Category: Safety

Good Guys with Guns

Good Guys with Guns highlights self-defense stories where people used a firearm to defend themselves and others from violent criminals and the impact it had on their lives. The book also discusses the debate over the right to keep and bear arm

excerpt:
Here’s a challenge. Using your favorite Internet search engine, type in the words “No charges were filed” and see what happens. When the authors did this as part of our research, using Google we were advised that there were 925 million results.

Or try “No charges were filed in shooting” and one will find a more modest 30 million references. Even considering that there will be a multitude of repeat reports dealing with the same incidents, you are still talking about millions of self-defense uses of firearms. Some of these cases are intriguing and involve armed private citizens, while many involve police officers shooting suspects.

Young People Of Color Are The Most Frequent Victims Of Gun Homicides

Researchers at Boston University:
Gun control laws will not solve the problem, but we suggest more gun control laws anyway.
Ever hear of ‘Cognitive Dissonance‘? This is an example.

Overall crime in the United States has been declining since the early 1990s. But the same cannot be said for gun violence, which has seen a slight uptick in recent years. A new report from Boston University found that uptick has been led by an increase in homicides of young people — particularly of young black and Hispanic men.

Gun Violence Is A ‘Complicated Problem’

Researchers at Boston University, led by Dr. Bindu Kalesan, looked at national gun violence data from 1999 to 2016. From 1999 to 2014, gun violence rates stayed steady. But after 2014, there were increases in rates of both fatal and non-fatal firearm related injuries.

The research showed many differences in how gun violence affected communities. For example, the rates of suicide were high for white men, while black men were more likely to be victims of homicide.

Kalesan believes the problem of gun violence is a complicated one and can’t be solved with sweeping legislation.

She says it’s key we “understand the communities and provide interventions, which are specific for that community,” Kalesan said, “rather than passing some strange law like a bump stock ban.”

A Patchwork Of Laws

Kalesan found that even in states that had passed gun control legislation, mortality rates kept rising. She believes this is partially due to a lack of community resources but also because states across the country have different gun control laws.

“We need something at the national level — the federal level — which is very restrictive to be able to make anything effective in any state,” Kalesan said. “And we haven’t done that yet!”

Kalesan argues that a law like a universal background checks would address some of the problems that affect homicide rates and the trafficking of illegal guns. But without it, background checks in states don’t make much of a difference to homicide rates because guns can be trafficked from states with less restrictive gun laws into states with more restrictive laws.

In one Ohio county, teachers now carry guns in 5 school districts

This year, school boards at Garaway Local Schools and Claymont City Schools approved the safety measure. They join Newcomerstown Exempted Village Schools, which started arming staff members in 2013, Indian Valley Local Schools (2017) and Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools (2018).

As 2019 draws to a close, the number of school districts in one northeastern Ohio county that have authorized staff members to carry guns on school property has grown to five.

This year, school boards at Garaway Local Schools and Claymont City Schools approved the safety measure. They join Newcomerstown Exempted Village Schools, which started arming staff members in 2013, Indian Valley Local Schools (2017) and Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools (2018). All are in Tuscarawas County.

Newcomerstown Superintendent Jeff Staggs continues to believe it’s a good idea.

“When seconds count in responding to a dangerous event, the faster the event is stopped more students and staff stay alive,” he said. “I’m still in favor of a highly trained armed staff along with multiple other layers in the school safety plan.

“We continue to train and tweak our school safety plan to meet the new issues that schools face every year. The sheriff’s office has been a huge help in our training program with our journey to get better at school safety.”

Garaway Superintendent James Millet agreed.

“I still think this is a valuable decision to protect Garaway students and staff,” he said. “At Garaway Schools, the safety of each and every child within this community is our district’s highest priority. We are continually examining safety measures for our school district and looking for ways to improve.

“We believe that armed staff is one way to provide a quick response and opportunity to protect people in an attack.”

He said the decision has been well-received at Garaway.

“There is not one perfect solution, but we will try to address all aspects of safety with vigor,” Millet said. “We will be adding a safety dog in January. This will provide another way to respond to an attack as well as prevent an attack by identifying weapons before they enter our school.”

A recent report by the Associated Press raised questions about the safety of arming teachers.

Experts say anyone carrying guns, including teachers, needs ongoing, intensive training to be able to handle their firearms proficiently and respond appropriately in stressful settings — and many law enforcement officers don’t even get that.

“The idea that anybody can go to Joe Smith’s School of Shooting for a day or a week and become proficient at shooting a handgun in a life-and-death situation is a little bit absurd,” Doug Tangen, firearms program manager at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the state police academy, told the AP.

Shooting a gun requires psychomotor skills that must be practiced over and over, he said.

Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell said he believes that area educators who have been armed have the training and skills necessary to keep everyone safe.

Teachers there have gone through FASTER training, provided by the Buckeye Firearms Association. FASTER stands for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response.
<
Police officers who go to a police academy receive 60 hours of training on firearms, and two days of that is in the classroom, Campbell said. By comparison, area teachers have been given three separate weeks of training.

