Category: Carrying / Self-Defense

You know what my first reaction is going to be if I’m in the store and I see someone come in with an AR-15? Look for cover, and get ready to draw, and try to beat a hasty retreat.

According to police, the man originally entered the store unarmed, then went back to his car and retrieved his rifle. He then walked back into the store briefly before leaving again.

Though he was not arrested, store managers barred him from the property, officials said.

Shopper Monica Green said she fled the store and called 911 after she saw the man. Green said she warned people in the parking lot not to enter the store.

I don’t think Shopper Monica Green did anything I wouldn’t do. Come into the store, go back out, get a gun, come back into the store, walk around, and leave? This kind of behavior is what’s going to ruin things for people who are responsible, and don’t OC for attention whoring purposes. It all comes down to context. If you’re thinking about OCing a long gun at a grocery store, the first question you should ask yourself is whether you’re in Switzerland. No? OK, are you in Israel? No? Then do us all a favor and reconsider.

A Democratic Sheriff is running a PSA in Milwaukee on the need to be ready to defend yourself. From Firearms & Freedom, who actually heard the ad yesterday, we get this kind of message:

Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there.

You have a duty to protect yourself and your family.

Go read the entire transcript.

UPDATE: You can also go listen to the whole PSA.

Newly sworn-in PA State Rep. Greg Lucas announced that he’ll soon sponsor legislation allowing teachers and administrators to carry firearms. He is a former teacher married to a current public school teacher, and he was impacted when a friend died after being shot by a student at a school dance in 1998. He says that the body count would have been higher, but that incident was stopped by a citizen who was legally carrying his own firearm.

Reading from the co-sponsorship memo, it looks like Rep. Lucas adds slightly more conditions onto prospective school carry than simply having a concealed carry license:

In the upcoming session, I will be introducing legislation to allow school personnel to carry a gun to school if they have been licensed to carry a concealed firearm AND have a current and valid certification in the use and handling of firearms. The current and valid certification would have to be issued under one of the following:

(1) 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 21 Subch. D (relating to municipal police education and training).
(2) The act of February 9, 1984 (P.L.3, No.2), known as the Deputy Sheriffs’ Education and Training Act.
(3) The act of October 10, 1974 (P.L.705, No.235), known as the Lethal Weapons Training Act.
(4) The act of December 13, 2005 (P.L. 432, No. 79), known as the Retired Law Enforcement Identification Act.
(5) Any other firearms program that has been determined by the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police to be of sufficient scope and duration as to provide the participant with basic training in the use and handling of firearms.

Based on this, it also appears to open up the option for districts to simply utilize retired law enforcement for school security.

I was previously of the opinion that there wouldn’t be very many teachers interested in training with firearms, but apparently that may not be the case. And it’s not just Utah, apparently either. This is good news. The cultural indicators are very good for us, but remember that this President has a particular talent for ramming unpopular legislation down the throats of Americans who don’t want it. And why should he be wary? He got re-elected.

See this excellent comment by Richard Fernandez about his experience growing up in the Philippines:

If Lanza had advanced on even the most wretched educational institution in Sampaloc Manila in that tactical getup he would not have been greeted by unarmed women administrators. There would have been a warmer reception than that. And for a generation which was accustomed to thinking of America as the somehow superior reference culture, that is deeply puzzling.

Why are there so many nutcases of late? And why can they get away with shooting up Columbine, or Virginia or Sandy Hook. Do you mean to say poverty stricken schools in a third world country can hire shotgun armed guard at every school, but America can’t?

Read the whole thing. More here.

A man opens fire in a Chinese Restaurant, then chases one person into a movie theater. He is shot by an off-duty Sheriff’s deputy before he can get in the theater. One bystander was shot by the gunman, but is listed in stable condition. The body counts never really rack up when someone nearby with a gun can stop the shooter.

We need to demonstrate our power.

This is probably the most sensible idea I’ve read in regards to how to protect schools, and that may be politically achievable. Talking to Bitter tonight, I’m struck with how many things you may typically find around a school classroom that may double as weapons. Standard dry chemical fire extinguisher? It can make a great improvised defensive spray (don’t ask me how I learned this). Do you remember those pointy wooden sticks teachers used to point to the chalk board? (do they still have those?) Some of you might be old enough to remember when teachers did use them as weapons. :) Anything heavy, like a chair, is an effective bludgeon. When I was 16, I was given a 4D Maglite to keep in my car, along with instructions as to what its true use was (and it wasn’t, necessarily, illuminating the engine in the event of car trouble, though it was useful for that as well).

Point being, and mirroring that of the article, we spend a lot of time and money drilling against outbreaks of fire, which at this point is now more than paranoid, as no child has died in a school fire in half a century. So why not get teachers in the right mindset for resisting school shooters? That doesn’t necessarily have to involve arming them with carbines or handguns. Much can be accomplished just with mindset alterations. And, after all, that is part of moving the culture in the right direction.