Tuesday’s truck attack in lower Manhattan killed eight people an injured another eleven. The driver, Sayfullo Saipov, has made no bones about his admiration for ISIS and how pleased he is with his handiwork. What’s more, like so many perpetrators of other terrorist attacks here and in Europe, he wasn’t unknown to local authorities. Which probably leaves New Yorkers wondering, how many other “known wolves” are out there?
NYC mayor & NY governor walking the @NYCHalloween parade route together pic.twitter.com/LPkYAnrveq
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 31, 2017
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio made sure to pat each other on the backs, noting how much safer the Empire State is thanks to its largely useless and widely disregarded SAFE Act. They also made sure to show the world that the terrorists hand’t won by marching in the annual Halloween Parade (under the protection of who knows how many armed guards).
Less than two hours after delivering updates in a news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo greeted revelers side by side at the parade.
“Tonight we’re at a Halloween parade to say you didn’t win and you didn’t affect us,” Cuomo told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “We’re doing what New Yorkers do.”
They also praised New Yorkers for being brave, coming out on All Hallows’ Eve, being on the streets and not letting terrorism make them shut-ins. As if they had a choice.
Another aspect of daily life about which almost all New Yorkers have no choice is whether to arm themselves against, muggers, rapists, murderers and, well, terrorists. The City That Never Sleeps is a designated no-go zone for legal concealed carry for all but its most wealthy and connected citizens.
So since America’s highest profile city makes an ideal target for the Sayfullo Saipovs of the world, are New Yorkers showing how brave they really are every day by venturing out without a (legal) gun?
No, just ignorant sheeple willing to listen to whatever lies thier local politican are spewing.
I was thinking along the same lines with a slightly different angle: how foolish New Yorkers are for going out unarmed.
Beat me to it.
Sheep for accepting disarmament. Fools for thinking they are safe.
I am sure Professior ‘didn’t quite meet expectations’ has a different idea though…
They aren’t self aware enough to know there is danger so bravery doesn’t even enter the picture. An ant hill doesn’t worry if a few ants get stepped on. They are bugmen.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bug+man
Are my kids magnanimous when I ask them to do chores? No, as they routinely acknowledge by saying “it’s not like I have a choice.”
Let’s face it, MOST Americans aren’t willing to actively protect themselves.
I truly wish we lived in a world, where we didn’t need to even consider carrying a firearm. Many people simply think it will never happen to them… until it does.
Brave, no. That’s just political BS.
So today’s question is “Are you brave for surrendering your rights to feel better?” No, facing and accepting reality takes courage.
Certainly not the politicians – they’re surrounded by armed police wherever they go.
Truth…
Unless you are hanging out with the criminal element or living in or near the ghetto you are about as safe as you can be in this country. So I generaly feel “safe” walking around without my piece but I would rather have the option just in case I “win” the crime lottery.
I carry a gun because I don’t expect to need it because if I knew I was going to need it I wouldn’t go there.
If I knew I were going to need it then it would be a shotgun.
That’s sounds about right. Risk off violent crime is analogous to risk of home fire. There are no guarantees, but you can significantly reduce your risk through self-selection. If you don’t smoke, do clean out the drier vent periodically (the vent duct, not just the lint trap), don’t leave appliances running while no one is home, and do have working smoke detectors in each bedroom, hallway, and kitchen, your risk of major house fire plummets.
Nevertheless, I still have strategically located fire extinguishers which are checked for proper pressure and which every household member has been trained to use.
Why should New Yorkers fear criminals on the streets when they have so many extremely dangerous criminals in the New York State and New York City governments?
“Are New Yorkers Brave For Going Out Without A Gun?”
Not all of them do, and the ones that don’t carry, well…
Andrew Cuomo might not be the most vile politician in America, but he’s in the top 5. Upstate New York hates him, but as long as he has NYC, he’ll be reelected.
Let’s face it, 90% of our population is perfectly fine with the delusion that “someone” will protect them and that evil only visits “others”. I used to be one of them. They call us paranoid and a whole host of other unflattering names. I mean, who really needs to carry a firearm to Wal-Mart? What could possibly happen?
On a side note, there have been several discussions here related to defensive rounds and ability to punch through a windshield. I carry a 9mm, and find myself now wondering how effective my chosen HP round would be. Many times my backup mag is FMJ, but not always. Any thoughts on round choice and carry options?
