Monday, May 11, 2015

Terror Comes Again to America

thegatewaypundit.com
         Last week terror came again to American soil. Two ISIS affiliated terrorists sought to kill hundreds of people expressing their free speech rights by drawing the Prophet Mohammad.  The attack was stopped cold, ended by a policeman possessing a tremendous amount of bravery and skill -- and a commonly available pistol.


          A sixty-year-old Garland, Texas traffic cop responded to the gunfire that wounded his partner. From the available reports, he advanced into their rifle fire, wounding one terrorist, killing the second, then shot the first one again as he reached for a backpack possibly containing explosives. Details are very sketchy at this time, but in overhead pictures it’s possible to see the trail of shell casings left as the policeman took the fight to the terrorists.  

slate.com
        There are lessons aplenty in this incident. It appears now that the dead jihadis were not directly sponsored by any foreign terror organization. That is not the good news it may seem. The two were radicalized through social media, choosing to achieve ISIS’ ends on their own. ISIS infected malcontents could appear anywhere across the US in large individual numbers. With ISIS training camps a few miles from the deliberately opened southern border, better arms and training could easily be provided to enhance the skills of those sorry individuals.  

          ISIS boasts that they have 71 soldiers in 15 different states, with
foxnews.com
targets in 5. By chance or design, those five states are amongst the most gun restrictive. Concealed carry would be limited there, along with other defensive advantages of the gun culture. Several commentators have noted how much the Garland situation looked like an IPSC stage. Could Texas’ vibrant gun culture have contributed to the success of the gentleman? Would an anti-gun environment have hurt?  We know which way we would bet.

         Garland is very much an everyman’s triumph. An aging traffic cop armed with the ubiquitous Glock pistol defeated two armed and armored terrorists. The skills and equipment to make a difference are well within the grasp of the common man and woman. All of us will need to take them in hand. We need to get armed, frequently train, practice, carry everywhere, and stay alert. 

         There is no telling where we will be when the balloon goes up the next time.   

2 comments:

  1. In the report, Virginia was listed as a restrictive state on guns. We have a very robust culture of concealed and open carry, and, with the exception of the arctic section near DC and Richmond, very few issues. The largest problem we in the southeast (Tidewater) have is the number of off limits locations (Federal and Military installations). I think they were going for a non-existent point.

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    1. Mr Helm is absolutely correct. Virginia is ranked the 7th worst (therefore best) state for gun rights by the Brady Campaign [spit] in their 2014 rankings. However, the sheer number of Federal and Military installations, with their gun free zones, makes the state an attractive target to terrorists.

      However, the Old Dominion should certainly not be lumped in with California, Maryland and Illinois when considering gun rights. My sincere apologies for that aggregation.

      CF

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