Antarctic Ice Shelves Growing- Repost from Watts Up With That?

I thought that manmade CO2 controlled the earth’s temperature and humans were cooking the planet. Guess not. There is more ice in the Antarctic today than a decade ago. RM

 

..the Antarctic ice shelf area has grown by 5305 km2 since 2009, with 18 ice shelves retreating and 16 larger shelves growing in area. Our observations show that Antarctic ice shelves gained 661 Gt of ice mass over the past decade,..

Source: Antarctic Ice Shelves Growing • Watts Up With That?

Frightened Politicians Leave Students at Risk

How good is good enough when it comes to protecting our children in school? One extreme view says that Superman who stops bullets with his bare hands is barely qualified to protect our children. The opposite extreme says that anyone who isn’t in jail should be qualified to act as an armed guard for our kids. One argument asks for quality while the other asks for quantity. While we are busy debating, mass-murderers are still stalking our children at school. We can stop mass-murderers if we’re willing to face a few truths.

Security for them

Do armed defenders belong in schools? Celebrities and politicians protect their children with armed security. Our children are as valuable as the children of those rich elites. Unfortunately, the typical American child goes to school in a publicly-declared, “gun-free zone.” Since the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School a decade ago, some school districts have taken a different approach. They authorized thousands of school staff to become trained volunteer first responders to protect our students. Each of those armed defenders have taken days of training in the safe and effective use of firearms. They learned trauma care and emergency response. We’ve trained volunteers in 20 states and in over 300 school districts. Those armed defenders have been protecting students for millions of hours.

first responders in school

That sounds good, but it isn’t nearly enough. In the last year, we saw 30 people shot and killed by mass-murderers attacking schools. In contrast, we’ve never had an attack at a school with a publicized program of armed school staff. In the decade since these programs began, not a single student has died because a trained volunteer defender was negligent with a firearm at school. (I’m not aware of a single injury of any kind, but we’re comparing deaths rather than wounds.) No mass-murders. No accidental firearms-related deaths. 

That 30-to-zero ratio tells us lot. Our armed defenders were wonderfully effective at stopping attacks at school, usually without touching their firearm! By a ratio of 30-to-zero, our students were murdered because there wasn’t a volunteer armed defender to protect them when they needed it. We should not abandon our children to mass-murderers.

Do we need better defenders or do we need more defenders? The higher the testing standards, the stricter the requirements, the fewer volunteer first responders we have in our schools. Until there is a volunteer defender in every school, our standards are too high. We should relax the qualifications until there is a defender in every hallway. When seconds count, quantity has a quality of its own.

First responder training in Colorado

An ordinary volunteer in the classroom is a better defender
than a certified professional who arrives too late.

Some states don’t allow armed staff at school. Several states like Florida and Texas require that armed defenders in school take classes typically taught in the police academies. The volunteer defenders then have to renew their academy training every year. That sounds good, but it hasn’t worked as planned. Those requirements have too few volunteers and leave too many schools unprotected. Witness the mass murders of undefended school children in Florida and Texas.

Those stringent requirements for armed school staff
were chosen in legislative committees
because they were easy for politicians to explain to the public in a soundbite.

I’ve taken training classes with these school defenders. Believe me that every single one of them fears making a mistake and injuring an innocent person. Politicians and the media may not give us credit, but our neighbors have weighed that concern as well. Of parents with children in school, nearly half (49%) wanted their children protected by armed staff rather than leaving them undefended. 

That still leaves roughly 40% of parents who feared having a few armed defenders at school. Some teachers fear having different opinions in the teacher’s lounge. Some school boards fear hard questions from the public. If volunteer defenders can face a murderer’s bullet, then we can face those fears and save our kids.

I think this decision is easy. I’d much rather face a hard question at a board meeting than have to explain why I left an unprotected child to die. If you feel that way, I urge you to run for office. Or at least share this article with a friend.
~_~_

Notes- I used the older FBI definition of mass-murder which is four murder victims not counting the murderer. In the spirit of complete disclosure, I’ve taken four FASTER classes in three states. I’ve written dozens of articles about FASTER, and made financial contributions to them as well.

I gave you 700 words for free. Please share them with a friend, and leave a rating and a comment. RM

Gun-Control Fails Again in Democrat Controlled Cities

Gun-control failed in Chicago and Philadelphia again last weekend. Four people were murdered by armed criminals in Philadelphia. An additional 14 people were shot and wounded over the long Memorial day weekend. Looking at Chicago, 10 people were murdered and 43 more were shot and wounded over those three days. The politicians in both cities blame “gun-violence”. We will ask the obvious questions that reporters in both cities are not allowed to ask.

Why are Chicago and Philadelphia so violent while other cities are not?

The news goes from coast to coast, but murder is localized. Most counties won’t have a single murder this year. That gives them a zero-percent murder rate. Only 2-percent of our counties create over half of our murders (56%). That violence is far out of proportion to their population. What makes these murder magnets different from other cities?

Politicians need somewhere to place the blame for the problems they caused. Guns are a convenient scapegoat, but blaming guns hardly passes the smell test. Blaming guns is nothing more than a political excuse to shift the blame and embarrassment.

Why are criminals using guns to cause violence in Chicago and Philadelphia,
but not in other cities to the same degree? 

Democrat mayors in big cities claim their cities are violent because there isn’t enough “gun-control.” In fact, we have over 23-thousand firearms regulations on the books already. According to FBI statistics, gun control fails millions of times every year.

In contrast, several million of us, about 1-in-90 adults, used a personal firearm in self-defense last year. Armed defense is common.

Reporters are not allowed to say that the emperor has no clothes. Regulation and corruption drove jobs out of Chicago and Philadelphia. Young men take illegal work when legal work isn’t available. Unemployment leads to broken families. Despair leads to addiction and violence. The police and judges in these failed cities know the drug gangs and their murderers. Hardened criminals are returned to the streets.

This formula of failure is a well worn path that has been perfected in Democrat controlled cities for years. Democrat politicians have controlled Chicago for the last 84 years. Philadelphia has been under Democratic rule for the last 77 years. Politicians need something to blame for their failed policies and they certainly won’t blame themselves.

Voters don’t want to look in the mirror and see why their problems continue. Blaming guns is simple, it is easy.. and it is wrong. These cheap excuses keep the victims headed to the hospital day after day.
~_~_

I gave you 400 words for free. Please share them with a friend, leave a comment and a rating. RM

Armed Defense- Where are We Safe?

Our homes, our place of work, and our car feel safe today because nothing happened there yesterday. These honest citizens were prepared even where they thought they were our of danger. Again this week, these honest gun owners saved their lives and the lives of others.

The longer discussion of what we might want to do is on the Self Defense Gun Stories webpage. For now, here are the stories and the links to the original news sources. How will you protect the people you love?

The Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast

From Ann Arbor, Michigan- Are you armed at home?

You are a 77 year old man at home on a Wednesday evening. It is 6pm when you hear the sound of breaking glass and the sound of someone moving around your home. You’re armed. You walk toward the noise. You see someone standing in the center of your kitchen and you shout for him to stop.

The intruder moves toward you. You present your firearm and shoot your intruder until he turns away. The intruder runs back toward the kitchen window the way he entered your home. He leaves headfirst.

You call 911 and ask for the police. You put your firearm away when the police arrive. You give the officers a brief statement and show them what happened. They find a bullet hole in the kitchen wall. You missed your attacker even though he was only 5 yards away from you.

You are not charged with a crime.

.

From Edinburg, Texas- Are you armed at home?

You are a mom at home with your children on Tuesday evening. It is about 9 at night when you hear someone break into your home through the garage. You gather your children with you in your bedroom and you lock the bedroom door. You grab your gun and your phone. You call 911 and ask for help.

The intruder tries to get into your bedroom. You shout that you’re armed. You tell him that you’ve called the police. The intruder bangs against your door again and you shoot your door near the doorknob. Now your intruder runs away.

You stay on the call with the police dispatcher. You put your gun away when the police arrive. The news stories aren’t clear how the police entered your home. You give the officers a brief statement. The police find your attacker about a hundred yards away from your home with a gunshot wound on his left arm.

Your attacker is taken to jail and booked on charges of burglary of a habitation. His bond is set at $750-thousand dollars. Later, you saw his mugshot in the news from a prior arrest. His head and neck are covered in tattoos.

You are not charged with a crime, and your children are uninjured.

.

From New Orleans, Louisiana- Are you armed at work?

You are working behind the counter at a Dollar General store. A man comes up to the cash register. You scan the item and the man argues about the price. He tells you to come outside and he’ll beat you up. You stay inside the store. The customer walks to the door then turns around with a gun in his hand. He points his gun at you.

You’re armed too. You present your firearm and shoot your attacker in the chest. He runs outside. He crawls into his car and drives away. You stay at the scene and call 911. You give the police a brief statement, and other witnesses tell the police what happened as well.

Your attacker crashed his car on the way to the hospital. Another driver delivered him to the emergency room. Your attacker was in critical condition for several days. He says he doesn’t remember being shot.

Your attacker was taken from the hospital and charged with aggravated assault with a gun and possession of a gun by a convicted felon. He is held on a $95 thousand dollar bond.

You are not charged.

.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- Are you armed as you drive?

You are a 27 year old woman. You’re driving through downtown traffic on a Wednesday. It is about 5:30 when a stranger runs up to the passenger side of your car. He smashes the passenger side rear window with a crowbar.

You’re armed. You shoot your attacker. He runs back to his car and drives off. You drive to your relatives house nearby. Now you feel safe enough to call the police. You show the police your identification and your carry permit. You show them the crowbar in the back seat of your car. The police find one shell casing from your firearm inside your car. You give the police a brief statement that describes what happened.

Police find your attacker at a nearby intersection. The woman who was driving with him ran from the scene. EMTs take your attacker to a nearby hospital with a single gunshot wound to the groin.

You are not charged with a crime.

.

Crime can happen anywhere and at any time. Please protect yourself and the people you love.

What can you do now to be safer later?
~_~_

Please comment and share. RM

Building Defenders for Our Schools and Churches

Ask someone if they can shoot a gun and you are sure to get memorable answers. You hear about their relatives or their family friends who taught them. Ask them if they passed any shooting qualification tests and you’ll find that most have not, at least not recently. Last week I watched a group of volunteer defenders in Arizona train and test to become the emergency first responders for their schools and churches. They learned to stop the threat and treat the injured victims until police and EMTs arrive. These volunteers are not your average Joe or your average Jane.

