Protecting Yourself and Others – Page 11

Volunteer Community Security

Many people seem to believe that the state is the only option for delivering community security. These are usually the same people who believe the state must build the roads, deliver the mail, deliver water, and provider fire services. In truth the state is needed for none of these things and one community has turned to volunteers to provider community security:

Redlands volunteers now outnumber paid officers five to one and, even with a 25 percent reduction to their police force in 2007, their violent crime rates have decreased steadily.

And it doesn’t cost tax payers a dime.

“Our volunteer program is completely self-sustainable,” Martinez says. “They raise their own money, they buy their own cars. None of the money comes out of the general fund.

The program even includes an air support unit, complete with 30 volunteer pilots and a prop plane.

There is a video at the link. Some people will point out that the volunteers are volunteering for the Redland Police Department (RPD) but that’s irrelevant as RPD doesn’t provide any funding to the volunteer organization, they raise their own money and buy their own equipment. If RPD went away the volunteers would still be able to function (except the state wouldn’t allow them to because they wouldn’t be volunteering for the state and therefore would be restricted in what they could do).

Give Them What They Want and They’ll Go Away

We hear advocates of gun control constantly repeat variations of the phrase “If you just give them what they want they’ll go away.” What happens when they want your life? From what I can tell about this recent murder in North Minneapolis that was the case:

A food delivery to a neighbor three blocks away turned deadly for Jody Lynmarvin Patzner Jr., 22, on Monday night when three boys confronted him as he biked on Fremont Avenue in north Minneapolis, according to family members and a witness.

The boys yelled at him that they wanted his bike, then shot at him twice, running away as Patzner continued to bike for 30 feet before collapsing on the sidewalk. He died moments later in the 3500 block of Fremont Avenue N. as neighbors along the street tried to help, according to a witness.

Three people approached Patzner, demanded his bike, shot him dead, and didn’t even take his bike. To me that shows this case had nothing to do with Patzner’s bike, the three punks were probably just looking for somebody to murder that night. From what the story states I must say Patzner did the right thing, unfortunately the right thing doesn’t always save you life:

A neighbor who said she witnessed the attack said the three assailants were walking on the east side of the street when they confronted Patzner, who was biking past.

“They was harassing him and stuff,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. “He didn’t give them no feedback or nothing.”

“They said ‘Give me your bike … give me your bike …’ Pop! Pop!”

The assailants ran off as Patzner biked on, passing the witness before collapsing.

When the three punks began harassing Patzner he ignored them and continued on his way. In a situation like this I must say I’d have likely taken the same course of action. When you’re on a bike you’re far more mobile than persons on foot so if a situation looks bad it’s best to ride away as fast as you can.

The value of running is a topic often overlooked when discussing self-defense. A fight always carries the risk of bodily harm or death, so it is in your best interest to avoid fights whenever possible. Often it is not possible but if you’re in a position to be far more mobile than a potential attacker, whether by car or bike, it makes sense to run. I bring this up because several people have commented to me that this cased is why everybody should carry a gun.

While carrying a gun is a great way to increase your chances of survive an encounter with a violent attacker it’s not a magic talisman. Realistically, were Patzner armed, he would have had to come to a complete stop and dismount his bike in order to draw a weapon. In that span of time he could have easily been murdered by his assailants. Although I don’t like to speculate on self-defense situations as they’re are too many variables to know what the right course of action would be, I find myself thinking I would have taken the same course of action as Patzner were I in his position but armed. On a bike you have movement and it’s always best to be moving when in a self-defense situation unless you have appropriate cover available. Moving targets are harder to his but a target on a bike coming to a complete stop is an much easier target. The path a stopping bike follows is fairly predictable, usually it’s straight forward until the bike has come to a complete stop. Because of the ease of predicting the path a stopping cyclist will follow it’s easier to gun them down than if they keep moving, especially if they move erratically.

Unfortunately I don’t know if there was a way for Patzner to escape his fate that night, the situation just seems entirely bad. Had he stopped his attackers would likely have killed and moving away didn’t save his life either. From the details provided in the story I don’t believe being armed would have helped in either, the assailants had the element of surprise and motive to kill. Situations like this are important for those of us who carry to consider, because we may very well be in a situation where using our firearm may not be the best option available.

