Remember the terrorist wannabee that shot up the train in France, only to be beaten into unconsciousness by three Americans?
This news article reports that the crew of the train barricaded themselves in their staffroom when the shooting started, and refused to help as passengers banged on the door and begged for aid.
Police in Boston, Massachusetts claim to have foiled a pair of misfits who threatened to kill attendees at the Pokemon World Championships, which was held just this past weekend.
Seems the event is by invitation only, and the two were slated to compete in the Masters Division. They drove to Boston from Iowa, and tried to enter the convention building the day before everything started. Police were waiting, and turned them away.
It took a few hours, but police then obtained a search warrant that allowed them to check the interior of the car the two were driving. They found guns and ammunition, as well as a lone hunting knife.
Since the state of Massachusetts has some pretty restrictive gun laws, the authorities were then able to arrest the pair. Near as I can tell their offenses were that they had magazines for the AR style rifle which could hold more than ten rounds, and they didn’t have licenses for their guns which would allow them to transport them inside the state.
The police say that they foiled a mass shooting, saving a bunch of innocent Pokemon players from the attentions of some depraved terrorist wannabees. But what did the pair do to justify such harsh claims?
Well, for one thing, they had been so incredibly stupid that they posted a picture on Facebook of the weapons they were bringing with them to the convention.
Police also pointed to a single line where one of the two doofi said they were going to kill the competition.
I don’t know, this seems to be pretty weak tea for the police to be high-fiving each other and crowing about how they stopped a mass slaughter. They have to take every threat seriously, and they did good work, but I don’t see the slam dunk they claim.
Couple of gamers want to play tough guys, so they take their guns with them when they go to the big city for a convention. They try to get inside the convention hall the day before the event so they will know where everything is before the swirling crowds get on the way. And no one in history has ever posted something unwise on Facebook?
One factor that gives me pause is the rather large ammo cache they brought with them. Kind of an excessive amount of gun food if all they were doing was an ego stroke, but it could be that they were worried about being caught in more race riots.
On the “innocent prank gone wrong” side of the scales, the police found the guns and ammo inside the car when they served their search warrant, not inside the hotel room where the gamers were staying. Wouldn’t they want their murder tools to be close if they were planning on killing innocents by the bucketfull?
Keep in mind that I agree with the actions of law enforcement. These two morons from Iowa took guns into a state which boasts one of the heaviest infestations of anti-gun freaks in the nation, and they bragged about it on the Internet! The cops are there to enforce the law, not to pick and choose which laws will be upheld. The suspects have only been charged with weapon offenses, not intent to commit terrorist acts, which is exactly what one would expect if the authorities were playing it straight.
That having been said, I think that there would have to be a lot more evidence of a plot to commit mass murder before I’d sign on to the idea that the cops foiled an active shooter event in the making. Maybe they have such evidence and it never made it into the press release, but right now it looks like the police are bigger braggarts than the people they arrested.
For the person who wants their front door to say “GO AWAY!”
My oh my! Ain’t that the prettiest thing ever!
Of course, I’d never carry something like that around for my own personal defense. It would be locked up at home, only to see the light of day if I was going to a formal dress ball or costume party.
So what would I carry about my person so I would be a hard target for evildoers?
Not fancy at all, but really serviceable. Try to attack James and you get the chop-chop!
Swords are not the only thing to get the bling treatment.
My oh my! Ain’t that the prettiest thing ever! All that gold leaf and mother-of-pearl grip panels and all.
I bet the gun is fully functional, but I would still never carry it for defense. My personal arm would look something like this.
Hmmm. Looks like I need to give the old warhorse a good cleaning!
A reader had heard the term “safe queen”, and was wondering what that was. It refers to guns that are never used, and are instead locked up in the gun safe.
Fancy firearms with engraving and hand wrought grips are but the most common examples. It could be a antique bought as an investment, a rare gun that the owner wanted to acquire because they thought it was neat, or even a plain-jane gun that once belonged to a beloved family member that is kept for sentimental purposes. The reasons are legion, with the only common trait being that the guns are squirreled away and almost never used for their intended purpose.
If someone talks about a safe queen it is usually in a tone of derision and scorn. It is not a polite thing to say about another person’s firearms, unless they use the phrase first.
It seemed to be yet another crazed gunman looking to kill as many innocent people as possible. The venue for the attack was a movie theater known for their anti-gun policy, which would ensure plenty of helpless victims.
The suspect was reportedly well armed. He had a gun, pepper spray, and a hatchet.
He was also carrying two backpacks, and no one knew what was tucked away inside.
So all of the basic elements were there for an active shooter who had spent months planning his hellish last stand, but the details rang false.
The movie had been out for months, long enough for interest to wane, and was shown at 13:00 hours (1:00 PM). Only seven people were in attendance.
The suspect started to attack other people with the pepper spray and hatchet, but didn’t shoot anyone. Although one patron suffered a hatchet wound on the shoulder, and a total of three were doused with spray, everyone managed to run out of the theater without getting killed.
It makes sense that he wasn’t trying to shoot anyone because he wasn’t armed with an actual firearm. The gun he had was an airsoft toy, a gun that shoots soft plastic pellets.
A lone police officer entered the dark theater after the terrified ticket buyers made their escape. He initially reported that he exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
This might seem rather odd to some. Wasn’t the suspect shooting off a toy?
It was indeed a toy but some of them are made to make a fairly loud noise, which aligns with the goal of making the replica as realistic as possible. The noise produced is not as loud as an actual firearm, but that little detail would probably be lost if one thought they were in a life-or-death situation.
The officer left the theater, other officers took up positions at the rear of the building in case the suspect tried to leave by the back doors, and the SWAT team was called in. They apparently gave the suspect many chances to give up, but he refused to cooperate. He was finally killed by officers outside when he tried to leave by the aforementioned back doors with a backpack strapped to his chest.
It looks to me like the police did the best they could under the circumstances. Surprising no one, the suspect turns out to be a mentally disturbed young man with a long history of bad behavior. Goodness only knows what was going through what was left of his mind, but it appears to me that he was given multiple chances to accept the help he needed. The pity is that nothing worked.
I was watching a few YouTube videos where the subject of dual wielding swords was discussed.
The consensus was that it certainly was a very prevalent technique back in the day, but it was useful only in very limited circumstances. There was a reason why people didn’t haul around two swords all the time.
So what about dual wielding handguns? Do I address this in my charity course?
Most of my students are, shall I say, of a certain age.
They tend to be extremely down to earth. Practical, realistic, logical.
This is generally not the case with younger students. Instead of a wealth of past experiences to draw upon to make decisions about the real world, they tend to filter reality through what they have seen and done on their computers.
That is why I sometimes get questions about dual wielding.