Lehigh Defense / Underwood seems to do pretty well in .45ACP; they probably have a 9mm variant.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/03/daniel-zimmerman/new-lehigh-defense-45-acp-xtreme-defense-bullets-underwood-ammunition/
Lehigh does produce a 9 mm round, but it is sold under the Underwood name. Also Hornady Critical Duty will easily penetrate glass, but is prone to over penetration.
I suspect you need to visit LE websites, generally cops *do* research windshield performance of their ammo, I’m not sure where else might do so.
Edit: I like Lehigh just in general. They do seem to actually test their products with real guns rather than pistols with 9″ barrels or whatever.
The firearms guy has a video where he shoots a windshield with 9mm. 40cal and 45 ACP at seven yards. They all penetrate and strike the target. However, the 45 plows straight through which is what you would expect given that it has the largest mass. Auto glass is not really a “hard barrier.”
The Yankee Marshal is a big fan of the Underwood xtreme penetrator in 357 since it will punch through auto glass at long range. The ptoblem with his logic is that an assault vehicle will pick some place with a lot of people and that 50-100 yard shot will have to through a lot of people to strike the target.
The issue is more of deflection than penetration. Just as light refracts when it does into water, a bullet will deflect when passing through glass. Rounds designed for penetration deflect less.
The 9mm and 40 Cal both deflected, the 40 less than the 9. The 45 blew straight through wit no deflection.
Was a website once that probably has windshield tests. Google “box o truth, gun tests” or some variant of that.
If New Yorkers are brave for not carrying, does that make the Police cowards because they do carry?
The stupid that comes out of the mouths of Cuomo and DeBlasio (both who have armed guards), seems to have no bounds.
Bravery doesn’t factor into this. They don’t have a choice. They can’t get licenses, and they risk pretty sever penalties for carrying without a license. In that regime, it takes more bravery to go out WITH a gun. Going without when you risk jail for carrying is EASY.
Nah they’re just stupid.As someone who HAS been hit by a truck while biking I can tell you it ain’t fun… have fun at the NYC Marathon😜
If I lived there, I’d sure as hell have one!
Question of FOREVER: Are New Yorkers Brave to protect themselves from their stupid neighbors who needed a job?
Are they brave enough to end the tyranny and park one in the a _ _ of the aholes that hate them and want to oppress them?
We need to ban rental of high-powered assault vehicles with fully-automatic transmissions!
Why no calls to ban rental of high-powered, automatic transmission assault vehicles?
Anyone can walk in off the street and rent an assault vehicle at any Home Depot or Loews, with absolutely no background check, no waiting period, no check of criminal records, mental health background, drug use, alcoholism, domestic violence convictions, etc.
And all for less than $20, as the assault vehicle used in the NY City terrorist attack says right on the side, “Only $19.99.” And it’s a high-powered fully-automatic (transmission) assault vehicle, too, capable of speeds of up to 120 mph. What civilian needs that kind of speed, horsepower, and fully-automatic transmission on the streets of an American city? High-powered, fully-automatic (transmission) assault vehicles should be limited to the military!
Ban civilians from owning or renting high-powered, automatic transmission assault vehicles now!
Or at the very least, we need universal background checks and waiting periods before allowing people to rent assault vehicles.
And nobody on the terrorist watch list should be allowed to rent an assault vehicle, period!
We need common-sense laws against high-powered, fully-automatic assault vehicles, now! The founding fathers only wanted us to have a horse and buggy.
/sarcasm alert/
Bravery and stupidity are separated by the smallest margin.
I’m a New Yorker, and the most recent attack occurred only a few blocks from my office. I hate the fact that I have to walk around nearly defenseless in order to work for a living. I live outside of NYC and have a NYS full carry, as well as CCW’s in a number of other states, however, as you are all probably aware, my NYS is not valid in NYC. Wonderful, the government trusts me enough to allow me the privilege of owning an handgun, and carrying it in the rest of the state, but doesn’t trust me enough to carry it in NYC, but they do trust that I won’t carry it in NYC just because I’m not supposed to. So, for the law abiding, it’s on the honor system. Makes sense. Please note the sarcasm in the previous.