“I put guys through one of them, and it’s very good,” he said.

“All of them are qualifying at at least the same level as every peace officer (in Ohio), and all of them have kept up so far,” Campbell said.

The staff members are required to keep their gun on their person at all times. They are not allowed to talk about it, and they’re not allow to show their weapon, even to other teachers.

He noted that all of the districts have given his office the ability to say two things — that a staff member cannot carry now because that person is not ready, and that a staff member cannot carry at all because the sheriff’s office doesn’t think the person is skilled enough.

The sheriff said arming staff is a good idea because it’s rare to hear about a teacher running away when there is a shooting.

Violent Crime Dropped In 2018 As States Embraced Pro-Gun Policies

The FBI’s 2018 “Crime in the United States” report collected crime data from law enforcement agencies across America. From the looks of it, the news is good.

The FBI highlights that “[In 2018] violent crime offenses decreased when compared with estimates from 2017. Robbery offenses fell 12.0 percent, murder, and non-negligent manslaughter offenses fell 6.2 percent, and the estimated volume of aggravated assault offenses decreased 0.4 percent.”

The report noted that violent crime rates bottomed out in 2014 to their lowest point since 1970. Furthermore, the 2018’s violent crime rate was the third-lowest since 1970.

During the last three decades, America has experienced significant changes in its gun laws throughout the country. Curiously, the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004, which many predicted would lead to bedlam in the streets. The data proved this wrong when the FBI noted that murder rates went down by 3.6 percent from 2003 to 2004, contrary to people’s fears.

However, most of the change regarding gun policies took place in state legislatures. While some states tightened up their gun control, others relaxed gun restrictions and even implemented policies such as Constitutional Carry — which allow law-abiding Americans to carry firearms without having to obtain a government permit. Increased carry has continued into the present.

A study on the number of concealed-carry permit holders released by gun expert John Lott indicated that “In 2019, the number of concealed handgun permits soared to now over 18.66 million—a 304 percent increase since 2007. About an 8 percent growth over the number of permits since 2018.” Additionally, per capita, gun ownership increased by 56 percent from 1993 to 2013. If we had taken the media at their word, we would have expected gun crime to skyrocket. Nevertheless, gun crime continued to plummet according to the FBI, which highlighted a 49 percent decrease.

Conventional rifles like the AR-15 have been largely demonized in recent years, being portrayed as a frequently used tool for carrying out attacks. As usual, the data contradicts media assumptions. For starters, AR-15s only accounted for 173 deaths in mass shootings from 2007 to 2017. Whereas, rifles of all categories were involved in 439 deaths on an annual basis. Putting this in perspective, rifles constituted 2 percent of homicides in 2018. On the other hand, knives (11 percent), hands, fists, and feet (5 percent) and blunt instruments (3 percent) were used in more homicides than rifles.

It’s safe to say that the current gun violence debate is mostly based on hysterics and not a careful analysis of the facts. Stripping the rights of millions of law-abiding gun owners is both unethical and an invitation for criminals to prey on victims whom they know will be defenseless.

Indeed, there’s gun violence in many of America’s urban centers. Solving the problem does not require implementing gun control of any type. More local forms of policing – that target areas where criminals tend to cluster and renewed civic engagement – will do much more to stop crime than passing new gun control laws. If the political circumstances permit it, many of these areas should entertain the idea of making it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry firearms.

No matter how we slice it, increased legislation is not the quick fix to gun violence problems in America.

2019 Was a Bad Year for the “Only Cops Should Have Guns” Narrative

On December 29, an armed gunman entered the West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas and shot two members of the congregation. Within six seconds, a third member of the congregation drew a weapon and shot the gunman dead.

The events were captured on live-streamed video, with the dramatic events — in the minds of many observers — highlighting the benefits of privately owned firearms as a defense against armed criminals. Moreover, the gunman, who had a criminal history, obtained his gun illegally, and demonstrated one of the central pitfalls of the gun-control narrative: namely, that those with criminal intent are not easily restrained by laws controlling access to firearms.

Nonetheless, many media outlets were unable to bring themselves to admit that privately owned firearms in this case were the key to preventing a wider massacre. After all, had the congregation waited around for the police to arrive, it is unknown how effective a police response could have been. Nor is it clear that had the police arrived quickly, they would have immediately engaged the shooter or even engaged the right person.

These considerations were not sufficient to divert many media observers from their insistence that private gun ownership is unhelpful in situations like these. Both government agents and their media boosters continue to insist that even well-meaning ordinary citizens ought not be trusted with firearms and that what is really needed are “experts” with government-approved police training.

Elvia Diaz at the Arizona Republic demonstrated this premise well when she wrote:

The reality of Wilson’s heroism is a lot more complex. He wasn’t just an ordinary parishioner, as gun advocates may want you to believe. The church’s volunteer security team member is a firearms instructor, gun range owner and former reserve deputy with a local sheriff’s department, according to a New York Times detailed account.

