“Imagine this. You are having a dispute with a neighbor over noise late at night. You have asked him politely to keep it down and your politeness got you nowhere. You have filed complaints with the town, but nothing has come of them. Finally, you decide to go to the town council and voice your concern.” So begins delawareonline.com‘s editorial Gun laws, common sense are strangers. I’m thinking I wouldn’t be going to the town council to complain about Mr. Noisy neighbor. I’d be going to the police. While taking some extra security precautions: heightened situational awareness, a gun on my hip, that sort of thing. But no. This is a matter for the town council! And that’s when things get positively cinematic . . .
And there sitting across from you, with that same strange menacing look that he always gives you, is none other than the neighbor you are there to complaint about. You gulp, but you understand that he has just the same right to be there as you do.
I gulp? Because I’m afraid, right? Well, I am disarmed. Oh wait. I’m not disarmed! I’m at a town council meeting in a Delaware town where I can exercise my natural, civil and Constitutional right to keep and bear arms inside the council chamber. Even so, I might consider a strategic retreat. Live to fight another day. That sort of thing. Or have a quiet word with security. Unfortunately, I’m about to be transformed . . .
Then you notice that strapped to his hip is his well-loved handgun. (Keep in mind, he’s still mean mugging you all the while.) You gulp again. Then you gulp still again as you realize that he also has the right to bear arms just about wherever he wants. Now imagine if you were not the fair-minded, peaceful soul that you are. Imagine also that your disposition was just as dour and that you were as free with menacing looks as your neighbor. Oh, yes, imagine that you are carrying heat as well.
Wow, first I’m gulping like a guppy out of water and then BAM! I’m a bad guy too! How did that happen? And if I’m such a bad guy, why am I subjecting myself to a bureaucratic process that’s almost as boring as waiting at the DMV? Wouldn’t I have already had it out with the noisy neighbor somewhere away from so many witnesses?
Now who could object if the council members saw what was coming and discreetly asked the friendly, but heavily armed, police officer present to escort both of you from the premises. Of course, that would be wrong. In many jurisdictions council would be violating both of your rights. Council, in this case, would get no points for wisdom or defusing a potentially deadly situation. Council, instead, would get sued.
How heavily armed is this police officer? Full auto AR? Grenades? If the town council or cop had a reasonable suspicion that me and Mr. Noisy Neighbor were about to start a gunfight I bet they could take some kind of preemptive action without triggering a lawsuit (so to speak). Defusing situations is what politicians do best, right? [see: video below]
Anyway, how often does this kind of armed showdown in council chambers happen? Often enough that we have curtail law-abiding Americans’ gun rights? My Google-Fu couldn’t unearth one example of a head-to-head gunfight in a town council meeting. But there were plenty of council meetings where a gunman opened fire on unarmed civilians: the Kirkwood City Council Shooting (six dead), the Monroe County, PA meeting shooting (three dead) and the Riverside City Hall shooting (six wounded).
Would any of these attacks have been less likely in a “gun-free zone”? I don’t think so. In fact, I reckon that “allowing” citizens to carry firearms in council meetings is an excellent way to protect the council against an armed attack. To say nothing of deterrence. Remember this incident?
The editorialist concludes his fantasy-based anti-gun agitprop with “The current ambiguous state of the law in Delaware should be changed. Firearms should not be allowed in public meetings. Period.” Would he say the same thing after watching the City Council narrowly avoid annihilation in the video above? Probably.
But be of good cheer! The editorial provides the first evidence I’ve encountered that last week’s 9th Circuit Court’s decision to strike down California’s “just cause” concealed carry provision has the antis worried.
However, Delaware’s strange circumstances are likely to get worse. Along with every other state, Delaware’s gun laws are now suspect because of a federal court ruling last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned all of California’s laws regarding carrying firearms. This is the same court that ruled before the Supreme Court that Second Amendment rights extend nationwide. Legal experts believe we are in for a legal controversy of major proportions.
Such is the debate on firearms in our society. Common sense is nowhere to be found.
I beg to differ.
Wow. In Delaware?!?
Wow.
Great words. Sums it all up.
To use the skeptical phrase, “it’s magical thinking”. It’s a pill that makes everything better. Weight loss pill, cure for the common cold, cure for violence, etc.
The reality is there is no “magic”. A firearm at it’s core is a very simple device and even if you retrofit this into your 1911 – $50 says a garage gunsmith can un-retrofit it in a quarter the time. (Ok, maybe not the first time, but once they have practice.)
Which means a stolen gun is still out there potentially being used by “bad people doing bad things”.
I guess I’ll be buying Pepsi products exclusively.
“I can further share that PepsiCo has never supported groups that either advocate gun control or oppose hunting.”
See what they did there, the 2A is only for hunting purposes don’t you see, so they took an anti-gun stand without really taking an anti-gun stand.
I watched that video once and just can’t do it again. Pure terror, and equally pure helplessness. I want to show it to every anti who says to wait until the shooter empties the gun and then tackle him between mag changes.
More importantly: NO govt database on its citizenry can EVER be trusted. Period.
?? There is no money behind this. The only ones interested in people purchasing this garbage are the gun control advocates who are not willing to purchase it themselves. No LEO or knowledgeable citizen wants this complicated junk. A “lever” (single or multistage trigger) is a very simple machine with unmatched reliability.
I am an electrical engineer and I don’t want this garbage. Guns controlled by electrical means are another layer of control of the gun owner and reliability is in question.
