29 Jan
Why I carry — Destroying memes edition
Okay, before I get into the story let me say a few things.
No, I don’t know if a firearm would have stopped the attack.
No, I don’t know if the woman would have had time to use a firearm.
Ok, I’m not saying that a firearm is a magic totem that will make all problems go away.
What I am saying is that the hurdles in place, by law, that prevent people from exercising their rights contribute to the types of crimes I’m going to talk about and allow the vicious thug to commit crimes with less risk.
Now, let’s talk about Control Advocates Memes
1. If you live in a good neighborhood, you aren’t likely to need a firearm
2. If you don’t go to bad places, you won’t likely need a firearm.
3. You don’t need a firearm just to run to the (fill in the blank) –this time it is a grocery store.
4. Calling the cops is the best response, not a firearm.
A routine trip to the grocery store became a terrifying ordeal for a woman in Dallas’ upscale Preston Hollow neighborhood.
A police report says she had just finished her shopping at the Whole Foods market at the corner of Preston Rd. and Forest Ln. around 6:30 p.m. Monday when a man approached her in the parking lot.
Preston Hollow is just about as “good of a neighborhood” as you can get.
Whole Foods is about as safe as a destination as a person can get, especially in that neighborhood.
Notice the time — 6:30 p.m. – Hardly the wee hours of the morning when only “bad people” are out.
That’s is memes #1, #2, and #3 destroyed. This is an anecdote yes, but the statistics back up the anecdote. Criminals go where there is money, no area is completely free of crime.
Notice a few things about the attack — it follows a classic pattern.
Hsoi posted the link to this yesterday from Rangemaster (read the whole thing it is worth it).
I’ll just highlight the actions of the “plain ole criminal”
1. SELECTION- – Yep, the car followed her to her parking spot, moved ahead and dropped off the attacker. Some how she was picked to be the target.
Was it because she was alone, not paying attention, did they see the ring/necklace?
We don’t know but they picked her.
2. POSITIONING- Notice how he went to the front of the car — shielding his actions from her, shielding his approach from others coming out of the store?
Notice also how she says he asked if she needed help….moving into position for an attack?
If a person is a carrying a weapon — this would be the time to make sure you position yourself to respond. That action alone might have stopped the attack.
3. THE ATTACK- Even after she was knocked down…had she been carrying she might have been able to draw and stop the attack. She might have drawn as he was approaching.
We won’t ever know if her possessing a firearm would have been able to stop the attack. What we do know that even if the cops had been near by the attack came so fast the police NEVER could have gotten there fast enough.
Gun Control meme #4 destroyed. Again.
Control Advocates talk about stopping crime but putting laws that prevent people from freely exercising their right to keep and bear arms is not stopping crime. Not a single bit — it is putting the physically weaker at a disadvantage to the physically stronger or more numerous.
Texas does not have Open Carry – Do you think that the low life thug would have tried it if she had been openly carrying? If he saw that many people could respond with lethal force nearly instantly?
Texas has requirements that make getting a Concealed Handgun License a barrier to exercising our rights. That should be struck down/ removed and the free exercise of our rights encouraged.
Tell me again Control advocates how this woman was better off because the right to keep and bear arms is restricted.
Better yet, go to her house — look her in the eye, see her bruised and bloodied face and tell her.
Please join the discussion.
Posted by Thomas on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
I vote for open carrying a knife and either concealer or open carrying the firearm–dependent on weapon retention skills and holstering/carry mechanism. Somebody that can snatch a purse can snatch a displayed firearm…That said, I’ve never felt more secure in the world regarding human dangers than walking around dangerous bits of the third world with rifle or carbine and pistol+knife on my belt. I could have still gotten robbed but it seemed pretty unlikely.
Posted by Bob S. on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Thomas,
I would wonder how likely someone is to try to steal an exposed firearm.
My thinking would be like cockroaches, when you see one you know there are many more.
Posted by Thomas on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Happens significantly often to LEOS. Dunno. Space cadet absent-minded professors that don’t tend to be very situationally aware would be at risk. Not a high risk but it is there. Sure is handier to have a gun out iffin ya need it, though, instead of having to dig around in pockets, pants legs, under your clothes, etc…and it’s not like AZ, CO, MT, AK, NH etc are noted for horrid crime rates because a lot of people OC, OR too, even tohugh OR has some political problems. gunsmith friend of mine is thinking of relocating to Texas because it’s turning into California del Norte, as he calls it, slowly but surely.
