Free In Idaho!

In my wanderings around the blogospheres this morning (I was at Huckleberries), I stumbled upon a story about a new Idaho militia.  Something about a militia story just seems to get “normal folks” all riled up.  Let’s see, we’ve had jihadi attacks (or attempts) in a number of different states now, and who knows how many natural disasters… seems like folks should welcome a “well regulated militia”  forming in their area.  I think some of the folks in Louisiana would rather have seen the militia than the sheriff.  But maybe that’s just me?

Today is Armed Forces Day.  Thank you all so very much.

Perhaps these people need to fire their “protectors” and call Mayor Ray?  I’m sure he could hook them up with a modern SWAT army.  Seriously though, this is pathetic, and goes way beyond fail. 

MUMBAI: The state constabulary was grossly unprepared to deal with the worst-ever terror attacks on the metropolis because of an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition.

What’s even less effective than a gun free zone?  A gun free cop.  Not enough guns for the Mumbai police force, and those that had them never practiced?

As per the rules, every district should have a firing range exclusively for the police. But official records indicate that more than half the state’s districts have no independent firing range.

‘‘We have constables who have not opened fire even for practice ever since their recruitment,’’ the official said.

Words fail me.  Say what you will about Americans and their cowboy and gun mentality, but what can you say about Britain, and former British controlled countries and their no-guns mentality?  How’s that working for you over there?

It would never have occured to me that I am better armed and better trained than the police officers of one of the largest cities in the world. And watching the whole thing unfold, and reading stories like this one, it underscores something we all ought to be aware of in light of the recent gun buying rush in our country.   Without a gun you are defenseless, and the cops can’t save you, not even in America.  But just having a gun doesn’t make you safe. The Mumbai cops proved that… witness the number of them who wouldn’t (or mentally couldn’t) shoot back.  Some sheepdogs, eh? It makes me fret a little about many of the new gun owners after the latest sales rush. How many of those guns are going in the closet, or under the bed? How many will be fired at all? Or taken to the range once, then shelved? I love hearing about new gun owners, and I try to positively promote firearms ownership whenever I get a chance. I’m going to be on the lookout for these new owners, and be ready to help them out.

If you’re in the Boise area and you’re one of those new owners, don’t be afraid to get to the range. Practice practice practice! But going to the range by yourself when you’re a new owner can be intimidating, and many just don’t do it. If that’s you, leave me an email and I’ll be glad to go to the range with you, or out to the desert if you want to shot your rifle farther than 25 yards. I don’t know it all (or even very much) and I’m not really a crack shot. But I can definitely be a range buddy if you hesitate to go alone. Don’t be a Mumbai cop. Your life might depend on it.

I heard on the tv news (does it really matter which one?) that the people of Mumbai are “angry at their government for not doing enough to protect them”.  Seriously?  I want to know what makes them (and you?) think the government even cares about them in the first place, much less cares enough to “protect” them?

Here’s a thought for the day

I put on my seatbelt in the car because in the unlikely event of an accident, I don’t want the paramedics to be my best chance at survival. I keep the smoke detectors working and the fire extinguisher under the sink because in the unlikely event of a fire, I don’t want to hope the fire department gets there in time to get me out and/or save my house. I carry a firearm because in the unlikely event of needing to use it in self-defense, I don’t want to count on the cops, neighbors, passers-by or my husband to show up in time (and be willing and able) to help me.

Especially the part about being “willing and able”… see the next post.

Maybe they joined up for the uniform?  Chicks dig uniforms I hear?  Maybe it’s that “little man” thing?  Being a cop makes you feel better about yourself or something?  Whatever it was, giving a gun and a uniform to just anyone who shows up doesn’t make them a sheepdog.  Poodles aren’t sheepdogs, and India just found that out.

But what angered Mr D’Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. “There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything,” he said. “At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, ‘Shoot them, they’re sitting ducks!’ but they just didn’t shoot back.”

