I saw this Tweet from USA Today:
Opinion: Jack Wilson is exactly the type of person you want around with a gun because he's a firearms instructor. But we know nothing about the at least six other parishioners who also appeared to draw their handguns. And that's terrifying. https://t.co/od0vfGftjU
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 1, 2020
What the fuck is that shit? Let’s break it down:
Opinion: Jack Wilson is exactly the type of person you want around with a gun because he’s a firearms instructor.
“This guy really did stop the bad guy in six seconds and possibly averted a mass shooting. We are going to begrudgingly give he credit where credit is due.”
But we know nothing about the at least six other parishioners who also appeared to draw their handguns. And that’s terrifying.
“We know because it’s been dug into – probably to destroy him by finding evidence of a racist statement or ex-girlfriend that said he got handsy at the soda fountain back in the 70’s – that he was a reserve deputy in the 80s and is a firearms instructor. So he has the magic fairy dust of government sprinkled on him. Those other central Texas yokels with guns, we know nothing about, so we’re going to shit on them and assume the worst.”
And here is the article:
Armed, even in church: Texas shooting is about a lot more than Jack Wilson’s heroism
Jack Wilson is a hero. But why were so many other parishioners armed? And how did the shooter get his gun, given his criminal history?
Why were so many other parishioners armed? For the same reason Wilson was. They didn’t know something bad was going to happen but they wanted to be prepared. There wasn’t a centrally coordinated “only this guy will be armed today, so y’all leave your guns at home” meeting.
Jack Wilson is a hero alright. It took him only six seconds to kill a gunman at a Texas church, saving countless lives.
Unfortunately, that kind of split-second heroism has been turned into a PR tool by gun advocates.
Not like you anti-gun fuck-shits haven’t turned every other shooting into a PR tool, you blood-dancing assholes.
The reality of Wilson’s heroism is a lot more complex.
Everything that doesn’t fit their narrative is “complex.” Maybe they just have simple minds.
He wasn’t just an ordinary parishioner, as gun advocates may want you to believe. The church’s volunteer security team member is a firearms instructor, gun range owner and former reserve deputy with a local sheriff’s department, according to a New York Times detailed account.
The magic fairy dust of government and approved training.
In other words, he’s exactly the kind of man you want around with a firearm. But we know nothing about the at least six other parishioners who also appeared to draw their handguns at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas.
And that’s terrifying.
Eat my ass.
I know a lot of guys with CCW who are “the kind of man you want around with a firearm.” Most of them don’t have the magic fairy dust of government sprinkled on them.
One is a buddy of mine who is an A-class USPSA shooter in revolver. I know a few USPSA Grand Masters and some IDPA Experts. I’d trust any one of them to be able to draw and make an accurate shot.
I’m not ranked, but I’m no slouch myself. I shot PPC and 25m Rimfire in high school (I still have my S&W Model 52 and vintage Walther GSP), Smallbore in college, and USPSA for the last three years.
My problems with USPSA are primarily time and money. To be really good, you have to shoot a lot. Most Grand Masters I know do at least 600 rounds, and usually closer to 1,000 rounds, a week. I do about 300-500 rounds a month. I can’t afford to spend more than two days a month at the range, both the cost of ammo and time away from the wife and kids. (Don’t talk to me about reloading, I don’t have the time for that or the capital for the initial investment in equipment, my breakeven on reloading is like three years at my current shooting schedule).
Also, growing up shooting PPC so I have a hard time pushing myself for speed. I don’t like throwing Charlies, so I tend to go slow and shoot all As. It’ a mental block I need to get over.
I’m not claiming to be a great shooter or a gunfighter, nevertheless, I can get my gun out and a first hit in the A zone inside of six seconds.
But because I don’t have the magic fairy dust, I’d terrify this USA Today asshole too.
Of course, that wouldn’t matter to the churchgoers of that community of roughly 18,000 residents, right? What matters is that Wilson saved them with a single shot and other gun-wielding parishioners were ready just in case Wilson failed.
But have we really reached a point when each of us need to carry a firearm anywhere we go? Gun advocates certainly think so. They point to Wilson and the new Texas law that allows him and others to carry firearms inside the church.
Nobody told them that a nutjob with a shotgun would walk into the church that day. That’s why they were prepared and the law was important.
Texas has one of the nation’s least restrictive gun laws, including allowing armed security at houses of worship and allowing parishioners to bring their weapons to church. Gun advocates didn’t waste any time after the recent church incident to promote the idea of arming oneself.
Because a lot fewer people were killed by a madman in a church in Texas than a Synagogue in Pittsburg. Jews, take note of that.
