The first principle is that you must not fool yourself.
Dr. Richard Feynman
Category: Personal Defense
I Guess I’ll Stay With My Current Provider
I’ve been hearing ads for Simplisafe home security systems and thinking about switching to them when my current contract is up. Then this:
Unless you are a trained professional, don’t grab a weapon. This includes firearms, baseball bats and pepper spray. They all sound like a good idea, but again, we don’t know how the burglar will react to seeing an armed person. If they do have a weapon, they may be more likely to use it when they see you have one too. If you use pepper spray in an enclosed space, you and your family will also be affected by the pepper spray. If you use another weapon, such as a firearm and are not a trained professional, you run the risk of hurting yourself or a family member. And when a weapon is in your hand, you also run the risk of arriving police officers mistaking you for the intruder!
So, we’re going to ignore the mountain of successful defensive gun uses (and other weapons) to spout worthless advice probably written by corporate lawyers afraid of being sued.
Do you know what my current company’s salesperson said when he saw my gun safe? “That’s cool! I’ve been thinking about getting my permit.” Plus, they had a booth at the NRAAM. They at least recognize who is buying their system and aren’t likely to insult us with such worthless advice.
So, Simplisafe, you have lost my business. End of story.
H/t to Miguel
You Are On Your Own. Please Plan Accordingly.
In the past two months, we have had three high profile mass killings. Charleston, Chattanooga, and now Lafayette. It’s still early on Lafayette to have any real facts other than some people are dead, some are injured, and the news media is ecstatic with another bloody story to sell to the public. Yeah, I guess I’m getting a bit cynical. Expect the same byplay on the gun control stage with Bloomberg’s minions telling us that restricting guns in some way would have prevented this and our side saying if someone in the theater had been armed, it would have been over sooner. Facts tend to support the latter, but we’ll still have to play that dance out once again.
What do these incidents tell me? No where is safe. Have a plan. Expect to have to put that plan into effect in the worst possible conditions. Carry your damn guns. Carry your damn flashlights.
My girlfriend showed me a prank video where people were in an elevator car. The lights would go out and this kid would climb out of a secret panel and act like a horror movie ghost. None of those people had even a pen light on them for when the lights went out. None of them had a plan for reacting when fecal matter impacts turbine. You could see the sheer panic in their reactions.
We live in a dangerous world. An infinitely better world than that of our ancestors, but still a dangerous world. Not just from crime, but disease, injury, and failures in the complex systems that work in our lives.
Please plan accordingly.
Edit: My brother has informed me that this post caused him to pick up a pocket flashlight. My work here is done.
At Least Some Justice in Biker Attack on Family
Do you remember this from a couple of years ago?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=c4yTAeGxbsc
It was later found out that a couple of NYPD undercovers were part of the gang attacking the SUV.
From this story in the Wall Street Journal, both officers have been found guilty.
Justice Maxwell Wiley found both defendants guilty of lesser charges of second-degree assault, coercion, and riot. Mr. Sims was additionally found guilty of attempted gang assault and attempted first-degree assault.
Both defendants had faced up to 25 years in prison had they been found guilty of the gang assault charge.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 5 for Mr. Braszczok and Aug. 6 for Mr. Sims. Mr. Sims now faces 3-1/2 to 15 years, while Mr. Braszczok faces 2 to 7 years, prosecutors said.
Perception Is A Funny Thing
So, I’m at the gas station for my weekly fill-up. As usual, I’m doing my normal pan-and-scan of my surroundings.
Then, I see motion and my mind says “OSTRICH!” It wasn’t. Just some lady who was picking her gas cap off the top of the pump.
It’s a funny story, but what if my mind had screamed “ATTACK!” instead of a zoo animal? I don’t know if I have the perfect answer, but it’s something I’m going to be working on.
Paris and Texas
Two bad guys roll up on a Mohammed drawing contest and open fire. Both of them are now room temperature. (Edit: I have been advised that it should be ambient temperature, not room temperature since the baddies were left outside to wait for EOD.) Unlike the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the police guarding the event were armed. It also looks like our baddies didn’t have the explosives and automatic weapons that the Paris shooters had. Which is odd when you compare Texas weapons laws and France’s.
And CNN is doing it’s hand-wringing that the group sponsoring the event, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is considered an anti-Muslim group by the SPLC. Because holding a “Draw Mohammed” contest is so much worse than attempted murder. I’m almost surprised the CNN article’s headline isn’t that the AFDI deserved to have their members shot.
Some People Can’t Understand Dangerous Environments
From Miguel comes this article from jolly ole England.
TL;DR – Police should be ashamed for warning young women to be careful. Women shouldn’t have to modify their behaviour; men who rape should modify theirs.
I can sympathize with the author’s sentiment. Because there are scumbags out there, women have to take precautions that they shouldn’t have to take. I’m a perfect world, this wouldn’t be the case.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a world where each environment provides dangers that will cause great trauma and/or death. I live in Florida. In my environment, especially in summer, I know to make sure to stay hydrated if I’m going to be outside for a long period of time. I know if I’m out in an orange grove to be careful of snakes. I know not to walk pets by lakes because alligators see them as tasty treats. I know to maintain my situational awareness when I have to go into the not-so-nice parts of the cities.
This is not society controlling me. This is taking reasonable precautions to prevent harm. Teaching women to be cautious because there are two-legged predators out there is not controlling them. It is preparing them to take reasonable precautions.
I Am Sheep
So, this happened in my neighborhood last night.
I’m not even going to touch if it was a good shoot or not. There’s not enough info.
My problem? I heard the gunfire and dismissed it. I thought my damn neighbors were shooting off fireworks again. I was pissed that I’d just managed to drift off when they lit them off. (I go to bed early because I get up early)
Except, there was that niggling in the back of my head that those were just a bit loud for fireworks. The part that said, maybe you should call the police. I ignored it. I went back to sleep. Then, I leave for work and the street is taped off and crammed with sheriff deputies, FDLE, and newsies.
I fucked up. I should have listened to that niggling part of my mind. It wouldn’t have mattered this time, but it would have set up the mental pathways if there is ever a next time.
My only comfort is that I’ve gained experience.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
Don’t Mess With Texans
Robber doing a high speed chase collided with the wrong van.
From Battleswarm, who noted it was a good thing the robber was lucky he didn’t encounter someone with a CHL.
When Seconds Count, 911 May Not Even Answer
One of the running memes in the gunny community is “When seconds count, the police are minutes away.”
And sometimes 911 doesn’t even answer the phone.
Jonathan Raiskin is still livid about his attempt to call Pasco County 911 on Monday when a neighbor needed help.
“I already ran out the door when I saw her pulling up. I knew there was a problem, she said Jonathan, she was hysterical, my sister is not breathing, she’s blue and cold.â€
Raiskin dragged the woman out of the rain to his front porch and he and the sister tried to revive her.
When that didn’t work, he called 911.
He says he waited through 12 long rings, but there was no answer.
His father did manage to get through and medical assistance was on scene in minutes. Here’s the real kicker – after the ambulance was gone, a dispatcher called Mr. Raiskin back asking if there had been a hang-up from that number. When confronted about no one answering the phone, the dispatcher told Mr. Raiskin that it had been a busy night.
The takeaway from all of this: you cannot depend on 911 when the fecal matter impacts the turbine.
You are on your own.