The Rangemaster July 2009 Newsletter has been posted.
Amongst other things, it contains an article about child abductions. If you’re a parent and/or work with children, take the time to read this article. It gives a better perspective about abductions. Teach your children well.
Previously I had posted a response to Rebecca’s feelings on guns. One thing she wrote:
Do I carry a gun in my house? Never. Do I believe in the right to bear arms? Yes. But I believe there should be stricter regulations. I believe that fear is the worst possible reason to carry a weapon and therefor will never understand why so many feel the need to “protect their families,” especially when housed in gated communities in middle-class suburbs, alarms activated.
John Farnam recounts a story of a couple who lived in an upscale, gated community in the “high-rent” part of town… and their house was broken into while the couple was at home, car stolen and wrecked, property stolen. In fact, they owned a gun but didn’t carry it. The biggest thing? Their illusion of safety was shattered. It’s a shame it took something horrible to get them to wake up. The incident could have been far worse. How does the saying go? Fools learn from their own mistakes, wise men learn from the mistakes of others? Are you a fool, or a wise man?
Courtesy of SouthNarc, a set of PSP’s — Photographic Scenario Progressions. From the website:
PSP’s (Photographic Scenario Progressions), authored by SouthNarc, serve the purpose of illustrating overarching concepts and tactics employed in various conditions that approximate “real life” confrontations and problems. They are not merely meant to be used as static “step-by-steps,” but rather exemplify general principles that can be abstracted for a variety of encounters and situations.
You have to scroll down the page a bit to find them (they’re at the bottom). But while you’re on the page you can see where SouthNarc is teaching and what he teaches.
While you’re at it, check out his articles on hardware (knives) and software (your brain).
Funny how the “armed self-defense” approach is A-okay at the macro scale in HI, but Heavens forfend they should entertain the notion of plain citizens being armed to protect themselves from footpads and highwaymen, ooooo nooooo.
Kellene reminds us what a concealed handgun license is for.
I sympathize with the victim in many ways: a personal violation, taking of your stuff, being fed up with crime, being fed up with criminals and parasites. I’m hip to it all. But going after someone like this — chasing them down, shooting wildly into the air or ground — isn’t wise and is potentially asking for heap loads of trouble.
In any situation like this you have to ask yourself: is it worth dying for? If it’s not worth dying for, it’s not worth pulling your gun out for. Sure, you could run after these guys and try to get your stuff back, but unless you can answer “yes, this is worth dying for” keep your gun in the holster.
Via Robb Allen I learn about Rebecca and her feelings on guns.
I won’t be harsh here, just wish to provide some perspective.
First, I applaud her for being up front and honest about her feelings. It’s evident she’s got some fear regarding guns, and given how she describes the city in which she lives (including her husband being the victim of a carjacking), I can certainly understand how and why she’s formed the opinion she has. What I wish to provide her with is some perspective on her feelings.
Many of [my son] Archer’s friends at school carry X-Men lunchboxes, wear Spiderman shoes, Batman T-shirts. Archer doesn’t know who Spiderman is. Or Superman. Or Wolverine. Or any comic book superheroes. The only television he sees is peaceful. I turn the television off when there’s a preview for a show that involves violence of any kind.
Recently I’ve been wondering if this constitutes as sheltering.
Oh my God, am I sheltering him?
Am I?
Since you asked, yes you are (and this is coming from a homeschooling father — supposedly us homeschoolers are all about sheltering and overprotectiveness). Now, this isn’t to say you have to participate in what you consider violent activities. But the reality is the violence is around us; the world is violent, always has been and at least in our lifetimes will continue to be so. To shelter your child now is going to cause him to have an unrealistic perspective on the state of the real world. That isn’t to say you cannot shape your child’s understanding and response to violence, and this isn’t to say you cannot make his exposure to the world age-appropriate, just don’t deny to your child that violence is out there. As parents we need to give our children the tools they need to survive and thrive in the world, which includes giving them the knowledge of how the world really is and how to better deal with it.