1) A firearm controlled by an electrical system is inherently less reliable. Batteries (especially lithium ion) do not last forever and require consistent replacement. Typical lithium ion batteries at room temperature lose 25% of their capacity each year regardless of use. I don’t want that garbage. What happens when you reach for your gun and realize the battery no longer functions?
2) An electrical system is subject to control and can/may contain additional hardware completely unknown to the user which could allow outside parties to remotely disable your weapon.
3) If equipped with a watchband, your RFID connection between yourself and the gun is open to RFID noise. Jammer’s can be fabricated (by gov or criminals) to interrupt this connection – disabling your firearm.
4) If equipped with a watchband, If you forget to wear your RFID tag on your wrist and grab the gun it will not fire when needed. Are you going to sleep with that watchband on?
5) Biometric readers are not always 100% correct and can misread for any number of reasons. Biometric readers may delay the guns response time when in a hurry (and pray it reads right on first try). If you scratch or scar your finger – better reprogram all your guns before you forget.
6) As guns are fairly simple mechanical devices, criminals can steal “smart” guns and will modify or remove the RFID or biometric verifying electronics bypassing this security.
7) RFID and Biometrics will increase the cost of firearms and availability for some groups of people.
You got a better chance of him actually reading the bill he signed than him reading this letter. Well said though regardless.
Man, that is one gnarly looking bunch in that photo. Malloy is running the yellow fluid when he sees this crew at his door.
well written. now if only the governor actually cared about reducing violence and trying to honor the constitution.
Malloy probably won’t even read it. He is too busy shaking hands with campaign contributors. Besides, the ruling class doesn’t care about rights. They care about the ruling class.
“You dealt me a crappy hand of deuces and random trash, but I held on and somewhere along the way, they turned into aces. I WIN.”
I’d say you bluffed when you had nothing in your hand, and convinced the other players you had aces. They folded. You won the hand!
Whatever. Marijuana legalization, green energy, women’s rights…..you know what they say about birds of a feather.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck………..
Couldn’t get the link to work, nor did Google-fu help. Anyone reckon they took the site down or something?
Tom
“Then you notice that strapped to his hip is his well-loved handgun. (Keep in mind, he’s still mean mugging you all the while.) You gulp again. Then you gulp still again as you realize that he also has the right to bear arms just about wherever he wants.”
i would not start gulping like a thirsty cross country runner just because i saw a gun. if i was that scared of a person, i would be scared of him if he had a fanny pack on to carry his lipstick or his macho .45. these people feel that the presence of a gun should make you instantly fear for your life.
i guess i will just never understand this level of fear/stupidity.
WA State is about to make it illegal for baddies to commit a crime while wearing Body Armor, this will no doubt eliminate all crime within the state. Leftys everywhere are merely projecting their desires onto the hapless citizenry nation wide as they see their Socialist Boat sink in the west or as they prepare to go full Stalinist Purge on America.
These inane laws and rulings are the final warning signs before the Cult of Progress goes full Jones Town, just like it did in Spain (300 churches burned, Nuns raped, Priests murdered in one day). There are those in American Media who are calling for discriminant mass murder NOW
Are they making having body armor a crime, or is it that crimes committed while wearing body armor are doubleplus ungood?
Please provide some links to reputable sources … or at least provide enough details so that we can find sources to substantiate your claim.
Lasers… come on.. seriously? Waiting for the enemy to go to the hardware store and buy some of that aluminum chrome finish spray paint. Congratulations, now laser-proof.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zqFoq3qej2c/SraNG31fn9I/AAAAAAABFQs/RcwyHvj1H3k/s1600-h/06-chrome-r8-frankfurt.jpg
Just got my 93R17 Saturday 2-15-14 took it to the range with the un-named 3x9x40 sitting on It with hornady 17 gr ammo and had it driving tacks at 50 yards and bout 1.5″ groups at 100 yds. Got windy so I shut it down. Really love it so far! Ordered me a bipod, and a 10 round mag for it on eBay both together under $50. Next to come is a sweet 17 by BSA. Thinking of getting a Boyd’s thumb hole stock for $99 but not sure. Can’t wait to get some headshots on some squirrels or yotes!
-Don’t retreat! Reload!-
If insurgents ever take over my neighborhood, I hope Jerry Miculek happens to be over for dinner.
I loved the how he can expertly pick out the black plates on the rack at speed.
A big ol’ “YES” to the Pearce magazine extension. I’ve owned a 3rd Generation G26 for about 6 years and I put Pearce extensions on all 12 of the magazines I eventually bought. The little Glock is just too small in the handle for my hands.
Now if Pearce would do the same for the SIG P290 it would make shooting that gun a whole lot better. That silly little magazine extension SIG makes for it is a joke and the 8-round magazines are too damn long even for my biggest pants pockets.
How quaint, PepsiCON uses the gun grabber lingo “hunting” as if thats the ONLY legitimate purpose of firearms. Read between the lines, people.
I have a gun on layaway at Cabelas. They support my rights. Didn’t price gouge on ammo recently. Several LGS DID. Is Cabelas perfect? Nope. Do.they put new prices on used guns? Yep. Don’t buy ’em.
Favorite big box store.
Miller is the Phelps of gun control.
Let’s hope the people of NJ have balls as big as those in CT and simply say “no thanks”.
As I kid I was lead to believe that a stack of nudie mags would earn me a trip to hell, but am I now going to hell for that stack of PMAGs, too…? Say it ain’t so!