It is true that almost half of us live with a gun in our home. About 17 million of us go on to get a concealed carry permit and carry a personal firearm in public every day. Fewer of us learn armed defense and practice the required skills so our responses are subconscious. Said another way, few people drive their gun as automatically as they drive their car.

Like driving a car, we are describing both mental and physical skills. Frequent review lets you easily recognize a lethal threat when you see it. Making those physical skills feel routine lets you present your firearm without looking for your holster. Just like driving your car, everyone thinks they shoot well until we actually measure their performance.

The defenders in this class looked to refine every movement with their firearm. Rather than saying, “But that is the way I’ve always done it,” they had the humility and willingness to learn. They asked how to improve time after time. They showed an inspiring eagerness to grow.

It helps to know your limits. How accurately can you shoot if accuracy is all that matters? How fast can you go before you become erratic? It takes both speed and precision to be a good defender. They need both without sacrificing too much of either. These volunteer first responders learned better techniques in a day, but it takes patient practice to make those new refinements smooth, consistent, and routine.

First responder training in Colorado

These volunteers went on to refine their skills at reloading and clearing a firearm malfunction. All that work is dedicated to consistently hitting a man-sized target at a distance between 3 and 25 yards.. under the pressure of the clock. Some of that shooting is done using your left or right hand. Now, shoot for time after you’ve taken a step to the side. That is the broad outline of their shooting qualification test.

The students were struggling to optimize their techniques. The course instructors adjusted the level of frustration on the range so that students learned the most. There is a time to press forward and a time to consolidate and review the skills you’ve mastered. That comfort of reviewing old material only lasts a few minutes because there is much more to learn.

The students moved on to fighting their way through and around a building. Stopping the attacker comes first, but it is only the beginning of what needs to be done. The defenders practiced getting people to safety and treating the injured. Yes, there are more efficient and less efficient ways to put on a tourniquet. Everyone was working hard.

These trained volunteers brought a willingness to learn and an eagerness to serve. They will go armed at church and at school. They will probably never need their gun. They will have a trauma kit nearby and seldom use it. Even an accident in the parking lot is easier to manage after you’ve practiced. When needed at all, these first responders will probably use more Band-Aids than bullets.

trauma care training

A critical point and a nice compliment came from one of the law enforcement officers in the class. When describing the church and school volunteers, they said, “I’d gladly work with them. I want them saving lives until the rest of us get there.” That says a lot.

The essential virtue that these volunteers have is that they will be where they are needed when they are needed. They will be saving lives for the ten minutes it takes for the police to get there. These volunteers will begin trauma care in minutes rather than hours.

An imperfect volunteer who is where we need them
is better then the perfect professional who arrives too late.

These volunteers look like ordinary people, but they are extraordinary. They were willing to be tested and criticized in order to become the first responders they need to be. Many of us might be able to do that. These volunteers did it.

Most of us would risk our lives to defend our family. Would you defend the people in your school, in your church, or in your office? Think about that decision because in an emergency, your life could be at risk if you say “yes.” Your heart could be at risk if you say “no” and something happens for which you were unprepared.

As they said in the class, it is better to have the knowledge, skills, and materials and not need them, than to need them and not have them. That is true for volunteer first responders. It is true for the rest of us as well. If you would volunteer, or if you would not, it is important to know that there are wonderful men and women like this in our churches and schools. We need more like them.

How We Stopped Mass-Murderers Time After Time

Real life isn’t like the movies. Bad guys don’t walk around with a soundtrack thumping with every step. Movie makers want to thrill us, but saving lives in real life is a lot more ordinary than that. Because it doesn’t sell tickets or sell soap, the news media isn’t interested in how our neighbors stopped mass-murderers about once a month for the last eight years. Ordinary people like us would do it even more often if politicians got out of our way.

Recognizing a new problem- Times have changed. Today we live in a media driven culture. Mass-murderers feel like failures and they want to take revenge on society. These narcissists know that the mainstream media will give them a multi-million dollar publicity campaign if they kill enough innocent people. The murderers revel in the thought of being famous even if they are not alive to enjoy that infamy. That feeling of anticipation is one reason the mass-murderers spend years in the planning stage. Those feelings of resentment and anticipation explain why these murderers write such lengthy manifestos and diaries.

That explains a lot about these murderers. Luckily for us, we can use their weaknesses against them.

Recognizing new solutions- Mass-murderers already feel like a failure. They don’t want to experience more failure when they come to kill. That explains why they seldom attack a group of armed policemen or attack an NRA convention where about half the adults are armed. The media won’t give mass-murderers the recognition they want when they are stopped and killed so quickly.

At first, we weren’t sure if armed citizens were a workable solution. Because the news media doesn’t cover it, it was hard to find cases where the attempted mass-murderers were stopped by ordinary citizens who happened to be nearby. Oddly enough, the mass-murderers did our research for us.

Learning from the murderers themselves- These hateful murderers are obsessed. Mass-murderers study the murderers who came before them. They learned where to stage their attacks. Their journals showed that they deliberately chose to attack places where their victims were disarmed by law. Fortunately for all of us, the mass-murderers sometimes fail in their victim selection process and there was an armed defender among their intended victims.

99 out of 100 mass-murders are in “gun-free” zones.

The power of ordinary defenders- The mass-murderer will kill about 14 people if the victims have to wait for the police to arrive. Those dynamics change dramatically if there is an armed defender nearby.

The scenario with an armed defender usually goes like this;

• There are many more ear-witnesses than eye witnesses. Our first sign of a problem is an unusual sound, something like a gunshot or a scream. The defender raises his head and starts to gather more information. The defender tries to confirm what he heard and to locate the source of the attack.
• The defender again hears an unusual sound. Now there are people running away that give a clue to the attackers location. Sometimes the defender can see the attacker immediately and sometimes the defender has to move to get a better view.
• The defender might not believe his eyes and ears and waits until he sees the attacker shoot at someone again. That evidence confirms the defender’s suspicions and the defender shoots back.
• The murderers don’t plan for their victims to shoot back. The murderer usually commits suicide when he faces opposition. Sometimes the attacker runs or is shot and killed by the defender.

When an ordinary citizen acts as an armed defender, the murderer shoots about 4 people and about half of them die from their wounds.

The defender’s advantage- That describes what happens, but it doesn’t fully explain it. It is true that the murderers have an advantage since they choose the time and place of their attack. The defenders have advantages too. The murderers draw attention to themselves and people run from them. When he is in the process of shooting, the murderer is almost blind to everything except his selected victim.

Saying the murderer is blind sounds far-fetched, so please test this for yourself.

Look at anything in the room with you. If you can, point your finger at that particular object. When you do, you are no longer aware of what is happening around you. You certainly are not aware of what is happening to the sides or what is happening behind you. As we move through the world, we focus our attention on the few things that are important, but we are blind to almost everything else that is happening around us.

We only see what we need to see.

This isn’t magic, but basic physiology. None of us, and particularly mass-murderers, have eyes in the back of our head. A mass-murderer is intensely focused on his mission and is particularly blind to the defenders who are looking for him. That explains why ordinary citizens like us stopped over half the attempted mass-murders that occurred where ordinary citizens were allowed to go armed.

Mass-murderers are vulnerable.
I’m not going to list each vulnerability because the goal isn’t to build better murderers.

Our society is changing in many ways at the same time. Mass-murderers are learning to exploit the news media. We’ve put a generation of teenagers into social isolation for a few years during Covid lockdowns. We also have about one-in-a-dozen adults carrying a concealed weapon in public. Sociologists are studying all of these effects, but no one is studying them more intently than the mass-murderers themselves.

As I said, mass-murderers deliberately avoid attacking the public at large where many millions of us are carrying a concealed firearm every day. Because they have studied the risks, mass-murderers target “gun-free” zones like churches and schools. Mass-murderers have been stopped by ordinary citizens over a hundred times in the last eight years. The only place we let mass-murders succeed are in the few “gun-free” zones where politicians disarmed us.

We know how to save lives- It is important for us to know that mass-murderers can be stopped most of the time. Do we need more places where victims are disarmed, or where the victims are allowed to shoot back? That answer is up to us.
~_~_

I gave you 1000 words for free. Please share them with a friend, leave a comment, and give me a rating. RM

Heroes Need Our Help to Stop Mass-Murderers

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. It sounds unlikely, but it happened exactly this way.

A female school teacher who barely came up to my shoulder and was half my weight raced after an armed intruder and shot him. This was a training exercise. We were using simulated firearms that shot rubber bullets. So how does a 30 year old woman defend her school and soundly defeat a 20 year old man? The answers are surprising. You have an essential role to play in saving our children.

I recently took a training class for armed school staff in Arizona. The students taking instruction included school teachers and School Resource Officers. The SROs were the visible defenders at their schools. In contrast, the armed school staff were the hidden defenders. Together, they formed an impressive team.

This is a clear case where the whole is so much more than the sum of its individual parts.

Armed Staff Training at School

That leads us back to my original question of how the slightly built teacher defeated the physically fit 20 year old man. The answers seem obvious in hindsight.

Teachers know their classroom

An attacker on campus doesn’t know who is armed. He doesn’t know the direction from which he might be counterattacked if he stands still. If he moves, he doesn’t know if he is moving into an ambush by a defender who is already lying in wait. The only thing the attacker knows is that he is running out of time.

In this particular case, the female defender knew everything about the room where the attacker entered the building. She knew because it was her classroom. After she entered the room, the defender knew exactly where to hide as she “shot” her attacker. We were wearing long shirts, long pants, and a face shield. Even layered up that way, rubber bullets still hurt.

This female defender acted faster than the attacker could react. That isn’t a matter of strength, but of training and determination. She recognized what to do and she did it immediately. Our defender won because she was nearby and responded to the attacker on campus within seconds.

Mass-murderers can’t identify everyone who might stop them. The uniformed police officer probably has more experience carrying a gun, but the uniform makes him a very recognizable symbol of authority. The uniform makes him an obvious target. The uniformed School Resource Officer deters an attack on campus until the murderer decides to shoot him first.

As one School Resource Officer said, ‘It gets a little lonely out there without armed staff behind you.’

Mass-murderers may be cowardly psychopaths, but they are not stupid. Mass-murderers deliberately select unarmed victims. These murderers have never attacked a school that publicly announced its safety plan of armed school staff.

That combination of training and determination exhibited by the armed school teacher sounds like an unstoppable combination to protect our children. Unfortunately, it has a hidden weakness. Armed school staff carry with them a tragic vulnerability that leaves our children at risk.

Anonymous defenders save lives

These first responders on campus are enormously more effective if they are anonymous. They can’t tell the parents about what they learned in their class on armed defense and trauma care. They can’t stand up at the school board meeting and speak in favor of protecting our kids. By volunteering to be a first responder at school, these staff members give up the chance to speak about defending their kids.

