Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Lessons learned anew in Paris


I'm sure by now everyone's learned of the terrorist attack in Paris this morning, in which twelve people were killed and a similar number injured.  This is hardly the first attack of its kind, and it won't be the last.

The old truths have been confirmed once more.

  1. When seconds count, police are only minutes away.  They arrived too few and too late to protect the victims - in fact, the first police to arrive were reportedly unarmed and had to flee, unable to do anything to help.
  2. The only defense against terrorists is the one you carry with you.  If you want to defend yourself against a massacre like this, you only have one realistic option - carry a gun.  If you're unarmed, all you can do is try to hide or run.  Hiding-places can be discovered, and bullets fly a lot faster than you can run.  (See L. Neil Smith's essay, 'An Unavoidable Truth About Terrorism'.)
  3. Sometimes the only option left to you is to die bravely.  Sometimes you can't run, you can't hide, and you can't escape.  You have a choice.  Die on your knees, begging;  or die fighting back in any way you can, even if the outcome is certain.  If I find myself a target of terrorists, hopefully I'll be equipped to defend myself;  but even if I'm not, and even if I know for sure I'm going to die, I'm going to fight back and try to take at least some of the bastards with me.  Who knows?  By keeping them busy, I may be able to buy time for others to get away.

You need to think about these realities now, and get your mind accustomed to them, and plan accordingly.  If you don't, and you get caught up in something like this, you'll be nothing more than a sheep to the slaughter - as the victims in Paris were this morning.  There will be more such victims.  Get used to that fact.  You may be among them.  Get used to that fact, too.  Only if you face reality can you plan to deal with it.

I don't plan to 'go gently into that good night'.  Given half a chance, I'll go kicking and fighting and bleeding, and - please God - I'll take along a few bad guys to provide my escort across the river.  I daresay most of my readers feel likewise.

Peter

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

When cornered by a bear, sheep cower....Wolves fight tooth and nail.

I know which way I'd rather die. I hope never to be in that situation, but if I am, I hope I can go out fighting.

Like this guy a few weeks ago in Aus. He took on an 870....He dies, but he didn't cower in fear. At least he tried: http://middleoftheright.blogspot.com/2014/12/definition-of-hero.html

Old NFO said...

Concur!

Mr Evilwrench said...

Lord, make me fast and accurate. Let my aim be true and my hand faster than those who would seek to destroy me. Grant me victory over my foes and those that wish to do harm to me and mine. Let not my last thought be “If only I had my gun”; and Lord if today is truly the day that You call me home, let me die in a pile of empty brass.

Anonymous said...

But, but, but France has strict gun control laws, and this was a gun free zone. Surely this must be part of the vast right wing conspiracy...

Stuart Garfath, Sydney Australia. said...

I don't know about the rest of the western world, but here in Sydney, Australia, we are, as has recently been demonstrated, RIPE for an attack such as this..why?.
As a retired military man, I keep my 'situational awareness' switched on at all times, and that's exactly what the vast percentage of people here DO NOT!.
They haven't got a bloody clue, the old term, çruisin' around, fat, dumb and happy' is wholly applicable.
They vacantly walk around, more often than not totally immersed in their electronic devices, headphones in ears, oblivious to what's going on around them.
They are surely part of the target rich environment they inhabit.
Clueless, utterly clueless.

Firehand said...

Maybe someone here will know if this is correct, just heard on a news show(radio) that in France(possibly just Paris) police have the option of carrying a sidearm, and many do not, and that's why the first two cops beat feet: they were unarmed.

Glenn B said...

Today's terrorist attack was just another reminder that Islam is the enemy and Muslims are anything but peaceful. France may have been the big news today but there was another attack today, by Muslims against Muslims, that killed 37 people in Yemen. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/01/07/officials-say-suicide-bomber-kills-at-least-15-people-near-police-academy-in/?intcmp=latestnews

The religion is a religion of psychosis and of murder not of peace. We need to be ready to combat it's followers at any moment and we should all bear arms to protect ourselves. I don't care if we bear them legally or not, we need to be ready for this here and to put a stop to it if we can or at least die trying. The other option, that of converting, is unacceptable.

