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I started following Dana Loesch a few months back when she appeared on The View to talk about why she became a conservative after years of being EXTRA liberal. So last night while I was getting my social media fix, I noticed that Dana was retweeting like crazy about the developing riots in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, a topic Farago covered this morning. One of Dana’s retweets is above, from local news source KSDK . . .

While reading about Walmart employees taking shelter in their store, I couldn’t help but remember all the angry tweets about Jack in the Box employees hiding from Open Carry members. If you’ll remember, that was a flat out lie that was completely debunked.

But here we have a Walmart where the employees just might have actually huddled in fear. And why? Because protesters decided that the best course of action after a young black man was shot by the police was to go about destroying various buildings, cars, and ATMs. The KSDK Twitter feed has some real gems including destroyed shops and one particularly burned out QT store.

From my Monday Morning Quarterback Chair (MMQBC), it’s pretty apparent that the police can’t help you when the proverbial feces hits the fan. And why should they? That building and business is likely insured and that crowd could have easily turned even more violent, especially if the cops in question started shooting looters. But ask that store owner how he/she feels about not having a door to put a key in this morning. Then ask what he or she would do to protect their livelihood. Probably the same thing that Korean store owners did in LA circa 1992.

 

Image courtesy of Human Events

I was a young pup at the time of the LA riots, but the images of Koreans on the rooftops of their stores protecting their livelihoods and families with legally owned firearms is the quintessential argument against all the ridiculous BS that gets thrown up by the anti-gunners.

As Koreatown in 1992, London residents in 2011, and Ferguson, Missouri business owners last night now know, the police can’t always rescue you, yours, and  your business. At the end of the day, you are responsible for yourself, especially when gangs of hooligans decide to make the town theirs.

At any point in a discussion with a gun control advocate about the need for magazine capacity restrictions, feature tests, or any other arbitrary restriction, flash the pictures of these riots. Show them what happens when mob mentality takes over. The people in these examples worked hard for the life they have. To deny them the best tools possible to protect it is criminal.

Riots like these further my belief that American citizens should, at a minimum, be guaranteed access to the same tools as the local police department. Because at the end of the day, both groups are tasked with the same duties.

 

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70 COMMENTS

  1. Good commentary, Tyler. Unfortunately, the gun control crowd is as much a function of the mob mentality as these looters are.

  2. The picture of the Korean store owners never gets old. I can’t think of a better reason to own a MSR than the 1992 LA riots. (not that owning a msr needs to be justified.)

  3. Another reason to fight against the moron from CA who wants to ban “high performance” body armor from civilian use. Of course the reasoning is because of police safety. Screw the safety of civilians.

  4. I know that they are the same company i worked there 10 years and you can see sams club in the middle and over the door when they are inn same parking lot it usually has both names on the building

    • The one pairing I’m most familiar with does not. One building, separate entrances, separate carts and cart corrals even, one sea of parking lot. Not a single shared logo. Even the gas station only has the Sam’s logo, because it is on that side of the lot.

  5. Bunch of animals.

    As long as it’s blacks slaughtering other blacks they don’t care.

    One gets killed by a cop and they are in the streets acting like this. Destroying their own community and using any excuse they can to justify stealing from hard working business owners.

    Black communities have been the scourge of America for DECADES. They have killed THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of innocents.

    • Don’t appreciate the racism. Just because poor people are more likely to commit violent crime and many black people are poor doesn’t mean there is a racial link.

        • It’s not the truth if it’s fueled with misleading or intentionally deceptive statistics. For example if 98 percent of whites are law-abiding and 96 percent of blacks are law-abiding, one could easily make a specious claim that blacks are twice as likely to be criminals and all blacks should be given increased police profiling. Of course this downplays or ignores the 96 out of 100 blacks who *aren’t* criminals. The issue of race and crime in general is riddled with all kinds of specious talking-points, statistical deception and false framing.

      • It isn’t just poor people, either. Plenty of decent poor people out there, black and white. It’s a particular mentality or attitude that’s the problem. One that encourages poverty, true, but it also encourages destruction, violence, and theft, and it isn’t just poor people who buy into it.

        A point that David Kennedy makes in his book, “Don’t Shoot!” (which isn’t as anti-gun as the title might sound), is how the police contribute to the problem in a lot of these communities by basically treating everyone as a criminal by ignoring their civil rights, especially when it comes to young, black men. A lot of people in those neighborhoods don’t like the thugs, but they don’t like the police, either, and I really can’t blame them. If the cops were constantly harassing my generally well-behaved son, I’m not sure I’d call them for much of anything either.

