Thursday, March 01, 2018

Gun control that makes a difference.

So, another school slaughter has taken place.

The leftists, following the Emanuel plan to never fail to let a good crisis go to waste, are continuing to do everything they can to keep soft targets killing fields.

Nothing that anyone on either side has proposed will make any difference in the outcomes.

Image may contain: textAt base, the left wants to take our guns away from us.  The left is all about controlling people: what they think, what they say and the words that shouldn't be heard.

Correspondingly, the right is all about black letter constitutional law and the enforcement of that law.

For the left, and for some RINOs, the only way to solve this situation is to punish those who obey the laws as they are.

For the right, the only way to solve this situation is to ENFORCE the laws we have now.

The problem?

NONE of these proposals would have stopped Parkland from happening.

The left is all about the stupidity of denying those 18 to 20 their rights guaranteed under the 2nd Amendment, because, you know, each and every slaughter carried out has been by someone in that age group with an AR15.

Stores are engaging in their hypocrisy... who hasn't heard of Dick's Sporting Goods yanking AR15's and their variants off their shelves?

Does everyone not reading this know that this isn't the first time?
From Forbes. Not the first time Dicks has said this. Entire article cut and pasted because Forbes can sometimes be difficult to access.  
This is from August 2013 after Sandy Hook. 
Despite Self-Imposed Ban, Dick's Sporting Goods Selling AR-15 Rifles At New Offshoot 
Clare O'Connor,  
In the confusing aftermath of December's Sandy Hook school massacre, it was unclear where shooter Adam Lanza had procured the cache of weapons that killed 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, Connecticut. As officials investigated tips from the public, Dick's Sporting Goods found its way into headlines via unsubstantiated rumors that Lanza had tried to buy a rifle at a Danbury outpost days before the crime. 
Dick's, the country's largest outdoor sports retailer, responded to the tragedy by pulling semi-automatic guns - 'modern sporting rifles', in industry parlance - off shelves in their 500-plus stores "out of respect for the victims and their families," per a December statement. 
It emerged months later than Adam Lanza's mother obtained the Bushmaster .223-caliber model XM15 rifle her son later used in his murder spree at the small, apparently unscrupulous Riverview Gun Sales, which has since lost its license. 
Dick's has kept its word, though: a search of its website shows semi-automatics like the Bushmaster remain off the menu. The outdoor giant (2012 revenues: $5.89 billion) is, however, selling these modern sporting rifles at its brand new offshoot, Field & Stream. The first of these specialty hunting and fishing stores opened in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania this past weekend, with Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson on hand to sign autographs. 
Gun news site The Firearm Blog first posited that AR-15 rifles like the kind Lanza used would be available at Field & Stream despite the Dick's ban on these weapons in a post earlier this month. The team at social news outlet Vocativ attended Friday's grand opening in Pennsylvania to see for themselves: 
We weren’t the only ones looking for an AR-15. The line to purchase these firearms was so long that customers were required to take numbers. And the selection was excellent! So excellent, in fact, that we decided to take pictures. The guns for sale included the Remington AR-15s, S&W AR-15s as well as Stag and DPMS AR-15s. Oh, and don’t forget the Bushmaster used by Lanza. 
Dick's, which reported lackluster second quarter earnings on Tuesday, did not respond to Forbes' requests for comment. A staffer at Cranberry Township's Field & Stream confirmed to Forbes that semi-automatic rifles are indeed on sale but wasn't sure how many remain in stock after an opening weekend that also saw a camouflage-clad couple wed at the store. 
Industry experts say Dick's has to sell these weapons at its new spinoff to remain competitive. "I'm not surprised," said James Chartier, an analyst at Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc who covers Dick's Sporting Goods and competitors like Cabela's. "If you want to be authentic to the customer, you have to sell that product. You can't be seen as caving in to political pressure."
Kroger, which has been ripping people off in a variety of ways for quite some time now, joined in the fun today by arbitrarily raising the age of purchase rifles to 21.

These two efforts and several more are prime examples of confusing motion... with action.

The people who are doing this crap WANT us to think they're making a difference.

They're not, of course, but they want you to THINK they are.

How would this have stopped Parkland from happening?

How would this have stopped the Columbine Massacre from happening?

How would this have stopped the Las Vegas shooting from happening?

How would it have stopped San Bernardino from happening?

How would this have stopped Orlando from happening?

How would this have stopped Virginia Tech from happening?

How would this have stopped the Aurora shooting from happening?

How would this have stopped the University of Texas tower from happening?

How would this have stopped the Charleston Church shooting from happening?

They wouldn't have.  And that is what makes these ideas moronic publicity seeking idiocy.

(As I pointed out here, YouTube is rife with videos showing how to turn any semi-automatic rifle into an automatic rifle without adding ANY equipment to it, so getting rid of bumpstocks is more bright, shiny object politics that accomplishes nothing.)

ANYTHING we as a society choose to do as a result of these slaughters MUST make a change in these outcomes.

What WOULD make a difference?

Arming teachers/staff.

Armed security like that of Sidwell Friends School, where Obama sent HIS kids.

Security at Sidwell Friends School
Metal detectors and controlled entrances/exists.  Bullet proof doors.  Electronic surveillance.  Bullet proof glass. 

And even then, that won't make schools kill proof... but it will reduce both the likelihood and effectiveness of further attacks.

It will be expensive.  It will take some time, but not too much time... and it will actually provide positive results.

Unlike this other idiocy... getting rid of bump stocks, getting rid of so-called assault rifles, getting rid of high capacity magazines, restricting this, getting rid of that.... these changes will make a difference.  They will make it much more difficult to attack schools.... but...

And there's always a "but."

That does not even begin to address the rest of the soft targets.

My wife and I missed the Cascade Mall shooting in Burlington by one day, the day before.

We can spend all of the money in the world to protect our schools... but what can we do about any of the other soft targets; malls, stadium crowds, beaches, the areas outside airports, grocery stores... the list is endless.

When we harden schools as targets, those inclined to slaughter us will merely turn their attention elsewhere, to other soft targets.

Regular readers know I conceal carry.  I am rarely far away from a fire arm.  I may find myself in one of these situations one day, but if I'm killed, it's because I ran out of ammo protecting myself, my family and everyone around me.

If you aren't armed, you need to get that way.  If you don't know how to use weapons, find a reputable coach and a solid facility with a good reputation and learn how.

Learn the rules and laws in your area.  Get a secure location within your home so that your kids can't get to your weapons, store up several hundred rounds of ammunition and be prepared to protect yourself and your family at all times...

Because when seconds count, the police are only minutes away... and sometimes, as Parkland showed, even that isn't good enough.

As it sits, what's happening now is nothing more nor less than political grandstanding on the pile of bodies our inaction as a country has caused.

Making certain weapons illegal because they're "scary looking," or falsely claiming they're "weapons of war" so they can be confiscated; telling us how many bullets we can put into a magazine, generally being ignorant about what can be done, what needs to be done and what MUST be done is not going to make us or our schools any safer, period.

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