But Remember, Guns are Bad News for Women

Linoge over at Walls of the City likes to point out the absurdity of the common anti-gunner myth that guns are bad news for women. Chalk another one up to those bad news tools for women:

An armed 16 year old entered a FL convenience store, demanded money and began firing at the female clerk. The clerk is a concealed weapons permit holder and drew a gun carried on her person. The clerk fired at least one shot at the suspect, hitting him. The would be robber later died from his injuries. More info in the video below.

And there was also another recent story that demonstrates the dangers firearms hold for women:

“First he tried to grab it, but I jerked it away and fired,” she said. “So I really didn’t have time to aim.”

She said one of the men said, “Oh, hell no,” and they took off running up North Shamrock Street.

[…]

She said, “Every woman needs to get a concealed weapons permit and carry a gun, because it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t be here.”

So much for criminals taking her gun and using it against her. I’m glad enough stories like these finally being reported for the average person to see how full of it anti-gunners are.

You Can’t Rely on the Police

Those of us in the gun rights community say it time and time again; you simply can’t rely on the police. While a violent burglar is kicking down your door the police are outside setting up a perimeter :

The incident unfolded at about 11:40 p.m. in the 300 block of SE Fifth Street, as deputies responded to a report of someone roaming around the neighborhood acting strangely and banging on the walls and doors of homes.

As officers searched the neighborhood for the suspect, they heard a loud crash at a home down the street, said Cindy West of the King County Sheriff’s Office. At the same time, they received a 911 call from the owner of the home saying that someone had broken in.

As deputies set up a perimeter around the home, they heard loud noises coming from inside. Deputies then received a second 911 call from the homeowner saying that he had shot the intruder.

A lot of good that perimeter did. Let this be a lesson to people, even when the police do manage to arrive before your untimely demise they’ll be too busy dicking around to actually come in and help you. Stories like this demonstrate the fact that police are merely the cleanup crew, they exist to find the guy who killed you. Of course finding the guy who killed you is pretty pointless when you’re, you know, dead. Thankfully the homeowner in this story had a means of self-defense at hand otherwise he’d likely be another homicide statistic.

The Flawed Sheep, Sheepdog, or Wolf Analogy

Are you a sheep or a sheepdog? It’s a question periodically asked by advocates of self-defense that tries to shove the person being questioned into a false dichotomy, either you’re a helpless sheep that simply follows the flock or you’re a brave sheepdog who guard the vulnerable sheep from the wolves.

In one of the more annoying advertisement e-mails I received it stated:

Christopher – you are it. You are the country’s last line of defense. The minute-man…. the sheep dog.

[…]

This guy completely understands sheepdogs like you and I.

I’m not a bloody sheepdog. The sheep, sheepdog, or wolf analogy pisses me off because it exists mainly to boost the egos of those who carry firearms. Instead of merely being a man who happens to carry a firearm one can now think, “I’m a sheepdog, the protector of the sheep, I am what lies between the average man and evil doers in our society, I am Batman!” Using the analogy seems rather mastubatory to me, a way of making one’s self feel good.

Since I refuse to adopt the sheepdog nomenclature I must be either a sheep or a wolf, right? Wrong. I’m a human being, but if we’re going to use animal analogies I’ll take a page from the Free State Project and use the porcupine as my totem animal. Porcupines are great, they walk around foraging for food, and avoid starting shit with other animals. So long as you don’t attack a porcupine you’ll be OK but if you fuck with a porcupine you’re going to get a face full of wrath filled quills.

The most important part of self-defense is mental. Even if you have a quality firearm with the skill to utilize it you’re likely to lose if you’re not in the game mentally. Thinking of yourself as a sheepdog put you in, what I believe to be, a bad mental state. Instead of merely being out to protect you and yours you’re now assuming responsibility for others. Putting yourself in harms way is the opposite of self-defense and I believe it to be poor form to adopt an attitude of being a guardian to everybody else. Don’t be the sheepdog, be the porcupine.

Reasons to Carry a Gun

Why do I carry a gun? Because 20 to 1 odds aren’t good and the police are often useless even if they’re already at the scene:

A trio of cyclists were biking down Nicollet Mall about 7:45 p.m. when a group of men at a bus stop suddenly approached them and started throwing punches. One of the bikers was left with a broken jaw; another was beaten but sustained less serious injuries.

The incident happened right in front of Minneapolis police, who chased the 15 to 20 suspects and ended up arresting one adult and several juveniles. It was the fifth “flash mob”-style attack since the beginning of February.