Who speaks for the defenders?

Think about that for a moment. The upset parent who thinks guns are icky can speak up at the school board meeting. The team of people who studied and trained to save lives has to remain silent.

We live in an imperfect world. Fortunately, you can make it better.

Defending our children depends on what you are willing to do. You have to be the voice that speaks up. It is your voice who has to tell the school board that calling 911 and waiting ten minutes while kids die is not good enough. You have to ask the school board to start saving lives before the police and EMTs arrive.

I know I am asking a lot. It isn’t easy to stand up and speak in public. Nor is it easy for the school staff member to move toward an attacker who wants to kill innocent children. We need both. Our kids need both.

The School Resource Officer working with armed staff is far more effective than the SRO acting alone. Likewise, your voice and the voice of your neighbors can change minds on your school board. You can change minds at city hall, and at the sheriff’s office.

It doesn’t matter how big you are. It matters that you are willing to act. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

~_~_

I gave you 700 words for free. Please leave a comment, a rating, and share this article with a friend. RM

References- FASTER trains volunteer school staff.

Mainstream Media Sells Fear and a False Reality

 Our heads are buried in our tiny screens for hours every day. Many of us think our electronic view of the world is more real than what we and our friends see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears. The mainstream news media was supposed to inform us about the world. Now, the media has blurred the line between news and fantasy. In truth, the talking heads feed us a wildly distorted picture of reality. Of course we can test this with headline events, but there is also a deep-culture test as well. The saying from the health food industry is that we are what we eat. We are also the media we consume. I worry that many of us have swallowed too many lies.

Synthetic reality

Some of us are skeptical of the news media. As of September 2022, only 34 percent of us trust the United States news media “a great deal” to “a fair amount”. The rest of us trust the media “not very much” to “none at all.” The US news media has given us plenty of reasons to distrust them.

Looked at from the other perspective, 34 percent of us, and 70% of democrats trust the media a “great deal” to “a fair amount.” That discrepancy between democrats and non-democrats is growing and becomes more important every day.

Why are so many of us reluctant to believe the pretty people on the tiny screen? In the last few years, the mainstream news media has fed us distortions that are indistinguishable from lies. Many democrats now believe the “mostly peaceful riots” of 2020 and 2021 were legitimate political protests. The news stories deliberately ignored the billions of dollars in damage the rioters and looters caused. If history remains a guide, then many of the damaged buildings will remain empty for decades.

Many democrats now believe that it is perfectly normal for individuals to show up at early voting drop boxes and dump stacks of ballots.. all while wearing disguises, dark glasses, and surgical gloves. It is just a coincidence that they photograph their stack of ballots with their cell phones.. night after night after night. Many democrats think it perfectly acceptable for unexplained anomalies in the voting records, and for votes to suddenly change in the middle of the night after the polls closed.

In contrast, more than 40-percent of us think Biden’s election was illegitimate.

I could go on with other examples, but for me, the final proof of our divergent worldview is found in the right to bear arms. Are guns mostly used in mass-murder or in armed defense? For many of us, the answer depends more on the media we watch than on DOJ statistics. Artificial fear breeds artificial solutions.

Watching a scary movie isn’t the same as being attacked in real life. Watching as the media reports a mass-murder is vastly different from having an attacker break down your door. We responded in sympathetic horror as we watched the news more often than we responded to an actual attack on ourselves, our family, or even our friends. Note that almost all of us have seen and felt the news in the last year, but less than one percent of adults were the victims of violent crime. We have lost touch with other people and with real events. Fortunately for all of us, real violence is both rare and localized.

The nightly news brings violence into every home night after night. The entertainment industry delivers synthetic violence at the tap of a screen. People who are only exposed to this stylized media-violence come up with theoretical answers as if they were re-writing a movie script.

“If criminals obeyed our gun laws then we wouldn’t have criminals using guns.

See, problem solved. The rest of you would have thought of that if you were as smart as I am.”

That fantasy simply falls apart when you realize that we have over 23-thousand firearms regulations already on the books. Violent criminals violate our existing gun laws millions of times a year. If robbers, rapists, and murderers obeyed our laws then they wouldn’t be robbers, rapists, and murderers.

I want to be crystal clear about one point. The victims of violent crime convinced me to protect myself and my family. I do not want anyone to become a victim of violent crime to learn that lesson. Instead, I want everyone to dig deeper. Learn from other people’s experiences and find real solutions that make you and your family safe.

~_~_

I gave you 800 words for free. Please share them with a friend and leave a comment. RM

The idea of synthetic violence is from a comment by author Dan Wos.

Sources-

• Trust in the US media
• Massive insurance losses after 2020 riots
• Long term losses after 2020 riots
• Study questions election results in six states
• Poll questions election results
• More than 40 undercover law enforcement informants leading January 6 protests
• FBI data on 2019 violent crime
• Murder is rare and localized
• Stories of armed defense

Repost- Canadian cop who gave $50 to Freedom Convoy ordered to work 80 unpaid hours as punishment – LifeSite

There is no free speech in Canada. Why did Canadian citizens let this happen? RM

WINDSOR, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian police officer who donated $50 dollars to the Freedom Convoy last year was told by an adjudicator he must work 80 unpaid hours as punishment. Last Thursday, Constable Michael Brisco of the Windsor Police Service in a penalty hearing was given his sentence by retired Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Superintendent Morris Elbers.

Source: Canadian cop who gave $50 to Freedom Convoy ordered to work 80 unpaid hours as punishment – LifeSite

The Hidden Truth About Gun Control

I’ve debated gun-control lawyers. They said guns aren’t the answer for personal safety. I’ve come to a single conclusion when I look at the people who want us disarmed. Their actions speak so loud that I can barely hear their words. Some of the strongest and most consistent practitioners of armed defense are the people who espouse gun-control for the rest of us. That is the hidden truth in the gun-control debate.

We could talk about California Senator Diane Feinstein who had a concealed carry permit and told the rest of us to turn in our guns. We could talk about the celebrities who show up to a gun-control march in a limousine and are escorted down the street by their security detail. I’d rather talk about the Godfather of Gun-Control. Let’s look at billionaire and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Billionaire Bloomberg is the gun-control movement in the United States. He funds the anti-gun think tanks. He funds the AstroTurf organizations. During an election year, he funds the gun-control campaigns and political lobbying to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

You’d think that Bloomberg was against armed defense if you only listened to him. He sends another message if you watch what he does.

Mayor Bloomberg has an armed security detail with him all the time. He has armed security at his homes and as he moves to his private jets. He and his family have armed security everywhere they go. Watch what he does and it is clear that anti-gun politician Michael Bloomberg thinks that guns save lives.

The Bloomberg family is surrounded by armed defenders every minute of their lives, but he wants our children left unprotected.

Bloomberg’s spokesmen say he only wants to save lives. After all, there are thousands of injuries and deaths from criminals using guns every year. Bloomberg doesn’t tell us about the several thousand times we use a firearm in armed defense every day. He is silent on the millions of times we use a firearm to defend ourselves every year.

Believe me when I say that billionaire Bloomberg can do the math. He knows that “Millions” are much larger than “thousands.” He believes that guns save lives for him.. but not for us.

While I still have a voice, I say I disagree. What is good for Mayor Bloomberg is also good for us even though we don’t have a security detail of retired police officers. We are the thousands of honest citizens who will defend ourselves today. We are the one-out-of-a-dozen adults who are carrying concealed in public. Honest citizens like us are the defenders of our family, our friends, and our neighbors.

Just like Michael Bloomberg, they deserve protection too.

~_~_

I gave you 400 words for free. Please leave a comment and share them with a friend. RM

More Heroes to Save Our Children

Think back to last year. We saw hundreds of law enforcement officers stand and wait while Texas school children were being murdered in their classroom. Remember back a few more years, and we saw innocent victims murdered while police waited outside of a bar in Florida. We saw police sit and wait outside a Florida high school. It took me a while, but I think I finally understand why. These officers were not trained to stop a mass-murderer. They had not practiced stopping a killer who wanted a body-count. The officers didn’t respond by instinct when they heard gunfire. Now, I know better. I recently attended a training course for volunteer first responders in Arizona. I’ve met the heroes who trained to protect our kids and our neighbors from a murderer who wants them dead. They are my heroes. This is what I saw.

Uvalde police wait outside the classroom

We know how to defend our schools and our churches. The attack at the Sandy Hook Elementary School happened over a decade ago. We asked the experts how to stop murderers who want to become celebrities by killing innocent victims. The experts gave us very clear answers about what to do. They said that time is what matters. The solution to stop a mass-murderer has to be inside the building before the shooting starts.

Ohio was one of the first states to set up a program of volunteer school staff. These vetted and trained volunteers are the first responders who stop the threat and then stop the bleeding until the police and EMTs arrive. The program they developed is called FASTER, for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response. They built the FASTER program based on the experience of millions of man-years of school resource officers being on campus. Today, we have millions of days of experience with armed volunteers at school. The program has trained teachers in over 20 states and over 300 school districts. We have never had a mass-murder at a school with a public program of armed staff.

As I said, I was lucky enough to see one of the first FASTER classes in Arizona. This class south of Phoenix was a mix of school teachers, church security officers, school resource officers, and of uniformed patrol officers. The cops and the civilians trained side by side. They did remarkably well. That shouldn’t come as a surprise.

This is the fourth FASTER class I’ve seen. Every single teacher I’ve met in these classes talked about protecting “my kids”. The School Resource Officer in this class used to be an elementary teacher before he became a policeman, and finally became an SRO. The school custodians talked about defending “their kids” at “their school.” I saw the way they trained at the range and at a school where we ran simulated force-on-force drills. They are amazing. I was proud to be there with them.

When it comes to defending the children, these volunteer defenders are not merely involved:
they are committed! They are all in.

I watched them during the force-on-force drills. They did not sit at a distance and give reports on the radio. They moved toward the unknown disturbance. They ran toward the sound of gunfire. They sprinted toward the man with a gun. They shot a lethal threat until the threat stopped. They defended our children.

I was surprised that some of the students who struggled on the shooting range excelled in the simulated force-on-force training at the school where we practiced. Lions and lionesses come in all shapes and sizes.

Simulated force-on-force training in school

You should know that the class did more than teach volunteer first responders to stop a murderer and treat the injured victims. In some of the scenarios it was appropriate not to shoot. These volunteer defenders practiced both responses; both to stop the threat, and to recognize when someone isn’t a threat. That experience is invaluable. 

