Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Where Were the Good Guys With Guns at the Waco Gunfight

Guns dot com

Spend much time reading conversations about guns on the Internet, and you’ll come across a list of rules for a gunfight.  This is often tongue-in-cheek, though there’s a large measure of good advice contained therein.  But we need to add a Rule Zero:  If you know in advance that a gunfight will occur, don’t attend.

Think about that for a minute.  One of the extant rules is that the sooner you finish a gunfight, the less shot you’ll get.  Doesn’t that suggest that if you don’t get involved in the first place, you have a good chance of not getting shot at all?  Now this is not to say that we’re obliged to attempt to outrun a bullet.  Stand Your Ground laws address what happens when the gunfight comes to you.  But the answer to the question asked by gun control proponents is that private citizens aren’t police.  It’s not our job to go somewhere that crime is expected to occur.  We own and carry firearms to protect ourselves and our families, not to act like some comic book character, seeking out trouble in the dark corners of the big city.

Why weren’t we there?  We weren’t there precisely because we aren’t the people gun control advocates accuse us of being.  We aren’t looking for trouble.  We aren’t spoiling for a fight.  We’re just living our lives and working to improve the odds if a fight is imposed on us.

10 comments:

  1. "Where Were the Good Guys With Guns at the Waco Gunfight "

    If you mean the police, they were waiting outside and apparently shut the gun fight down pretty quickly. Or were you talking about non law enforcement types? Lets see, a bar with large numbers bikers from at least three different clubs that are known for violence. Then throw in the fact that in Texas, permit holders aren't allowed to carry in bars. Pretty much guarantees that no good guys with guns will be there even if they wanted to be. It sounds like just the place that most permit holders would avoid like the plague.

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    1. Maybe. But that's not the impression John Lott gave in his recent Ammoland article which I posted today. He was talking about the hero gun carriers who run towards the sound of gunfire in order to save the day. Surely in Texas there were some of them within earshot of the incident.

      What happened though is just like what happened in the Loughner shooting, which we've talked about many times. The guys nearby with guns pretended to not have them and looked the other way.

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    2. Oh, I should mention the discussion we've been having about Colorado's magazine limitation. It's a bad law which is ignored, according to Kurt, in the name of thwarting evil. Wouldn't the no guns in Texas bars elicit the same response from many freedom-loving Texans? Or is resisting a magazine ban noble while resisting a no guns in bars going too far?

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    3. "He was talking about the hero gun carriers who run towards the sound of gunfire in order to save the day. Surely in Texas there were some of them within earshot of the incident."

      As I said previously Mike, the police were already there when the fighting started. There's a big difference between intervening before the police get there and joining in after they are already there.

      " Waco police officers were already at the scene when the confrontation unfolded because they had anticipated problems as hundreds of bikers from at least five groups gathered at the shopping plaza."

      http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/us/motorcycle-gang-shootout-in-waco-texas.html?_r=1

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    4. "Wouldn't the no guns in Texas bars elicit the same response from many freedom-loving Texans? Or is resisting a magazine ban noble while resisting a no guns in bars going too far?"

      In Minnesota, where its legal to carry in bars, banning guns is entirely up to the business. And my policy is that I vote with my wallet and venues that post don't get my business. In Texas, the signs are a requirement for places that don't make more than a certain percentage from food. Maybe it's just that most people who carry respect private property, which is what a bar is.
      Since magazines that are illegal in Colorado are quite legal here, I have an adequate supply for the moment. As to the nobility of deciding to violate the law, perhaps considering how little effect the law seems to be having, maybe they should consider repealing it. Don't see it being something you can brag about, passing a law that nobody pays any attention to.
      It's also hard to look like a rebel when even the police don't seem to care if you do it. Though it does highlight the very low level of support that the law has both among the citizens and law enforcement.

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    5. The guys nearby with guns pretended to not have them and looked the other way.

      Actually, as has been pointed out more than once on this very blog, peaceable armed citizen Joe Zamudio--the one person (apart from the killer, obviously) we know was armed--did run to the sound of gunfire. He came from too far away to mitigate the carnage, but that can hardly be held against him.

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    6. And as I've pointed out numerous times, in Arizona were the good folks enjoy Constitutional carry, there would have been several people in the crowd with guns, none of whom did a damn thing.

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  2. Then throw in the fact that in Texas, permit holders aren't allowed to carry in bars.

    Isn't it only the most extreme, ass-backwards states that allow carry in bars? I never did give up hope for Texas. Still one of my favorite states. Too bad all of these droogs didn't drown in some flood. I guess the good guys with guns might have been the owner and the barkeep and maybe a few friends. But I would imagine that the gangs had already sufficiently intimidated them so that they did little or nothing to resist this onslaught. Give up the pussy. Make the money. Thank God the police were ready. This is a really sick subculture.

    It felt good to see all of those miscreants line up and go to jail. Stupid, heartless bastards.

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    1. "Isn't it only the most extreme, ass-backwards states that allow carry in bars?"

      You mean like Minnesota? Of course, while carrying in a bar is permitted, drinking alcohol isn't and can result in either a criminal charge or getting your carry permit revoked.
      The restaurant itself is getting some negative feedback also,

      "On Monday, breastaurant chain Twin Peaks announced that it would revoke the franchise agreement with the franchisee operating the restaurant following a clash between biker gangs. According to police and Twin Peaks corporate, the franchisee refused to work with Waco police attempting to preempt violence before the confrontation."

      http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wacos-twin-peaks-loses-franchise-143900429.html;_ylt=AwrC1DHiBWdVvAQAVB3QtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByNXM5bzY5BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

      And of course, the lawsuits have already started.....

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    2. I used to kid around quite a bit about guns in bars on this blog. "What'll it be, Shortie?" I guess it makes as much sense as it does to risk losing your driver's license leaving an establishment at 1:30 in the morning after hoisting a few. What a country.

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