Lesson of Colorado: Ignore Victim Disarmament Zones
and pack concealed anyway.
From Mike Vanderboegh (with permission), sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot
Friday, July 20, 2012
You know, my daughters go to the movies. What if Malia and Sasha had been at the theater, as so many of our kids do every day? — Barack Obama reacting to the “Colorado Movie Massacre.”
I’ll tell you what would have happened — the Secret Service protective detail would have put several bullets through the face piece of the moke’s gas mask — end of story. The hypocrisy of these Mandarins, who live in bodyguard envelopes whenever they venture out of their designated Green Zones, knows no bounds. One of my daughters went to another midnight showing of the same movie here in Birmingham last night. She went with her boyfriend who was packing his permitted FEG Browning Hi-Power clone, despite the fact that the theater has a “no guns” policy.
Virginia Citizens Defense League lists Cinemark Theaters (which also owns Tinseltown, Cinearts, and Century Theatres) as being victim disarmament zones upon orders of the management. If so, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.
Of course, as I lay on the couch upstairs this morning trying to control my nausea, I watched the predictable blood dancers of the victim disarmament crowd (Bloomberg, the Brady Bunch, et. al.) who made it more difficult to hold down my breakfast (a struggle I ultimately lost).
To me, the lesson of last night is to ignore Victim Disarmament Zones and pack concealed anyway. Only you are responsible for your safety, not some risk-averse corporate drone a thousand miles away.
We will find out in time what motivated this particular lunatic, but the essential lesson is that only the ARMED intended victims of a mass shooting can interrupt the shooter in time to make a difference. The same goes for government-sponsored genocides, as the Jewish people have learned too many times in history.
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A good friend recently sent me this article and it raised a very valid Point, and an argument that has been around for some time: What good would having a CCL had been in this situation if it was illegal for me to carry a gun in the theater anyway?
This article got me thinking; if I were to make a list of places that it was illegal for me to carry my gun and then compare that list with places where “Active Shooter” incidents have occurred in the last 20 years say, how would it compare?
I think we should begin by going over TX Penal Code regarding where it is illegal to carry a firearm, regardless if that person holds a valid CHL. Since the law(s) are long and verbose, here is that LINK. Section 46.03 is the specific section you will need to read..I provided the entire Section 46 for context however. You will notice in 46.03 that there are several caveats(for instance with carrying a gun on school grounds) that would require written authorization. As I stated before, these laws are pretty clear-cut. I also found this helpful CHART which the Texas Concealed Handgun Association published.
Moving on to specific businesses and Institutions, what I have done is listed places where active shooter incidents have occurred and then compared the law or policy for that place of business/Institution. I will forego the Ft. Hood Army Base and Tuscon, AZ Gabby Gifford speech comparison, since it is common sense you could not carry a gun on a Military Installation or at a Political rally unless authorized.
Active Shooting Incidents in United States in Past 20 Years
1. 1992 Luby’s Massacre, Kileen TX. 22 Killed.
2. 1998, School Shooting, Jonesboro AK. 5 Killed.
3. 1999, Columbine High School, Littleton, CO. 13 Killed.
4. 2007, Virginia Tech College, Blacksburg, VA. 32 Killed.
5.2008, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. 6 Killed.
6. 2009, Ft. Hood Army Base, Killeen, TX. 13 Killed.
7. 2011, Outside Supermarket, Tuscon, AZ.(Rep. Gabby Gifford) 6 Killed.
8. 2012, School Shooting, Chardon, OH. 3 Killed.
9. 2012, School Shooting, Oakland, CA. 7 Killed.
10. 2012, Cinemark Theater, Aurora, CO. 12 Killed.
School Shootings
As we can see, over one half of the listed incidents occurred on school campuses. Regarding carrying on elementary and secondary school campuses, Texas law is clear on this matter as we have already read in Texas Penal Code 46.03. Regarding the debate on firearms on college campuses, the debate is raging nationwide. In 2011 legislation was introduced in Texas that would make it legal to carry a firearm (handgun) on college campuses, unfortunately, that bill (House Bill 750) lacks a co-sponsor and is stagnating on the legislative calendar. You can find a complete Overview of State Laws regarding CCL on college campus’ HERE.
Luby’s Shooting
It is funny when you decide to start digging into such an ugly situation as this, you sometimes find the most inspiring stories and some important 2nd Amendment History to boot! Meet Suzanna Hupp; As we can see, sometimes tragedies open people eyes to the truth. because of Mrs. Hupp’s efforts, Luby’s changed it’s concealed carry policy. I only hope the same can hold true for the latest tragedy in Aurora.
Cinemark Shooting
This is a real shocker, as Cinemark is a Texas based company, but apparently is run by lib-tard space cadets. As the opening article stated, Cinemark’s current CORPORATE policy concerning firearms in their theaters are “Law Enforcement Officers Only”. In our local Texas Cinemark theater, they have 30.06 signs prominently posted at the front entrances.
In closing, after looking at all the data, where does this leave us? The obvious answer, and it is not a original one by any means, is just to ignore the Business/Institutions 30.06 Posting and pack anyway as the opening article suggest. Let’s take a moment and look at that. “What If” you had broken the Theater mandate and packed anyway that fateful night? Let’s be optimistic and say you survived the encounter and managed to stop Holmes, either killing or wounding him. What legal re-percussions would you face? Since it is beyond the scope of this article to get into every legal ramification (criminal and civil) possible in a situation like this, let’s go back to Texas Penal Code 46 and 30.06 to get a General answer.
I will let the reader be the judge if it truly worth it to break the 30.06 law to possibly save your life or the life of another. It is an unfortunate fact that most laws and regulations are written in blood in this country, the Luby’s incident in 1992 is a prime example; it took the courage of one woman to bring the issue to light. It is true that nobody else, not the government or any private business are responsible for your safety as much as you, the private citizen are. However, this does not mean we can break the law to enforce our own ideals of “logical firearm carry”; if we do that, we violate and put at risk the very right to carry we hold so dear in this country.
I would also be amiss not to mention that I have to disagree with the article that I posted at the beginning. The author, although vehement in the shortcoming of the law, does not seem to want to point out to the reader the equally vehement re-percussions of breaking the law..I think both should get equal time so nobody gets confused at what is at stake; jail time and permanently losing the ability to possess firearms. Of course some would argue that those re-percussions are peanuts compared to losing your life in a violent encounter, but as a lawyer once told me, if you DO survive and kill the other guy, the real fight for your life is just beginning and will occur in the courtroom after a shooting. I think everybody can agree after watching the Martin Zimmerman case unfold before our eyes recently that is indeed a true statement.
Stay Dangerous.