The staff who taught the class included both older instructors and experienced instructors who were relatively new to the FASTER courses. This particular class was an opportunity for the experienced FASTER instructors to share what they knew and to see how the newer instructors in Arizona conducted themselves. As a student, I thought we got the best that both had to offer. I am hard pressed to name better instruction.

That doesn’t mean the class was easy. I struggled to pass the shooting qualification test. Law enforcement officers drill for two weeks to pass the same test. We did it in a day-and-a-half. I met the shooting standards required to be a sworn law enforcement officer in Arizona, but I failed to qualify at the higher level required to be a police shooting instructor. Other teachers, church security members, police officers and school resource officers qualified at that higher level. Well done.

Faster Training in Colorado

We have not talked about the most important lesson. These students will go back to their schools and their churches. They will see the places where they work and the places where they pray with new eyes. They will study the people they protect as a defender would, and that is a lesson for all of us. The first responders look the same, but they came back as different men and women.

It is desperately important that we know these heroes are there. The plain-clothed school teacher who is armed can’t tell the parents about what she learned. She can’t tell them what she does every day. It is important that she remain anonymous so an attacker is always in doubt.

I’ve seen what they did and I am sure about what they can do. These brave men and women volunteered to defend our children and our neighbors. They are wonderful. We need thousands more like them, both in Arizona and across the country.

~_~_

I gave you 900 words. They cost me some blood, toil, tears and sweat. Please leave a comment and share. RM

Sources-

• 400 officers outside Uvalde classroom
• The FASTER program in Ohio

Repost- Environmentalists Are Why We Can’t Have Infrastructure | Frontpage Mag

This is the socialism your parents warned you about. In 14-years, corrupt Democrat California politicians (but I repeat myself) burned through billions of taxpayer dollars and have not built a single mile of the high speed rail system. Here is one reason why. RM

California’s high-speed electric train has burned through nearly $10 billion, far more than its original $9 billion bond, without building a single mile of track. Where did that money go? $1.3 billion was spent on environmental impact clearances.

After over a decade, Brian Kelly, the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, cheerfully announced that, “we’re making true progress on nearing full environmental clearance for the entire Phase 1 high-speed rail project.” By the summer, the high-speed rail which hasn’t even begun construction might finally get its full environmental impact clearance.

Perhaps. California’s infamous high-speed train to nowhere, which began in 2009 and whose budget already tops $100 billion, financed by corrupt environmental cap-and-trade robbery that makes cryptocurrency seem legitimate by comparison, may seem like an outlier, but it’s not.

Read it all here: Environmentalists Are Why We Can’t Have Infrastructure | Frontpage Mag

Armed Defense- They were Surprised, but they Responded and Saved Lives

Almost no one expects to be attacked. Yes, these honest gun owners were surprised, but they responded and saved lives.

These ordinary citizens faced a lethal threat. Again this week, these honest gun owners saved their lives and the lives of others.

The longer discussion of what we might want to do is on the Self Defense Gun Stories webpage. For now, here are the stories and the links to the original news sources. How will you protect the people you love?

The Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast

From Murfreesboro, Tennessee– Are you armed at home?

You are on the phone when you hear a crashing sound. It is 8:30 in the evening and your dog is barking. You put down the phone and your teenage son says, “Don’t shoot.” You hear your dog yelp in pain. You grab your gun and walk toward the front door. You see two masked strangers standing in your home. At least one of them has a gun. You shoot them several times. The news reports aren’t clear if you shot them while you were still in the other room or if you walked through the doorway first. Your attackers turn and run. You stop shooting. You don’t follow them down the street.

It takes a minute to understand what happened. Your son isn’t hurt. You’re not hurt. Your dog has been tased, but he’ll recover. One of your armed intruders is lying in the front doorway. You call 911 and ask for help. News reports say there was a third person living in your home and that they were not injured either.

You put your gun away when the police arrive. They disarm your attacker. EMS declares your attacker dead at the scene. You give the police a statement and the officers notice your broken front door.

The police find your second attacker nearby. EMS takes your attacker to the hospital. He is treated, and then arrested and taken to jail. You find out that he is charged with aggravated burglary, attempted aggravated robbery, convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent felony. He is held on a 7-hundred-thousand dollars bond.

You are not charged by authorities.

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From Bryans Road, Maryland- Are you armed in public?

You are walking your dog down the street. It is 3 in the morning when a woman comes running out of her townhouse. A man runs after her. You hear him swear and threaten her. The strange woman approaches you and asks for help. The man walks toward you aggressively.

Now the man threatens you. You step back and he turns to follow you. You present your firearm and tell him to stop. You shoot him before he is able to grab your gun. The man stops and you’re able to back away. He falls down.

You put your gun away and call 911. You stay at the scene. When they arrive, you show your concealed carry permit to the police. You give them a brief statement. You live nearby but didn’t know your neighbor who just attacked you. The woman who was attacked gives the police a statement too. The wounded man is her boyfriend and the father of her children. Both of you are taken to the police station for questioning by detectives.

You are released and officials do not charge you with a crime. Both the attacker and the woman who was fleeing from him were firefighters in Washington, DC.

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From Las Vegas, Nevada- Are you armed as you drive?

It is 1:30 in the afternoon when you are driving past the Las Vegas Airport. A man jumps over the barricade at the side of the road and he runs into traffic. He gets in your lane and you have to stop so you don’t run him over. He has a gun in his hands and points his gun at you.

You stop your car. You’re armed. It isn’t clear if you got out of your car or shot him from inside your car. Your wounded attacker now drops his gun. You stay at the scene. Police arrive in less than a minute.

The police chased your attacker from the other side of the barrier. They hear your gun shots. They called for Emergency Medical Services. You put your gun away. You identify yourself and give the officers a brief statement.

EMS takes your attacker to the hospital where he is pronounced dead. You are not facing any charges.

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From Johnson, Iowa- Are you armed at home?

You hear your neighbor yelling upstairs. You’re worried about him so you go upstairs to see if he needs help. It is just before midnight and your neighbor is angry with the people upstairs. Now he threatens you, your wife and another relative with a knife. He moves toward them with the knife in his hands.

You’re armed. You shoot your attacker until he stops and drops the knife. You call 911 and ask for help. You put your gun away when the police arrive.

Police take your attacker to the hospital. Your wife and another witness were grazed by your bullets. The witness went to the hospital as well. All of you remain at the scene and give statements to the police. You are not arrested and are not charged.

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It is hard for us to think when we’re surprised. Now is the time to for us to study how to protect the people we love.

~_~_

Please comment and share. RM

Rob Morse in the Media Last Week- May 2023

I get to talk with fascinating people. I come away from the conversations with new ideas and questions. I hope you find them interesting as well. This is what happened last week.

Links =>

• San Diego Gun Owners Radio with Mike Schwartz and Dave Stall
• The Polite Society Podcast
• Lock and Load Radio with Bill Frady
• The Second Amendment Foundation’s Daily Bullet
• Self-Defense Gun Stories with firearms instructor David Cole

And then we get to do it again this week. 😉

Do Gun-Control Democrats Want Us Dead?

Modern politicians don’t ask to kill their opponents right away. There is a ladder of dehumanization to climb as they justify increasing levels of violence. We’ve heard Democrat politicians say that Republicans don’t care about killing children because the Republican legislators won’t pass more gun-control. Not only is that extremist rhetoric, it is murderously dangerous. Look at the facts and it seems gun-control Democrats really want more of us to die.

To quote Democrat Congressman Mike Thompson, “How many more kids need to get murdered before House Republican Leadership steps up and puts gun violence prevention legislation on the House calendar?”

The Democrat party news site DemCastUSA said, “Republicans ..block gun safety reforms while stoking hate. The GOP has blood on their hands while offering ‘Thoughts and Prayers’…”

Let’s look at what Democrat Politicians are asking for. This is what happens after honest citizens are disarmed.

Violent criminals commit about 1.2 million violent crimes a year (2019). Most criminals, about five-out-of-six, don’t use a gun in their violent crimes. In contrast, honest citizens use a firearm about 2.8 million times a year to stop death or great bodily injury. We don’t know how many of those defensive incidents would result in the victim’s death if they were disarmed. We can estimate the answer by assuming that criminals who attack disarmed victims are the same sort who attack armed victims. We are assuming that the criminals stay the same and only the actions of the victims change. That is overly simplistic, but it is a start. In fact, violent criminals become more violent when their victims become more vulnerable.

Here is an example to show you what I mean. If half of violent crimes were aggravated assaults, then we’ll assume that half of the attacks on the newly disarmed victims will remain as aggravated assaults. That may be wishful thinking since we don’t know how many aggravated assaults today were really attempted murders where a victim was able to reduce the severity of the attack because he was armed.

Violent criminals committed about 16.4-thousand murders in 2019. That is about 1.4-percent of the violent crimes. We now have 1.4 percent of what used to be armed defenses, about 38-thousand, now become new murders when the victims are disarmed by Democrat gun-control.

Gun-control Democrats more than tripled the number of murdered victims by disarming the good guys.

Violent criminals committed about 821-thousand aggravated assaults in 2019. That is about 68-percent of the violent crimes committed that year. We now have 68 percent of what used to be armed defenses, about 1.9 million, become new aggravated assaults when those armed defenses go away. We don’t know how many of the aggravated assaults would become murders simply because the victims were disarmed. We know there will be some.

Violent criminals committed about 140-thousand sexual assaults in 2019, or about 12 percent of the violent crimes committed that year. We now have 12 percent of what used to be armed defenses, about 326-thousand, become new sexual assaults when the victims are disarmed. We don’t know how many of the sexual assaults would become murders simply because the victims were disarmed. It is more than none.

Gun-control democrats more than tripled the number of sexual assaults when they disarmed the innocent victims. 

Violent criminals committed about 268-thousand robberies, or about 22 percent of the violent crimes committed in 2019. We now have 22 percent of what used to be armed defenses becoming 625-thousand new robberies. About 36 percent of these robberies were committed with a firearm. Gun-control democrats created more than a half million new robbery victims.

Before someone asks, don’t expect criminals to put down their weapons simply because Democrats disarmed the victims. That isn’t how crime works. Criminals wouldn’t be robbers, rapists, attackers, and murderers if they obeyed our laws.

If anyone has blood on their hands, it is the people who want to disarm the victims. Shame on them.