In other words, he’s exactly the kind of man you want around with a firearm. But we know nothing about the at least six other parishioners who also appeared to draw their handguns at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas.

And that’s terrifying.

To many people who aren’t left-leaning journalists, it is hardly “terrifying” that some other private citizens of unknown expertise were armed in the congregation. After all, these people never fired a shot once they saw the shooter had been incapacitated. None of them provided any reason to suspect they pose any risk to anyone else.

On the other hand, 2019 has provided plenty of reminders of what sort of “expertise” and heroism government-provided security forces offer.

In the spring of 2019, the parents of victims of the Parkland school shooting sued the Broward County school board and the sheriff’s office for failing to take timely action against the school shooter who killed seventeen people at the school in February 2018. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, police officers repeatedly sought to protect themselves rather than the victims in the school. An analysis of communications among law enforcement officers at the site of the massacre confirmed there were “at least two times a Broward deputy urges another officer to protect themselves, not confront the killer.”

Meanwhile, 2019 provided reminders that police officers will shoot citizens dead in their own homes for no justifiable reason, as was the case with Atatiana Jefferson on October 12. According to multiple accounts the shooter — a now former cop named Aaron Dean — entered Jefferson’s private property unannounced in the middle of the night. He peered into Jefferson’s windows, and within seconds, the officer had shot Jefferson dead. Jefferson had been playing video games with her nephew.

Also, in October, former police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to ten years in prison for unlawfully shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment. At the time, Guyger was a police officer returning home from work. She illegally entered the wrong apartment and promptly shot Jean — the unit’s lawful resident — dead.

If there is anything that ought to be “terrifying” to ordinary Americans, it is not the idea that some law-abiding citizens might be carrying firearms. The far more terrifying thought is the knowledge that some police officers are so eager to murder residents in their own living rooms.

More Guns, More Crime?

These facts will no doubt fail to derail the usual media narrative that there are too many guns and that the police — the same people who shoot residents in their homes or cower behind cars when faced with real danger — will ensure public safety through weapons prohibitions and by generally “keeping us safe.”

Fortunately, the facts certainly offer little to support the idea that more legal gun ownership is a problem in terms of homicides.

According to 2019’s gun manufacturing data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), total gun production and importation in the US has increased significantly over the past twenty years. If we look at total guns produced in the US (not counting those exported), added to total guns imported, we find that new gun production increased from around 4.5 million in 1998 to more than twelve million in 2017.1 Over that same period, homicide rates decreased from 6.3 per 100,000 to 5.3. In fact, after years of rising gun production, the US homicide rate fell to a fifty-year low in 2014. This correlation doesn’t prove more guns reduce crime, of course. But this relationship strongly suggests that the benefits of increased gun ownership — namely greater self-defense capability on the part of private citizens — are greater than the potential costs.

batf

Moreover, new data on homicides released in September 2019 shows the homicide rate in the US has fallen two years in a row since 2016, and is nearly down to half of the national homicide rates reported during the early 1990s.

Many states with weak gun-control laws are also among the states with the lowest homicide rates. For instance, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine — all of which have few gun restrictions — report remarkably low homicide rates. Other gun-permissive states like Utah, Iowa, and South Dakota all have homicide rates comparable to Canadian provinces, although we’re told Canada only has low homicide rates because of gun restrictions. Clearly there’s more behind the reality of violent crime than is suggested by the usual “more gun control means less crime” claims.

Many anti–private gun ownership activists continue to insist that only police officers and other government personnel ought to be carrying firearms, and that the police will protect the people from violent criminals. Yet, it’s unclear why the public ought to accept this rather strained claim. In 2019, police were repeatedly shown to endanger the public while pursuing their own safety. Meanwhile, the end of the year brought another case of private gun owners stopping a murderous gunman far more effectively than police ever could have. Nor was the Texas church case the only notable example we can recall this year. It is entirely possible, of course, that cases like these are not typical or representative examples of police behavior or what happens when armed criminals attack innocents. But there’s no denying the optics this year were bad for the pro-gun-control side. Faced with the choice of owning a gun for protection or trusting in police for protection, many apparently continue to choose the former.

  • 1.The BATF statistics exclude guns produced for military use but include guns used by civilian police forces. However, total police force weapons are estimated to total only one million. According to American Military News (quoting the Small Arms Survey) “the U.S. military holds about 4.5 million guns, and state and local police have just over 1 million.” See https://americanmilitarynews.com/2018/06/us-civilians-own-400-million-guns-compared-to-militarys-4-5-million-survey-shows/.

The Stats on Self-Defensive Gun Use Liberals Don’t Want You To See

Last Sunday Millions of Americans watched the video of an armed parishioner named Jack Wilson taking down a shooter just seconds after he opened fire. Two were killed, but an untold more would’ve been massacred had the attendees been unarmed as sitting ducks. At least seven people had firearms on them, enabled by a law that took effect in September allowing Texans to carry their firearms in church.

