Gun Free Zone

“You have to create a first line of defense,” he (Dale McClellan, a former Navy SEAL and president of Special Tactical Services) said. That, he said, should include training teachers and school officials how to react to an attack. Then schools should install ballistic doors with magnetic locks, put Kevlar blankets in every school room and even put Kevlar sheeting on desks for kids and teachers to hide behind.

via Ex-SEAL one-ups NRA wth tougher, safer plan | WashingtonExaminer.com.

Sorry, I have to call B.S. on this one. Covering a room with Kevlar blankets would be so expensive it is not even funny and the idea would be dropped before it started.

I checked a manufacturer on-line and they offer a Level III-A, 6×6 blanket for $ 2,480. Just covering the wall of a classroom that faces the hallway would require 5 blankets (30 foot wall) at $12,400. Multiply that for the number of classrooms in a school…… you get the idea. And don’t forget to add the ballistic doors while you are at it; I don’t want to know how higher the bill would go.

But wait, it gets better:

Also, teachers should receive a TASER, with training, to shock an attacker. “It’s easy to use and very effective,” said McClellan.

No and No. It is not easy to use and it is not 100% effective as even the manufacturers admit. Its efficiency goes to nothing if the shooter is wearing clothing thick enough for the probes not to make contact with the flesh. Also, with the Taser you have one shot only before having to reload if it failed to subdue the attacker which is not a problem with a firearm which at minimum will provide you with 6 shots if your school district cannot digest the idea of having a weapon with them “high-capacity assault magazine clips.”

I know we are living in highly technological times where a person is carrying more computer power in a smart phone that NASA used in the flight to the moon. But simple solutions work as well if the brain is used. I like the idea of locking the doors: restricting the shooter’s access to the classroom is important but, Do you really need a magnetic door lock at $100 a pop? A pair of sturdy cane bolts will do the trick just as good for 10% of the magnetic lock price. And by the way, a couple of small curtains or something to block the little windows on the doors so the shooter cannot see inside would be nice to have.

Let’s go back to the $12,400 price tag for one classroom worth of blankets. If we use the money properly we can have the following for 6 teachers:

6 handguns at LEO prices :  $398 x 6 = $2,388
6,000 rounds of frangible ammunition: $4,000
Three day class at Thunder Ranch for 6 teachers: $6,000

I am not including traveling & lodging expenses and I am selecting perhaps one of the best firearms classes available (For naysayers, cops and military go to train at Thunder Ranch, OK?) Hell, I am sure that Clint Smith would not mind sending some of his instructors to any school district that wanted to train teachers. So for the price of one wall covered with Kevlar, we can have 6 teachers very well-trained in the use of handguns.

Active Shooters are to be dealt swiftly and terminally. Even the craziest of the crazy do not enjoy feeling pain or bleeding unnecessarily. The great majority of Active Shooters end up killing themselves when confronted by anybody with a gun so let’s play those odds by providing those who are there with the proper tools and training rather than taking a passive role and waiting for the Calvary to arrive.

And in the Old West, same as today, the Calvary usually arrived too late to stop the killing and not for lack of trying. Circling the wagons and shooting back has always been a better option

In yesterday’s post about the presumably fake Brady Campaign image titled “Better to be raped than to kill your attacker” I stated that I had actually met people who believe and advocate this mindset

via “Rape doesn’t justify murder” | Ordnancecorner’s Weblog.

The sad part is that I am no longer surprised people like that walk amongst us. And vote.

They reminded me that we doctors are at the front lines of the scourge of gun violence, and that to remain silent as this threat to public health continues unabated would be no different than for an oncologist or a cardiologist to stay mum on the dangers of smoking.

via At the E.R., Bearing Witness to Gun Violence – NYTimes.com.

 

This coming from a practitioner of a profession that kills 10 times more people than all the murderers in the US, rings hollow and hypocritical. It doubles down when he actually uses the Kellerman study to prop up his “argument.”

Physician, heal thyself!