~_~_~_

I gave you over 700 words and I want you to pay me back. Please rate, share, and comment. RM

Sources-
FBI violent crime data from 2019- https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/violent-crime

Rate of armed defense in the US- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4109494

Armed Defense- Depending on Luck.. or Living with a Plan

We see it every day. We make simple plans all the time so we have food and warmth when the power goes out. We plan for a place to go in the event of a hurricane or flood. Armed defenders need a number of plans for home, on the street, and at work.

These ordinary citizens faced a lethal threat. Again this week, these honest gun owners saved their lives and the lives of others.

The longer discussion of what we might want to do is on the Self Defense Gun Stories webpage. For now, here are the stories and the links to the original news sources. How will you protect the people you love?

The Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast

First story from Baton Rouge, Louisiana– Are you armed at home?

You’re at home on a Saturday night. The news story doesn’t say if you were in bed yet, but you hear someone beating on your front door at 10pm. You are not expecting visitors so you grab your handgun and go to the front door. You open the door to see what the stranger wants. That is when the stranger pushes his way inside your home. The intruder hits you. You shoot your attacker multiple times. Now your attacker stops hitting you so you stop shooting him. You step back and call 911 for help.

You put your gun away when the police arrive. Emergency Medical Services take your attacker to the hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the chest. You show the police your identification and give them a brief statement.

You are not charged with a crime.

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Second story from Kingsland, Georgia- Second Story- Are you armed at work?

You are working at a gas station/convenience store. It is 4:30 in the morning when a customer runs inside and tells you to hand over your car keys. Yours is the only car in front of the store. Also, your car thief has a gun in his hand. You hand over your keys. Your attacker runs out of the store and jumps into your car. You follow him to lock the door. Your attacker crashes your car into the front of the building. As he gets out of your car, he again points his gun at you. You shoot him eight times until he drops his gun. That is when you stop shooting. Police are in the area and they hear your gunshots before you call 911. They are at your store in minutes.

You put your gun away when the police arrive. They disarm your attacker and EMS takes him to the hospital. You give the police a statement and show them the security video of the robbery. The police tell you that your attacker robbed a store and led them on a chase through five counties and two states. He was shooting at the police as he drove down the highway.

You are not charged with a crime.

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Third story from Albuquerque, New Mexico– Are you armed at work at night when you sleep?

You bought a small retail business. Before you open the store you notice that someone has tried to break into your store by breaking a hole through one of the walls. You have the wall repaired and you start sleeping in your store at night.

It is 4:30 in the morning when you wake up and hear a strange sound. Someone is breaking into your building again. A man climbs through a hole in the wall and he is carrying a heavy hammer and chisel. You shout for him to leave. He walks toward you.

You’re armed tonight. You present your firearm and shoot your attacker. Now he drops his hammer and chisel. He turns away so you stop shooting. You back up and call 911.

You put your gun away when the police arrive. You unlock the front door and let the officers inside. They disarm your attacker.They declare your attacker dead at the scene. You show them the hole the intruder made in your wall.

You have to get the wall repaired again, and you want a video security system before you open your store.

You are not charged with a crime.

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Fourth story from New Orleans, Louisiana- Are you armed as you walk in public?

You are walking down the street at four in the afternoon. A red SUV stops suddenly on the street next to you. Four teenagers get out of the car and run up to you. One of them has a gun in his hands and he points his gun at you. He tells you to hand everything over. You say sure and reach into your pocket. You have your concealed carry permit in your wallet. You have your firearm on your hip. It seems like a bad idea to give a loaded gun to four teenage robbers.

You shoot the robbers and they run. They drive away in the SUV and crash into a tree and a utility pole. They get out of the SUV and run. You stay at the scene and re-holster your pistol. You call 911. You tell the dispatcher what happened.

Police find the crashed car nearby. They arrest your four attackers. Two of your attackers are wounded.

Your attackers are 17, 15, 13, and 11 years old. They are taken to the hospital and then to the juvenile detention center. They have been on a crime spree and are charged with attempted carjacking, armed carjacking, attempted robbery, attempted robbery with a firearm, first degree robbery, armed robbery, illegal possession of stolen property, and illegal possession and carrying of a weapon.

You are not charged with a crime.

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You are the expert on where you work, live, and play. Now is the time to think about how to protect the people you love. RM

Who wants more “gun-free” zones?

You must have seen the news stories about the attack outside a shopping mall in Texas. If you didn’t read the whole article, at least you scanned the headlines. It was awful that innocent people were attacked and many were killed. In response, some gun-control politicians said we should have more gun-free zones. That makes good headlines, and “gun-free” zones have the support of a surprising group of people. Like us, they just want to feel safe as they go about their business. Maybe you feel the same way, so let’s see if you agree.

Everyone wants to feel a degree of safety. Unfortunately, what makes one person feel safe might make the next person feel at risk. Let’s slow down and look at gun-free zones one step at a time.

We agree that it is easy to put up a plastic sign. Unfortunately, that thin plastic decal on a window doesn’t stop a murderer’s bullet. It might protect the business owner from legal liability, but does it do anything else? Come to think of it, the “sign” doesn’t even need to be a real object that is posted near the business’s doorway. It can be the words “No weapons allowed.” on the mall owner’s website somewhere. Does that make you feel safer?

I’m skeptical that the words on a website will stop a criminal. I don’t think that criminals check websites before they choose where to attack us.

Maybe you want real physical signs that say “No Guns Allowed” outside of every door. Maybe you want the business owner to wand everyone who enters the store just like they do to the audience at a rock concert. That means they need a security team at every entrance whenever the business is open. Maybe that means that there can only be one entrance. That sounds safer too. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out too well in practice.

One of our largest mass-murders was at a bar with two off-duty police officers who were checking people at the front entrance. The murderer shot his way inside past the guards. Once the murderer was inside, there was no way for the unarmed victims to escape. That attack went on for hours.

Maybe the facts don’t matter because we’re talking about what feels better. Maybe you want everyone disarmed because it makes you nervous to think that there are people around you who have guns. You are not alone.

Some people feel exactly the same way. I’ve read about them and how they felt. I’ve studied them. These people felt much safer where ordinary citizens were disarmed. They searched out “gun-free” zones. They were mass-murderers looking for easy victims.

Mass-murderers intensely search for “gun-free” zones so they can murder at will.

I’m not that smart, but even I can see a pattern here-

• We saw mass murderers deliberately attack us in theaters that were called “gun-free” zones.
• They attacked us at county fairs that were called “gun-free” zones.
• They attacked us in secure areas of airports that were called “gun-free” zones.
• They attacked us in bars and restaurants that were called “gun-free” zones.
• They attacked us in churches that were called “gun-free” zones.
• Mass-murderers attacked us in grocery stores in towns where the police chief and sheriffs made sure that ordinary honest citizens were disarmed.
• Mass-murderers also attacked us in schools that were called “gun-free” zones, and that is an interesting test case.

Schools are frequent targets of mass-murderers, but we have never seen a mass-murderer attempt to attack a school that had a program to train and arm school staff. I think that tells us a lot. It says that mass-murderers feel safer in “gun-free” zones. That certainly makes sense from their point of view, but it leaves us with other questions.

Why do people who are not mass-murderers feel safer in a gun free zone?

I’m not sure, but I have a guess. We know that mass-murderers target us in “gun-free” zones. The people who are afraid of guns would rather face the remote risk of a mass-murderer than be around their harmless neighbors who might be armed.

If I’m right, then that tells us a lot about the people who are afraid of their neighbors, but it doesn’t tell us much about guns.

~_~_

I gave you 700 words and a lot of thought. Please share this with a friend and comment. RM

Sources-

Attack at the Pulse Nightclub- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_nightclub_shooting

Mass-murder and mass-shootings- https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/essays/mass-shootings.html

Attacks in “gun-free” zones- https://crimeresearch.org/2018/06/more-misleading-information-from-bloombergs-everytown-for-gun-safety-on-guns-analysis-of-recent-mass-shootings/

Gun Control Fails Again in Allen, Texas

A man shot innocent victims outside a shopping mall. The attacker was killed by an off-duty policeman who happened to be nearby. The mall is at the northern edge of Dallas’s suburbs. We’re hearing all kinds of claims about what we should do to be safer. Let’s look at each of those claims one at a time. It is hard to make things better, and easy to make them worse.

We were told that the murderer used a modern sporting rifle so those should be outlawed. The murderer killed eight people, but the news never told us that rifles are used by honest gun owners about 46-thousand times a year in self-defense. How many of those 46-thousand defenders should we disarm in the hope of saving 8 lives?

We were told that we need to have mandatory waiting periods before people are allowed to buy a firearm. The gun-control advocates didn’t mention that this mass-murder had his guns for years, so waiting periods would not have done a thing to disarm the attacker. Longer waiting periods might have disarmed more of the victims.

Gun-control politicians say it is common sense to limit the amount of ammunition that can be carried in a magazine. They pretend that criminals will obey our gun laws. If we really wanted to give the innocent victim a chance then we wouldn’t disarm them. Mass-murderers, and gun-control politicians, hate it when we can shoot back.

The elephant in the room is that the mall had signs that said “No Weapons” on the mall owners’ website. That might protect the property owners from legal judgements, but those regulations sure didn’t stop this mass-murderer from going armed. Mass murderers almost always attack us in so called “gun-free” zones where honest citizens are disarmed. Mass murderers attack us in so called “gun-free” zones 98-percent of the time. No matter how often their gun-control regulations fail, gun-control politicians keep demanding more of the same.

We were told that we need to raise the age at which people are allowed to own gun so that we might save more lives. The news media hid the fact that the mass-murderer in Allen, Texas was 33 years old. Disarming 18,19, and 20 year olds would not have stopped this mass murder. That means that age restrictions failed to keep us safe from mass-murderers.

Most mass murderers are between 20 and 30 years of age. What the news didn’t say is that young men and women are also disproportionately the victims of crime. The news forgot to mention that armed citizens stopped well over 100-thousand sexual assaults last year. Also, young people are disproportionately victimized by sexual assault. How many 18, 19, and 20 year olds should we disarm in the hope of saving 8 lives?

We were told that we need more background checks in order to be safer. The news media didn’t mention that the murderer was a security guard who passed many background checks. That means that background checks failed to disarm this mass murderer. Why would gun-control proponents want more of something that fails so often?

The murder was discharged from the military because he had mental health problems. We don’t know if the problems rose to the level that they would have required involuntary commitment for mental health treatment. We don’t know if the murderer received a dishonorable discharge that would have precluded him from passing a background check. We do know that the US Air Force failed to flag the murderer who attacked a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The government paid 145-million dollars for their failure to properly enter that murderer into the FBI list of people who are prohibited from buying firearms. The final settlement with all the victims may be larger.

