The Layers of Gun Control Failure in Southern SpringsTexas

So I must first lead this post with an apology, I’m going to be treading very close to the line of the blood dancing the anti-rights activists do. That is not my intention, and I hope the thoughtful way I lay this post out will clearly show this.

So after the horrible events at the Baptist Church in Southern Springs Texas it has overall been radio-silent for the anti-gunners.

Sure Shannon Watts, Joan Peterson, and Mike “The Gun Guy” Weisser have all written anti-gun pieces talking about the shooting….but I’ll add that Joan Peterson is really a semi-retired anti-gun lobbyist, and she mentioned the shooting as an update in a post about the Truck terror attack in New York, and Weisser is at best a C-list actor in the anti-gun world, and likely crazy.

Watts is the only key player in these three responses, and she’s really sticking to the anti-gun style book with this one.

#3:DON’T ASSUME THE FACTS – AND DON’T WAIT FOR THEM.

Experience tells us that the specific facts of a high-profile gun incident are revealed over time. If we jump
to conclusions about those details, we could find ourselves at odds with reality as events unfold.
So, the smartest thing to do is avoid linking our message and arguments to any one set of partially-revealed facts. We shouldn’t assume the facts.
But, we also shouldn’t argue ourselves into inaction while we await clarity about details.

If you haven’t, now is the time to read Watts article. The article is centered around the shooting, but she spends almost no time talking about it, instead just diving back to her steadfast, and stale talking points that she marches out EVERY TIME somebody catches a bullet.

This is blood dancing, and not what I’m about to do.

I want to talk about why the anti-gunners, who’s own style book tells them to dive into political action while the blood is still wet, emotions are high, and facts are still unknown, haven’t been touching this horrible mass-murder.

I think its because along with the 26 people murdered while they worshiped, the Anti-Gun sacred cows were killed as well.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. “Assault Weapons”, the anti-gunners have distanced themselves from this issue recently. Note “Distance” meaning they aren’t TALKING about banning certain rifles and magazines they feel are scary, the banning of them (and let’s be honest ALL Privately held guns) is and has always been on the table.

Yes the killer used an AR-pattern rifle among other guns, but so did the man who stopped him, and he openly says that if he had grabbed a handgun rather than a rifle, he might not have had the same success. Likely the responding police officers also all deployed their own department ARs for any violent encounter.

Also inextricable from talk on “Assault Weapons” is magazine capacity. Again in that interview Stephen Willeford, the man who stopped the killer, he didn’t keep a loaded magazine with his rifle, and he was shoving loose cartridges into the mag as he ran out the door. Because of this the encounter ended with Willeford having one round left in his mag and one round in the chamber of his rifle. It turns out however many shells he grabbed was enough, but I think we can all agree that had his luck been not as good, it might not have been enough. There’s a reason why people elect to carry larger magazines, they’re just good policy.

Two other sacred cows. #1 “Assault Weapons” are only for mass-murder, and #2. The average citizen won’t be able to deal with an attacking criminal.

Some sacred cows with the police. Cops didn’t get on scene until after the shooter was dead. The same can be said about most spree killers, once the cops arrive either the killer chooses to end his life then (like with Las Vegas and many others) or the killing is already over. Also one of the rallying cries of the antis against personal self defense is “IF A PRIVATE CITIZENS DRAWS A GUN AGAINST A CRIMINAL THE COPS WON’T KNOW THE GOOD GUY FROM THE BAD GUY AND SHOOT THE GOOD GUY!!!” Well not only did the man who drove the pursuit van and give 911 the information the likely brought the police to the killer’s mortal remains figure out really quick that the total stranger biker with an AR-15 and no shoes was the good guy, so did the responding police, who actually commanded Willeford to get back to his rifle and cover the killer while the first officer waited for backup.