It’s not uncommon to hear liberals argue that guns never prevent mass shootings – and that is partially accurate, but not for the reason they think. A mass shooting is defined as one where four or more people are killed. Thanks to Wilson, this shooting didn’t progress to meet the definition of a mass public shooting in the first place.

It’s thanks to what has become a viral video that we can see  armed resistance preventing a tragedy from worsening, and the frequency in which guns are used in self defense is more than implied by what the media reports.

The estimates very across studies between as few at 100,000 self defensive gun uses (SDGUs) per year to millions due to methodological differences. However, simply taking an average number from the array of studies available would give us SDGU tally exceeding the use of firearms in crime.

To summarize a number of studies on the issue:

  • The National Crime Victimization Survey is administered twice a year by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and provides the most conservative estimate of SDGU at about 100,000 cases per year. Of note, the survey requires individuals to self-report to the federal government that they used a firearm in self-defense while providing their name and contact information. Most will be hesitant to do so for obvious reasons, so this estimate should be taken as the absolute minimum.
  • A 1994 survey conducted by Bill Clinton’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 500,000 times per year.
  • Obama’s CDC conducted a gun control study in 2013, finding that “Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million…”
  • Criminologists Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz published a study back in 1995 in which they found that gun use accounted more for defensive gun use than it did for criminal activity.” A literature review of thirteen studies in their paper provides a range of between 800,000-2.5 million SDGUs. A follow-on study in 1997 argues that that SDGU accounted for more than 80% of all gun use in America.
  • CDC survey data from the 1990s that was unpublished but accessed and analyzed in 2018 by Kleck implies roughly 1 million SDGUs per year.
  • According to the National Survey of Private Firearms Ownership, there are 1.5 million self-defensive gun uses every year.
  • According to a paper by David Kopel, Paul Gallant, and Joanne Eisen, “[F]irearms are used over half a million times a year against home invasion burglars; usually the burglar flees as soon as he finds out that the victim is armed, and no shot is ever fired,” and “Annually, three to six times as many victims successfully defend themselves with handguns as criminals misuse handguns (thus handguns do up to six times more good than harm).”

There are at least hundreds of thousands of SDGU per year – but don’t expect to hear about 99.99% of them in the mainstream media.

Alabama lawmaker prepares bill to allow deadly force in church for self-defense

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBMA) – A proposed new law aims to help protect places of worship in Alabama.

One state lawmaker says he’s preparing a bill to allow the use of deadly force in church for self- defense and the defense of others.

Rep. Lynn Greer (R- Rogersville) tells ABC 33/40 he expects this year’s bill to be similar to the one he filed the past two years. But he says this year he’s been working with the District Attorneys Association and the Attorney General’s Office to improve it.

Greer expects the bill to allow a person to use deadly physical force in self-defense or the defense of another if that force is used against an aggressor committing or attempting to commit a crime involving death, serious physical injury, robbery in the first degree, or kidnapping in the first degree on the premises of a church.

Greer expects his bill to include training from sheriff’s offices for church security members, and that it would provide immunity from criminal prosecution or civil action for a person using such deadly force.

Pastor Darryl Warren believes that bill could help, as he works on security for New Saint James Baptist Church in Birmingham.

“In church, it’s disheartening to know one day we may even need metal detectors in church, but this is where we’ve gotten and it’s disheartening to know someone would come into the church and do harm in God’s house but we live in a fallen world,” said Warren.

He has a eight person security team and nine cameras installed, monitoring inside and outside.

“A third phase might even be hired security if it comes to that and then having the sheriff’s department to come in and do some training as well,” he said. “So, we want to cover all the bases we can and make the members feel as secure as they can while they’re worshiping.”

Defense attorney Ben Preston believes the law already covers the church.

“I feel you have the right to defend yourself in certain situations no matter where you’re at,” he told us.

But says adding specific language could strengthen that.

He does have concerns about what the immunity would include and who would determine who and what qualifies.

“If they’re just going to give blanket immunity, it sounds like they would never be charged period,” he said. “Which would, then they’re not being charged, they’re not bonding out, they’re not having to wait for the stand your ground hearing, waiting for the judge to decide if they’re going to prosecute.”

Preston notes that we are still waiting for the bill to be released to read the exact language and learn what will be included in the immunity section.

Pastor Warren says immunity may offer assurance to his security team.

“That they are not going to be held liable for carrying out the act of defending someone in church,” he said. “So, if you have legislation to take care of that, it kind of removes the sense of- I’m worrying about if I do this, what’s going to happen to me.”

Greer got his bill through the House in 2018, but it died in the Senate.

If his bill does make it through the House in 2020, Senator Arthur Orr (R- Decatur) tells ABC 33/40 he plans to sponsor it in the Senate.

“We should help places of worship protect themselves,” Orr told ABC 33/40.

He says the state doesn’t need to encourage reckless behavior, but that he’s looking at what could be done to still add a layer of protection.

Orr added that he’s looking at what other states have passed, including Texas.