Hiding…

None of them did anything…

They just didn’t shoot back…

The militants returned inside the station and headed towards a rear exit towards Chowpatty Beach. Mr D’Souza added: “I told some policemen the gunmen had moved towards the rear of the station but they refused to follow them. What is the point of having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them? I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera.”

Bonus point discussion question: A disarmed populace is easy prey for criminals, terrorists, and tyrants.  True or False? 

(via Hot Air)

From SondraK’s place I found that Squidoo has been saving up and is now doing a charity giveaway.  All YOU have to do is go over there and scroll down the list to Soldier’s Angels and click it.  Two bucks from their stash goes in the pile for a very worthy charity that helps out and supports our troops in a number of ways.  Do it now before you forget. 

There’s no Constitutional protection for the right to keep and bear hammers, so let’s ban them!  From the City of Brotherly Love comes this story

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police have arrested a man suspected of brutally attacking a dozing subway passenger with a hammer while other riders did nothing to stop the assault, the city’s police commissioner said Wednesday.

For all of you folks who have in the past tried to tell me that our cities and streets are perfectly safe, and that we have policemen to protect us, please read the whole article.  The police didn’t protect this man.  And his fellow citizens didn’t lift a finger to help him either.  There is video of the attack on the net and you can watch as other people, at least two of whom are large men, just get up from their seats and get out of the way while the sleeping man is beaten with a hammer.

At least 10 other riders were in the car when the attack occurred last week, yet no one interfered as the man repeatedly struck the victim in the train car and later out on a platform, Ramsey said on “Today.”

“They better pray they’re never a victim, because if someone was attacking them that way they would certainly hope someone would step forward and help, and it starts with stepping forward and doing something yourself,” Ramsey said.

Doing something yourself, eh?  My suggestion is that you take responsibility for your own protection.  Buy a gun and learn how to use it.  Get a Concealed Weapons License and legally carry that gun, for your own protection, and maybe, in a situation like this, your neighbor’s protection as well.  And don’t try to tell me about how guns cause more criminal violence.  They don’t!  I’ve said it on this blog a number of times, and I’ll say it again, CRIMINALS cause criminal violence.  And  policemen don’t stop crimes or criminals, they go get them after the crime has been committed, IF they can find them.

Police said the man was apprehended after family members called police. Ramsey did not identify the man or say whether he had been charged yet, but said he had a lengthy record.

“He has a long criminal history including rape, robbery, assault, narcotics violations,” Ramsey said. [my bold]

Sheep, wolf, or sheepdog?  It’s your choice.  

Update: Quote of the Day goes to Fighting For Liberty

We’re taught to comply, to never fight back and to avoid confrontation. I find it disingenuous and beyond bothersome for the Police to constantly beat the drum of, “just give them what they want,” or “don’t fight,” or, “just cooperate” and then come out and wag their fingers because nobody threw themselves in front of a claw-hammer-wielding psychopath.

Complain about them when they screw up, but praise them when they’re right.  And praise God for giving us men like these cops (and all you EMTs, firefighters, docs and nurses too).

David Codrea over at The War on Guns has a guest editorial about Jeanne Assam, the hero of the Colorado church shooting, which sums it all up nicely.

Jeanne Assam was a volunteer. It wasn’t her job, in the strictest sense of that word, to confront the gunman, it was her responsibility. It was a responsibility freely accepted and faithfully executed. It is the responsibility that all of us who are citizens and not serfs embrace along with the liberty that such a burden secures. Jeanne Assam and the other volunteers at the church were acting as a citizen’s militia, in the classic American definition of that term. They were volunteer sheepdogs, watching over the flock. And they did their duty.

Prepared, trained, ready, willing, and able. The responsibilities of carrying are huge, but when you really think about it, they are no less than the responsibilities that come with being a citizen.

I find two stories this week, about two different cities in two different states, and their different approaches to various aspects of the gang problem.

