Gun Control
As I hunt and peck this blog, our government is moving to
vote on a new and I predict, ineffectual gun control bill. Part of the problem with any law is its
reactionary nature. It only has force
after a crime has been committed. And
who brings these scofflaws to answer for their crimes? Good guys with guns.
The magazine limits and so-called assault weapon components
have been eliminated, for the time, but could be added back as amendments. The core of the current bill seems to be
background checks on private sales.
Suppose I want to sell an unwanted gun to someone I
know. How would this work? What kind of
paperwork is needed? (It’s the Feds. There
will be paperwork!) Who would pay for paperwork
and background? Would we need to become
firearms dealers? Can BATF demand to see
my gun sale records at anytime of day or night because I sold a gun to my
shooting buddy? If I have to do
background checks, can I sell out of state?
Is this the first step to gun ownership registration? I don’t
know.
The problem with many laws passed in response to public
outrage is the legal ramifications, and blow-back is not considered. Ask any of the NYC cops who now discover it is
illegal for them to have more than 7 rounds in their guns!
So much of what I hear of the current gun violence reduction
reminds me of the suggestion that to reduce public drunkenness, we should sell
liquor in smaller glasses. It misses the
point. Some people drink too much and
the size of the glass or percent alcohol in the glass makes no difference.
Meanwhile....
While the news media debates the life-saving potential of
smaller gun magazines most of them missed the mass knifing at a Texas college.
Seems a student, Dylan Quick, went from building to building
knifing people. I was under the
impression two were dead, but fortunately it seems this information
was wrong. Nobody has died.
I was asked how a person could stab and cut so many
people. I suspect he ran up to a group of
students, started stabbing and slicing and quickly moved to another group
before anyone could react.
His weapon? No, it’s
not an automatic or switchblade, bowie knife, flick knife or any of the other
knives NYC or Chicago wants to ban. The
description in the press sounds like a Stanley utility knife.
It seems you don’t need a gun to kill and injure
people. Just the desire.
Tactical content: A
knife can be a deadly, almost unstoppable up-close weapon. Don’t let people you don’t know, or people
acting suspicious, into your personal space.
Keep your reactive distance secure.
Notes in passing
A NY Times article on self-rescue deals with the response
time police need and the potential victims of a active-killer. You can find the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/us/in-a-shift-police-advise-taking-an-active-role-to-counter-mass-attacks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The article discusses passive resistance like barricading a
door, or knowing where the escape routes are.
It even gives the example of a teacher who held a door shut while students
jumped out the second floor window. The
teacher gave his life so his students could escape.
But I found this snippet interesting:
“In 16 attacks studied by researchers, for example,
civilians were able to stop the perpetrator, subduing him in 13 cases and
shooting him in three cases. In other attacks, civilians have obstructed or
delayed the gunman until the police arrived.”
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