        Kennedy also points out that it only takes a couple seriously violent thugs to change the quality of the whole neighborhood; one of his recommendations is targeting the violent ones instead of harassing everyone over petty violations that cops let slide in richer neighbors. Letting the thugs (and the kids who think the thugs are cool “because at least they’re doing something”) know the community doesn’t appreciate what their doing is important, too, which is why I really hope Michael Brown’s mom steps up and says publicly what she’s supposedly said in untaped interviews, namely that she’s disgusted by the violence and thinks it disrespectful toward her son.

      • Maybe poor people are more likely to commit crime, but black people are simple most likely to commit a crime.

        Truth, sorry. I mean, da troof.

      • That mindless lib argument is getting old. It’s the knock knock joke of the current regime. Now you say “but Obama never said anything about people being racist for not liking blacks” and I will either walk away and laugh at how you can’t think for yourself or I would say “did Hitler ever kill a Jewish prisoner in the camps?”

      • And I don’t appreciate your utter ignorance for the facts. Racism? Try REALISM. Unfortunately, ninety nine times out if one hundred you CAN can judge a book by its cover. It’s your kind of thinking that gets people killed in the real world. We’ve heard enough of it, it isn’t correct and we WILL tell it like it is henceforth. Your ‘everybody’s equal’ CRAP is pure BS and we’re done with it.

      • Blacks in particular have been targeted with the message that ant problems one faces are the fault of someone else who has it better. It’s the last vestiges of the culture of racism that underpinned slavery. Poor whites used to be told that being male and white made then better than anyone else as a way to pacify them into demanding less from their politicians. After slavery was forcibly abolished they were kept largely subjugated through Jim Crow laws and the like until the civil rights movement got going.

        Then those same racists, or those who were following their legacy, either knowingly or unknowingly, started spreading the message that one could not improve ones own station in life until the politicians made things “fair” with wealth redistributive economics, and that it was the “white man’s” fault that blacks couldn’t get ahead in life. Of course, until they started buying this lie, blacks had been getting ahead and improving their economic situation by valuing education and hard work. They hadn’t come to par with whites yet, but we’re on the way.

        It’s not just blacks, of course. Whites in the U.K. in some communities are buying into similar lies and adopting a culture that shuns education and ostracizes individuals for trying to get ahead, and I have no doubt that it’s common among impoverished whites here in the U.S. as well (but haven’t looked into this point specifically, so I will not assert it).

        In short, these riots are not a function of race but a function of the sense of entitlement that has been instilled in generations of people by progressives. People of any race fall for it, it’s a very enticing message, but also quite destructive to peaceful and free societies.

        I don’t appreciate those who place the blame on race either. Maybe I should have replied to the O.P., oh well.

    • The welfare state removes all incentive to better yourself, to strive, to succeed. The ones who were disgusted with that affair left long ago. The ones who are left perpetuate the cycle. Black people are, by a large proportion, participants of the welfare state, but they are not the only ones.

      The most devastating effect of the so-called “War on Poverty” has been the erosion of the two parent household, particularly among blacks. Children in single parent households are are far more likely to grow up poor, and to engage in criminal behavior, than their peers who are raised in two-parent homes.

      The welfare state is a subtle trap. Its participants have the trappings of working Americans, but they have no culture, and no aspiration higher than being a rap singer or basketball player. If some are particularly entrepreneurial they might sell dope, make meth, or turn to robbery, Either way it breaks they’re just looking for a place to crash land.

      “Anything free is worth what you pay for it”. – RAH

      Charlie

    • “Black communities have been the scourge of America for DECADES. They have killed THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of innocents.”

      Seriously dude? When we paint with a universal brush, freedom dies. There is no way around it.

      Who else paints with a universal brush? The antis, demagogues and despots throughout history…

      Do you get riled up when all gun owners are thrown in with gang bangers and mass shooters?
      DoesNotCompute ()

      Furthermore,: comments like that shit on the significant Black contribution to American culture.
      While I dont approve of thuggish behavior, it is the action that defines the content of someones character 🙂

      • It seems so obvious, but I suppose it’s not. The group of idiots rioting in St. Louis simply did not exist in 1967. Black Americans in that era worked for a living, raised families, and busted their balls to make this country great – they also faced a lot of challenges, and met them head on like real men and women, to gain their rightful place in equality.

        The young black kids you see rioting in the streets today? A generation and a world apart. They are the end result of the destruction of the traditional family unit in the black American community. They are the result of nearly two generations of total dependance on welfare programs and social planning.

        The black folks of the 1960s – even some of the violent radicals at that time – would spit on this current lazy, selfish, violent generation, and they would deserve every bit of it.