There are several other mass-murderers who passed background checks they should have failed. Why are gun-control advocates asking us to use a system that fails so often?

I asked you some hard questions. I’m afraid that gun-control costs us more lives than it saves. That is what the facts look like to me.

Does that mean I think that more guns are the answer? I think that letting honest people defend themselves is part of the answer, but certainly not the whole solution. We want mental health treatment to be easier to get. We want the media to stop turning the murderers and their causes into instant celebrities. We know that would save a lot of lives.

What you might not know is that ordinary people like us stopped over half the attempted mass murders where we were allowed to go armed.

I wish I has simple solutions. We have given the problem a lot of thought. Maybe the best I can do is to point out the suggestions that would make things worse.

Sources-

Firearms ownership in the US- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4109494

Mass murder stopped by armed citizens- https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2022/10/05/armed-citizens-stop-more-mass-shootings-than-you-might-think-n62992

Government liability in Sutherland Springs attack- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-government-pay-145m-failing-152338779.html

Armed Defense- Good Men and Women Save Lives Again

We see it from men and from women. They are at home and in public. It happens during the day and at night. These ordinary citizens faced a lethal threat. Again this week, these honest gun owners saved their lives and the lives of others.

Did these defenders use best practice or were they lucky? We are not always sure, and the discussion of what we might want to do is on the Self Defense Gun Stories webpage. For now, here are the stories and the links to the original news sources.

The Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast

.

First story from Austin, Texas- Do you have a firearm nearby at night?

It is just after 5 on a Tuesday morning when you are woken up by a strange noise. Someone is knocking at your front door. They shout for you to let them in. You don’t know who it is. You grab your handgun and shout for them to go away. You call 911 and ask for the police. You are leaning against your front door as your intruder tries to smash your door.

The intruder breaks through your window and enters your home. You shout for him to leave and shoot him until he stops moving toward you. The police are still on the phone and you tell them to hurry.

You put your gun away when the police are outside. They tell EMS that the scene is safe to enter. EMS declares your attacker dead at the scene.

You give the police a statement about what happened. Detectives review that statement and the recording of your 911 call. They hear your attacker beating on your door and window. They hear you shout for him to stop.

You are not charged with a crime.

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Second Story from Gastonia, North Carolina- Are you armed in public?

You are walking across the parking lot between several small businesses. You are getting back in your car just before noon when a man approaches you. The man pulls a knife and threatens you. You back up and your attacker chases you. You shout for him to stop. He is getting closer and tries to stab you. You are carrying concealed. You present your firearm and shoot your attacker. Now your attacker stops. He runs away. 

Several people in the nearby businesses heard you shout. They saw you being attacked and backing away. They called 911. It is not clear from the news reports if you called 911 also.

You reholster your pistol and stay at the scene. You give the police a statement. North Carolina doesn’t have constitutional carry, so it seems you have your carry permit, though that also isn’t reported in the news. Police find your attacker at a U-haul lot a block away. He is taken to the hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the upper abdomen. Police interview the other witnesses.

You are not charged with a crime.

.

Third story from Tuscaloosa, Alabama- Are you armed at home?

You share an apartment with your sister. Her ex-boyfriend beat her up before. Her attacker threatened her yesterday saying he would come over and beat her again.

You are both home with friends on a Sunday evening when you hear someone at the front door. Someone breaks down your front door. The ex-boyfriend walks in and goes to your sister’s room. She shouts and he grabs her.

You grab your gun from your room and follow them. You shoot the attacker until he lets go of your sister. It isn’t clear from the news reports who calls 911 and asks for help.

Police arrive and you put your gun away. EMS declares your attacker dead at the scene. You give the police a statement about what happened. So does your sister and your friends who were in the apartment. Your neighbors gives a statement about the attacker threatening your sister yesterday.

You are not charged.

.

Fourth story from Adair County, Kentucky– Are you armed in public?

You and your girlfriend are at a pizza restaurant on a Tuesday night. Two customers have been drinking and are causing a problem. They are asked to leave by the store manager and employees. Now the two pick a fight with you and your girlfriend. You both get up to leave and the two men attack you. You are punched and knocked down. Your girlfriend and store employees try and help you, but you are punched, kicked, and then hit with a chair. Your girlfriend is knocked down and then runs out to your truck to grab your handgun. She comes back and points the gun at your attackers. They stop. You and your girlfriend retreat to your truck to leave.

One of the store employees runs out to see if you need help. Your girlfriend hands you your gun. One of your attackers runs out and threatens you. He says he has a gun. You shoot him at least four times as he runs at you. He turns around so you stop shooting. The store employee is also shot in the foot. It isn’t clear if you did that or if your attacker did that.

You stay at the scene and wait for the police. The store manager has already called 911. You put your gun away when the police arrive. EMS takes your attacker to the hospital.

You give the arriving officers a statement about being attacked. The store employees give statements. Customers who witnessed your attack give statements. The police look at the store security videos.

You are not charged with a crime.

.

Yes, being armed helped them go home. So did witnesses and video.

Repost- Anti-Gun Democrat-Run Cities With ‘Progressive’ Prosecutors Have the Highest Homicide Rates – The Truth About Guns

Crime goes up when your make it hard for honest citizens to defend themselves, and when you release violent criminals back on the street. I see that you’re not surprised. RM

 

From John Boch- “Democrat-led cities across America have a serious violent crime problem. They also have an even bigger homicide problem. While crime has risen to some degree in most locales since 2021, cities with Democrat leadership saw the biggest increases.

“Memphis, New Orleans, Baltimore, St. Louis and Detroit are all been run by mayors who despise gun owners while bending over backwards to excuse and coddle criminals. What’s more, they all have Soros-funded prosecutors. In other words, prosecutors who prosecute the law-abiding for fighting back while undercharging or turning loose violent criminals, time after time.”

Read it all here- Go Figure: Anti-Gun Democrat-Run Cities With ‘Progressive’ Prosecutors Have the Highest Homicide Rates – The Truth About Guns

Democrats Disarm New Gun Owners with the Same Old Racism

Our history isn’t very pretty, but it is fairly clear. After the Civil War, we told recently freed black men and women that they couldn’t own guns to defend themselves from groups like the Knights of the White Camelia, the Ku Klux Klan, and the White League. Freed black men voted for Republicans until local Democrat officials prevented them from voting. It is embarrassing to see Democrat Attorneys General from several states point to those same discriminatory laws as they try to justify disarming honest citizens today. I’m ashamed, and I’m surprised that more democrat voters aren’t deeply embarrassed by this too.

Right after the Civil War, freed blacks in the south voted for republican politicians. They elected 22 black politicians into federal office in congress and in the senate. All were Republicans. Local Democrat politicians revised the voting laws to disenfranchise black voters. The laws didn’t say that only whites could vote. The laws said there was a literacy test or a poll tax. That disenfranchised enough black voters that Democrats regained control of government.

The laws didn’t say that only whites could own and carry guns after the civil war. Instead the laws said that you needed a permit to purchase a gun. The local sheriff had to approve your purchase. You had to demonstrate “good moral character” and have a “justifiable need” before you could get your firearms purchase permit. Blacks and other minorities were routinely denied the right of armed defense.

Newly freed slaves didn’t have a lot of money. Newly enacted  gun laws said that only expensive handguns could be sold. Handguns were far cheaper than rifles so those laws kept poor blacks from buying guns. The results were exactly as you would predict.

It is easier to burn down a black person’s home and assault them on the road if they can’t defend themselves. Those gun laws never said that only whites could keep and bear arms, but those discriminatory regulations had the effect of allowing local officials to deliberately disarm black men and black women. That finally changed.. almost.

In the middle of last year, the US Supreme court finally recognized that there is a right to go armed in public for self-defense. The court said that states must grant a license to carry a firearm in public if the applicant has a clean criminal record and is not otherwise precluded by law. The decision to issue a permit must be based on objective factors rather than the subjective (political) whim of the government official.

Ideally, the Democrat controlled states that still restricted legal firearms ownership would have rewritten their laws to be in compliance with the US Supreme Court’s decision. Instead, many Democrat controlled states further restricted who can be issued a license, where they were allowed to carry a privately owned firearm, and what firearms they were allowed to own. In practice, it was the same old “justifiable need”, “good moral character”, and expensive guns all over again.

Let me give you an example. Even after the recent US Supreme Court’s case was decided, the New York Attorney General’s office said that a woman didn’t need to have a permit to carry a firearm because her husband had one and that should be enough to protect her. Note that both the husband and wife carried large amounts of cash from their business to the bank.

Do you hear this the way I do? You don’t need to speak because your husband’s voice can represent you. You don’t need to own property because your husband can hold property in your name. You don’t need to vote because your husband’s vote can elect the officials you would have chosen.

YOU DON”T NEED TO DEFEND YOURSELF AND THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE..

..BECAUSE YOUR HUSBAND CAN DO THAT FOR YOU.

Excuse me. What did you say? That is so embarrassing it is hard to believe. I thought we decided those issues decades ago. I guess not if you’re working for the State Attorney’s Office in New York.

I so wish the bigotry stopped there, but, unfortunately, it didn’t. Several Democrat controlled states said that honest civilians shouldn’t own modern firearms even if the basic designs for those guns were created back in the 1800’s. We’re not talking about machine guns, but ordinary handguns and rifles. Anti-rights Democrats said that ordinary honest citizens didn’t have the right to protect themselves with a modern firearm. As you would expect, many government employees were exempted from those regulations.

Those laws were immediately challenged in court, and this is where it gets really embarrassing for Democrats.

The State Attorneys’ General and their lawyers then looked at the bigoted history of disarming minorities. They said that since we imposed racist gun-control laws after the Civil War, that Democrat politicians today were merely following a long historical tradition of firearms regulation. If you don’t believe me, then please read the court filings from California, Illinois, New York, and from New Jersey yourself.

Democrats said that since they imposed and then denied firearms permits during reconstruction, it was legally justified to do that today. I’m sure the state’s attorneys would have pointed to more appealing cases if they could, but the history of gun-control is really that racist.

Like the original laws passed during reconstruction, the gun-laws today don’t say they disarm the poor. Democrat politicians today don’t say they want to disarm minorities, but that is exactly what they are doing in our Democrat controlled states and cities.

It is in these violent Democrat controlled cities that the poor and minorities are at the greatest risk of violent crime. That is where they most need to protect themselves. Democrat politicians and their supporters told me that Democrats wanted to protect women. They said they wanted to protect minorities. I guess that isn’t true if women and minorities want to protect themselves. This isn’t a small issue of semantics, but a matter of life and death.