The Second Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms. And that isn’t going anywhere. But that constitutional amendment doesn’t spell out the types of firearms Americans should bear, nor does it give Americans the right to sell them to anyone to carry anywhere.
Shut your stupid fucking face. It should and a lot of think it does.
You are going to turn this story of a hero into an anti-gun sales pitch.
The gunman at West Freeway Church of Christ, 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen, apparently had a long criminal history, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities say they’re still investigating the motive of Sunday’s shooting, and there were no immediate details about how he got the firearm he used at the church.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say “not legally.”
We know firearms are readily available to anyone who wants one, really. And that’s part of the problem. Sunday’s shooting isn’t just about Jack Wilson’s heroism. It’s about how Kinnunen got a hold of a weapon in the first place, given his criminal record.
And when that story comes out and demonstrates that every proposed gun law wouldn’t have stopped this either, what will your line of bullshit be?
The truth is evil happens everywhere. Just ask every person with their face melted with battery acid or drain cleaner in the gun and knife free utopia of London.
In Texas, the law and culture of rugged individualism encouraged churchgoers to be armed in case evil happened. On that day it did, and evil was stopped as fast as humanly possible.
That’s the real story.
I havn’t seen anything in the shooters “extensive criminal history” that would make him a prohibited person. Lots of arrests, but the news people that followed up found that all of them were downgraded to misdemeanors. And there is no judical mental commitment. So he may have bought the “Shockwave”, a 12 ga firearm, not a shotgun per BATFE regs, not a sbs, etc., legally. Which would point out the uselessness of the background check system.
“And that’s terrifying.”
What is terrifying about it? Did you not see the video? How is their actions terrifying in any way?
I guess when you assume that everyone who owns a gun must be a criminal, that could be terrifying, but given the massive number of law abiding and responsible people who own guns, I am not particularly terrified.
“The Second Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms.”
Yep. Expected something like this.
No, moron. The 2nd Amendment does not give anyone any rights. Please read it. For someone who uses words for a living, you are pretty clueless about what a simple sentence means. The 2nd Amendment restricts, it does not grant.
These people are so incredibly ignorant. Arrogantly ignorant. The 2nd Amendment does NOT “give” us the right to keep and bear arms.
According to the Founders, the right to keep and bear arms comes with us into this world courtesy of “Nature’s God”. They called the rights listed in the 10 Amendments “unalienable rights”, including the right to self defense and they specifically announced that “bearing arms” was included. So the Founders wrote into the Constitution, by ten Amendments, some but not all of our unalienable rights. And that means that the Constitution does not give us those rights – it affirms them. It acknowledges that the people speaking through their several sovereign States in compact created the document to serve the purposes held common by the States. The Federal government did not sign that Constitution, because it did not exist at the time the States signed it as their compact between equally sovereign States. The Constitution therefore is to protect those rights for every citizen. That is what it was created to do. That is what it is supposed to do. It does not “give” us those rights, it is to ensure that those rights are protected.
This right is from a higher source than mere man-made governments. It is unalienable. That means that the government is not authorized to take our rights, including the right listed in the 2nd Amendment. Our right to keep and bear arms is beyond question by any agency or branch of the Federal government. That is why, exactly why, the Federal government is having hissy-fits over this swelling State sovereignty movement and the Nullification movement. Once our States recall that they own the Federal government, the cat is out of the Federal bag and we the people will once again own and enjoy our beloved America.
We are ENDOWED (created with) by our creator (who or whatever that may be but it wasn’t the federal government. I was not born in a test tube) with certain UNALIENABLE (You can’t touch them) rights. AMONG THEM (not limited to) are LIFE, LIBERTY (self explanatory), and the PURSUIT (not guarantee) of HAPPINESS (defined by the individual).
See that’s the thing about inalienable rights. You don’t get to have an actionable opinion on them. You don’t get to decide anything about them. They are inalienable. You didn’t give them and you can’t take them away.
They are arrignorant?
Funny thing is, the journalists living in anti2A states will, most probably, never encounter a ‘good guy with a gun’ when SHTF in their lives. Not only because of low count of those on the ground, but because of draconian laws, penalizing defensive shooting.
The police, DAs and juries are stuck up against lawful gun owner. And even after one goes through hell and insane expense to be found not criminally guilty, there is double jeopardy of a civil trial, where relatives of deceased rapist or burglar take their pound of flesh and lawyers confiscate the remainder of kids’ college fund.
Thus, the only time my weapon will leave its holster will be in defence of my loved ones’ (and, may be, my own) lives. In all other cases I will be speedily and vigorously dialing 911.
If you do start reloading just do yourself a favor and start with a progressive and don’t look back, you can get some insane deals on used stuff.