Posted on 07/25/2012 6:29:14 AM PDT by Kaslin
While the Left looks for more reasons to restrict our right to self defense every time an infamous shooting occurs, the standard reaction of the general population in Colorado is to stock up on guns and ammo in self defense.
It’s a reaction that’s uniquely American, where every man’s a captain. But it’s also a reaction that has a long history in the West, a history we should be proud of.
And when I say the West I really mean everywhere in America. Because at one time or another in our history everywhere from the tidewater on the east coast to the tidewater on the west coast was the West, as civilization pushed further and further westerly. And so, I believe, everywhere remains the West- at least metaphorically.
As the establishment press (hat tip to Dan Mitchell) acts shocked! yes, shocked! that people are buying guns in record numbers in the Denver area as a reaction to last week’s shooting rampage in an Aurora, Colorado theater that killed or injured 70 people who were attending a screening of the newest Batman movie, I’m feeling, um, American about the sales.
Really American.
I want to go out and salute the flag and say: “Thank God for average Americans.”
From the Denver Post:
"It's been insane," Jake Meyers, an employee at Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo in Parker, [Colorado] said Monday.
When he arrived at work Friday morning — just hours after a gunman killed 12 and injured 58 others at the Century Aurora 16 theater — there already were 15 to 20 people waiting outside the store, Meyers said.
He called Monday "probably the busiest Monday all year" and said the basic firearms classes that he and the store's owner teach are booked solid for the next three weeks, something that hadn't happened all year.
“Gun sales are up because a tragic event such as the theater murders reminds people that they need to be prepared to defend themselves from the predators in our society,” says Dave Gill, vice president of the Colorado State Shooting Association. “The reason that we have Concealed Carry laws is to give citizens the ability to effectively defend themselves and their families.”
Gill says that just posting a sign banning guns obviously didn’t work.
“This theater banned effective self-defense,” he emphasized. “This didn’t seem to work well for the 12 who were killed or the dozens who were injured.”
Meanwhile Bloomberg is reporting that background checks for gun purchases in the area are up 43 percent according to figures released by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
“Gun dealers submitted 2,887 requests for state background checks required to sell a firearm in the three days after the July 20 shooting, said Susan Medina, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,” reports Bloomberg via SFGate.com. “That’s 43 percent more than the 2,012 requests during the same three days the prior week, and a 39 percent increase over the 2,078 check during the first Friday to Sunday in July.”
This is exactly what we should expect from America. It fits with our history, our traditions, and the rights that we fought to preserve.
While there is a role for the government in preventing such massacres, it doesn’t include a knee-jerk-- emphasis on jerk --reaction from the Left restricting the right of self-defense for the rest of us.
We fought a war over this. Ever hear of the Powder Alarms? For those who have, of course you did. For those who haven’t, of course you haven’t. Read more history, please.
Here’s a little known fact: As a percentage of the population, more men volunteered to serve in the Union army from Colorado than any other state or territory of the United States. Nearly 4,000 volunteers out of a population of about 50,000 men and women took up on arms on behalf of the Union.
These were ordinary citizens who put down their mining pans, picks and shovels, pushed their commercial interests to the background and became the government in the same sense that the citizens at Lexington and Concord did.
Americans tend to react this way when their God-given rights are in jeopardy.
A citizenry in a rush to arm themselves during a crisis shouldn’t be condemned, but rather, they should be applauded. This is the highest form of government for us.
It belongs with the Mayflower Compact and the New England Town Meeting in our history and tradition.
Because the threat we face isn’t only- or even mostly- from a masked crazy man in a long trench coat.
It’s from a government wearing a different mask altogether.
“What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he's around?” said character Aaron Altman in the movie Broadcast News. “Nobody is going to be taken in if he has a long, red, pointy tail…. He will look attractive and he will be nice and helpful and he will get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation and he will never do an evil thing... he will just bit by little bit lower standards where they are important. Just coax along flash over substance.”
Don’t get me wrong. Some flash is OK.
But I’d rather be standing behind "the flash and substance" as substance is rifling out of the barrel of a gun.
That’s my right. And yours too.
First piece of advice I give is get the best traditional mags, not the gimmicky ones.
Keep them clean and lubed if needed.
The American people hopefully have enough intuition left to figure that it is the government which loves to promote violence and then hypocritically calls to calm down under its own terms and auspicies.
Nation of Islam is doing the same thing in Chicago. They promote hate and violence and corruption on the one hand, and then they come door to door urging folkes not to beat each other up and to join the homosexual muslim brotherhoods of Obama for a unified violent action.