The first is from Tacoma, Washington.  As you would expect, their way is kinder, gentler, more “enlightened“.

..Transit workers are installing speakers this week to pump classical music from Seattle’s KING-FM into the Tacoma Mall Transit Center. The tactic is designed to disperse young criminals who make drug deals at the bus stop or use public transportation to circulate between the mall and other trouble-prone places.

The attack by Bach, Brahms and Beethoven follows the theory that prompted the city to stage pinochle games on dangerous street corners: Jolting the routine in such spots throws criminals off balance.

“It’s based on routine activity theory and situational crime prevention. You mix different types of activities in locations that are crime-ridden to change the composition of the environment,” said psychologist Jacqueline Helfgott, who chairs the Criminal Justice Department at Seattle University.

You pompous moron!  What kind of psycho-babble is THAT?

Driving the gangs into another part of the city by playing classical music at the bus stops… sheer brilliance.  I much prefer the approach taken by REAL law enforcement in the Idaho cities of Caldwell and Nampa.

.. Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies teamed up for four days in July to combat gang crime in Canyon County. Nampa Police said the effort was a success and have released numbers that show over 100 arrests were made during “Operation Streetsweeper.”

Now THAT’s more like it!  Good job law enforcement, thank you all so much!  You can check the video news report /here/.

This story from NWCN could have had a whole different outcome

TACOMA, Wash. - A Tacoma police officer was hospitalized Saturday after three men and one woman assaulted him during a routine vandalism call on the east side of Tacoma.

Around 6 a.m. Saturday, the Tacoma police officer was responding to reports of people spray painting graffiti on a neighborhood wall. About a block away, he saw some young men with spray paint cans. The officer was in the process of arresting them when they attacked.

“They assaulted him. The first two were joined by others. One actually left and returned and they continued kicking and beating the officer until help arrived,” said Mark Fulghum, of the Tacoma Police Department.

But a neighbor and his wife saw the commotion, and while she dialed 911, this sheepdog went to help.

Help arrived first from Don Heinkle, who lives in the neighborhood. He was getting ready to walk his dog when he heard the commotion. He ran over from his house and jumped in to protect the officer.

“These four people - one was sitting on him and the others were hitting and kicking him,” Heinkle said.

They were also trying to get the officer’s gun unholstered. Wonder what they had in mind for that? After the 911 call, a number of other officers arrived quickly.

Heinkle - an ex-marine - says the four suspects did a lot of damage to the officer.

“I mean he had a welt on his head, on his chin,” Heinkle said. “His nose was bleeding, his mouth was bleeding, then I realized this was not just kids — they were trying to hurt him.”

The four suspects — a 19-year-old man, his 16-year-old brother, a 17-year-old cousin and a 21-year-old woman — were all arrested.

The young men who were arrested live in the neighborhood.

Say what you will about Tacoma and gangs, but this could happen just about anywhere, including here in Idaho.  The wolves are out there, and there can never be enough sheepdogs.  Thank you Don Heinkle!

I’ve added another milblog to the roll (hat tip Michelle Malkin)… Fightin’ 6th Marines! is a blog written by Marines in Iraq.   Good stuff too, including photos, videos, and posts about what they see every day.  They’re looking for a little contact with us back here at home, so if you haven’t already, take a minute and tell them how much you appreciate what they do for us.

Hello to all the readers from Michelle Malkin, Blackfive, and the myriad other blogs that have picked up on the e-mail meme. Just by way of an update, we’ve reached our halfway mark of 3000 e-mails. This is after despairing yesterday when the deluge had slowed to a trickle by yesterday evening. Then we got 900 e-mails over night. All in all in the past 24 hours we’ve gotten 1300 e-mails. I’m not counting the various spam e-mails, either, though “Queen Amallah,” I hope you eventually find your money.

The e-mail address for the campaign is rct-6lettersfromh AT gcemnf-wiraq DOT usmc DOT mil