Friday, March 22, 2019

Truck Guns


Zombies aren’t real.  I say again, and I know this hurts some of you to hear, but it’s true: zombies aren’t real.  Why in the heck do you have an AK in your truck?  Let’s just assume for a moment you ever actually used that “sporting rifle” behind the seat of your Tacoma; what exactly are you going to tell the cops when they show up?

Look, if you are a SWAT or Military-trained sniper and you have the skill set to end a mass shooter from five hundred yards away with a “sporting rifle,” then by all means carry a truck gun.  If you aren’t that guy, when the cops show, what do you tell them?  “Well…I got out of the bank robbery, so I grabbed my AR and went back inside to put every bystander there in massive mortal damage, officer.  I thought my considerable skills honed through dozens of hours on a fifty yard range with my Bushmaster made me the perfect guy to go start rescuing hostages.  It’s a shame a dozen bystanders got killed in my firefight with the robbers.  But, it’s like the SEALs always say, `Sucks to be a hostage.’”

“Oh, were you a SEAL?”

“Um…well, not exactly, I mean, I graduated Air Force Basic and shot an M16 two whole days, so, yeah, I’m basically a SEAL.”

And, I’d be THRILLED if every idiot rolling around with an AK or AR in their truck was in fact a graduate of Air Force Basic, or a Police Academy, or even some tactical rifle course put on by veterans.  BUT, most of the people rolling around with them don’t have ANY tactical training, much less the precision skills necessary to successfully go BACK into a situation like the one described above or the ability to take out the Las Vegas Shooter from their truck beds.  I am a combat veteran of a combat Military Occupational Specialty with about a dozen firefights under my belt, and I don’t rescue hostages.  Bubba and Billy-Bob, with the AR’s in their Ford Redneck Rescue Raptor, go off guns-a-blazing in some sort of North Hollywood Shootout scenario, trying to “take out” badguys, will get innocent people killed.  And even if they miraculously DON’T get innocent people killed, is that REALLY self-defense?  Or, have they become vigilantes who make situations infinitely worse?

This is my problem with blurring the lines of what self-defense really is.  The NRA does it.  The shooting industry wants to sell you guns, so they do it, as do all of the weapons accessory companies.  The Tacticool Instructors do it.  But then when somebody shoots a guy trespassing in his field at six hundred yards away, and then claims he was “in imminent danger and fear for his life,” the prosecutors sometimes disagree with that industry definition of "self-defense."

Self-Defense is not a set of skills.  It is not a set of shooting skills.  It is not a set of fighting skills.  It is not a set of tactics for “clearing” houses or “securing” fixed positions or anything else.  Self-Defense is a LEGAL DETERMINATION—after an incident occurs—that the actions taken were justified in the eyes of the law.  Cops make that determination, prosecutors make the determination, judges make the determination, and—worst case scenario—sometimes juries make the determination that the actions a person took were justified self-defense.  When you start looking like a vigilante, it becomes exceedingly difficult to argue that the actions were in self-defense.  Willingly putting yourself BACK into a dangerous situation that you have already escaped from, isn’t self-defense.  Now, it may be “defense of others,” and there may be good reasons for such actions (going in to get your spouse out for example), but it’s not self-defense.

Don’t be George Zimmerman.  If you are one of the people who thinks George Zimmerman was an innocent victim, stop reading my blog.  George Zimmerman was a lunatic living out some Batman fantasy; he stalked and killed a kid for no other reason than he didn’t like his fashion choice.  Vigilantism is NOT self-defense.  Running back into a dangerous situation with a rifle can appear to be vigilantism if you don’t have a good reason (like a loved-one inside, or a tactical skill set capable of being effective inside).

Lastly, when the SWAT team does show up, I don’t want to be holding a rifle.  They have their own snipers.  Those snipers may not know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.  Don’t get shot because you were trying to do something you thought was good, just because the cops can’t tell which side you’re on.

In conclusion, we have enough people who hate the gun-owning public without shooting ourselves in the feet looking like the caricatures that the liberals paint of the NRA.  All the 5.11 gear, the fishing vests, the operator hats and rail accessories attached to your AR or AK are not helping the cause of getting everybody in America comfortable, confident and CARRYING a gun with them at all time.  What it’s doing is making people think we’re nutty George Zimmerman types out looking to play Batman.  Other than combat and Zombies, I cannot imagine a scenario in which I would need a rifle with a thirty-round magazine in my truck for anything that would be construed—AFTER THE INCIDENT—as justifiable self-defense in modern American daily life.  Now, I will caveat this by saying, yes, after a natural disaster, or during an on-going terrorist attack, or massive civil unrest, a sport rifle may well be desirable.  After Hurricane Katrina, when civil order disintegrated and a state of anarchy took hold of New Orleans for a brief time, I absolutely would want a rifle.  During the Paris Terrorist Attacks, which were geographically spread throughout the city and carried-out by chickenshit half-men armed with AK-47s, I would absolutely want a rifle to protect my home and family.  But, I believe the right answer in those situations is to secure your home and your loved ones, with an arsenal, at home.  Then, if you need to retreat to a safer place, that is when you get fully equipped and Move Out with the truck gun.  But, that scenario is A LOT closer to a combat zone than it is to a self-protection situation that you would have to justify before a judge as reasonable “self-defense.”  Don't make your defense any harder in a criminal proceeding by how you're equipped.  Zombies ain't real, folks!

If you agree, please like AND share!

Soule
www.Easy6training.com

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