GHayes

by Gila Hayes

Preparedness and ability to survive a mass killer attack is on the minds of most armed citizens. The Munich mass shooting reports reminded me of NRA News contributor Dom Raso’s warning that gun-free zones, especially busy shopping malls, are extremely attractive to terrorists wishing “to be remembered for killing more innocent people than the terrorists before him.” His commentary is refreshing after the tidal wave of psychobabble following the Miami club shooting, and vapid and repetitive excuses that murderers suffered as bullied children, so act out of revenge for juvenile cruelty.

Intended victims cannot afford to get too worried about motivations, despite studies into bullied killers, or terrorist’s ideology. Those explanations are little more than distractions to keep the ordinary citizen from developing sound defense strategies. For the man or woman, taking the family to a big shopping mall for an afternoon, why a killer attacks matters not. See https://www.nranews.com/series/commentators/episode/commentators-season-6-episode-15-radical-islamic-terrorists-targeting-gun-free-malls.

Claude Werner also posted an insightful blog about what to look for when protecting innocents in busy social settings. Trust your intuition if something feels “off,” he teaches. If you feel uneasy but don’t know why, figure out what is wrong and take action, whether that entails preventive safeguards or reactions when an attack is underway. In the latter, if you can, flee the scene, don’t hunker down and hide, he suggests. Read it all at https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2016/07/17/situational-awareness-in-social-settings/.

On related topics, I’m a semi-regular reader of the CP Journal, having learned much from Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley’s book, Left of Bang. For CP Journal subscribers, every Sunday brings an email citing half a dozen useful articles on timely topics, plus there’s much to think about on their blog, like the posting at http://www.cp-journal.com/the-collective-mood-and-you/.

A recent CP Journal lead me to a column in the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-orlando-cost-lone-wolf-20160623-snap-story.html) about increased budgets to keep public venues like theme parks and mega-malls “safe.” Businesses are responding to terror attacks against large crowds with precautions like the metal detectors outside SeaWorld, explosives-sniffing dogs at Disneyland, closed circuit cameras in shopping destinations, bag checks at nightclubs and armed guards at schools and movie theaters. And still terrorists launch surprise attacks like Florida’s club shooting or the Bastille Day truck attack.

The June shooting in the Tel Aviv market provides an interesting contrast. There, two Palestinians who were illegally in Israel, killed four civilians in an upscale market area that was, interestingly, adjacent to the military headquarters. Even seemingly safe venues, turn dangerous. This spotlights the lie behind feel-good preventions, like metal detectors and bag checks, which do little to thwart a determined terrorist.

The take-home lesson for ordinary armed citizens?
1. Having a gun for self defense is essential.
(a) Stay out of places that restrict ordinary safety precautions. Those in charge have made it clear that your well being doesn’t rate their consideration.
(b) Even if it is uncomfortable or inconvenient, find a way to carry your gun within the constraints of your area’s laws. If the law does not allow you to carry a gun, see 1) (a).

After passage of the recent CA gun restrictions a non-member emailed to ask if we would defend a member who, [and these are his words] fed up with the ever-more-restrictive laws, carried a gun in knowing violation of the most recent set of restrictions.

As Massad Ayoob has famously written, if you were an enthusiastic snow skier, would you find a way to move out of Florida to a state with snow every winter and lots of opportunities to ski? If your state government so disregards your personal safety as to strip you of your right to armed self defense, doesn’t moving where you can exercise that right deserve serious consideration?

Click here to return to August 2016 Journal to read more.