Also the killer had armor on, I haven’t heard what KIND of armor, but in many spree killings the press is quick to report a load-bearing or tactical vest as a “Bullet proof vest”, in this case the killer was wearing some level of ballistic armor. Let’s tell some dirty truth, just like you can’t ban guns 100% because people will simply build new ones, sometimes with surprisingly primitive means, ballistic armor isn’t difficult to make. Yes Level IIIA concealable armor is very high tech stuff, making steel trauma plates and a plate carrier can be done with technology you can buy at Harbor Freight. Having a firearm and ammo that can defeat armor is not just for “Cop Killing”, it can be an invaluable tool.

I suspect the Church wasn’t an official Gun Free Zone, nor have I heard any reports or accounts of what went down inside the sanctuary, I find it hard to picture a scenario where a parishioner with even a .380 stuffed in the pocket of his dress pants, or her purse would have done any harm in this event, and for just about every spree killer, the moment fire gets returned is when they move to the next phase of their plan. In this case driving away to wherever he was planning to go after the first church. We of course don’t know where he was going because the moment he stepped outside the church he began taking fire from Willeford, and likely was fatally wounded.

**UPDATE** As I type this I found this report sounds like the gunman was taking his time killing the people in the church. His evil is the cause of this, I will not blame the victims, but I do deeply wish one or many of them had been armed that day.

Now onto the killer first we know that the killer bought at least some of his guns legally through an FFL with a background check, (**UPDATE** This isn’t completely correct, he was convicted of a domestic abuse charge, and if the Military Court is anything like civilian court, when the conviction is read, the penalties of that conviction are also read, including forfeiture of 2nd Amendment rights. So it is expected that he knew he was lying when he filled out the 4473. So while it wasn’t LEGAL for him to buy the guns, the shops broke no laws, and the law did not force him to follow the law) but he shouldn’t have been able to, as he was convicted of domestic abuse. Of course the Air Force failed to report that conviction to the FBI.

The government program that was designed to protect us from this failed due to government incompetence. Of course that NICS system isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

All this being said, likely the military won’t be so lax about reporting its disqualifying crimes to the FBI anymore, and maybe even other jurisdictions that are sloppy now will wise-the-fuck up about it…it’s an easy fix, and can be done with zero legislative action.

Still the government failed us further. First the Killer was also confined to, and escaped from a mental hospital, not a lot of information there, but something tells me that the actions around that confinement could have easily turned to an involuntary commitment which would have ALSO banned him from owning guns. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen crap like this. The Killer at Virginia Tech was committed for mental health evaluations, and deemed a danger to himself and others, but was never sentenced to a mental health facility which would have barred him from buying guns.

We know the domestic abuse conviction was a misdemeanor, but one of his offenses was fracturing the skull of an infant. How on earth is that a misdemeanor? Another gap in the system that this jerk fell through….but it gets worse. He was a monster all through life as far as we can tell, lots of stalking and violet outbursts, but some borderline pedophilia.

So when it comes to the killer and how he managed to get to this church with a rifle in his hand, the answer is the Government and the Justice System are completely incompetent at dealing with monsters. Nobody wants to take charge of a monster until after things have gone too far.

Police are great, but they aren’t very good at saving the day, they are good at catching criminals, but they aren’t your bodyguard.

The anti-gunners want us to surrender our lives to the government. They don’t want us owning guns or defending our lives or the lives around us, and instead defer protection to the police, and allow the justice system to dispose of the monsters!

That doesn’t work, and no matter what we’re going to do, it isn’t EVER going to work. Is anybody in the Air Force going to face Court Martial for the failure to report their rulings to the FBI? Is the Judge that ruled that fracturing a baby’s skull is a “minor offense”? Same with the parties who kicked the can down the road when it turned out he was a complete nut-job?

No, when the government does something stupid and people die nothing happens.

I’ve said multiple times I suspect the police did great in this event….but they saved no lives. The one person you can depend on is yourself, and you need to be armed. Also, what I don’t talk about often here, pistols suck and rifles are awesome. If you reach for a weapon to defend your life or the lives of others it SHOULD be a rifle, that being said, rifles suck when you aren’t fighting, so when you’re not running out your door shoeless to the sound of gunfire, carry a pistol!

I suspect the antis have come to the same conclusion, but their agenda is more important then your life.