They’ve decided they can no longer prohibit carry in non-sterile areas of Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Thank goodness this issue is behind us.
Category: Carrying / Self-Defense
Armed Baristas
The Brady Campaign would have you believe something like this could never happen. I guess that’s one less Coffee joint they can frequent now. I would guess after a while, Peet’s gets a little old. Either way, if I worked in a retail food service job, there’s no way I wouldn’t be armed at all times. It’s one thing to not carry to avoid ruining a good career, but if you’re some coffee joint paying minimum wage or barely over, in an industry where robberies aren’t unheard of, I certainly wouldn’t risk taking a bullet for that kind of career.
Storing Duty Side Arms
The Pittsburgh-Post tribune has an article up about problems with how police are storing their firearms. Cops need to have firearms fairly ready for action, even off duty, yet the number of incidences is low. It’s interesting how the police brass don’t want to dictate to their officers exact methods for storing firearms, but it’s funny how many of them will turn around and tell civilians they need to be kept under lock and key at all times.
“Is Rendell French?”
So asks Robin Quillon of the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. I guess not all papers in Pennsylvania are enthusiastic about the Governor’s veto. That was in response to Rendell’s quote:
“What this would do is expand the Castle Doctrine to outside the home, to a city street, for example, and eliminate the principle of law that we’ve had since English common law: The duty to retreat.â€
As I mentioned in a previous study of English Common Law, the duty to retreat only applied to individuals who had become involved in an affray. Under Common Law, one could use deadly force to stop a felony without having to retreat, so someone trying to rob you, or who had broken into your home by night could be responded to with lethal force without any further qualifications. If Ed Rendell would like to go back to this, I’d have little issue. Many states still use this more traditional standard, such as Virginia.
Shot Across the Bow
If the General Assembly returns next year with a similar proposal to expand the so-called “castle doctrine,” the new governor will be faced with endorsing what Rendell calls a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality that fails to “protect the sanctity of human life.”
The misguided legislation that Rendell rightly vetoed over the weekend would expand a homeowner’s right from being able to blast away at an intruder to shooting someone if threatened outside a home or vehicle.
Self-defense is one topic where elite opinion is drastically different than what ordinary people think about the subject. That’s one reason this vote was so lopsided. The Inquirer is just going to further distance themselves from their dwindling reader base with positions like this.
Wisconsin Carry Article
I know some people in Madison think the open-carry crowd is a bit off its rocker, but Auric Gold doesn’t seem crazy to me. He’s a nice guy, friendly, smart. And after spending some time with him, I’m convinced he’s a well-trained and responsible gun owner.
[…]
Gold spends what seems, at least to me, an inordinate amount of time preparing to shoot his way out of dangerous situations. Besides going to the range regularly, he practices firing while moving, running and crouched behind barriers. He practices how to react when being assaulted while loved ones are nearby, learning how to push or pull them out of the way while still being able to fire off some shots.
[…]
Perhaps one day, Gold’s training will come in handy, but I doubt it. I’ve traveled the world and walked on streets at night alone in cities around the U.S., Central America and Asia, and never once been accosted. It seems far more likely that both he and I will end up falling victim to a distracted motorist, clogged artery or cancer cells than armed bandits.
I think it’s very difficult for people who are not part of the shooting community to understand carry, but I think the reporter here makes a good faith attempt at trying to. Read the whole thing and decide for yourself. Gold spends a lot of time practicing these scenarios because the guy is an instructor. If you’re an instructor, you have to take it to a much higher level than your average toter if you want to have something you can teach them.
I actually agree with the reporter on the last paragraph. Most of us are in demographics that are highly unlikely to be targets of violent crime. If death were a true fear, I’d be much better off giving up shooting as a hobby, giving up beer and booze, eating better, and spending my weekends hiking through the woods. But the truth is, I think most of us carry because we shoot, and we shoot because it’s fun. Carrying is a consequence of the hobby, rather than the hobby being a consequence of wanting to tote a gun around everywhere. At least I think that’s true for a large majority of toters. No doubt for some, it’s also a political statement.
But what really on an emotional level makes someone say “Well, I know the odds are long that I’m going to need a gun today, but I’ll take one anyway.” I wouldn’t say fear of death, or fear of crime, is the primary motivator. It’s certainly not a paranoid belief that you’ll need the gun. So what is it? I think people who carry have a certain way of looking at themselves and others that is difficult for a person who thinks more collectively to understand.
Gun owners are highly individualistic people, on the whole, and for highly individualistic people, there’s absolutely nothing more unpleasant for them to think about than someone else forcibly taking control of their person, and violating their dignity as an individual. Violating another persons dignity as an individual is the highest crime you can commit to a highly individualistic person. We have difficulty understanding someone who says, and we’ve all heard this, that they’d rather be robbed, raped, etc, than to have to kill another human being, but who will go off on raving diatribes over a criminal like Bernie Madoff. The individualist will see the rapist or mugger as more of a violator than the swindler, because the swindler still had to convince an individual to willingly surrender what was his or hers, whereas the violent criminal subjugates the individual by force, and takes what he wills. Ask yourself what sticks in your craw more, Bernie Madoff or a mugger? I think that’s an interesting exercise in sorting out whether you think like someone who would carry a firearm.
Improvised Weapons
‘Twas the Night before Christmas
When all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse – because creatures that go bump in the night know we’re well armed in the Snowflake household.
Christmas presents have started to arrive here at the house, and now it’s time for me to really get crackin’ with decorations so I can start wrapping them. However, one is still in production and won’t be here until a few days before the holiday. When it is finally wrapped, I’ll have to punch holes in the box and wrapping paper. Is it a cat? Lord, no. I’m not bringing any of those demons home. Is it a dog? If so, it would have my name on it and this gift is solely Sebastian’s baby. Nope, it’s not an animal at all. It’s a holster. The holes are so I can smell it from time to time because I know the leather will smell that good.*
We got a preview a week or so ago after I placed the order for a Mitch Rosen holster and they sent a catalog. OMG, I have never wished for a scratch and sniff catalog before, but oh how I wanted one for his holsters and belts. I don’t even care that we wouldn’t have a need for many of his products, I wanted to order one of everything the second I opened it up. If we don’t have a gun that would fit some of his designs, we could buy one later. In fact, that’s what we’ll be doing with this piece. We don’t actually own the gun yet. But, I know that Sebastian will order one sometime soon, and then he’ll have a nice new custom holster for it.
Mitch’s work is incredible, and I can’t wait to see what arrives shortly before Christmas.
*If I wasn’t trying so hard to stay off of Santa’s naughty list, I would wrap the holster in the girliest wrapping paper we own and slap my own name on it – at least until Sebastian gets the gun.
Chastising Rendell for Vetoing Castle Doctrine …
… from Investors Business Daily? I’ll take any allies I can get.
Rendell Vetoes Castle Doctrine
Saying it promotes a “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality, Rendell has vetoed HB1926, Castle Doctrine. He’s also awfully disappointed the Senate rejected the “Florida Loophole” amendment. We’ll have to go through this all next year folks. The fat man has quacked on this one.