Do you find that hypocrisy as obvious and embarrassing as I do, or am I being overly sensitive?

~_~_

Sources-

Black Republicans elected during reconstruction- https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-first-23-black-congress-republicans-1627015

Racist roots of gun-control- https://guardianlv.com/2013/08/jim-crowe-and-gun-control/

And here- https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/democrats-jim-crow-a-century-of-racist-history-the-democratic-party-prefers-youd-forget/

US Supreme Court rules New York carry permits- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf

Woman denied carry permit in New York- https://reason.com/volokh/2023/04/29/petitioners-second-amendment-rights-are-not-dependent-on-her-spouses-acquisition/

History of Semi-automatic firearms- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_rifle

Court records in California case of Miller v. Bonta- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16069141/miller-v-becerra/

Sources for gun-control legal cases- https://airtable.com/shrcrC5FsedZqIi3T/tblMclNyymYiklOOg/viwM47ZZsFWQo69Vf?blocks=bip7AX9876GOWN0dN

Nordstrom Closing Downtown SF Stores, Citing Difficult Conditions

Someone in the US Census Bureau gave me interesting news. The county (parish) where I live and San Francisco were the two counties with the greatest decline in population. We had two hurricanes, a flood, a tornado and a freeze in 7 months. San Fran had decades of bad government.

I know how to repair a house, but don’t know how to fix city hall. RM

“The retailer confirmed the closures on Tuesday. In an email to employees, the company’s chief stores officer wrote that “the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.” The two planned closures represent about 357,500 square feet of retail space, according to the San Francisco Business Times, which first reported Nordstrom’s plans.

The Westfield mall Nordstrom and the Nordstrom Rack will close at the end of August and on July 1, respectively. The Westfield mall and its owner, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said in a statement that the planned closure “underscores the deteriorating situation in Downtown San Francisco.”

Source: Nordstrom Closing Downtown SF Stores, Citing Difficult Conditions

Armed Citizen Stops Four Armed Robbers at Houston Gas Station

By Rob Morse. Thank you to Ammoland for posting this article.

We read about convenience stores and gas stations being robbed on a regular basis. We also read about young armed men wearing masks and committing robberies. Most business robberies occur between 8 pm and 3 am. Since we didn’t know when this particular store in Houston, Texas was going to be robbed, can we still call it news? It is definitely news when an armed customer stops a gang of armed robbers.

Our unsuspecting defender walked into the gas station just before 9 pm. Other customers were there as well. None of that was surprising until four young men rushed into the store. All four of them were wearing masks. All of them had guns in their hands. They told the store clerk and all the customers to hand over their wallets and their cash.

This defender was carrying concealed that night. He presented his firearm and shot three of the four robbers. The robbers ran from the store and dove back into the getaway car that was waiting outside. The getaway driver headed down the road. Photos of the crime scene seemed to show cartridge casings on the ground outside the store. That is called a clue.

There is no evidence that the armed defender went outside and shot at the fleeing robbers. The defender put his gun away and stayed at the scene. He gave a statement to the police when they arrived. We don’t know if the defender also called 911. I hope he did.

One of the customers was injured, but we don’t know if the customer was hit by the defender or by one of the five robbers. In fact, I couldn’t find reports that explicitly said the customer was wounded by a gunshot, only that he was injured. Emergency Medical Services took the injured customer to the hospital. The armed defender was not charged with a crime.

Four of the attackers were arrested at the hospital. The police are looking for the fifth attacker. The wounded customer is expected to make a full recovery.

That tells us a lot, but we’d like to know more. Almost all the convenience store chains have security videos. The likely reason that the store and the police have not released the video is because one, if not all, of the robbers were under the age of 18. Short of that video, we’re left to speculate.

Is defeating four attackers an impossible task, or is it simply a matter of training and practice?

Let us ignore luck for a moment. We can learn to carry in public. We can learn to present a firearm efficiently. We can learn to move and use cover. We can use tactics to give ourselves an advantage. I enjoyed those classes.

Knowing that you can present your firearm quickly and reliably takes practice. In particular, it takes dry practice. That takes about an hour a month spread out over 4 to 6 short sessions. That practice reinforces what you’ve been taught and also refines your skills. With a little practice, say three months, we should be able to draw and deliver two shots on four targets in about 3 seconds.

Does that mean the good guy outgunned four bad guys who had their guns in their hands with their guns already pointed at him? No, it does not.

We’re not sure what happened, but it is easy to imagine the four attackers walking to the back of the store to rob the clerk and customers standing in line. A customer near the cooler case at the end of the store might see the attackers stacked in a like one behind the other. Only the nearest attacker can shoot the defender without shooting the robber that were in his way. We don’t know if that is what happened in this case, but tactics can give an armed defender a huge advantage.

Tactics matter, and robbers shoot each other a fair percentage of the time.

Luck plays a factor too. The robbers might have been able to act quickly in a coordinated way and get off a lucky shot. That is why there is a risk in any gunfight. In contrast, the defender may have been slightly behind the robbers with a display of soft drinks between him and his attackers. When given an advantage like that, he took it while it lasted. Again, that is speculation without seeing the security video or reading an in-depth interview by an instructor in armed defense. Even the security video won’t tell us how many lives the defender saved that day.

In this case, we know our defender thought it was better to start shooting than to be disarmed by four armed robbers. Your judgment at the scene is the only thing that matters. Training and practice help you make better decisions.

~_~_

What do you think of this defender and what would you do in his place? RM

Federal judge blocks Illinois’ weapons ban while case continues

This will be a fascinating case to watch. The preliminary injunction puts the law on hold until its constitutionality is decided in court. One federal district ruled in favor of an injunction while a second district court ruled against an injunction. RM

“Illinois’ gun and magazine ban is on hold after a federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois on Friday ruled in favor of a preliminary injunction. The case could be appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where a similar challenge is pending.”

Source: Federal judge blocks Illinois’ weapons ban while case continues

Lies Aimed at Disarming You

Lies come in many shapes and sizes. Some are simple exaggerations. Some are absurd falsehoods. Unfortunately, we tend to believe a bald lie if it is expressed with enough emotion. That outrage also keeps viewers watching and clicking so the press is often more interested in outrage than in the truth. A lie doesn’t become the truth if it is repeated, but the lie may help politicians get re-elected if it is repeated by enough likely voters. We need to call out every lie we see even if that means calling “respected elected officials” liars. Congressman Jamaal Brown, you lie. Representative Jimmy Gomez, you lie. You lie because you say you want to save lives, yet you pretend that more gun-control laws will actually protect our kids. That is a lie and I’ll prove it right now.

Why would politicians hide the truth behind their emotional outbursts? The simple answer is that politicians lie to get what they want. They want press coverage and campaign contributions. Democrat Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California said that Republicans should resign from office if they are not going to pass more gun-control legislation. Democrat Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York yelled at reporters that “Republicans won’t do sh-t when it comes to gun violence.” Implied is the lie that gun-control laws actually save lives, and that anyone who won’t pass more gun-control laws is either corrupt or heartless. Both claims are a lie.

Maybe if their Democrat controlled cities weren’t so corrupt then there would be fewer young men shooting at each other on the streets of the congressman’s districts. I think gun control is a distraction from their many failures.

Gun-control costs lives and endangers our children in school. Before you can believe that you need to know that armed defense by ordinary citizens is common.

We use a firearm to stop death or great bodily injury about 2.8 million times a year. That is over 7600 times a day. In addition, ordinary citizens with a gun prevented several million more crimes than that. Your armed neighbors probably stopped tens of thousands of murders and over a hundred-thousand sexual assaults.

These armed good guys stopped an immense about of harm. That is good, but our virtue doesn’t stop there.

We started to train and arm volunteer school staff a decade ago after the mass-murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. We have accumulated several thousand man-years of experience with these armed volunteers. You might have missed that their efforts worked in the best possible way: their mere presence prevented attacks at their school.

Let me underline that for you.

We have never had a mass-murder at a school that had a program of trained and armed school staff.

Perspective is everything when we want to understand the truth. Only one-criminal-out-of-six uses a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. Criminals use firearms about a quarter-million times each year and they violate our “gun-control” laws millions of times each year. That means that gun control is a failure. In contrast, we defend ourselves with a firearm about 2.8 million times every year.

Mass murderers take about 600 lives a year. We defend ourselves with a gun ten times that number every day. We protected hundreds of thousands of our children with armed school volunteers every day. If you haven’t heard it before then I’m telling you now, armed defense is much more common than the criminal use of a firearm.

Gun-control politicians say their laws disarm criminals. In fact, their 23-thousand gun-control regulations disarm far more honest citizens than criminals. Mass murderers deliberately attack us in gun-free zones where we are disarmed by law.

Politicians and the news media don’t tell us everything we need to know to make a reasoned decision. It is deadly public policy to solve a small problem by creating a larger one. We can’t save hundreds of lives by sacrificing tens-of-thousands. If we really want to save lives, then we’d repeal our gun-control laws rather than passing more of them. That won’t work for gun-control politicians who need to shout in public to get reelected. If gun-control advocates really wanted to save lives, then they would stop lying.

How many more innocent lives should we sacrifice on the altar of gun-control?

I’m giving you facts, but facts don’t matter to gun-control ideologues. For them, the ideal of gun-control is an end in itself rather than an instrumental means to save lives. Mass murders are simply an excuse to disarm more honest citizens.

I am not running for office, but I am trying to influence your opinion. Lies matter when we want to deceive. Facts matter when we want to save lives. Time and again, Democrats and Socialists in the USA have said that only Democrats care about children, and everyone else doesn’t care if kids die. I’m calling that a lie. Lives matter to me and they matter to you.

It is uncomfortable to call someone a liar but it gets easier with practice. I did it this time. I’m asking you to do it the next time you hear them lie about us.

~_~_

There is so much more I could have said and I struggled to keep this under 800 words. I hope I chose the best arguments. If you would add more, what would you leave out?

Please comment and share. RM

Sources-

Rate of mass-murder in the USA- https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/violent-crime

Armed defense in the USA- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4109494

No schools attacked with armed school staff- https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/apr/10/there-have-been-no-shooting-attacks-in-schools-whe/

Armed Defense and the Use of Force in Texas

I comment on the use of force. Some of my readers and listeners know more about an incident than I do. I’m lucky that they contacted me and made me smarter. Here is what they said.

Samuel left this comment-

I listen to the Polite Society Podcast every time it comes on and I get a lot out of it. I do have one important thing to please see that you correct.