Indiana churches set up security teams after law changes to allow guns in church

Reading this, you’ll see there’s still a lot of “it surely couldn’t happen here” still going around. A man with a ‘background in law enforcement’ and graphic examples of every size of congregation having been attacked, and he still has some kind of philosophical problem with providing armed security? This is the delusional type that needs a ‘cluebat’ upside his head until he finally sees the way of truth & knowledge.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — It’s a debate that has sparked new legislation across the country—should people be allowed to carry guns in churches? Indiana State Senator Jack Sandlin says absolutely.

“We need to let everybody in Indiana know they have the right to protect themselves,” Sandlin said.

Sandlin authored legislation that was signed into law earlier this year.  It allows people to carry guns into church even if there’s a school or daycare on the property, which before the law, would have been considered a felony.

“I’ve had conversations with several different churches that have started to set up security teams within their churches as a result of the passage of the statute,” Sandlin said.

On Sunday at a church in Texas, a man pulled out a gun, and opened fire. He killed two people before a member of the church’s security team took out his own gun and killed the shooter with a single shot. Over 200 people were inside the church.

“If they hadn’t had an armed security team in the church, that could’ve gone on for a number of minutes, and then casualty count goes up pretty dramatically,” Sandlin said.

Incidents like this are why some local churches now put a priority on security.

Jack Dodd attends a small church near Kokomo. Dodd and his pastor recently went to an active shooter training. They have plans in place, but don’t yet have armed security.

“We have two individuals, myself and another individual, that sit in the back of the church always in the same spot, very near the door so that we can challenge anybody who walks in,” Dodd said.

Dodd has a background in law enforcement and says he has plenty experience handling firearms. However, he says he still has not decided to bring his gun to church.

“We are a small country church, and we have talked about that,” Dodd said. “We’ve been a little bit resistant to it because you just don’t feel like you need a weapon in church… but then you hear about these kind of situations that come up.”

Sandlin hopes this law will remind Hoosiers they can protect themselves in church, but he also warns that a trained security team may be the best way to protect the congregation.

“I wouldn’t recommend just telling people to bring their guns to church,” Sandlin said. “I think that you have to have a security survey, I think you have to have a plan and know how you’re going to respond.”

“Just having somebody with a firearm is not the answer,” Dodd said. “It must be trained individuals.”

If Jews want peace, they must prepare to defend themselves
“Si vis pacem, para bellum.”
If you want peace, prepare for war. —Roman proverb

According to CNN, the man suspected of stabbing Jews during a Chanukah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York was taken into custody with “blood all over him.” However, Pamela Geller has reported on Twitter what neither CNN nor any of the other anti-Semitic media outlets would dare to print: “Monsey Machete Assailant Is Recent Muslim Convert and May Be Linked to Another BRUTAL Synagogue Stabbing.” Likely, the man’s head was filled with verses from the Koran and the Sunna, like this one from Sahih Muslim 41:6981, 6983: “[A] stone says: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him!”

So why were there no defensive guns at the event, when there were reportedly 100 Jews at the rabbi’s Chanukah celebration? There certainly was armed defense present at a Christian worship service, in readiness for a possible attack, in Texas! This Chanukah season, an appropriate question may be this: “Why have Texas Christians acted more in line with the example of Judah Maccabee than New York Jews?”

“If someone comes to kill you, arise quickly and kill him.” —Talmud, Sanhedrin 1994,2,72a

It is more than a source of embarrassment to many Jews, this author included, that numerous Jewish political and religious leaders support victim disarmament laws, which go against long established Jewish laws, the most basic of which is the commandment to “choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Throughout Jewish history, there have been threats requiring armed defense to preserve the Jewish people and their religion. The biggest threat — from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich — has always come from the state and its representatives. It should not be lost on Jews that Joe Biden, about as devoted to state power as one can get, criticized Texas governor Greg Abbott for signing a bill that allows Texans to defend themselves against attack in their places of worship. Clear-headed Jews thank God that Donald Trump, perhaps the most philo-Semitic president of all time, is chief executive, rather than a statist Democrat, like Biden, who would disarm the people, allowing them to be murdered in their synagogues and churches, as well as in their own homes.

It is sad that so many Jews have forgotten their history and have chosen to put their trust in left-wing leaders who choose death over life (in the tradition of such Jewish leaders as Max Naumann and Hans Joachim Schoeps, in Hitler’s Germany). Jews must stop trusting in the government to protect them and, instead, need to take responsibility by invoking their Second Amendment right to self-defense. As the Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership (JPFO) so aptly put it, “[t]he main threat to Jews in America, as elsewhere, is a government ‘gone bad.’ Jewish ‘leaders’ who emphasize victimhood to unify Jews are misguided. Jewish ‘leaders’ could strengthen Judaism by teaching proper observance” of Jewish law.

“You shall not murder.” —Exodus 20:13

The above commandment does not prohibit the righteous taking of a human life, only the immoral taking of a human life. Properly translated, this negative commandment reads, “You shall not murder.” The positive corollary of this commandment would go something like this: “You shall use deadly force, if necessary, to protect innocent life.” Thus, all righteous citizens in a republic, to the greatest extent possible and appropriate, should possess the proper means by which to fulfill their shared obligation to defend the lives of their loved ones and fellow citizens.

