Friday, August 31, 2007

Campus Carry On The Limbaugh Show...

So on Thursday I'm listening to Jason Lewis as he subs for Limbaugh, and a NJ resident calls in to speak about the Virginia Tech massacre. Lewis is postulating upon the ramifications of allowing concealed carry license holders to bear arms on campus, an idea that every last sane man alive should agree with, and the Jersey guy pipes up.

It's a father who lost a daughter to the korean-killer, and I swear the moment I heard the distinctive Joisey whine that passes for an accent I knew the man was going to poo-poo the idea, and I was not disappointed. As is typical of those from the Garden State, he references his familiarity with police officers, and their propensity to dislike the very idea of mere civilians carrying guns...even though most cops "are conservative"...and it hit me like a ton of bricks, just how totally out of touch people who live in communist controlled states really are.

Only police should carry guns. Only police can handle guns in an emergency, only police know what to do when the shit hits the fan.

Lewis was going out of his way in attempting to remain polite to the man, but his frustration was getting the better of him and rightfully so.

Things Lewis should have said:

Cops are not any better than the average joe frickin schmoe when it comes to defending themselves. If anything, the average armed civilian encounter with a bad guy is far less messy. Last I checked, police were batting .550 against armed assailants; out of every 100 chances, an officer wins an armed encounter 55 times, the bad guy comes out ahead 45 times. Many perps are killed or captured by the original officers' backup so it's not like 45 out of 100 goblins get off scot free, but it can be touch and go as to who wins the initial shootoff.

Civilians defend themselves EVERY day against armed gunmen. MORE civilians defend themselves every day against armed gunmen than do police officers. Stands to reason; far fewer cops are targeted for muggings, etc, but the idea that only the police are involved in deadly shootouts is typical of a cloistered Jersey-ite.

There are approximately 4 million law enforcement officers on duty in the US. There are approximately 4 million concealed carry licensees in the US. Of the two groups, which commits fewer crimes, fewer felonies, using a firearm? Which commit fewer crimes overall? Sure, I wouldn't be emphasizing it were the odds against us, so you know that we the people are less likely to run amok than the average officer, and thats sensible considering how more regulated we are, how more careful the government is in letting US have guns as opposed to the average cop who can have multiple offenses on his record before joining a police force. We also are bereft of the ONLY ONES mentality, and are far less likely to resort to unnecessary gunplay.

"Kids" of 18 years of age can't be trusted with guns, said the Jersey father. When Lewis tried responding that no, this is untrue since kids of that age use them every day while in military service, the father dismissed that as BS since "in the military they are monitored" and kept in check by older superiors. This is total nonsense as well, indicating that the father has never been in the military and hasn't a clue as to what happens when the shit hits the fan. It goes something like this; they train you, they give you your own weapon, when the lead flies you shoot back. No one, 18 years or 50 years of age sits around awaiting instructions to shoot when shooting is of the imperative. Yes, combat is and should be a disciplined affair, but once an engagement with the enemy begins all bets are off.

18 year-old kids can and do use guns every day. As many of us have noted, the average age of an infantry platoon in Iraq is younger than the average age of any college campus. Defending yourself is a right, a right that does begin at a relatively young age and lets use 18 as the entry-level mark and stop with the nonsense that only old folks should be trusted to fight back.

Jason Lewis DID have a lot of good things to say but isn't as close to the bottom line as we are, but thats to be expected. He agreed with most of our basic arguments against gun control, but still was a little hung up on a lot of this mandatory training deal. The Constitution says nothing about training, but thats a discussion for another day.

Basically, the Jersey father, a man who lost a daughter to the korean killer, mind you, was totally AGAINST letting students carry weapons on campus, because...yes...here's the liberal mindset at work once more...it'd be the Wild West all over again.

His child was murdered by a madman. She was herded into a no-gun, no-defense, zone, and butchered.

But the only way to stop that from every happening again, in his mind, is to ban guns.

And the guy actually considered himself a card-carrying Conservative Republican.

This is what we're up against.

The clueless amongst us.

No comments: