When seconds count, the police are only...seconds away

[Seth]

See how effective it is to have an armed good guy around when armed bad guys appear? Now imagine those bad guys show up at a shopping mall where you and your kids are and there's nobody present who is armed except the bad guys.

And that's why I carry a gun.

Crime
Texas Police Say a Traffic Cop Took Down Both Gunmen at Muhammad Cartoon Event
May. 4, 2015 11:33am Jon Street
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The two heavily armed gunmen who opened fire at a Muhammed cartoon event in Garland, Texas, Sunday were stopped by a traffic officer with a pistol, police said.
An armed police officer stands guard on a road near the Curtis Culwell Center where a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad was held Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Garland, Texas. The contest was put on lockdown Sunday night and attendees were being evacuated after authorities reported a shooting outside the building. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

An armed police officer stands guard on a road near the Curtis Culwell Center where a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad was held Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Garland, Texas. The contest was put on lockdown Sunday night and attendees were being evacuated after authorities reported a shooting outside the building. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Garland Police Department spokesman Joe Harn said the two suspects pulled up to the event in a car, wearing “protective gear” and carrying “assault rifles.” They immediately got out and opened fire on two officers outside, one of whom fired back with his pistol, sending both suspects to the ground.

“He did what he was trained to do and under the fire he was put under he did a very good job and probably saved lives,” Harn told reporters.

One police officer was injured but later released from the hospital. Both of the gunmen were killed.

As gunfire was exchanged Harn said a SWAT team responded to the incident “within seconds.” Officers then began going through the suspects’ car in search of any possible explosives. Harn said no bombs were found in the vehicle.

The suspects’ names have not yet been formally released, but ABC News reported that one of them is 30-year-old Elton Simpson of Phoenix.

Simpson was previously convicted five years ago for lying to authorities about his plans to travel to Africa where investigators believed he was trying to join a terrorist group, according to ABC News.

Simpson has been under investigation by the FBI since 2007 for at least one recording in which he talked about terrorist recruitment. The FBI is assisting police in Texas with the investigation into Sunday’s attack.

An FBI spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheBlaze.

[mistermack]

I'd rather live in a country where these loonies can't buy assault rifles and protective gear over the counter.
The rules want tightening up here, but in America

[JimC]

This doesn't really support your thesis, Seth. The jihadist were shot (and a damn good thing too, BTW...) by an armed police officer, not an armed civilian...

Piss poor shooting by them (untrained, probably), but good work by the policeman...

[Seth]

I'd rather live in a country where these loonies can't buy assault rifles and protective gear over the counter.
The rules want tightening up here, but in America

Strange how the Charlie Hebdo killers managed to acquire AK-47s and hand grenades in spite of France's draconian anti-gun laws, isn't it?

I'd rather live in a country where, since loonies can get guns and vests anywhere in the world any time they want them if they want them badly enough, I can get superior arms and protective equipment and have it with me at all times if I so choose in order to be able to do what that street cop was able to do only because he had a firearm at the exact moment that he needed it.

[Seth]

This doesn't really support your thesis, Seth. The jihadist were shot (and a damn good thing too, BTW...) by an armed police officer, not an armed civilian...

Piss poor shooting by them (untrained, probably), but good work by the policeman...

As I indicate in the title of the thread, this is one of those relatively rare times when there just happened to be an armed police officer, who had superior shooting skills by the way, in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Had this been a shopping mall just down the street, the chances of a cop being in such a position is vanishingly small and the only defense that anyone in that mall would have would be an armed citizen like me.

This cop had seconds to open fire and take the terrorists down, not three to six minutes to wait for someone to show up with a gun. Had the FBI and local police not been on high alert to begin with, which caused them to staff the event with fully-armed and armored SWAT teams carrying automatic weapons, had it been a synagogue somewhere, or a shopping mall, or a school, or your house, many people would be dead right now, probably NOT including the terrorists.

Are you people really as stupid as you sound? Can it possibly be true that you completely fail to understand that when these things happen, unless there is someone right there, right then who is armed and prepared to come to the defense of himself and everyone around him, people are going to be killed and the terrorists will have achieved their goal long before the police even know the attack is underway, much less before they have arrived and been able to take action.

I find your head-in-the-sand religious faith in the ability of (unarmed) police officers in Europe to instantly teleport to an in-progress attack after the PreCrime savants have dispatched them in advance knowing of the imminent attack to save your sorry asses.

Your anti-gun paranoia is so deeply ingrained that you are in psychotic denial of the simple truth that when someone attacks and tries to kill you, there is no time to call for help. If you don't or are unable to take effective defensive action instantly, you are going to die. Not somebody else abstractly being impacted by some criminal with a stolen gun, YOU, personally, or your wife, or your kids, are going to be slaughtered because you are so afraid of your fellow citizens that you cannot even envision allowing them to be armed against such threats.

Your whole continent needs to be lobotomized and locked away for the safety and future of humanity because you are all utterly delusionally insane.

[JimC]

I think the above wins the prize for the most over-the-top reply to a fairly neutral post for the year to date...

In spite of some stiff opposition from rEv and Dave...