Since 2009 we have seen a shift to a very mainstream America being the new norm in gun ownership. Soccer moms, business men, minorities, hipsters, gamers, democrats, you name it… just about anyone and everyone, from just about any walk of life has been going out and buying guns for the purposes of recreation, self defense in the home, concealed carry, hunting, or simply to just to exercise their God given right.

via Gun Culture 2.0 Must Become Politically Active.

Great article…. we are an untapped political army.

Let’s start with the legal definition.

Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.
Source: FBI UCR: Forcible rape.

I start here to avoid the argument on the misuse of the term rape for any silly or perceived sexual advance by those people who have the urge to feel insulted/aggrieved/victimized for attention purposes or other petty crap.

I have read about rape and what rape victims go through. And as much as I read and try to understand, I know I simply cannot fully understand the profound feelings a woman must go through every day after a rape. I can only empathize to a small degree when a woman tells her rape story and feel my guts twist in a knot of anger for not being able to stop it somehow. Rape and any violent crimes against Children are the two items I know I have to make an extra effort to control my inner Attila-The-Hun and not go for the rope after a verdict is rendered. In that sense,  truly admire cops and pity them: the amount of self-control that an officer responding a rape call, specially if the rapist is caught, has to be equal to the hermit saints of old.

Rapist (mostly on our side of the World) are assholes with a psychological urge to exercise power over a woman by means of traumatizing them in the possible worst way: through sex and the violation of their insides. It does not get any deeper than that short of murder. A victim of rape is targeted because they are perceived to be easily overpowered and it has to do nothing with the way they act, talk, dress or play the bongo. A woman can be wearing a full suit of armor and talk like Queen Victoria, but if a rapist sees her as possible sexual fodder, he’ll attack, can opener in hand. By the same token she can be starkers and swearing like a sailor on payday, but if she is perceived as one that will cause harm, she will be given a wide berth by the sexual predator. I know I am generalizing some and there is bound to be some asshole that may make the wrong decision and attack a non-victim, but I don’t think I am out of the ballpark on this one.

This takes me to the stupid politicization of rape and the controversy that led to SlutWalk. On January 24 of 2011, Constable Michael Sanguinetti of the Toronto Police Service said during a talk on crime prevention at York University: “I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” Yes a bonehead thing to say but the reaction to his statement, SlutWalk was equally bonehead. Instead of focusing on demanding good tactics and procedures a woman can use to defend herself against a nutjob who does not give two craps about the law that already penalizes rape, what we got is one huge political rally that covered everything but. The blog Zombietime has a great collection of pictures for San Francisco’s SlutWalk 2011 and SlutWalk 2012 (warning, some sensitive people may find pics disturbing) go check them out and come back.

So two demonstrations did nothing more than muddy the waters and perpetuate myths and stupidity through political banter. For the “protesters” the causes of rape are the system, lack of penis control, capitalism, etc. And of course, it can be fixed by imposing more useless legislation and indoctrination on subjects totally unrelated to rape. Pretty much nothing was done to address the real issues behind rape and how to avoid it. As self-defense goes, sorry but Three Stooges-Jiu-Jitsu as demonstrated in this video is the equivalent of spank away an attacking bear with feather duster.

As with the fight we are having against Gun Control foes, it is the political B.B. that gets offered as solution and not addressing the real problems. Then again playing the Victim Card elicits a stronger emotional (and therefore more fulfilling) response than actually telling women they have to prepare to counter an attack by means of both real prevention (Avoidance, deterrence, de-escalation) or any weapon and training that would cut short an attack.

Apparently it is easier and more politically correct to wave banners and shout cute slogans than acquiring the knowledge to gut the living daylights of a rapist until a colostomy bag is part of his everyday life. A free timeshare at Potter’s Field is also acceptable in my opinion since recidivism by the rapist will be pretty much zero.

“Obviously those shootings have raised a lot of sensitivity,” Finucane said.

via TxDOT halts directional signs for gun shows – San Antonio Express-News.

 

You know? I am sure that a rape or two have been committed somewhere, but I don’t see people saying we need to suspend all sex for a month because of “sensitivities.”