“If a burglar be found breaking in, and be struck dead, it is not murder.” —Exodus 22:2

Jewish law has always required the active defense of every innocent life. According to God’s commandment, in Exodus 22:2, a thief should be proactively attacked, to defend against the deadly threat he poses. If the thief were to die of his wounds, the defender’s blood is not to be shed as a penalty for having justifiably taken the life of a criminal. A person who is capable of defending the innocent but chooses not to do so is guilty of a tremendous wrongdoing. Also, he who actively enables the deaths of others, by supporting government-sponsored victim-disarmament (AKA “gun control”), has blood on his hands — the blood of those wrongly murdered, with no chance of rightfully defending themselves against their criminal aggressors, be those assailants lone outlaws or state actors.

A government official’s breaking of his oath to defend the Constitution — which includes the Second Amendment — is a wicked deed, akin to endorsing the same types of fascist victim disarmament policies enforced by Hitler’s criminal gang of National Socialists.

Besides Joe Biden, another potential dealer of death on the national stage, in 2019, has been Governor “Blackface” Northam of Virginia. Northam is planning to arrest and incarcerate legal gun-owners, to further his unconstitutional — indeed, criminal — crackdown against law-abiding Virginians. This includes Jews, of course, who share the common desire with their fellow Virginians simply to live in peace. But with the police busy and, therefore, usually arriving too late to a crime scene to defend human life, firearms need to be available to ensure the security and tranquility of Jewish communities.

The old Roman idea “Si vis pacem, para bellum” remains true to this day. If Jews want peace, they must prepare to defend themselves.

 

California, With Strict Gun Controls, Had Most Mass Killings in 2019

A database compiled by the Associated Press (AP), USA Today, and Northeastern University recorded that the United States suffered more mass killings in 2019 than any year on record, with 41 recorded incidents and 211 deaths.

The AP report stated: “California, with some of the most strict gun laws in the country, had the most, with eight such mass slayings.”

A December 28 report from Breitbart noted that California has universal background checks, gun registration requirements, gun confiscation laws, a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases, an “assault weapons” ban, a one-handgun-a-month purchase limit, a ban on campus carry for self-defense, and a ban on teachers being armed to return fire if under attack. California also requires would-be gun buyers to acquire a safety certificate from the state before being permitted to purchase a gun.

Additionally, California has placed controls on ammunition purchases.

Despite the lack of any statistical evidence between strict gun controls and gun-related deaths (other than reasonable conclusions that strict gun controls lead to even more violence, e.g., Chicago and New York City), gun-control advocates renew their efforts to impose stricter controls on gun purchase after every mass shooting.

Speaking to reporters after a lengthy phone call last summer with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, President Trump said that the United States has “very strong background checks right now,” adding that mass shootings were a “mental problem,” not the result of easy access to guns.

A December 23 AP report stated: “The majority of the killings involved people who knew each other — family disputes, drug or gang violence or people with beefs that directed their anger at co-workers or relatives.”

Interestingly, observed AP, while “firearms were the weapon in all but eight of the mass killings. Other weapons included knives, axes and at least twice when the perpetrator set a mobile home on fire, killing those inside.”

So even if gun control did help prevent mass killings — and evidence suggests otherwise — we would also need knife control, ax control, and controls on matches to prevent all of them.

While onerous gun control laws do not stop mass killings, having firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens often helps stop such shootings. This fact of life was brought home on December 29, when a shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, west of Fort Worth, was taken down by armed volunteer security members seconds after he began firing……..

New Tennessee Gun Law Decreases Requirements For Concealed Carry Permit

A new gun law in Tennessee will make it easier for people to obtain a  concealed carry permit.

The legislation signed by Governor Bill Lee earlier this year creates a new concealed carry handgun permit with less stringent training requirements than the traditional permit. The original permit will be known as an “enhanced” permit and keep the same eight-hour course requirement. The new handgun permit will require a ninety-minute course than can be completed online. No hands-on training is needed.

Clarksville gun store owner James Allen said the bill allows potentially unsafe gun owners to obtain a permit. He said training requirements under the new law are too lax.

“There’s no hands-on training on proper safety and how to hold a gun, how to shoot a gun and when to shoot a gun,” Allen said. “It’s a stupid law.”

State Representative Andy Holt of Dresden sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives. He said the nonrestrictive training requirements are no cause for concern because Tennessee already recognizes concealed carry permits from states including Georgia and Alabama that require no training. He also said the expansion of gun rights in the state makes all Tennesseans safer.

“At the end of the day, I still believe that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens equates into less crime…and I’m a proponent of less crime,” Holt said.

The law takes effect January 1.

College Students Know More About Firearms–and Rights–than Gun-Grabbing Politicians

In a matter of days, lawmakers in Virginia could pass some of the most radical gun control bills in the nation, the impact of which will be felt across the country.

