Common Defense: In Crisis, America Buys Guns, Hurray!

Townhall.com ^ | July 25, 2012 | John Ransom

[Kaslin]

While the Left looks for more reasons to restrict our right to self defense every time an infamous shooting occurs, the standard reaction of the general population in Colorado is to stock up on guns and ammo in self defense.

It’s a reaction that’s uniquely American, where every man’s a captain. But it’s also a reaction that has a long history in the West, a history we should be proud of.

And when I say the West I really mean everywhere in America. Because at one time or another in our history everywhere from the tidewater on the east coast to the tidewater on the west coast was the West, as civilization pushed further and further westerly. And so, I believe, everywhere remains the West- at least metaphorically. 

As the establishment press (hat tip to Dan Mitchell) acts shocked! yes, shocked! that people are buying guns in record numbers in the Denver area as a reaction to last week’s shooting rampage in an Aurora, Colorado theater that killed or injured 70 people who were attending a screening of the newest Batman movie, I’m feeling, um, American about the sales.

Really American.       

I want to go out and salute the flag and say: “Thank God for average Americans.”

From the Denver Post:

"It's been insane," Jake Meyers, an employee at Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo in Parker, [Colorado] said Monday.

When he arrived at work Friday morning — just hours after a gunman killed 12 and injured 58 others at the Century Aurora 16 theater — there already were 15 to 20 people waiting outside the store, Meyers said.

He called Monday "probably the busiest Monday all year" and said the basic firearms classes that he and the store's owner teach are booked solid for the next three weeks, something that hadn't happened all year.

“Gun sales are up because a tragic event such as the theater murders reminds people that they need to be prepared to defend themselves from the predators in our society,” says Dave Gill, vice president of the Colorado State Shooting Association.  “The reason that we have Concealed Carry laws is to give citizens the ability to effectively defend themselves and their families.”

Gill says that just posting a sign banning guns obviously didn’t work.

“This theater banned effective self-defense,” he emphasized.  “This didn’t seem to work well for the 12 who were killed or the dozens who were injured.”  

Meanwhile Bloomberg is reporting that background checks for gun purchases in the area are up 43 percent according to figures released by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. 

“Gun dealers submitted 2,887 requests for state background checks required to sell a firearm in the three days after the July 20 shooting, said Susan Medina, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,” reports Bloomberg via SFGate.com. “That’s 43 percent more than the 2,012 requests during the same three days the prior week, and a 39 percent increase over the 2,078 check during the first Friday to Sunday in July.”

This is exactly what we should expect from America. It fits with our history, our traditions, and the rights that we fought to preserve.

While there is a role for the government in preventing such massacres, it doesn’t include a knee-jerk-- emphasis on jerk --reaction from the Left restricting the right of self-defense for the rest of us.

We fought a war over this. Ever hear of the Powder Alarms? For those who have, of course you did. For those who haven’t, of course you haven’t.   Read more history, please.        

Here’s a little known fact: As a percentage of the population, more men volunteered to serve in the Union army from Colorado than any other state or territory of the United States. Nearly 4,000 volunteers out of a population of about 50,000 men and women took up on arms on behalf of the Union.

These were ordinary citizens who put down their mining pans, picks and shovels, pushed their commercial interests to the background and became the government in the same sense that the citizens at Lexington and Concord did.

Americans tend to react this way when their God-given rights are in jeopardy.

A citizenry in a rush to arm themselves during a crisis shouldn’t be condemned, but rather, they should be applauded. This is the highest form of government for us.

It belongs with the Mayflower Compact and the New England Town Meeting in our history and tradition.

Because the threat we face isn’t only- or even mostly- from a masked crazy man in a long trench coat.

It’s from a government wearing a different mask altogether.

“What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he's around?” said character Aaron Altman in the movie Broadcast News. “Nobody is going to be taken in if he has a long, red, pointy tail…. He will look attractive and he will be nice and helpful and he will get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation and he will never do an evil thing... he will just bit by little bit lower standards where they are important. Just coax along flash over substance.”

Don’t get me wrong. Some flash is OK.

But I’d rather be standing behind "the flash and substance" as substance is rifling out of the barrel of a gun.

That’s my right. And yours too.

[justice14]

Yeah a shotgun will come in the future. I have what I feel comfortable with now. I will definitely add a shotgun to it though.

[lentulusgracchus]

I'd also advise everyone to get a good single action revolver. When all else fails, they wont.

Revolvers have a weakness that was recently topical, even if nobody commented on it or recognized it at the time.

When Trayvon attacked George Zimmerman, he discovered Zimmerman's pistol when he pulled Zimmerman's shirt up over his head to blind and control him -- a prison-taught, street-fighting move that the deceased 17-y.o. sweet child had to have spent some time learning and practicing somewhere -- along with his Mixed Martial Arts fighting style -- and then he told Zimmerman, "You're gonna die tonight".

Zimmerman reached for the gun and got there first, pulled it and fired. The round went off and killed Trayvon.

But Trayvon had grabbed the pistol, strongly enough to keep the autoloader from cycling completely. Instead, the action jammed open and failed to feed, Trayvon had that good a grip on it (but he's still a sweet child, don't get me wrong).

That, too, is a move taught in prison and seldom elsewhere -- and it will stop an opponent armed with a revolver from firing his weapon. If George Zimmerman had been carrying a revolver, Trayvon would have ended up killing him with it.

[blackie]

Right-on!!

[wastedyears]

I’m not a fan of stuff like that, like MagPul. Given everything clean, shouldn’t the magazine fall out when the release is pressed?

[IMR 4350]

My point was a SA revolver can be used for defense and hunting if necessary.

You can drop a deer with a SA .357mag at 100 yds but it's pretty tough to do with a 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP etc.

A stainless steel Ruger SA is virtually indestructible. It will still be going bang long after a simi auto wont.

[lentulusgracchus]

I don't disagree with their usefulness, but I beg to point out that, in that particular confrontation, with the assailant close enough to put his hand on the weapon, a person defending with a revolver could not get a shot off unless he were imprudent enough to walk around with the piece in his belt and a round under the fully-cocked hammer.

What is even more interesting is that sweet widdle Twayvon knew a disarming move like that -- and actually executed it in the middle of a hot fight. Where'd he learn that? Who taught him that?

Not exactly your typical high-school extracurricular: Band, Majorettes, and Mugging.

[from occupied ga]

Meanwhile in MA and NY Sales of Depends and liquid proof bed sheets were up 40%