Consider the analogy of the sheep, the wolf, and the sheepdog. Teach your child to be a sheepdog.
…yet when it comes to guns, to violence, I can’t do it. I can’t talk about guns or weapons without feeling sick and sad, even fearful.
So goes my paradox: I’m afraid that by educating my child I will scare him. I will scare myself.
Your honesty is refreshing and actually takes some courage to admit. In this context of guns, consider looking at something like Eddie Eagle. Eddie Eagle is a friendly and fun way to get a serious message across, a message I believe is bare minimum knowledge required to keep children safe regarding firearms (the alternative is ignorance, and that’s certainly a recipe for disaster). The Eddie Eagle video can be viewed for free online, so take a few minutes and check it out yourself.
Using gun as defense seldom works to defend. Guns used as offensive weapons? Different story.
It’s interesting to note that the two blog postings I made this morning prior to this one, here and here, were both stories where a gun was used to defend. There are many many others every day.
Do I carry a gun in my house? Never. Do I believe in the right to bear arms? Yes. But I believe there should be stricter regulations. I believe that fear is the worst possible reason to carry a weapon and therefor will never understand why so many feel the need to “protect their families,” especially when housed in gated communities in middle-class suburbs, alarms activated.
No gun in the house? Well, Midnight Rider was happy he was carrying his inside his home. And if you don’t understand why, why not make the effort to learn why some of us carry. Rebecca, I used to be in the exact same boat as you — that’s why your story really hits home with me, because I know exactly where you are coming from. I realized it was a fanstay world, full of my idealistic view of the world and how I wanted it to be and thought it should be, instead of how it is. That isn’t to say I’ve given up on the dreams of such an ideal world, but I do better if I first accept the reality of the world that I want to improve.
Guns are far more likely to kill innocent people than criminals when kept inside the home. Period.
No, sorry. The data doesn’t back that up.
That being said, am I being naive to think I can shelter my son from fear by keeping violence away from his eyes? Perhaps. Is it important to teach gun safety to people of all ages? Yes. Will I be teaching my child how to properly use a weapon? No. Because I don’t believe he should know how to kill.
Does your child know how to push something? Then he knows how to kill. Push someone out into traffic. Push someone out of a tree. Push someone off a ledge or out a window. He knows how to kill. The difference is putting things into context. You teach your child to use pushing for good things: pushing his sibling on the swing, pushing and holding the door open for others, pushing a broom to help mommy clean up. When your child uses things for good, you reward that good; when the child uses things for bad, you punish that behavior. Guns can be used for bad things, no question, but we don’t punish the gun (it’s just plastic and steel, springs and levers) we punish the person. Guns can also be used for good things, and it doesn’t have to involve killing… it could involve preserving his and your life.
To keep a handgun in one’s house insinuates, in my opinion, a certain amount of fear, which is why guns are so scary.
If you ever have a desire to conquer your fears instead of letting them control your life, I am a teacher and would be happy to teach you what I know.
There will never be a happily ever after story involving guns because guns were invented with the sole intent to take life.
Ask Mr. Firby. I’m sure he’s happy. His gun helped him preserve his life.
For me, it all comes down to fear and teaching our children to resist it as much as they possibly can. I will be educating my children to live peaceful lives. To love and respect and stand up for themselves in ways that are empowering.
That’s commendable and I teach my children the same. I will say I used to think violence was never an answer. Now I know that sometimes violence is the only answer. I prefer to make it the last resort, but when some punk is willing to take your life for $5, all the pretty empowering words one wishes to use just won’t matter.