As a recent college graduate who founded Students for Trump from my freshman dorm room, I remain active on college campuses today as co-chair of Turning Point Action. Everywhere I go, I meet young people who are closely following events in Richmond. Many of them are genuinely scared police are coming for their guns. During our lifetime, we’ve watched lawmakers chip away at our rights, and we are here to say, “Not today, Gov. Northam. Not today.”

Like many in my generation, I didn’t grow up with firearms. I was introduced to them in a high school ROTC program, which focused heavily on the Constitution. I learned the basics of firearms and self-defense. Perhaps more importantly, that class taught me the Second Amendment guarantees all the other rights in the Constitution.

As I visit with college students across the country, I am struck by how informed and educated they are about their rights. We may be young and inexperienced, but we know what’s going on around the world. In Hong Kong and Venezuela, we watch governments oppress their unarmed citizens. In our own country, we watch as state and local politicians exploit tragedies to pass more gun control laws. We watch New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg buy his way into power and influence across the country………..

Young people are fed up with politicians who exploit tragedies to push more failed gun control schemes. We’ve spent our youth watching politicians chip away at our rights. We will not stand idly by and let this continue. My generation is engaged, energized, and willing to stand up and fight for our rights in Virginia, and around the country. We are not only watching and listening to everything unfolding in Richmond, we engaged in this fight. Many of us are proud to be part of the NRA’s new student group, Students For 2A. We will never let a tyrannical government take away our rights.

Texas church shooting and Hanukkah stabbing spur calls for increased security at places of worship

Of all channels..NBC.

A shooting at a church in Texas and a stabbing at a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration in New York over the weekend have renewed calls for increased security and the right to be armed in places of worship.

In Texas, a gunman killed two people before a volunteer armed security team shot and killed him in the church near Fort Worth on Sunday. That led Texas politicians to praise a recent law that allowed guns to be carried in places of worship.

The issue of whether worshipers should be armed breaks along the usual fault lines in the wider debate on gun laws. Supporters of gun control legislation say the better solution is to reduce gun ownership, rather than to invite weapons of death into the pews. But in Texas, which has a strong gun culture, Republicans seized on the shooting Sunday as proof of their long-held belief that more trained gun owners can prevent casualties during mass attacks.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, praised the law that allows licensed handgun holders to carry weapons in houses of worship that don’t explicitly ban them. The law, which was passed after 26 people were killed at a church in Sutherland Springs in 2017, took effect in September.

On Monday, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Fox News that had that law not been passed, “I fear that we could have lost, you know, hundreds” in Sunday’s shooting.

Paxton, a Republican, said he hoped other states would pass similar measures.

“I think they’ll end up saving lives for years and years and years,” he said.

Jack Wilson, a member of the volunteer security team at the church, said he was concerned about the shooter’s appearance from the moment he came in wearing a wig and a fake beard.

“Most of the members there didn’t feel like it would happen, but we were prepared if it did, and, you know, had we not had the security team in place, it would’ve been much, in my opinion, probably a much more severe outcome than what happened,” he said.

In the New York attack, five people were stabbed at a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration Saturday in what Gov. Andrew Cuomo called “domestic terrorism.” Cuomo directed state police to increase patrols in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods across the state.

Four Jewish elected officials in New York asked Cuomo to go a step further Sunday, calling for him to declare a state of emergency and to deploy the National Guard to “visibly patrol and protect” Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

On Sunday, according to The Associated Press, several members of the community stood guard armed with assault-style rifles. Rockland County officials later said a private security company would help municipal law enforcement patrol the community.

Image: Armed members of Jewish community

Armed members of the Jewish community stand guard at a celebration in Monsey, New York, on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.
Patrick Brosnan, founder of the security firm Brosnan Risk Consultants, praised the congregants who fought back.”You have to look this evil in the face,” he said. “You have to step up. There’s not enough law enforcement out there.”

Texas AG Destroys Media’s Anti-Gun Narrative on CNN: ‘More People Need to Carry’ to Prevent Tragedies

Something happened today that rarely happens on CNN: a guest was allowed to make a conservative argument defending good guys with guns. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeared on CNN Newsroom Sunday evening to comment on the church shooting that happened this morning near Fort Worth Texas, and he was amazingly allowed to argue against the left’s gun control agenda without being cut off or shut down.

Fill-in CNN anchor Jessica Dean first shared the disturbing live stream video from this morning’s shooting at West Freeway Church of Christ showing an armed intruder interrupting the church service and shooting two people before two armed parishioners stopped him and killed him before he could murder anymore of the 200+ people present.

Paxton praised the “heroic efforts” of the church members before arguing how important it was for citizens to be able to defend themselves:

What I will say is they were heroic efforts. And I have been saying this for years. We need to make sure that people with protect themselves. Oftentimes law enforcement can’t react quickly. They can’t be there in seconds when the shooters are suddenly shooting. And so it really is a remarkable thing the people reacted so quickly. And saved the lives of the other 239 people in the congregation.

