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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Some Thoughts from Mrs Mom

 **This was originally posted on my other blog, Oh HorseFeathers.
~MM


This post is probably not going to be what most of you were expecting from me.

I am not going to fire away on the increasingly heated debates flying back and forth over our Second Amendment Rights. For those of you who understand the phrase, MOLON LABE and know what the three percenters are, you already know my stance. No further words need be spoken.

I am not going to dabble in the ever deepening waters of the conspiracy theorists either.

I am not going to ask why the incident in CT happened. Nor the one in Portland, nor any of the other events spaced over the years. 

I am going to TRY to provide you with some education. Note the *try* part there please, as one will only learn what one wishes to.

I am going to point out some facts.

And I am going to try and help you understand how to protect yourself and your loved ones. And no, I am not going to jump up and down screaming that you need to run right out and purchase a firearm- that is a decision that only YOU can make for yourself.

For your initial consideration, I'd like to point out that Cain slew Abel with a rock.

Yes- once again I have brought up religion. I know- horrible, isn't it?

The point though, is that Evil Resides In The Heart Of Man. Not an inanimate object. It takes the hand of man to make the inanimate object perform his desired task. If Man has designs to hurt, maim or kill you, he will. End of discussion. We do not, nor do I think we ever will, know or understand what drives some people to cause such drastic, horrible harm to others. Dwelling on that seems to be an exercise in futility. Instead, grieve for those we have lost in recent times and times gone by. Pray for those affected by this latest tragic act.

Next on the list for your consideration, I offer this:
Pertaining to the CT incident ONLY:
- Glock is NOT an assault weapon. It is not an automatic. They do not offer an automatic option, nor do they make a rifle platform.
- Sig-Saur is not an assault weapon. It is also not an automatic, and they also do not offer a rifle platform.
- The .223 caliber round is a small round, generally intended for hunting small game.  The Bushmaster used was not an assault weapon.
 It is also NOT an automatic. 


An automatic firearm- in layman's terms- is one that when you press the trigger, the firearm will continue to fire until you either run out of rounds or you remove your finger from the trigger.

A semi-automatic firearm requires the trigger be pressed for each shot.

The amount of screaming by people I have witnessed recently classifying all of the above as "assault weapons" and automatic weapons is sickening. Yes, yes, you most surely do have the right to express yourself-- but please, you might wish to educate yourself before spouting off. (The worst offenders? Politicians. Of course.)

The next bit is a question that is being asked over and over. I have been asked countless times in the past several days- that being, "What do we DO if something DOES happen?"

The answer, for the most part, is simple. 
Run.
Hide.
Fight.
(A video can be found here: Run. Hide. Fight. It is a bit cheesy, but you will get the point.)

Look, not everyone out there has the Sheepdog mentality.
Not everyone is willing to carry a firearm, and some that do carry are not willing to use it.
But I don't know very many people who wish to stand like a deer in the spotlight and be handed up for the slaughter.
Which is where RUN, HIDE, FIGHT comes into play.

Your responsibility is to stay safe and protect your loved ones. Parents, when you are out with your children, your duty, in MY opinion, is to keep them safe. Period. The kids MUST Be Safe.

If you are out, and if an incident occurs where you know there is an active shooter, RUN. Haul ass and get out of the danger zone. Once you are clear, and you and those with you are safe, call for help. 

If you can not run, you HIDE. 

If you can not run and are discovered where you have hidden, DO NOT GO GENTLY INTO THAT GREAT NIGHT.
You Fight.
Fight for all you are worth. Throw things, use a pocket knife, use a pen, use anything and everything in reach- but you FIGHT. Never give up.



This post could have gone in any number of directions- but its intent was to teach. If you wish to discuss things further in a different vein, please feel free to email me.

Until next time, when hopefully my heart will be lighter and we can move back to discussing horses and happy times like Christmas, I say to you:

MOLON LABE.

~Mrs Mom

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for cross-posting. This is excellent.

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  2. Thanks! I can hear you saying it in my head.

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  3. Mrs. Mom, I agree with your points, especially run, hide and fight. Though I temper that with situational caveats that I may choose to run towards the danger if I see a child or other innocent in harms way that I might have a chance of helping.

    Two minor quibbles though. One, the Glock 18 is a select fire machine pistol. Though rare, it exists. Two, Sig makes rifles, bolt action and semi auto. I'm sure they offer select fire options for LE and military as well.

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  4. "Cain slew Abel with a rock." -- yes, but I don't think anyone can walk into a school or any other building with a rock and 'brain' 26people without facing daunting resistance. I think the odds of someone successfully killing 26 people in a school, or an office building, or a factory, or a theater, with a rock are darn near nil. I believe "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." But that phrase begs the point -- Guns make it EASY to kill a lot of people quickly, before they can run, hide, fight. Far easier to kill with a gun (of any designation, uneducated semantics of auto vs. semi-auto or any usage of the term 'assault rifle" aside) than it is with other readily available weapons -- knife, rock, club, as opposed to not readily available weapons like bombs or grenades -- where the odds are you're going to have to catch, or get darn close to, your intended victim and subdue them, risking the possibility of personal harm. Guns allow not only speed of killing, but an impersonal space between the killer and the victim, adding to the physical and psychological effortlessness and ease of killing with firearms - as opposed to having to grapple and struggle and breathe with your victim, feeling their strength working against you, sharing sweat, and fear, and air and blood with them - making it personal. I'm guessing most people couldn't do that 26 times in a row, one right after the other with a knife or a club or a rock. Killing is easier with a gun. That has been their point since their invention, the huge tactical advantage. But they also, because of the same tactical advantage, make the massacre of innocent people more of an option. This is NOT what happened with the football player killing his wife with a gun, which made Bob Costas's ill-informed rant against guns a ridiculous stream of pablum -- he completely missed the point, and therefore made no point. The football player, being abusive, and obviously so inclined, could have killed his wife, a woman who CHOSE to be in an abusive, dangerous situation, at any time with any weapon. He simply chose a gun, but it really could have been a rock. She may have been helpless (victim mentality), but she was not innocent (unknowing) of the volitility of her situation. The people in the Aurora theater, and the adults and children in the Sandy Hook school were innocent, along with a seemingly endless list of others -- like Columbine. The current hue and cry for a ban on guns is a logical reaction to address the 'readily available' truth of guns in America and the repeated massacres of innocent people going about their daily lives. A logical reaction that needs to be addressed with reason and profound thoughtfulness, and facts, not handy phrases and the easily memorized shibboleths of gun-toting crowd, which includes me. Fact: though the .223 round is indeed small, there is nothing small about the exit wound. The round 'delivers devastating terminal performance.' If you've shot it, you know it. And I believe the round was initially developed for the M16, not for the civilian hunting market.

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  5. Daddy Hawk- I am aware of both of those platforms and also that they are not and will not be available to the general public.

    Tara- Timothy McVeigh did not need a firearm to accomplish mass murder.

    Evil lies with in the heart of man. If he desires to commit mass murder, he will find a way even if there are no firearms.

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  6. @Tara, you say that "most people couldn't do that 26 times with a knife....". The reality is that one person DID "do that" in Japan in 2001 and killed 8 young children, and injured 13 in a school. "if he desires to commit mass murder, he will find a way" indeed.

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