Put it this way. Your child picks up a stick and whacks someone with it. Chances are you’ll punish your child for doing so, and that’s most reasonable. Now let’s say you’re on the playground. Some big kid comes up and starts to push your child around. Your child asks the big kid to stop and leave him alone. The big kid keeps pushing. Your child escalates, continuing to be diplomatic, the big kid doesn’t stop either but escalates. So your child escalates, begging, pleading, and so on, but it just eggs the bully on. Your child tries to run away, but the kid is bigger and has no problem catching him. Now your child is getting messed up pretty bad, the big kid’s pushing, taunting, punching, and kicking is really taking a toll, so your child picks up a stick and whacks the bully something fierce and the bully stops his assault. Are you going to punish your child for defending himself, and using an inanimate object to do so? Furthermore consider that once a bully knows your child can easily be victimized, the bully will continue to do so (bullies, like most criminals, like easy targets). Once the bully knows he can’t mess with your child, your child will be bullied no more.
Again, Rebecca, I do understand where you are coming from, more than you know. I just had to give up that way of being because I realized it wasn’t realistic and I wasn’t doing a service to my children to raise them that way.
Xavier tells the story of Elliott Firby, who successfully defended his life with his gun.
I know the video is about 20 minutes long, but it’s worth a watch. On the one hand, just about everything Mr. Firby says is spot-on (note: no lawyer-speak in this, just an honest man telling his story, answering questions). But what’s more interesting (disgusting?) is to listen to the line of questioning from some of the reporters… almost as if they are looking for some fault or little angle they could take to crucify Mr. Firby for what he did and/or further a gun control agenda. It’s cool tho that the two police officers at the the table with him are very supportive of what Mr. Firby, what he did, and you can tell they know how to present things to the reporters to not feed their agenda.
As I stated previously, scumbags are opportunists. It was early morning, seems Mr. Firby was just coming home from work and happened to be the guy on the road that the scumbags picked. Xavier’s right tho:
Of course, the media is making note of the fact neither criminal had a previous record, and both were star athletes. I’m sure their relatives will appear soon to relate they were on their way to church to feed hungry lepers when the cruel Elliott Firby began shooting at them for no good reason.
Scumbags gotta start somewhere.
Midnight Rider recounts his home invasion story. (h/t to Xavier). This is worth reading, so you can learn from others.
Key points that stood out to me:
And to quote MR:
Gun control statistics are bullshit. This is one drawn gun incident that will never be reported as such because no shots were fired. How many more like this for every time a shot is fired in self defense?
Michael Bane provides a link to a study whose conclusion was simple: to stave off rape and/or sexual assault, fight back. In one case outlined by the study, a man raping a woman forced a kiss upon his victim and she bit his tongue. Yes I know, sounds gross, but it was effective.
From the article:
Forceful physical resistance is an extremely successful strategy. The completed rape dropped to 14% when the rapist’s attempt was met with violent physical force. Striking was more successful than pushing or wrestling. Physical resistance also appeared to be more effective when assault occurred outdoor[5].
Women who used knives or guns in self-defence were raped less than 1% of the time. Defensive use of edged or projectile weapons reduced the rate of injury to statistical insignificance[7].
Emphasis added.
Whenever you undertake a task you always do well to have the best tools for the job. And while a weapon, such as a gun, is a mighty effective tool in such situations, the most important tool is to have the mindset to fight.
It’s unreal to think that simple pocket knives are being worked to be made illegal, but yes, it’s true. So much for useful tools.
The trouble is, the comment period for this is very narrow so we must act now. For information check here.
Take a few moments to read the information and send in your comments both to CBP and to your US Congressman and Senators. You can probably email your Congresscritters (and there’s no excuse not to). But the CBP is refusing to accept electronic communication. They only want snail-mailed stuff — seems like someone doesn’t want to be bombarded by comments that they know are inevitable, and they are counting on you to be a lazy, apathetic citizen. So which are you? And that you can’t take 5 minutes to download, fill out, and print and mail a letter that could help to preserve your rights instead of allowing our freedoms to be slowly chipped away? If you can’t take 5 minutes to do this, how lazy and how (a)pathetic are you?
Do it now.
Stuff From Hsoi 