All the best,
GB

Paul said...

I would have to be in the fight over flight group.

Defending the weak is the only way to go.

Kiwi said...


Be afraid...be afraid!!

Come on you guys!

The chance of you being gunned downed by a terrorist is about one zillion to one.

Get a life.

Unknown said...

Just remember and ask yourself
W.W.J.W.D ?
What Would John Wayne Do?

Peter said...

@Kiwi:

1. I'm sure that's what the people in Paris were saying, five minutes before the terrorists shot their way in.

2. I spent 18 years fighting terrorism (in one form or another) on another continent. I've been a victim of terrorist violence, and terrorists have become victims of my violence. (As a matter of fact, yes, that does give me a certain satisfaction.) I think I know rather more than most people about the realities of terrorism - and what terrorists do to their victims.

Peter said...

@Corey 1:

I don't know what John Wayne would have done in real life. I know what he'd have done in the movies, but they're not real life, as he himself was often first to point out.

I do know what I'd do in such a situation. I've had to do it before (see my reply to Kiwi above).

Precision270 said...

A heroic action may take my life in an instant. I greatly prefer that to the slow erosional death of the coward's way out.

I am armed if I have pants on. Yes, that means now sitting at my kitchen table behind locked doors.

I have never had to shoot someone in self defense, but I have drawn the gun for that purpose. Luckily for them (and me) some semblance of sanity was restored by the presence of the ability to defend myself. Such a thing would not happen with a terrorist. So my goal would be for my shots to strike home, to buy time for the sheeple and God willing make it home. The last one being optional so long as I take some of the bad guys with me and /or buy time for my loved ones and the innocent.

Mark J said...

Reposted at my blog.

Never make your life free to take by those who seek to end it. Make them pay hard for it.

Phillip said...

And increasing every day, you oblivious ingrate. Please, though, remain unaware and absorb the first attack, and be the canary in the coal mine....

Leatherneck said...

Call me what you will, but my candid observation is that France just paid the first installment of the cost of allowing unrestrained immigration of Muslim people and allowing them to build their mysogenistic cult communities with no desire to integrate into their adopted society. Other countries in Europe-- and Australia and the USA are not far behind. The single deterrent in USA is the presence of a large percentage of armed Americans. Sheepdogs be alert, for danger is near.
TC

Anonymous said...

Very true.

Gerry

STxRynn said...

What excellent comments! It's been my prayer too, not to die in vain, but to die well: protect the weak, deliver the lost, to be a light in a dark place.

I've never seen a comment like this: "Lord, make me fast and accurate. Let my aim be true and my hand faster than those who would seek to destroy me. Grant me victory over my foes and those that wish to do harm to me and mine. Let not my last thought be “If only I had my gun”; and Lord if today is truly the day that You call me home, let me die in a pile of empty brass." That is inspired! It falls right in line with Psalm 144:1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

Kiwi said...

@Peter,I spent 18 years fighting terrorism.. on another continent. I've been a victim of terrorist violence, and terrorists have become victims of my violence.

So Peter, tell me who these "terrorists" were actually.

I'm suspicious that they were just poor sods trying to defend themselves, and their homeland, from Imperialist American "terrorists", who had illegally invaded and occupied country.

So, who were these terrorists?

BTW, your gun fetish is showing in this post. Put your AR-15 down, it's going to be OK.

RM said...

I concur.

m4 said...

@GB, an attitude like yours is part of the problem. A relative of one of the victims has said not to dump all Muslims in with the extremists. The now famous dead policeman was also a Muslim, he died protecting the right of Charlie et al to insult his religion, and he died at the hands of someone who claims to be a Muslim (hint, those extremists have little to do with Islam).