Motley Moose – Archive

His 15 minutes are over, but he apparently does not realize it.  He’s written an open letter to the parents of the victims of the mass shooting in California.  I do not think that he has done himself any favors.

Many conservatives have invoked Holocaust comparisons – and claimed that if European Jews only had guns in the 1930’s and 1940’s there would have never been a Holocaust – when it comes to any effort to implement new gun control laws.  This time, the focus of their anger is Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop, himself a grandchild of Holocaust survivors.

Mayor Fulop’s offense is that he supports a measure which would require gun vendors that seek contracts with Jersey City to fill out a gun safety questionnaire.  For this, his grandparents ordeal in the Shoah was invoked by Scott Bach, a member of the National Rifle Association’s board.

Mayor Fulop’s response to the claim that if only his grandparents, and other Jews, had guns when the Nazis came for them:

If my grandparents had guns in their house when the Nazis came, my grandparents would be dead and I wouldn’t be here. (emphasis my own) So that’s probably the reality of the situation. But I don’t think that you can equate religious persecution to a manipulation of the intent of the Second Amendment.

These conservatives seem to forget exactly what would happen if you had one or two people go up against fully equipped soldiers.  Maybe one or two or even three soldiers would get killed, but, in the end, it would be the ordinary people that were killed.  No, it wasn’t a lack of guns that caused the Holocaust, but the complicity of millions of people in Germany and occupied Europe who actively assisted in the Shoah and those, throughout the world, that turned a blind eye to what was happening and the countries that closed their doors to Jewish refugees fleeing for their very lives.

When the gun control bill failed, my first reaction was “How will the left blame this on Obama?”

Despite speeches, a lobbying effort, and a tough response, Only 55 Senators supported the bill (Reid switched his vote so he could bring it up again).

The recent fights have lead a number of pundits, from Ezra Klein to Joan Walsh, to admit the bully pulpit sometimes does not work. (See: Jedi Mind Meld).

Then comes Maureen Dowd, in a column that I saw thanks to a tweet from a Democratic candidate for NYS Senate who agrees with her assertion. The gun control bill failed because of Obama, and only Obama.

He doesn’t know how to ‘govern” or “lead” and he needs to be more like Michael Douglas in The American President…seriously.

Unfortunately a number of people are tweeting her column, saying how it’s insightful and how they agree.

Cross Posted at The Progressive Zionist

Those were the words softly spoken in my ear… “You Killed Everyone, You Fail”.

Simple… to the point. Everyone: Dead.

Let me go back to the beginning…

This last weekend I was taking another course (I had one seminar in already – this was another basic course) in Israeli Tactical Point Shooting with Pistols. We were working on Targeting, target identification, shooting accuracy, shooting and moving and other basic tactical skills with handguns.

My instructor was a decorated member of the Israeli Special Forces and Security professional who flew over here to give a series of seminars in the above mentioned skills.

In this particular phase we were working dealing with clearing rooms and making sure that we were firing from maximum covered positions. For this drill our guns were not loaded and all Ammunition was carefully out of the way.

So.. what happened? Well, the instructor told us to turn our backs while he set up a room with various targets inside. Then on his call: “Shots Fired”, we were to race to the room and shoot whoever was a threat (the targets had various pictures of people on them, some with weapons, some who just looked suspicious). I was second in line.

The First person broke for the room – his trigger clicks signalling the shots. I heard the instructor say “Sorry, but you are dead” to him at the end. Then it was my turn.

On the call “Shots fired” – I broke for the room, drawing my pistol and charging for a point to not only have cover, but, for a point that could give a clear firing solution. I got that – hit my first target, and entered the room, going to one knee and firing as I went. With the Instructor yelling “FIRE, FIRE, FIRE” in my ear (to simulate pressure) I opened up on everything and anyone. They all died. I didn’t even think twice about it – in that moment and in that second I was going to shoot anything that moved. Then after successfully firing on everyone, I yelled “Room Cleared”. And that is when I heard my instructors voice softly telling me… “You Killed Everyone – You Failed”

I was dumbfounded… I couldn’t imagine what I did wrong. I used my cover to perfection, dropping in the middle of the shots gave me an advantage, what… what had I done wrong? AND THEN IT HIT ME… I looked at the targets… Two of them (out of five) didn’t have visible weapons. They had their hands in suspicious poses and in clothing BUT they were unarmed as far as I could tell. I would have killed potential hostages, I would have been just like the terrorists.

All of us… each one of us had failed the test by either killing the hostages (me and three others) OR by being shot not killing a terrorist. And this made me think… Here I am, training with police (there were a couple in class), ex-military, at least one security professional and a host of other people and I would have been almost as bad people doing the hostage taking. Because no matter what my intent… the hostages would have been dead anyhow.

And then I thought … “My G-d, how can anyone not be in favor of Gun Control??? How can anyone ask that kids and teachers be slightly trained and then allowed to carry loaded weapons into a school?” I thought, “That is insane”. I mean I have 32 hours of seminar time with active handling of a loaded weapon PLUS 3 years of martial arts and I would not have made the right decisions. I need a lot more training before I can even come close to addressing this situation.

YET, the NRA, their supporters and Conservatives seem to think that they, or their poorly trained but heavily armed citizens would never make those kinds of mistakes. It’s all one thing when you see it on T.V. or see it in movies. You can pick out your targets. BUT.. in real life it’s different. The pressure is enormous AND in this drill I wasn’t firing live rounds OR being shot at. I just wanted to be successful and “save the day”.

