Without Firing a Shot
From Geeks With Guns:
When someone asks, "Why do you need assault rifles, machine guns, and other weapons of war?" The answer is, because the government has them. -- John P.
Nicholas D. Kristof at the New York Times -
Chicks With Guns 
- Mr. Kristof bemoans the first collegiate
chapter of
Second Amendment Sisters at Mt. Holyoke College in central
Massachusetts. He goes on to quote irrelevant statistics and state
unfounded conclusions. He obviously hasn't read John Lott's book,
More Guns, Less Crime. Actually, I haven't read it either. One
day...
Our desire to defend ourselves from terrorism by buying firearms will mean, almost certainly, that thousands more Americans will die in the years ahead from gunfire. It's not terrorism, but it should be terrifying.I have seen lots of commentary on this article since it appeared on Thursday. I was going to ignore it, knowing the dismal chances of getting my response printed in the Times, but it appeared in The Berkshire Eagle, a paper out of Pittsfield, MA, just ten miles from my house. They changed the title to "Beware chicks armed with guns." I sent the following letter to the editor. A bow to "hunter" at the Project: Safe Skies mailing list for the pantyhose idea.
Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 16:13:44 -0500
To: letters@berkshireeagle.com
From: "Bill St. Clair" <bill@billstclair.com>
Subject: Letter to the editor
I was dismayed to see in the Feb. 9 issue Nicholas Kristof's article bemoaning the creation of a Second Amendment Sisters chapter at Mt. Holyoke college. I salute those women for taking their defense into their own hands.
Unless you're rich or a senator, or both, and can pay for or have us tax slaves pay for your 24/7 body guards, the only practical and effective way to protect yourself from criminals is with a handgun. That goes double for women.
Why is it that Mr. Kristof would rather see a woman raped and strangled to death with her own pantyhose than for her to defend herself with a handgun? Of course he doesn't think that's what he's saying, but that is the effect of his philosophy.
All the laws and all the statistics in the world won't help you one bit when a man twice your size attacks you, but a small gun in your pocket will, usually without firing a shot.
Bob Shimizu at Guns & Ammo Magazine - A Rifleman Went To Gunsite - one man's experience with Jeff Cooper's "General Rifle" class.
Although Col. Jeff Cooper is the recognized father of the Modern Technique of the Pistol, many are unaware that he's a rifleman first and foremost. In fact, during his tenure as owner of Gunsite, the class he most liked to teach was "General Rifle," sometimes known as the "270" course.
Current Gunsite owner, Owen "Buz" Mills, has revitalized the school with the intention of modernizing the physical plant and expanding and improving the course offerings. It was only natural that Mills would seek the counsel of Col. Cooper, who was cautiously positive toward the new regime.
In due time Col. Cooper agreed to teach a certain number of General Pistol and General Rifle classes each year under a program known as the Master's Series--so named for the quality of its instructors, and the Colonel himself, who does all the lectures. Gunsite is one of the few places in the world where people look at you strangely if you don't have a gun, and it was with happy anticipation that I drove to Paulden last September to attend the General Rifle class
Walt Brasch at CounterPunch - The Patriot Act and Free Speech: The Fiction Behind National Security - the f.b.i. is investigating people's book purchases this week, and, thank to the new "anti-terrorist" legislation, they'll arrest store owners if they don't comply, and pronto. What's a business to do? Don't keep records, that's what. Keep nothing to show them. [kaba]
Among its almost innumerable provisions, the Act reduces judicial oversight of telephone and internet surveillance and grants the FBI almost unlimited, and unchecked, access to business records without requiring it to show even minimal evidence of a crime. The FBI doesn't even need to give the individual time to call an attorney. Failure to immediately comply could result in that person's immediate detainment. The federal government can now require libraries to divulge what books patrons check out, video stores to reveal what tapes customers bought or rented, even grocery and drug stores to disclose what paperbacks shoppers bought.
Erich Pratt at Gun Owners of America - British Subjects Beginning To Rethink Gun Control - at least one writer in the London Daily Telegraph is expressing doubts about Great Britain's gun ban. Mr. Pratt reminds us that the U.S. had similar problems during the 1992 riots in L.A. [kaba]
To be sure, the pictures of Korean merchants defending their stores left quite an impression on one group of people living in Los Angeles: those who had previously identified themselves as gun control advocates.
Press reports described how life-long gun control supporters were running to gun stores to buy an item they never thought they would need -- a gun. But alas, they were surprised (and outraged!) to learn there was a 15-day waiting period upon firearms.
The situation was truly outrageous. The state of California could not protect these people, but in the same breath, it was not letting those same citizens protect themselves.