[Seth]

I think the above wins the prize for the most over-the-top reply to a fairly neutral post for the year to date...

In spite of some stiff opposition from rEv and Dave...

What's 'neutral' about abysmal stupidity? What's "over-the-top about calling it out?

Anyone who believes that the police will be there in the six seconds you might have to do something effective to save your life in the event of a deadly attack is more delusional than any theist they care to rag on. At least with theists, there's no evidence there isn't a God, but with anti-self-defense idiots the evidence is overwhelming and beyond question that the police simply will not be there when you need them. They aren't intended to be there either, nor do they have a legal duty to do a damned thing to help you if they do happen to be there.

The abysmal stupidity and bone-headed, head-in-the-sand denialism of Eurpoeans is simply incomprehensible, particularly given the recent events in Paris and Texas.

Paris: A dozen or more people killed with impunity with the attackers escaping and being on the run for days.

Texas: Two dickheads dead inside of ten seconds and one officer with a minor wound.

What's the difference between Paris and Texas?

Texas has guns, Paris doesn't. Even their police didn't have guns, much less anybody in the Charlie Hebdo offices. When I worked for a newspaper, I carried a gun in the office precisely BECAUSE I worked in the editorial department, where it was not all that unusual to have irate people burst in the door or call in bomb threats over something that offended them. I'm sorry I wasn't armed and in the room in Paris. Perhaps I might have saved some lives. Perhaps not, but I'd have died with the slide locked back on an empty magazine and front entry wounds, not a pill in the back of the head as I shivered and pissed myself on my knees.

You people are incomprehensibly stupid. Too stupid to live in fact, so when you get blown up or shot, I won't shed a tear because you had the chance to carry a gun to defend yourself with and you refused to do so. So you get what you deserve, quislings.

Is that any better?

[JimC]

Seth wrote:

...You people...

A tiny crazed minority addressing the rest of the world...

[Seth]

Seth wrote:

...You people...

A tiny crazed minority addressing the rest of the world...

Maybe, but prophets are always howling in the wilderness and can't get no respect at home. That doesn't mean they are wrong.

[mistermack]

I'd rather live in a country where, since loonies can get guns and vests anywhere in the world any time they want them if they want them badly enough, I can get superior arms and protective equipment and have it with me at all times if I so choose in order to be able to do what that street cop was able to do only because he had a firearm at the exact moment that he needed it.

So you don't include yourself with the loonies then?

Personally, the thought of you having arms at all times would make me feel a lot less safe.
Good old Atlantic Ocean. It might be wet, but it has it's uses.

[JimC]

I'd rather live in a country where, since loonies can get guns and vests anywhere in the world any time they want them if they want them badly enough, I can get superior arms and protective equipment and have it with me at all times if I so choose in order to be able to do what that street cop was able to do only because he had a firearm at the exact moment that he needed it.

So you don't include yourself with the loonies then?

Personally, the thought of you having arms at all times would make me feel a lot less safe.
Good old Atlantic Ocean. It might be wet, but it has it's uses.

Likewise the Pacific...

[Seth]

I'd rather live in a country where, since loonies can get guns and vests anywhere in the world any time they want them if they want them badly enough, I can get superior arms and protective equipment and have it with me at all times if I so choose in order to be able to do what that street cop was able to do only because he had a firearm at the exact moment that he needed it.

So you don't include yourself with the loonies then?

Haven't had occasion to shoot anybody yet, despite years as a police officer and years as an armed citizen with Level IV body armor and many, many semiautomatic sporting rifles and other guns, so no, not at all.

Personally, the thought of you having arms at all times would make me feel a lot less safe.

Your delusional paranoia is not a reason to regulate anything except perhaps your ability to vote.

Good old Atlantic Ocean. It might be wet, but it has it's uses.

I used to think so too, but not so much anymore, we're being overrun by criminals, rapists, drug dealers and terrorists from over there, and interestingly, so are you.

The difference between you and I is that I have the means and the training to do something about it if it becomes an issue in my immediate vicinity, whereas your only option is to die.

[mistermack]

So you don't include yourself with the loonies then?

Haven't had occasion to shoot anybody yet,

There's more chance of you shooting yourself. Wear that body armour at all times. You need it.

[Seth]

So you don't include yourself with the loonies then?

Haven't had occasion to shoot anybody yet,

There's more chance of you shooting yourself.

Statistically there probably is, as compared to someone who doesn't carry a gun, but that's a risk I'm willing to take and mitigate through rigorous training and observance of safety protocols. So the risk of shooting myself is minimized and I retain the ability to shoot someone else should the lawful need and occasion arise. To disarm myself on the premise that I might hurt myself is pure idiocy...for any rational person...for the same reason that you don't turn in your kitchen knife and hammer. You might need them for something important and in the meantime you'll use them with care and good judgment.

Wear that body armour at all times. You need it.

It's not always on, but it's always handy.

[mistermack]

To disarm myself on the premise that I might hurt myself is pure idiocy...for any rational person...for the same reason that you don't turn in your kitchen knife and hammer.

False comparison fallacy. I regularly need my kitchen knife and hammer.
I've lived sixty five years without any need for guns or body armour.

Fail, yet again.