I decided to post a few of John Farnams recent February Quips for your reading pleasure. As Always you can find Mr. Farnam at Defense Training International.
When are you ever “off duty?”
20 Feb 16
“Off” Duty?
A man with a dual (USA/Israeli) citizenship was stabbed to death at a Jerusalem supermarket last week. A devoted husband and father, he responded to screaming as two knife-wielding Palestinian teenagers were randomly attacking shoppers. Such racially/religiously inspired lethal attacks are now a daily occurrence in Israel, and in many metro areas here!
In the process of confronting the youthful murderers, the man was fatally wounded. Several other innocent shoppers were also injured, but none fatally.
Another shopper, armed with a pistol, responded by shooting both teenage thugs, instantly ending their rampage. Both criminals were subsequently reported hospitalized.
The decedent was an active member of a local police/security unit. However, on the day in question, as it was reported in the media, “… he was ‘off duty,’ and thus unarmed”
Lesson: The courageous citizen who was armed and effectively and decisively stopped the attack, and for whom the terms, “off duty” and “on duty” apparently have little meaning, doubtless prevented additional injury and probably saved several innocent lives, including his own.
The point is this:
There is no such status as “off duty.” That is just a careless term we’ve invented to cynically justify being personally unprepared.
Either go armed or don’t, but don’t insult my intelligence by claiming the ability to predict when and where lethal threats will present themselves, and thus arbitrarily dividing your life into “safe” and “dangerous” segments.
Going armed is analogous to wearing a seatbelt when in a moving vehicle. We just do it, every time! We don’t con ourselves by capriciously labeling this particular stretch of road “safe,” or “dangerous.”
Our disintegrating world is waxing more dangerous by the day, no matter where you live. Be personally prepared, or naively ignore the evidence and go merrily on your way. Either way, there is no predicting the future. Who claim the ability to do so with any degree of precision are (1) fools, or (2) charlatans!
“Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future!”
Oscar Wilde
/John
Nervous Jews in Europe!
17 Feb 16
European Jews are nervous, once again. This time, Christians too!
From Jewish friends in Europe:
“While our European politicians publically, piously declare, ad nauseam, that they will extend protection to all citizens, those of us who have been around for a while know full well that all such promises are dubious and hollow.
The fact is, our police and security forces, of all kinds, are already hopelessly overstretched here. ‘Protection’ is mostly myth!
Of course, as in the USA, politicians and bureaucrats here spare no expense, nor effort, in protecting themselves! The rest of us are, as you say, ‘on our own,’ despite interminable, fictitious, self-serving rhetoric to the contrary.”
Comment:
Even professing liberal, Jesse Hughes, with the “Eagles of Death Metal,” the band that performed during the Islamic terrorist attack in Paris last November, weepingly confessed recently that his former anti-gun position was changing due to this terrible experience.
Yes Jesse: How do you do?
Violent criminality is just casual conversation among liberals, until it happens to them!
Even in Israel, Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, conceded on Monday that “… citizens, skilled in the use of guns, are needed… in the fight against terrorism.”
He continued, “There is no way to stop every terrorist attack, because terrorists do not need an explosives laboratory… a knife is enough for them.”
The inescapable conclusion is that modern politicians, here and there, will continue to spend most of their time worrying only about themselves, as all of Western Civilization cluelessly spirals into the dustbin of history. In the interim, the rest of us, dismissing what they say, need to take firm control of our own lives, providing our own protection, and steadfastly managing our own destinies, never waiting around for someone else, some mythical governmental agency, that “really cares” to “solve our problems.”
Expecting to be “protected” from evils and dangers that lurk everywhere has always been naive and foolish.
Today, it is suicidal!
“Justice has been rerouted
From present to future tense;
The law is so in love with the law
It’s forgotten common sense.
Does man now serve the law, I ask,
When law was made by man?
Or, law still serve its rightful task
protecting men from Man?”
Ogden Nash
/John
Exposed Guns!
5 Feb 16
“Open” Carry
The State of TX has recently authorized “open” (exposed) carry of guns within the state. Lots of details yet to be worked-out, but the legislation has gone through. AZ and some other states have technically permitted the practice for some time. And, even in states where there is no specific legislation, the practice is commonly noted in some areas.
My advice to students is not to carry openly. When open carry becomes common, even expected, I may join in. Until then, I’ll leave the practice to those far more in need of fame and recognition than me!
To me, it is similar to wearing a T-shirt proclaiming your particular political party. Why do you think everyone who sees you needs to know that? How does that benefit you?
My personal philosophy of appearing in public revolves around always projecting a low profile. I don’t think it is in my best interests for me to inadvertently, nor intentionally, broadcast important information about myself, information that is no one else’s business!
So, I discretely carry concealed. I am always heavily armed, to be sure, but you can’t tell by looking, nor do I talk about guns, politics, travel plans, et al with people I don’t know. Precious few people have a legitimate need to know any of that!
I do my best to be courteous, polite, and pleasant with everyone, but never chatty with people I don’t know. I don’t want to appear “interesting” nor “beauteous” while in public. I just quietly go my way and conduct my business without fanfare. I believe that philosophy adequately represents my best interests.
Be a “stand-out” when you are so inclined. Just be prepared to garner far more “attention” than you ever wanted!
/John
“Discretion is the better part of valor” comes to mind.