitutional authority given to states for self-defense.

Brnovich testified at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing addressing the issue after being the first and only state attorney general to issue a formal legal opinion that defines an invasion and lays out the constitutional authority of states’ self-defense.

Other testimony was presented by representatives of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and the ACLU.

Brnovich’s testimony reiterated arguments from his legal opinion defining an invasion and Arizona’s right to self-defense under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

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