But Guns and being hero are not like you see on T.V. Handguns are notoriously inaccurate beyond 10 meters (give or take). Even the best operators make mistakes with loaded guns. Imagine a pressure situation with people running everywhere, screaming, shots flying…. How would some non-professional make any kind of sound decision?

Might they stop a massacre from happening? It certainly is possible. Probably though, while they might shoot the gunman, they would also probably shoot a few other people as well. Not always, but, I would bet that the numbers would be high.

Guns are not toys and they are not for people who want to play “John Wayne”. They may or may not help you in a home invasion, and if you have a gun in that situation you might just as easily shoot a family member as well as or instead of a robber.

I realize from this class the awesome power of a gun in the hands of someone who knows how to use it (I am just beginning). This is not something that should be widely available to just anyone without severe controls, as well as checks.

Maybe in our heads we are that brave hero from stage and screen and we all think we would do the right thing. We all want to be that person and honestly, there is nothing wrong with that… BUT, real life has a way of telling us that we might NOT be that “Hero”.

One day, we might wake up and hear: “You killed everyone. You Failed”.  

Yep, that’s right. Just like the Title says… “I Shoot” AND “I support Gun Control”. Not Gun Bans (though I understand the call for bans on “Assault Weapons” and I can see why people do support this – I am agnostic on them leaning towards supporting the ban), but reasonable Gun Control.

I add this so that people have some context.

Understand…. I am no pacifist. At one point I thought I was. I was wrong. I practice a very aggressive style of Martial Arts called Krav Maga. I do abhor violence for the purpose of assault or other crimes and I would NEVER initiate violence for that purpose. But I do enjoy fight sports and enjoy sparring. I think people should be fully equipped with knowledge of how to defend themselves if the need arises

Cross-Posted from Daily Kos…

Gun violence has not stopped, neither has the conversation on how to reduce it. Today Joe Biden continues the discussion at WhiteHouse.gov.

This is the letter I sent to my congressman, Michael Grimm, a Republican.  It’s a bit of an unfortunate reminder that for the first time in my life I’m represented in Congress by a Republican thanks to redistricting.  Before this, I was represented by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a good liberal Democrat.

Dear Congressman Grimm,

I write to urge you to support the common sense proposals put forth today by President Obama. They are measures designed to curb gun violence without infringing upon the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners. Each and every one of us has the right to safe streets, safe schools, safe workplaces and safe public areas.

The weapons that President Obama seeks to have banned are in no way related to self-defense or hunting or any other legal and legitimate purpose. Such military-style assault weapons are designed solely for the purpose of killing and injuring other human beings. There is no reason such weapons should be legal. Similarly, high-capacity magazines are designed to fuel those weapons and make it easier to kill people. As with the weapons, there is no reason such magazines should be legal.

As for universal background checks and registration, I cannot imagine any logical reasons to oppose them. We require a similar system, including licensing, when it comes to automobiles to demonstrate proficiency and safety. Why should guns be any different?

I ask you to put the safety of your constituents, along with those of all Americans, first. That is more important than receiving a high rating from the NRA and other organizations in the gun lobby. Enough people have died over the years because their extreme points of view have too long held sway over too many of our elected officials despite the majority of Americans support common sense gun laws. Please let them know that enough is enough.

Sincerely,

Ryan Mets102

Hi y’all. With all this struggle going on about cartridge guns, I thought I’d change the subject and ask you for some advice about a different gun; the shotgun.

I don’t own any guns, never have. I did live with a sensible fellow for some years, who owned a revolver and a shotgun, which was shortened. I don’t know why this is done.

Anyway, he took me down to the Pecos one day to show me how to shoot the guns. This is not difficult. Aiming is a bit more of a problem. When I fired the shotgun (I was supposed to shoot into the Pecos) I missed. My roommate laughed his ass off. “You killed that tree!”

Okay, it was a small tree, and I was very embarrassed, and none of this was my idea. I was just happy about getting to go to the river. If I had to shoot it, well whatever. Tree collateral damage, so sad. 

Okay, so a shotgun. I could kind of see owning a shotgun. I could see treating it as a kind of sacrament. I would put it under something or in a closet with a closing door. No humans live with me.

I’ve been depressed a lot over the years. I have never instigated physical assault. I have never tried to kill myself with knives, guns, ropes. I do drink a lot. And I have for years.

And I think, A shotgun. Why not? Just another tool. And I am so tired of the assaults and the attempted pimping and the general ongoing inclination to hurt people like me.

I probably won’t buy one, but you never know. I promise though that if I do ever buy a shotgun, I’ll ask too for a local gun buddy, of any gender, who will work with me to teach me to become comfortable with the gun. They are dangerous tools, but here we are, surrounded by them.

I want everything to be entirely different. I am as radical as we come.

But if I must be surrounded by gun-owners, all right. We must address this. And nothing about this will change quickly.

Miep

Below is the White House Summary of the 23 Executive actions taken by President Obama today in response to the gun violence which plagues our nation.

Having just fired guns for the first time recently I thought I would take up the issue of Gun Control/Gun Rights.  I am further going to consider this in the context of how honestly this is being handled by both sides.  

That paragon of honesty in political debate – Human Events – has been so kind as to send me a note today from the Second Ammendment Foundation.  I have copied the bulk of it below and made an effort to see if it accurately expresses the reasons gun owners should be concerned about the current administration.  I will accept the SAF as an established voice (35 years) for the political right on this topic, and allow President Obama’s words speak for themselves, as specifically referenced by SAF.