        • It is very obvious, like a polar opposite. However, his comment was referring to a scourge for decades and I was literally listening to Motown reading the comments 🙂

    • And when the rioting and looting is all over, you will soon hear about how the community is angry for being deprived of access to local stores to buy groceries, appliances, furniture, etc. at. Happened in LA after the ’92 riots. Access isn’t there because the stores got burned to the ground, and the owners decided it wasn’t worth it to rebuild. Why would ANYONE build a store in a place where every 10 to 15 years, it will be looted clean and burned down. And who would insure such a store at a reasonable affordable rate?

  6. All I know is that if I owned a small business, looters would not want to break my windows.
    Cop shoots someone, better go steal stuff from my local walmart to show how much I care.

  7. Commentator,

    Please delete the posts from Chris Johnson and others making racial statements supported only by their limited mentality. They are offensive and do not conform with TTAG’s objective to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.
    I do not wish to be associated with a website that actively or passively supports racism.

    • Chris has a point. Great emotional, physical, and social distress is not an excuse to fall back on the base human behaviors.

      It just makes it worse when a particular ethnic group seems to sink this low quite often.

      • But this isn’t called The Truth About Racial Demagoguery. Even if it wasn’t highly inflammatory, it’s still very much off-topic.

      • Chris, you should be ashamed of yourself. And in front of company, too. You never know who’s reading this blog.

        • My point exactly. The longer that stays up, the higher the probability that it’ll get re-posted and re-tweeted by anti-gunners as “proof” of what racist monsters we are.

        • How so? You can ignore facts all you want. What I said is the truth.

          Look at Chicago the last 6 weeks? How many people have been shot? How many have been Killed?.. I lost track.

          The same goes for NY & Cali…Detroit, Memphis. Should I stop there?

          Those black communities not only destroy each other ..over the last 30 years the criminals from those states/cities are responsible for THOUSANDS & THOUNSANDS of deaths. A huge majority of them innocent children .. toddlers playing in their front yards or just laying in bed at night.

          The people in those communities don’t riot and loot over that. Only when a cop kills 1..ONE!

          Continue to call me racist or say I should be ashamed but I spoke the truth based on FACTS.

          I have many black friends. I was playing basketball with some tonight and we got on this topic. They all said the same thing and agreed.

          They must be uncle tom traitors too? lol

        • Chris, you are missing the point that others are patiently trying to explain to you.
          TTAG is not the place for the racial discussion.

          Lots of other places you can go for that on the innertubz.
          Clean, well lit room here….please.

    • I love the fact that you think just because you are offended, someone else does not have the right to their own opinion. As a anti-PC activist, I am glad you are offended.. You have the right to be offended, but others have the right to offend you. Being offended is part of life. If you don’t like it, take your blocks and go home. I hope you are offended by my comments.

  8. Never understood rioters. One kid is killed and instead of confronting the responsible ones, they loot and destroy their own city. What is even more funny is that they later on will complain about where the tax dollars are going.

    I dislike them.

  9. The St. Louis Compost-Disgrace mentioned a store owner who did defend his convenience store at the end of a barrel:
    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/clean-up-calm-monday-morning-after-violent-night-in-ferguson/article_f9d627dc-e3c8-5bde-b2ab-7f0a3d36a083.html

    Jimmy Muhammad, 32, said he and his colleagues had just fended off a gang of masked young men with guns who tried to break into his uncle’s store, United Mart, in the 10300 block of West Florissant. The front door was shattered.

    “It’s bad,” said Muhammad, still gripping a pistol. Sirens blasted from all the police vehicles speeding by to other crime scenes. “I don’t blame the police, but they can’t keep up.”

  10. Hope it’s never relevant, but if you’re stuck in a WalMart in a similar situation, try to get to the sporting goods department. Outside of the stores in the well-known slave states, there should be enough stuff there to improve your odds. Even if you’re carrying, extra ammo is always useful, as are flares, archery equipment, and even air guns.

  11. the new format is getting unbearable. the redirects are a near contant. PLEASE FIX!

    the looting is an activity i cant understand. to put yourself at great risk of prosecution and great bodily harm amongst the others in the herd, for a fancy new TV or computer. but i guess thats just the prevailing attitude of criminals anyway.
    it seems the community was done a
    great injustice. by the police then by its own citizens.

  12. That feelings justify bad behaviour is a direct descedant of the same post modern revisionist claptrap taught by lazy thinking radicals to justify the tyranny of socialism ans State oppression, as re-framed in social justice, black power, feminazi, and the rest of the separatist divisive “polituss of meaning” construct for the rule of emotion over facts, and the superiority of ‘the narrative’ of the speaker, over the rule of reason. Because I feel this way, this truth is more authentic than your truth, never mind the facts.

