Terrorism and CCW
Date: Jul 10, 2005 5:08 PM
http://m1911.blogspot.com/2005/07/concealed-carry-and-terrorist-threats.html
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Concealed Carry and Terrorist Threats

When one of these bad terrorist attacks happen, many people have an
interesting response: they sign up for pistol courses to get licensed for
concealed carry. The classes fill up quickly and gun shops do a land office
business. This was especially true after 9-11, but I’m hearing similar
reports following the London attack. I understand the impulse. I live in a
medium-sized city. I don?’t live in one of those huge front line cities that
face a high probability of an attack, yet I find myself feeling glad to have
the big .45 and some extra mags on me in these times when it seems like the
war is everywhere. Places where I can’?t take my gun, I just don’?t go.

Gun grabbers and opponents of shall issue concealed carry are fond of
pointing out that concealed handguns aren’?t a lot of help in stopping
suicide bombers. (OK, so what’?s your point?) Show me something that has
been successful with stopping the suicide bombers. However, experience has
shown that armed civilians can help stop terrorist actions. Israel police
spokesman Gil Kleiman said, “We’ve seen it time and time again. Armed
civilians who are well-trained save people’s lives… If there isn’t a
policeman on the scene, civilians can deal immediately with a terrorist
situation.” In 2004, Abraham Rabinovich reported in The Washington Times,
?”Armed civilians have played a significant role in bringing down terrorists
during the Palestinian uprising, most recently during an attack this week by
a Palestinian gunman at a Tel Aviv restaurant where a wedding party was
under way. A 46-year-old civilian packing a pistol fatally shot the
terrorist at close range after three persons had been killed and he had been
wounded. When a radio reporter asked the man whether he was a member of the
security forces, he said he was a shoe salesman.”? Imagine that, an ordinary
citizen who can use a pistol lawfully and competently to save lives.
(?”That’?s not supposed to happen. Only cops can have guns,”? wails the
Brady Campaign. “?Someone might get hurt,”? cries the Violence Policy
Center.)

An armed civilian probably wouldn’t be able to stop a suicide bomber, unless
an unusual combination of circumstances came together. But with gun attacks
and kidnappings, an armed civilian on the scene could make a difference. The
Twin Towers might be standing today if a few armed civilians had been on
those planes. This begins to get at the true sense of what the founders
meant when they talked about an unorganized citizen militia. They weren’t
talking about small bands of extremists out in the woods plotting the
overthrow of the government and they weren’?t talking about the National
Guard either. The founders were thinking about ordinary people who equipped
themselves and weren’t on the government payroll who could respond to sudden
threats when the army and law enforcement weren’t there or lacked the
strength to respond effectively. Every time a civilian arms himself or
herself, gets some training, and begins to think in terms of providing for
the security of their home, their own family and themselves, they’re
responding to the idea of the ?militia? that the founders had in mind. It’s
a good idea and a rational idea, despite the distortions of the concept we
have seen in recent years. I think the need for civilians to take
responsibility for their own security will only increase in the years to
come. Our armed forces and law enforcement are stretched too thin to provide
real security for American citizens (and I’m not sure I would want them to
do be doing that even if they could).

Getting back to people signing up for pistol courses, I guess it’s better
late than never, but the time to get prepared is now, not when TSHTF. It’s a
good thing that people are waking up to the reality that they have to take
care of themselves. It’s good that they are abandoning the unrealistic
expectation that the great nanny state will solve all of their problems. It
can’t and it won’t.

More important than the tactical considerations of what kind of threat a CCW
holder might be able to address, is the shift in psychology represented by
people being willing to arm themselves in response to terrorist threats.
It’s a shift from victim to fighter. It says, “I’m not going to be
intimidated. I’m going to fight back.”

posted by The Sight M1911 @ 8:21 PM 09 July 2005 comments