There was the story recounted of the man who tracked down his stolen car by use of an airpod, and wound up shooting the thief he found in the car. Y’all said he was not yet being charged because Texas allows the use of deadly force in defense of property. That wasn’t the reason. The man confronted the thief and in the course of that confrontation, he shot the thief because he thought the thief was going for a gun. This was self defense, not property defense.

The Texas statute would not have protected him in any case, because the fracas happened during the day. The Texas statute, cited below, specifically applies at night with certain other limitations. I enjoy the show. Keep up the good work.

News source for the story- https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/san-antonio-airtag-shooting-17871230.php

Legal reference on use of force in Texas to protect property- https://lawofselfdefense.com/statute/texas-sec-9-42-deadly-force-to-protect-property/  

.

Greg is a firearms instructor in Texas, and he sent in a comment also-

My comments are based on public information solely. Any changes to the relevant fact patterns might alter my conclusions.

Texas Penal Code 9.42 offers a bit more wiggle room. An actor ( the victim) may use Deadly Force to recover stolen , robbed or burgled property IF, IF the actor cannot recover the property by other means without exposing themselves to Death or Serious Bodily Injury AND , I say AND , the Grand Jury concludes that the action was reasonable under the circumstances.

The bank manager can use Deadly Force and shoot at the fleeing bank robbers and the Grand Jury Will generally consider that action reasonable.

I tell my students DO NOT shoot a thief, even if they are stealing your new Maserati. Let them go. Call the Sheriff, Constable or city cops. Then call your insurance company.

The “get out of jail free” card in the cited incident was the fact that the car THIEF was reasonable believed to be armed. He was thus not legally a thief but instead had graduated to the status of a “Robber.” If the Robber has a weapon, the offense, in Texas, is called “Aggravated Robbery”. He (the attacker) reasonably and articulably ALSO, in addition to his status as “Aggravated Robber”, poses a reasonable deadly threat to the victim.

Texas Penal Code 9.32 (B) explicitly states that a Defender is JUSTIFIED in using Deadly Force to defend against a Robber/ Aggravated Robber. TPC 9.32 (A) says the Defender May use Deadly Force to Defend against unlawful Deadly Force.

An Aggravated Robber generally falls into both categories. (lethal attacker, and aggravated robber)

As for a thief? Call the cops.

~_~_

Thank you for your attention and comments. RM

Armed Defense- Training and Practice Help the Good Guys Survive

The Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast

Across the United States, armed citizens saved thousands of lives again this week. These four stories are amazing and the news only tells us some of what the defenders did. We’re not always sure how they did it and the discussion of what we might want to do is on the Self Defense Gun Stories webpage. For now, here are the stories and the links to the original news sources.

First story from Houston, Texas- Are you armed in public?

You are in a gas station just before 9 at night. So are other customers. Four young men rush into the store. All four of them are wearing masks. All of them have guns in their hands. They tell the clerk and all the customers to hand over their wallets and their cash.

You own a gun too. You’re carrying concealed. You present your firearm and shoot three of the four robbers. They run from the store and dive back into the getaway car waiting outside. The getaway driver heads down the road.

You stay inside and watch them drive away. You put your gun back in its holster. One of the customers is injured, but you don’t know if he was hit by your shots or by the robbers. You call 911 and ask for help. You identify yourself to the police when they arrive. Emergency Medical Services take the wounded customer to the hospital. You give a statement to the police. You are not charged.

Four of the attackers are arrested at the hospital. The police are looking for the fifty attacker. The wounded customer is expected to make a full recovery.

Second Story from Gainesville, Florida- Are you armed in public?

Your daughter gives you a call. She is frantic after her boyfriend beat her up again. You drive over to see her. She is injured and you both call the police to file a report. The officers arrive and takes your statements. The attacker isn’t there so the police leave. You stay with your daughter.

Her boyfriend comes back a half hour later. He searches the house looking for her. You shoot him and he turns and runs. You call the police again.

Police find your attacker in the parking lot. EMS declares him dead at the scene. You stay in the apartment and give a statement to the police.

You are not charged.

Third story happened in Fort Worth, Texas- Are you armed as you drive?

You drive up to a store. Your friend is in the back seat of your truck so you leave your truck running in the parking lot. As you leave the store, you see someone sitting in the driver’s seat of your truck and it isn’t your friend. The stranger is trying to steal your truck with your friend inside. You run outside and pull open the driver’s door. The stranger fights with you. You present your firearm and shoot the kidnapper. Now he stops. He gets out of your  truck and runs away. Fortunately, your friend isn’t hurt. You stay at the scene and call 911 for help.

Police find out that your attacker was thrown out of the store a few minutes before you arrived. They find your attacker at a nearby motel. Emergency Medical Services transports him to the hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to his arm.

You are not charged with a crime.

Fourth story back to Houston, Texas- Are you armed as you drive?

You are driving down the street after dark. You drive past a small bank located in a shopping center parking lot. The drive through automatic-teller-machine is well lit. You see a man being pulled out of his car and being pistol whipped at the ATM. You are armed tonight and carrying concealed. You turn your truck around. You get out of your vehicle. The attacker notices you and points his gun at you. You shoot him several times until he drops his gun. He is wounded in the leg and foot so he can’t run very far or very fast.

You call 911 and ask for help. Police take your attacker’s gun. EMTs take your attacker to the hospital. The news stories don’t mention if the victim being pistol whipped needed hospitalization. You show the officers your identification. You give them a statement. 

You are not charged with a crime. Later, you find out that your attacker was wanted for murder in Louisiana. The news reported that this was the 103rd robbery in the area in the last year.

~_~_

The old lesson is that you don’t win a gunfight but you might survive it. Were these ordinary citizens lucky, or did they have a plan?

Walmart abruptly closing four underperforming Chicago stores, citing millions in annual losses

Elections have consequences even in Chicago. RM

“Walmart announced Tuesday it will abruptly close four underperforming Chicago stores, citing millions in annual losses.

“The company said its eight Chicago stores collectively have not been profitable since the first opened 17 years ago. This has amounted to a loss of “tens of millions of dollars a year,” according to a press release, losses that have nearly doubled over the last five years.”

Source: Walmart abruptly closing four underperforming Chicago stores, citing millions in annual losses

REI to shutter Portland location due to thefts, break-ins – TheBlaze

Elections have consequences.. even in Portland, Oregon. RM

“Outdoor recreational retailer REI announced Monday that it plans to shutter its Portland store early next year due to a record-breaking number of thefts and break-ins, despite the company’s more than $800,000 investment in upgraded security measures..”

Read about it all here-

Source: ‘Not financially sustainable’: REI to become latest retailer to shutter Portland location due to thefts, break-ins after investing $800K in unsuccessful security upgrades – TheBlaze

Almost Gun-Control Fails and Almost Armed Defense Saves Lives

Gun-control advocates will tell you that the 23-thousand firearms regulations we have today aren’t nearly enough. Those laws are simply a good start. In contrast, advocates of armed defense will tell you that the right to bear arms is horribly infringed. Both are telling the truth about what they want, but they can’t both be right. In fact the results are shockingly different. Imperfect gun-control fails time after time and imperfect armed defense stops millions of violent crimes each year. The truth is obvious if we’re willing to look.

There were over 278-thousand cases of criminals using guns during the commission of a violent crime in 2019. That is the last year for which the FBI provided complete statistics. We also had 61 mass murders with a firearm in 2021. All of these crimes were committed by a criminal who should not have had a gun. Criminals have firearms not because there are too few laws but because criminals ignore the laws we already have. Our flood of gun-control laws failed to stop violent criminals.

Every violent criminal who used a gun probably broke several gun-control laws during the commission of his crime. To start, these criminals stole a gun or bought it illegally. In addition to the sale, their possession of a gun was also illegal. They broke the law when they transported their firearm from place to place. Likewise, there are laws against criminals possessing or transporting ammunition. Concealing their firearm in public was against the law too.

These criminals don’t bother with background checks and waiting periods.

That is bad enough, but it gets worse. Gun-control laws actually made the job of mass-murderers easier and made their attacks more deadly. These criminals deliberately attacked us in “gun free” zones where honest citizens were disarmed by law.

Violent criminals who commit robbery, rape, assault, murder, or mass murder are also willing to break our firearms laws. These criminals commit many crimes before they are caught by law enforcement. That means violent criminals violate our gun-control laws several million times every year. Can that possibly surprise anyone?

Gun-control failed to stop violent criminals several million times yet gun-control advocates want us to pass more of their failing laws. Insanity is doing the same thing time after time and expecting a different result the next time you try the same old thing. That is why I think gun-control is crazy. I am as repulsed by violent crime and mass-murder as you are, and fortunately, we have options that work.

Owning a gun and using it for defense is common. Over 80-million of us own guns. 41 percent of us live in a household that has firearms. About one-in-a-dozen adults are armed in public. 30-percent of gun owners have used their firearm for defense. Honest citizens use their personal firearms for defense about 2.8-million times every year. That is a lot of armed defense and a wonderful legacy of lives that were saved.

As a conservative estimate, these armed citizens saved about 5-million victims from criminal violence. They save those lives despite the thousands of infringements on honest citizens being armed.

We know a lot about the armed citizens who have their permits to carry a firearm in public. These 20-million citizens are extraordinarily law-abiding and non-violent. They are less likely to break the law than the police. Ordinary gun owners are also less likely than the police to have an accident or shoot the wrong person. When we look at their record in the last few years, these honest gun owners stopped attempted mass-murder about half the time where they were allowed to go armed. That has stopped 104 attempted mass murders in the last seven years. That explains why mass-murderers choose “gun-free” zones.

The future is uncertain but we know some things with confidence. We know that gun-control politicians will offer their same broken solutions. We also know that ordinary citizens will be at the scene of the crime every time. We know that gun-control will fail and that armed citizens will stop violent criminals millions of times a year.

Should more of our neighbors be disarmed victims or armed defenders? That choice is up to us.

In fact, the choice is up to you.

~_~_

I gave you 700 words and a lot of thought. Please share this article with a friend and please leave a comment. RM

Sources-

FBI statistics on violent crime by state and weapon used in 2019, tables 20-22- https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/violent-crime

Mass murders in 2021- https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-designates-61-active-shooter-incidents-in-2021

Ordinary citizens defend themselves- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4109494

More law abiding than the police-https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Downloads/PublicTestimonyDocument/6128

Mass murders stopped by ordinary citizens- https://crimeresearch.org/2022/10/massive-errors-in-fbis-active-shooting-reports-regarding-cases-where-civilians-stop-attacks-instead-of-4-4-the-correct-number-is-at-least-34-4-in-2021-it-is-at-least-49-1-excluding-gun-free-zon/