    Translated by community organizers to justify their own con of the poor black/white/asian/pick your color, the conversation here is not about skin color, its about ignorance and slavery of the dependency culture taught by progressives, and the inability to take personal responsibikty for your own actions, and instead blame the other …

    Black rage, the need to express black anger thru actions, “getting some…” its all the same form of denial that becomes a framework of permanent helplessness, passed on generation to generation.

  13. Don’ blame the playa, blame the game.

    Actually, blame the game owners, coaches, umps and various hangers on in the whole blood sucking scheme, that is most heavily invested and part and oarcel of the current Democrat Party, the left-progressive wing, and various race hustlers hangjng on like a batch of bloated ticks on a diseased old hog…suckling at Uncle Sams teats.

  14. This piece unfortunately has some major problems; as Missouri is one of the most gun friendly states in the country.

  15. Chris Johnson, you’re right. Where were the riots a few weeks ago when some 30 odd people were shot and killed over one weekend in Chicago? OR detriot?
    Where is the FBI investigation? There are murderous gangs in these communities and no one cares but once it’s a cop, they riot. Please, ignoring the irony is pathetic and giving the gangs cover.

  16. Here is another instance of gun owners defending their stores in Ferguson.

    http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/08/ferguson_riots_north_county_business_owners_some_armed_survey_the_damage.php

    “Nobody is robbing St. Louis Ink Tattoo Studio anytime soon. Or County Guns, for that matter.

    The two north county businesses share a storefront in a Florissant strip mall less than ten minute drive from the epicenter of last night’s riots in Ferguson. After nightfall, what began as a community’s peaceful demonstration against the Ferguson Police Department’s shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown turned increasingly violent. Crowds plundered a QuikTrip and burned it to the ground, and local news began reporting brazen raids on other stores in the area.

    After hearing of the roving bands of looters, Mike Gutierrez knew he had to protect his tattoo shop. He brought a posse with him, including Adam Weinstein, owner of County Guns, who was acutely worried about criminals getting their hands on his merchandise.

    “We didn’t want them coming in here and then running around with a bunch of free guns,” Weinstein told Daily RFT when we arrive at the store around 12:30 a.m. this morning. Weinstein was outfitted with an assault rifle, pistol and tactical vest. Gutierrez cradled his own rifle in his hands.

    Gutierrez, Weinstein and their group arrived to find thieves tearing through a Dollar General in the same strip mall that houses their business. Weinstein says the looters attempted moving toward the shop, but were scared off by the guns. Then the police arrived.

    “There were like two SWAT vans, two dozen cop cars,” said one woman. The cops apparently checked out the situation and then tore off to some other crisis.”

  17. I live in St.Louis, MO right down the street from Ferguson. I’m young, black, educated, and have 2 jobs, even enlisted in the Marines back in 09 but due to my health gotten discharged. So while all you PEOPLE are trying make this into a race thing, it’s not. There are bad and good in everything. I was at the peaceful protests and also at the others but left when I seen trouble was coming. I don’t condone any of the violence or looting. The thing is that some people even if raised right will do what they want to do regardless because they are an individual. AS A NATION, WE NEED TO ALL COME TOGETHER REGARDLESS OF RACE OR ETHNICITY. WE ALL NEED TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER AND RESTORE GOD BACK INTO THIS COUNTRY. THAT’S THE REASON WE HAVE ALL THIS LAWLESSNESS.

    • Exactly. The natural grief felt by family, friends, neighbors, and witnesses was hijacked by a bunch of thugs bent on burning and looting. We saw the same thing happen in the LA riots. This is not about race anymore than the LA riots were “about race”. Everybody in Ferguson is a victim of the thugs. Some of the most poignant are the small business, black, white, and asian owned, that were destroyed and probably won’t reopen. This is the blood dance. Everybody loses.

    • lived my entire life without committing any violent crimes and without a need for your “god”. preaching is certainly not needed. education and a higher average iq are what is required.

    • bg,

      Nicely said. When a society believes they are nothing more than unaccountable animals and that life need not be valued, why should anyone be surprised when people behave like unaccountable animals with no rational value for life?

      • Raul Ybarra:
        .
        I believe you have it backwards.
        .
        They behave like unruly, un-socialized, and out-of-control animals and therefore tend to be treated as such.
        .

  18. Anyone know where I can find out about Mr Ferguson in Buffalo and if he beat the gun charges that were filed against him?

  19. Like the picture except that one idiot with the muzzle of his weapon pointed right at his friend. That guy really needs some instruction on gun safety.

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