Even the most well training martial artist is going to find themselves in a bad situation when facing 20 angry attackers. Make no mistake, getting mobbed by 20 people is life threatening. In such a situation your only hope of self-defense really becomes a firearm. I almost always have a firearm on me, even when I’m riding my mountain bike. You never know what kind of danger you might be facing from wild animals to a gang of assholes. What’s even more worrisome is the incident mentioned in the story is the sixth such case since February:

• Feb. 3: 9:25 p.m. at 7th Street and Nicollet Mall. Several suspects, one displaying a handgun, assault a group of five young men, ages 18 to 19. No serious injuries or arrests.

• Feb. 20: 2:22 a.m. at 119 N. 4th St. Six to seven young men, one with a handgun, threaten and then assault a 28-year-old St. Paul man, taking his cellphone and leaving him with face and torso injuries that did not require hospitalization. No immediate arrests.

• Feb. 25: 2 a.m. at 413 Nicollet Mall. Suspects assault two men, ages 22 and 25. Neither victim required hospitalization. No immediate arrests.

• March 11: 8 p.m. at 6th Street and Nicollet Mall. Four men, ages 21 to 30, attacked. Two bikes stolen; one recovered. No hospitalization or arrests.

• March 17: 11:45 p.m. at 90 S. 7th St. Two men, ages 23 and 27, are attacked. The younger man is seriously injured and admitted to intensive care at Hennepin County Medical Center.

It seems mob violence is getting more common, something not too surprising in harsh economic times. Another thing to note is that the first two listed incidents involved a member of the attacking mob being armed. When people ask, “Why do you need to carry a gun?” you can answer them with stories like this. A firearm can tip the scales more towards your favor and they give you an option to defend yourself against an otherwise superior attacker (or attackers as the case may be).

Have an Escape Plan

The government of Greece passed their proposed austerity measures leading, unsurprisingly, to some rather nasty rioting:

Demonstrators set buildings ablaze and fireballs lit up the night sky in Greece’s capital on Sunday amid widespread rioting before a historic parliamentary vote on harsh austerity measures designed to prevent the country from going bankrupt.

The clashes erupted after more than 100,000 protesters marched to the parliament to rally against the drastic cuts, which will ax one in five civil service jobs and slash the minimum wage by more than a fifth.

At least 10 buildings were on fire, including a movie theater, bank and cafeteria, and looters smashed dozens of shops in the worst riot damage in years. Dozens of police officers and at least 37 protesters were injured, and more than 20 suspected rioters were detained.

This is what we refer to as an “OH SHIT!” situation. Basically these are situations where things have deteriorated to such a degree as to make escape not only desirable but necessary. Many gun bloggers talk about the importance of having a bug out bag (also known as a bailout bag or a get the fuck out of town bag). A bug out bag is simply a bag that contains enough supplies to keep you going for 72 hours or so.

When the topic of bug out bags comes up people often scoff and claim the person talking about it is paranoid. Paranoids are just people with all the facts. Bug out bags are made for situations like those happening in Athens now. Who wants to be hanging around a city full of angry rioters burning down buildings? Nobody but the rioters. Having an escape plan is always a good idea because you never know when things are going to deteriorate to a point that makes sticking around dangerous.

People of Detroit are Realizing Police are Ineffective

What happens when the police fail in their duty to protect the populace? The populace gets armed for their own defense:

Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And they’re offering no apologies.

I say good on the people of Detroit for defending themselves. Detroit suffered from massive economic collapse due to their over reliance on the automobile industry and when the economy goes bad crime rises. When the crime rises the police are usually the first to run and hide in the safer parts of town leaving those living in the poorer parts of down in a position where they must defend themselves. The anti-gunners would rather these people be dead than have a means of defending themselves against criminals.

The Fallacy of Passively Resisting a Rapist

I’m not sure who started this trend but some asshole decided it was a good idea to advise woman to “passively” resist rapists. That advice follows the “just give them what they want and they’ll go away” mentality except in the case of rape what your attacker wants is you. I use the word passive in quotes because passive resistance isn’t resistance in the case of rape. When you become passive you’re still surrendering and once you’ve surrendered control to an attacker you’re situation is entirely lost. A friend on Facebook posted a link to a research paper titled Fighting back works: The case for advocating and teaching self-defense against rape.. The most interesting statement I found in the study was the following:

A thorough review of the available literature has led us to some surprising conclusions about the effectiveness of traditional anti-rape advice. Women are often advised to use non-aggressive strategies against sexual assault (Storaska, 1975; Channing L. Bete Co., What every woman should know about rape, 1989; Channing L. Bete Co., What women and men should know about date rape, 1989). Research suggests that this is poor advice. According to one study (Zoucha-Jensen and Coyne, 1993), women who used non-forceful verbal strategies, such as crying or pleading with the assailant, were raped about 96% of the time. In the same study, women who did nothing to protect themselves were raped about 93% of the time.

