Letter in the Dallas Morning News

[numist]

A great big thank you is in order for Jim Longley for his well written letter to the editor in todays Dallas Morning News. Very well done!

[longtooth]

Someone needs to get that pasted in here for us.
Good job Jim./

[numist]

After much goings round and round on their website, I found it and here it is:

Guns aren't to blame

Re: "Guns not solely to blame," by Jacquielynn Floyd, Tuesday Metro.

Since when are guns to blame at all? Did they do this on their own?

It doesn't matter where he bought them, it doesn't matter why they were so easy to get, nor is there a way to keep guns out of the hands of the "potentially disturbed" unless you want the 1984-type society where everyone is considered guilty for life, from birth.

Why were all those people confined in an unsafe gun-free zone so that massacring them would be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel?


We have ample recent evidence that people bent on going out in a blaze of glory have learned that our government and schools have provided them with ideal areas for their murderous rampages, where people can't legally defend themselves.

We have only to look at the situations involving Jeanne Assam and Mark Wilson to see that armed citizens can make a difference in these attacks, if only they are allowed to.

Jim Longley

[txmatt]

Good one, Jim

[Texasdoc]

1+

Thanks Jim, well written and so TRUE.

[jimlongley]

Thanks, guys.

Of course it got edited on the way to publication, leaving out the requirements for purchasing a firearm in IL, but the best parts made it.

I'm going to post a copy on the bulletin board at work and see what kind of reaction that draws.

[Wildscar]

Good work there Jim.

[Rokyudai]

As long as it isn't a Dilbert cartoon...that stuff can getcha' fired!

[Skiprr]

"Thank you," to my NRA life membership sponsor.

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

Strong work, Jim. Proud of you for getting that out there for us!

[jimlongley]

As long as it isn't a Dilbert cartoon...that stuff can getcha' fired!

I also got a Pluggers cartoon recently - at least I provided the idea, Brookins drew it.

http://www.pluggers.com/pluggers/daily. ... 2Fpluggers

Since I work at Home Depot it has been prominently displayed.

[Hyunchback]

Of course it got edited on the way to publication, leaving out the requirements for purchasing a firearm in IL, but the best parts made it.

Gee, why am I not surprised?

Amazing how many "journalists" want to keep avoiding facts that show that anti-gun laws NEVER work to prevent crimes. "Hey, I'd love to include your complete documentation but, hey, we don't have space for that. We may have to leave out mentioning whichever celebrity was spotted not wearing undergarments."

To admit that bad guys get guns no matter what the law says makes all those editorials calling for tougher gun laws look pretty stupid.

[DoubleJ]

Jim, you're my hero.

that cartoon is great. hafta send that to my dad!

[thejtrain]

Guns aren't to blame

Re: "Guns not solely to blame," by Jacquielynn Floyd, Tuesday Metro.

Since when are guns to blame at all? Did they do this on their own?

It doesn't matter where he bought them, it doesn't matter why they were so easy to get, nor is there a way to keep guns out of the hands of the "potentially disturbed" unless you want the 1984-type society where everyone is considered guilty for life, from birth.

Why were all those people confined in an unsafe gun-free zone so that massacring them would be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel?

We have ample recent evidence that people bent on going out in a blaze of glory have learned that our government and schools have provided them with ideal areas for their murderous rampages, where people can't legally defend themselves.

We have only to look at the situations involving Jeanne Assam and Mark Wilson to see that armed citizens can make a difference in these attacks, if only they are allowed to.

Jim Longley

Great stuff Jim, congrats!

The bolded section brought this to my mind. It's all about learning and who/which side can learn the tactics of the other side and implement cross-measures faster (which is a never-ending back-and-forth). Think back to 9/11. On 9/10 the conventional wisdom was that a hijacked plane was nothing more than a container of kidnapped people, to be ransomed or perhaps killed to make a statement. By 9am on 9/11 the entire citizenry learned that this was no longer the case, that the people on the plane were no longer the target, but control of the plane itself and where it goes. And the people on United 93 said, "Nuh-uh, we're not going to sit still and take it," and they changed tactics (from sheep to heroes). In doing so, they made it very clear that we as a citizenry had learned very quickly what the terrorists' new tactics were and changed their willingness to continue to play by the old rules. They made it clear that no plane would ever, EVER again be hijacked with freaking box-cutters. I applaud the passengers of United 93 for learning so quickly and implementing the new anti-tactic so effectively. Which in turn educated the terrorists that the tactic that was "new" on 9/11 was now "old" and would no longer be effective (hence, as far as I'm aware, no plane anywhere in the world has been hijacked - even attempted - w/cutting implements).

Shift that process over to mass shootings in "gun-free zones". There was one a few decades ago, then there was another about a decade later, then another and another, until the present day where we see four in different states in the span of a week (I think). Obviously the perps have learned what is effective and where it is effective. The perps and the protectors have also been treated to a few very explicit lessons on what can make the perps' tactics even less effective - New Life Church in Colorado Springs being the most recent. What I think this means is that the perps will be even more exclusively targeting what they know are gun-free zones. What it also should mean is that it should positively indicate to all of the non-perps among us (gun-grabbers included) what exactly it is that makes these guys target these zones - it's the very gun-free-ness of them! Unfortunately, as shown from the gun-grabbers' propensity to dismiss Jeanne Assam as a "security guard" or "former cop", this has not yet been the case.

Given the proximity in time of these most recent four shootings, it seems clear to me that the perps are learning faster than the antis. Hopefully it won't take the body count rising too high ( Chas. Cotton) to make 'em start learning.

JT