Posted by Weer'd Beard on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Nothing is certain, but I suspect she could have had a few opportunities to draw a firearm, also unless she was openly carrying a desert eagle, or a 1911 Long Slide (better yet the Para USA Super Hawg) but even then a holstered firearm isn’t all that big a target. Then again if they saw her ring, they would have seen a PPK or a SP101 on her belt.
I’m glad she’s OK, and I hope the cops catch these cowardly sons-of-bitches, or some other “Helpless” woman shoots one or both of them. Honestly I can’t think too much less for predatory assholes as cowardly and inhuman as them.
That being said, my anger pushes me to take a cheap swipe at the anti-rights bigots everywhere:
“Why did she NEED a 7 Carat Diamond? My wife makes due with an engagement ring that’s a hair over 1 IIRC, and a wedding band that has a bit more in chips. Nobody needs more than 3 Carats of precious stones on their body at any time, and if she had simply worn more humble attire she would be perfectly fine. We should ban carry (open or concealed) of excessive jewelry!”
Because the anti-rights bigots would prefer we attack the rights and lifestyles of the VICTIMS of crimes, rather than go after the gutless vermin that are actively and openly causing the problem.
I would hope my above analogy would shame the bigots, but:
#1. They have no shame
#2. They’re mostly socialists, and a woman wearing 11 Carats in Diamonds likely fits their bill as “Evil Wealthy Overclass” and they’re likely cheering the pigs who smashed her face into the pavement in some sort of fucked-up Robin Hood fantasy.
Grrrrrr
Posted by Sarah on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Yep – the CHL is an obstacle. My plastic took two months to arrive after I got into the class and pulled together everything for the packet. I wouldn’t mind if the magical words written in our law books and on “No guns” signs actually prevented criminals from doing whatever they want to do but, of course, reality does not work that way.
Posted by One Percent Doctrine « Foggy Bottom Line on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
[...] Administration treated threats with even a one percent likelihood as certainties. Similarly, Bob argues here that his anecdote about a robber beating a woman and stealing her ring shows that he must carry [...]
Posted by Weer'd Beard on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Stan obviously isn’t easily embarrassed. I’d certainly be ashamed making posts like he does.
Posted by Thomas on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Rich kid I went to HS with got fatally rolled in a pool joint parking lot when he was at Baylor (Waco) most likely because of his habit of wearing fancy jewelry, even when he was going to shoot pool in pretty rough beer joints. Knifed to death over some rings, chains, watch, and his Z car. That was around 92. Shame, as he was a nice guy, but people had been warning him that was going to get him mugged, at the very least, for years….Some things don’t change and wearing fancy jewelry without a bodyguard is something that’s never changed from being a bad idea in the whole history of man. Open carry of a flash gun or knife if you also have a gun might be acceptable, but the rest doesn’t seem very situationally aware to me. Never liked jewelry, anyway. Waste of perfectly good tool and ammo and car and and and money
Oddly, kid managed to make it through Tulane without getting rolled or mugged in New Orleans, didn’t survive Waco, though.
Posted by Linoge on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Given that good ol’ Stan seems largely unware of the logical concept of modus tollens (if a statement is disproven once, the statement, in its entirety, is false – for example, the idea that “people are safe in ‘good’ neighborhoods” is completely disproven by Bob’s example above), I would wager that he has little to be ashamed of – after all, ignorance is bliss, and he has copious quantities of the former.
As for this specific instance, and the arguments surrounding it, I do believe the Breda’s quote sums it up nicely: “Carry your gun – it is lighter than regret.” I would rather carry my firearm everywhere and never have to use it than not carry it to the safest place in the world and suddenly need it.
But, then, I have always been a student of reality… unlike a lot of anti-rights folks.
Posted by mike w. on 29.01.10 at 3:16 PM
Yep – the CHL is an obstacle.
It certainly is, of course that’s a feature not a bug as far as folks like Stan are concerned. The CCDW process here in DE will end up costing you nearly $500 when all is said and done. Imagine buying only one firearm, a $250 Bersa Thunder .380, and then having to spend twice that amount to get a permission slip from the government to carry it.
If we had to go through such an expensive process before being “permitted” to pray at church or in a mosque people would be OUTRAGED about such a blatant infringement, and rightly so.