Defending against terroristic mass murder

My friend Rich Grassi is a retired cop, a masterful instructor, and one of the best writers in the tactical field today. He recently wrote that it would be wise to carry a gun all the time, given the spate of terroristic mass murders in this country and elsewhere. Someone wrote back that the likelihood of being able to stop such a thing was less than that of winning the lottery.

Rusty Jacks (above) killed the killer in the Tyler, Texas mass shooting, after the slaughter was stopped by an armed citizen, Mark Wilson, who died at the scene. This plaque (below) in the Tyler town square shows the community's gratitude for the armed citizen's sacrifice.

The critic simply didn’t get it. Someone is going to win every lottery. More mass murder attempts are going to happen in this country. The more good people who are in place armed and ready to stop it, the less the toll of death and maiming and tragedy is going to be. Yes, it is that simple.

A good friend of mine, Jeff Chudwin, is a retired police chief and internationally recognized master of tactics. Here are just a few recent incidents Jeff has passed along, drawn largely from the national Israeli intelligence provider, DEBKA (www.debka.com).

To put this subject into proper perspective, one must consider that bad things can and do happen to good people. That is why we carry health, life home and business insurance. Anyone who does not is considered a foolish person, or even is acting unlawfully ( in the case of some insurance requirement-like auto, home if mortgaged etc).
Since our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the penultimate right we all possess from the hand of our Creator, we must then consider how to insure that-when there is no practical insurance plan extant.

Some say, “well, that is why we have government- to secure our rights- and police/law enforcement courts and due process provide all that is necessary”. Bah, silliness. All of that is needful, necessary and appropriate after the fact. Granted, in this context, police can and are fully willing to stop the terror that stalks us, however, unless one is singularly wealthy and able, armed body guards or police protective details are not a reasonable solution. “I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy”.

Hence, we have the natural right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness- and that entails personal responsibility. How do we positively secure this right? We personally participate in the social compact- exercising our right to vote, to work, to seek opportunity and to arm ourselves with whatever lawful tools are available and use them again, within that social compact.

When one threatens another with unlawful force, we are entitled, no, expected to resist that unlawful force to preserve our rights and most certainly our life. We, as the old natural rights authors declare, cannot forfeit our life without the loss of all rights.

So, since we (most of us)cannot reasonable carry a cop, or a protective detail, we carry a tool, an insurance policy, if you will, that a wise and prudent man will employ only as a last resort- one would “go to court’ only after personal redress of a grievance failed, so it is with the use of arms- “go to court” so to speak, when the means of protecting that which is most vital to our natural right of survival is put at unlawful risk.

I carry a firearm, not because I am afraid, but because I am not.

I own firearms because I am Jewish and no one is going to put me in a cattle car - during my life I have met too many people with numbers tattooed on their arms, and heard too many stories about what happened in Europe in the 1940s, to be naive enough to believe that it could not happen again, even in this country. Also, as an American, it is my heritage and my right. Finally, as a human being, it is my right to defend my life and my obligation to defend those of my family anyone near me whom I would consider to be under my protection.

I sometimes carry one or more firearms with me because, as Colonel Jeff Cooper remarked, “An unarmed man can only flee from Evil, and Evil is not defeated by fleeing from it.” Of course, as others have said, you cannot carry a cop with you and the police cannot be everywhere. Nor can I afford a private security detail. Since crime or terrorism can strike at any moment in any place, individuals are by default responsible for their own safety. It is not only extremely foolish, but also sheer cowardice to rely on uniformed men with guns to defend you, when you should be doing it yourself.

Thanks.

You’re right about the knife, but you need to be careful about what kind of knife, and where you try to go with it. If you’re anywhere near government buildings, you’ll have the knife taken away. I’d also prefer not to ever be in a knife fight...I KNOW that I won’t be as good as anyone who is likely to attack me with one, and wounds from knives can be a whole lot harder to survive or recover from. I’d prefer to do what Sean Connery did in “The Untouchables,” and make fun of the guy for bringing a knife to a gun fight after I shot him.

I’m thinking about a “trunk gun” - a semi-auto rifle like an SKS or AK, or a very cheap AR. It’d be a BIG help when out in the middle of nowhere. Any number of people far more skilled and knowledgeable than me have said that the primary purpose of a pistol is to fight your way to your rifle, and I’m not going to second-guess them. Just having it may make it unnecessary to use it - NOBODY wants to attack someone with a rifle and a 30-round mag hanging below it.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.