I remember watching United Airlines Flight 75 plow into the second World Trade Tower. I’m sorry if this offends anyone but my first thought was “clever bastards.” I was stunned by the terrorist’s audacity. While there were some people who predicted a deliberate air crash (including recently deceased author Tm Clancy and Morgan Stanley’s head of security), it was still an enormously surprising event. Obviously, there wasn’t anything the victims of this heinous crime could do to forestall their fate. But I’ve never forgotten the fact that . . .
9/11 was perpetrated by murderers with imagination, patience, intelligence and determination.
So when I heard of Kenya’s Westgate attack, I knew it wasn’t a simple a matter of a bunch of madmen driving to the mall and shooting up the place. Yesterday’s New York Times had a photo gallery of the attack’s aftermath with new information about the way it went down.
The initial attack was carefully planned and well rehearsed, officials say, with the building’s blueprints studied down to the ventilation ducts. The team of attackers slipped undetected through Kenya’s porous borders, often patrolled by underpaid — and often corrupt — border guards.
A day or two before the Sept. 21 attack, powerful belt-fed machine guns were secretly stashed in a shop in the mall with the help of a colluding employee, officials say.
Armed Americans are conditioned to to consider a lone wolf shooter—Adam Lanza, James Holmes, Nidal Hassan, Aaron Alexis, etc.—as their worst case scenario. They would do well to remember that terrorists are organized killers. They plan and act in groups. Like all groups of predators, they anticipate resistance and seek soft targets. They use stealth and misdirection to maximize their murderous mayhem.
Western security officials say they believe that several fighters slipped out of the mall during the attack, dropping their guns, changing clothes and blending in with fleeing civilians, an account echoed by some witnesses.
What this means to an armed self-defender is clear: don’t trust anyone.
How do you know your new friend is your friend? A civilian shepherding civilians towards an exit during an attack—this way! this way!—could be a terrorist or psycho-killer leading innocents straight to their death. This one-two punch is terrorists’ SOP (standard operating procedure): one attack to funnel the enemy in a predetermined direction or create a crowd, a second to destroy them.
When James Holmes opened fire inside a Cinemark theater in Aurora, Colorado, moviegoers stampeded out the front doors. They could have died in a secondary IED (improvised explosive device) explosion. Lest we forget, Holmes had booby-trapped his apartment with a range of IEDs.
Equally, Holmes was initially mistaken for law enforcement (he was wearing a tactical vest). How do you know the cops are cops? Would you climb into a bus taking victims to the hospital without wondering if it was a part of the terrorists’ plan? Most people wouldn’t give it a second thought. You should.
The trick is to keep thinking.
While gun gurus talk about (and instill) “muscle memory” to create quick, non-conscious reactions to life-threatening stimuli, it’s just as important to keep your rational brain spinning in an OODA loop (observe, orient, decide act). Where are the threats? Where is safety? What do I need to do to eliminate or avoid the threat or get to safety? NOW where are the threats? NOW where is safety? Wash, rinse, repeat. Until you are 100 percent safe: physically and legally.
For years, American officials have been deeply worried about the Shabab, who have claimed responsibility for killing more than 60 men, women and children in the mall attack. Viewing the deadly siege as a direct threat to its security, the United States is deploying dozens of F.B.I. agents to the mall to investigate.
They’re concerned. We should be vigilant. And prepared. To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs you may just survive a violent attack. You may not, but the odds are better. Especially if you’re armed. Considering the endless evil of our enemies, that’s as good as it gets.
Keep your kids out of these fascist scum holes. Find a private school.
I own two, one is prerecall and the other is post, I have yet to sent my first Neos back, mainly because I rarely use the safety, before anyone suggest that I’m an idiot for not using it, I stow it with out a magazine in it, and don’t chamber a round until I am about to shoot.
I’ve avoided malls for years. I don’t like crowds. I haven’t been to a movie in years. I’m not a sports fan so that eliminates stadiums.
With my new job I’m on the local freeways a lot. I need to start wargaming what if’s for a congested freeway and bad guys.
The first thing that came to my mind is “tanker trucks.”
Second thing, “mislabeled trucks” and then “over/underpasses.”
Okay … I’m going to stop thinking now.
Mental practice can be just as valuable as physical practice…
Reminds me of this WWII joke.
Two Nazi’s walk in to a BAR…
Not for nothing but isn’t that shirt a bit big for her?
Anaheim Hills, CA – My home town. Once a conservative pocket of Southern California.
Gosh, not sure why I moved./
“gun lovers send me the results of an NRA-cooked survey”
See how they do that – when the surveys are run and the results don’t support the antis bias, they automatically become “NRA Cooked” and invalid.
Thompson and BAR look fun. Hurray for WW2 guns!
Speaking of mall attacks, didn’t the late Tom Clancy have a similar scene in Teeth of the Tiger? Although, if I recall, it was foiled by armed and trained “civilians.”
The “Reid Technique” has been around for the corporate security community for at least 20 years that I know of, Not to say it’s any good. I suspect poor use of the technique would be a bonanza for the defense.
Do we really want armed illegal immigrants coming into America?
Granted, it would’ve been better for everyone had they killed their captors but c’mon.
These are the kinds of images that never make it into grabber’s world.
The media will state it was some white conservative NRA member with an AR-15, then the truth will come out and they’ll just quietly drop the story. We already seen this happen before.
I had a meeting a block away from this and missed the shooting by half an hour.
Right now I’m shaking with anger. Anger that both DC and also the Feds made sure that if my meeting hadn’t ended before they did, I would’ve been a sitting duck for the criminally insane because of f***ing political correctness.
Heard a report on NBC that the police agencies involved include the Capital Police, DC Police (why are there two separate police forces for one federal city anyway?), the ATF, the FBI, and of course the Secret Service. Then I see pictures of every police car and half the emergency vehicles in the metro area all camped out on Constitution Avenue, and I think to myself, I thought there was a government shutdown. How many of these guys are pulling OT, and do we really need that many cops for one lady (who happens to be dead) and one car???? And this article has guys running around in combat gear, so the SWAT team must have been called out as well. What does the bill look like for this much overkill?
I like the part where the suspect is going around the traffic circle and the police enters just as she leaves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LINM-_S4QiY
Best friend picked up a 9mm from his cousin for literally beer money. $40 American.
Hi Point is the descendent of Stallard Arms,which sold out to Hi Point in the 1990’s,the guns now are a little more refined than they were back then,the slides are not quite as large as they used to be,also the polymer grips used to be the same material as the slide.I don’t own one but am planning on buying one for a truck gun,am torn between the 9mm or the .45 acp,don’t want a .40,already shoot both 9 and 45,reload for them too.From the videos I have seen on YouTube,Hi Points do pretty good,and being that the shooters come from different areas and different weather conditions seems like Hi Point might be too bad for an inexpensive gun to have.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.
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