Cissors and One clenched fist strategies. THese people have long declared war on us and we still act like the rape is not going to occure.
Indeed, we do not want to jam these high cap mags.
I am shocked that the defense of free speech in theaters is not being more clamored by Americans.
Liberals are morons who are pimped to poverty by communistoid established medias and universities, the OWS way.
Great article, and I, too, am proud to see Americans standing up and taking responsibility for their safety. I think the idea of gun control has grown into such a losing proposition that even the mention of it by the media results in a steep drop in ratings within a minute of the mention. To boot, even politicians, outside of the regular cabal of anti-gunners, are realizing that talk of banning guns or ammunition means a loss of respect and likely votes at the ballot box.
I’m proud to be an American in a country where a single madman can go on a rampage killing a dozen people and the next day gun stores have lines outside before they even open.
This is the quintessential American experience.
And kudos to the author for mentioning the Powder Alarm. The Feds would be remiss to try something like that lest they be pushed back by a very well-armed populace.
--there could be considerable debate as to whether the War of Northern Agression was in any way similar to the American Revolution---
When all else fails, they wont.
You can also reliably take larger game with it if it's at least a .357 mag.
I purchased another gun yesterday. Small 380 for when I can’t take my 9mm. While I was there, there was about 5 seperate people come in and ask about the purchasing process and the concealed carry license process. It was actually cool to see.
I have a Walther PPK/S that I use for just back-and-forth quick stops and to/from work. When I go out shopping, to the mall, dinner, etc., I carry my Springfield XD40.
.380 is a great round if you have the ability to flee quickly. In a crowded area or somewhere that the exits are not easily accessible, I want the firepower to protect myself if I’m cornered.
Yep, that's why I got my Makarov, 9x18mm (or 9mm Makarov). There was nothing wrong with my trusty Colt Det Spl. I used to carry when I lived in Chicago (before they went nuts) just that with the Mak I have 8 rounds and an extra mag when needed.
I have a C&R License (I ♥ the ATF) so I was able to my hands on the East German Mak (used by the Stasi), one of the best made Maks and most desired by collectors. It was much cheaper than going commercial and getting a new .380 for carry, like a Walther PPK (the Mak was 1/2 the price of a PPK).
Exactly. I just wanted something to grab quickly. I love my 9mm and feel 100% confidence in it. My friend has a PPK and he loves it.
Yeah. I figured I would rather have something, rather than nothing.
Bought this for my wife saturday - Ruger LCP .380
Bought this for my wife saturday - Ruger LCP .380
I wouldn't want to argue with an expert, but I'm not sure that's the whole reason gun sales spike after these things happen. I think it's a lot of reasonably intelligent people anticipating a new government action to clamp down on their ability to buy guns and ammo in the near future. Better get 'em while you still can.
That's why Obama is considered the greatest gun salesman in the world today.
metalform made some fine mags, no stick, slide in and out smoothly, every time, even after banging around other stuff, and they are stainless.
It is much easier for the government to prevent you from getting a gun, than it is for them to take it away once you have it.
Prepare now, for yourself and your kids, too.
You know, we use the word “predator” a bit too liberally these days. More often than not most of the the “wolves” we are faced with anymore aren’t predators at all, they’re scavengers. They won’t mess with anything that’ll fight back. There are some true predatory animals out there, and they truly hunt, but for the most part I think that most of these idiots are looking for the path of least resistance. They don’t want to get dirty. “We’ll rob the old lady”, “Let’s abduct a kid”. A defensless target is an easy target, right? The solution for that is simple, refuse to be food. For the other, the true predator, the solution isn’t so simple. They are hunters. They stalk, they lay in wait. They kill. Those are the ones that will let you know that you’ve got a fight on your hands. Not fighting to get away, but fighting to get to you. All the posturing in the world won’t change their mind. You have to understand going into it that there will only be one left standing. Who will it be? You, or them? Maybe it is as simple as it seems...Victory, or nothing.
That's where I started on the decision tree, back in 1993 when Ruby Ridge and the Klintonx' assault on the Davidians (masterminded by Poppy Bush and his cookie-pushing internationalist pals) got me to thinking that a Big Grab was in the works somewhere.
So I went with a) concealability and b) controllability. The .380/9mm Luger complex was about where the curves all met. The nines are just a weee bit too pudgy and hard-to-hide (and recoil-rich, in the small frame format), and the .32 ACP hideaways just a little bit too lean and light-hitting.
The warmer .380 loads and 9mm Makarov would seem to be the optimal compromise -- it seemed to me. And still does. Need one-shot stopping, absolutely, every time? Get a shotgun and forget about concealed carry!
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