After this, the CNN anchor gushed about gun violence and subtly tried to push for gun control:

I feel we have these conversations over and over again, sadly in this country. What can be done to curb this kind of violence? How do we stop gun violence in the country? What else can be done? You mention there have been other horrific shootings in Texas in this year alone. What can we do to protect people?

But Paxton pointed out that the red state’s laws protecting armed citizens was exactly why this shooter was stopped in his tracks:

But the reality is I think our laws in Texas allow, allow us to protect ourselves. So more people need to carry in our state in our churches, places of business so that if something like this horrible thing does happen, at least we have people that can react and save the lives of those around him.

As Dean wrapped up the interview, she asked Paxton to share a message to the Jewish community in New York and the churchgoers in this Texas community who may be afraid to attend their religious services now.

The Attorney General again was allowed to forcefully argue for the 2nd Amendment, by pointing out the obvious point liberals and the media seem to miss consistently: someone who wants to kill will not obey gun laws:

I do know there’s always discussion about imposing more gun restrictions. The reality is somebody like this is willing to kill somebody, is unlikely to follow a gun law. So we need to continue to be vigilant and we need to allow our citizens to protect themselves. Exactly what happened today and I’m so grateful for the quick reaction because what happened in other churches about a year ago, in other places around my state, when people were not armed, we had a lot more people die.

Jack Wilson, Texas Church Shooting Hero: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Jack Wilson, the security volunteer who quickly shot the Texas church shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ, stopping him and likely saving many lives, is a former reserve deputy sheriff who was the long-time owner of a firearms training academy.

“I don’t feel like I killed an individual. I killed evil,” Wilson told reporters, according to Fox4 News. “I don’t see myself as a hero. I see myself as doing what needed to be done to take out the evil threat.” He fired a single shot. It was a head shot, and he says it was his round that killed the shooter. “I only fired one round. It was the only shot I had, which was a head shot.”

The gunman, now named as Keith Thomas Kinnunen, died at the scene after being shot; ……….

1. Wilson Declared That ‘Evil Does Exist in This World’ & Revealed He ‘Had to Take Out an Active Shooter in Church’

2. Wilson Was President of On Target Firearms Training Academy, Inc., a Gun Range That Burned Down in 2016

3. Wilson Is a Former Deputy Sheriff Who Negotiated Contracts for a Major Defense Company

4. Wilson Is a Donald Trump Supporter Who Believes the ‘Survival of the USA’ Will Be Determined by the 2020 Election

5. People Praised Wilson’s Quick-Thinking

Biden Attacked Texas Governor For Signing Law Letting Churchgoers Carry Guns: ‘Totally Irrational’

Again, any wonder why I call them ‘demoncraps’?

“We have learned many times over that there is no such thing as a gun free zone. Those with evil intentions will violate the law and carry out their heinous acts no matter what,” Texas state Senator Donna Campbell, co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “It makes no sense to disarm the good guys and leave law-abiding citizens defenseless where violent offenders break the law to do great harm.”

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden attacked Texas Governor Greg Abbott earlier this year for signing a bill into law that allowed lawful gun owners to carry firearms in places of worship, repeatedly calling Abbott’s decision “irrational.”

Biden’s resurfaced remarks come as an attacker opened fire on a church congregation in Texas on Sunday, where he was immediately stopped by a good guy with a gun.

“Dealing with firearms, it is irrational, with all due respect to the governor of Texas, irrational what they are doing,” Biden told reporters on September 2. “On the very day you see a mass shooting … and we’re talking about loosening access to have guns, to be able to take them into places of worship, it’s just absolutely irrational. It’s totally irrational.”

Biden continued, saying that any weapon that was capable of carrying “magazines that can hold multiple bullets” should be banned – which is nearly all firearms.

“It’s no violation of the Second Amendment,” Biden falsely claimed.

Later asked if there could be any compromises with Republicans on the issue, Biden responded, “None. None on this. I think this is no compromise. This is one we have to just push, and push, and push, and push, and push.”

2 Dead, 1 Critically Injured After Shooting At West Freeway Church Of Christ In Fort Worth, TX Suburb.

This photo is from the live feed the church puts on YouTube. The shooter can be seen in the top just left-of-center and the church member who took the shooter out can be seen in the top left.

This is how fast things can happen, and how much some people will be calm and cool under pressure, while others go into hysterics.
Oh, and not to be too morbid, but being able to draw your gun quickly and get it into action can make a world of difference. The first man shot by the murderer was still trying to get his gun out of his pocket. Take that poor man’s experience for what it’s worth.

WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Two people are dead and another person is critically injured after a shooting at a church in the Tarrant County city of White Settlement, officials said.

Authorities responded to the shooting Sunday morning just before 10 a.m. at the West Freeway Church of Christ on Las Vegas Trail.

A witness told CBS 11 News the gunman walked up to a server during communion with a shotgun and then opened fire. According to the witness, another church member shot the suspect……..

During the incident, two men died from their injuries and another man was critically injured. Authorities believe the gunman is among the three but it’s unknown if he was killed or is injured.