To make matters worse, the lowly pepper spray is also illegal in NYC, and as a matter of practice, almost any kind of folding knife with a lock is also illegal to carry.
Now,
NYC has a huge police presence, which does keep some places safer than others, unless you are near an officer that has to discharge his/her weapon accurately while trying to overcome the 12lb trigger. This often leads to bad results for bystanders.
In the other direction, NYC has a huge homeless problem and some of them are aggressive. They are everywhere, particularly on the subway when the weather is bad, and you rarely see a cop on a subway. That said, they are not likely to intervene if you were attacked.
So, I know I’m relatively defenseless, and I hate it. My chosen profession is such that, if I want to be successful, NYC is where I have to be. There are opportunities in other major cities, but most of them are just as bad, and some are worse. The reality is I’m stuck here.
Am I brave? I think I am, sometimes I’m not. We all have our moments of strength and weakness. I’m not any less or more brave when I carry. Am I brave because I allow the deck to be stacked further against me so I can work in NYC? No, I’m not, I’m just resigned to the fact that I’m making a sacrifice to earn a living. If something were to happen to me, there’s plenty of life insurance to financially secure my wife (we don’t have kids). To me that’s what’s important, and that’s why I’m not particularly brave, I’ve just planned for the contingency.
Speaking of wild shots, the officer who shot this particular scumbag fired one times, striking the “subject” once in the belly. From what I understand, the guy was running, but when confronted, turned towards the four pursuing officers with his fake guns–suggesting that he was a stationary target. (That’s an 11% hit to shots fired ratio.)
Considering that for the majority of NY’ers especially downstate around NYC and the suburbs – going out WITH a gun is a felony, we don’t really have much choice.
Ask the 19 victims of the recent terror attack. OOPS! 8 of them are dead. Ask the survivors and the families of the 8 dead. Along with all the other victims of violent crime. At least the ones that are still alive. Fortunately I live in a Free state. I’ve carried for years. Open carry was legal in Missouri for years. We had long guns in the back window of our trucks every where we went. Didn’t even lock the doors. Moved to a new state and carried concealed long before it became easy to get a permit. I choose to always be prepare for the worst. Not doing so can result in bad experiences.
They’re brave, I guess, but it’s that “Jackass” style of bravery, where I look on them with disgusted pity rather than admiration.
There are plenty of places I would walk around unarmed without a care in the world, but New York is not one of them.
New York state is an unsalvageable sh*t hole across the board, let alone in terms of gun rights. there is no hope for it, nor for the people that still live there. The only solution is to wall the state off like Escape from New York and use it as a prison.
Upstate is beautiful, even if facing a certain amount of economic turmoil because of Albany’s dysfunction. Really if we could sever ourselves from NYC and it’s vile culture, it’d be a perfect place to live.
Not like they realy have an option to pack.
I often work in NYC and carry regardless.
If you can everyone needs to run away from the slave state you live in. Like I ran away from the slave state of California.
WOW – …and you didn’t affect us,” Cuomo told CNN’s Anderson Cooper
I imagine the families of the dead and injured don’t quite agree with that statement.
NO. Living/being in NYC DEFINES stupid places (as Chicago).
No, their slavemasters just refuse to let them have freedom.
I went to a shooting competition this year in New Hampshire and met several very nice shooters from the Empire State, none of them complied with the SAFE ACT. When asked about it, one woman told me more or less “The Billionaires from the city own this state (NY) now. I’m from Upstate and Local LEOs are in the same boat as I am, we’re not rich, we’re normal Americans just doing our best to be happy. We all ignore the nonsense coming out of Albany and live our lives respecting and supporting one another.”
courage is often times nothing other than the lack of insight whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information
peter ustinov
thats why i carry
To me its kinda like Mexico…dont go there. I aint lost a damn thing in NY and ive visited the City and Upstate several times in the last 10yrs. Im good, dont need to ever go back. Was interviewing with a Wall Street firm that was planning a move to my state after 911. Interviews here went well and they wanted me to go to NYC for next level interview. I told them i didnt need a job that bad.
No, they are cowards. Only a coward does not defend himself and his family, but then lion does not concern himself with the opinion of the sheep.
Like most liberal cesspools, they want laws that make sure that all potential crime victims are at an equal disadvantage to an attacker in order to reduce their individual risk.