“Passive” resistance actually slightly increased a woman’s chance of being raped. To me this makes sense as rape is about power, not sex. By crying and pleading you’re giving the rapist what he wants, which is to break your will and force you to submit to him. On the other hand bullet holes, stab woulds, and/or a collapse trachea are great at stopping a rapist. In fact forceful physical resistance has the best chance of stopping a rapist:

Forceful physical resistance was an extremely successful strategy. The completed rape rate dropped to between 45% and 14% when the rapist’s attempt was met with violent physical force (Kleck and Sayles, 1990; Siegel et al., 1989; Ullman and Knight, 1992; Zoucha-Jensen and Coyne, 1993). Striking was more successful than pushing or wrestling (Quinsey and Upfold, 1985). Physical resistance also appears to be more effective when assault occurs outdoors (Quinsey and Upfold, 1985).

That’s a pretty large drop from the 96% of completed rapes followed by passive verbal resistance. On top of that women who forcefully resist a rapist stand little chance of additional injury:

Second, this argument overlooks the fact that a woman who does not resist is virtually guaranteed to suffer the emotional and physical injury of the rape itself. Even when resisters are injured, the injury is typically much less severe than a completed rape would have been (Kleck and Sayles, 1990; Marchbanks et al., 1990; Siegel et al., 1989; Ullman and Knight, 1991). Of those 40% of resisters who suffered physical damage, only 7% suffered injury as severe as a dislodged tooth. A woman who fights back incurs no demonstrable chance of additional injury, but she gains a 55-86% chance of avoiding rape altogether (Kleck and Sayles, 1990).

The last sentence is most telling, while a woman’s chance of injury goes up negligibly her chance of getting raped dropped dramatically. In addition the physical and emotional damage done by rape is almost always going to be far greater than damage received during forceful resistance. Did I mention woman who used firearms or knives stood a phenomenal chance of avoiding a rape:

Women who used knives or guns in self-defense were raped less than 1% of the time. Defensive use of edged or projectile weapons reduced the rate of injury to statistical insignificance (Kleck and Sayles, 1990).

As I said bullet holes and stab wounds are very good deterrents.

Self-defense classes are invaluable not just for the training in proper fighting methods but for mentally preparing people for self-defense situations. Many people do freeze up when they’re being attacked because they’ve never been taught the proper actions to take in such a scenario. Being able to fight back is only one part of the battle, you must also be willing to fight back.

If you’re one of those unfortunate people who believes passive resistance is the best way to handle a rape situation please do yourself a favor and read the linked paper.

You Could Have Saved Yourself 15 Minutes of Grief

The front page of the Red Star had one of those rare featured self-defense stories. The story was likely featured only because the would-be victims were able to defend themselves without the use of a firearm… after 15 minutes of being terrorized by a crack addict while the police were nowhere in sight:

Two young couples were watching TV Saturday afternoon at the Bloomington house they share when they heard a dog bark, and then a woman scream.

Suddenly, a desperate-looking stranger burst into their house.

The man, later identified by police as a suspected bank robber and fugitive on a crack binge, bounded up the stairs into their living room. Brandishing a screwdriver and claiming he had a gun, he ordered them onto the living room floor.

“Everything happened so fast,” one of the victims said later.

Then the intruder demanded a car. For 15 long minutes, the victims tried to appease him.

The families could have saved themselves 15 agonizing minutes, minutes where they were at the mercy of their assailant. How? Easy, they could have had a gun and shot the bastard as he burst into their home. Instead the two families remained entirely defenseless while the police didn’t respond:

In the upstairs living room, the three others were calling police.

When you have a crack addict taking a hostage waiting for the police is not a viable option if you want to ensure your continued existence. In this case the crack addiction slipped up and gave his would be hostage a window to find a weapon and defend himself but that isn’t always the case. While it’s good that nobody important was hurt (sorry but a piece of shit who breaks into somebody’s home ceases to be important in my book) the situation would have been much quicker resolved had one of the family members been able to shoot the bastard. Remember when you call the police it will take them minutes to arrive if they decide to come at all.