“You don’t need to be able to shoot the length of three football fields to defend your front porch, I’m sorry”
BY Herschel Smith
1 month, 2 weeks ago
At about the 3:50 mark.
Okay, you can be sorry. I don’t care at all. Your sorrow also has no impact on my God-given rights. Also, you have no idea what a man needs to be able to do to defend his family, herd and hearth. By the way, three hundred yards is nothing. Every man should be able to shoot three hundred yards.
On February 15, 2026 at 11:40 pm, Dan said:
Actually you might need to be able to defend your place out to a thousand meters….because if you can’t someone capable of accurate shooting at that distance can sit out at a Klick and pick people off one by one.
On February 16, 2026 at 1:53 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
Re: “You don’t need to be able to shoot the length of three football fields to defend your front porch, I’m sorry”
The individual quoted at 3:50 lapsed time into the video, clearly does not understand the purpose of the Second Amendment or the intent of the Founders in writing it.
The Second Amendment (hereafter 2A) does not mention hunting, although many of the Founders were avid hunters. It does not mention competition shooting, although many of them also participated in such contests. Nor does the amendment mention crime or the role personal firearms can play in its amelioration – although of course the Founders were well-aware that possessing a firearm did much to protect one from the ravages of crime.
The 2A was written with the amelioration of tyranny in mind. The Founders intended that a well-armed, well-trained and regulated (i.e., well-trained and equipped) people would be a final bulwark against tyranny of the kind the colonists has so recently suffered at the hands of King George III.
When the new republic was founded, the Continental Congress quickly authorized the formation of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, cognizant of the role they would play in safeguarding a new maritime nation with sea lanes, ports and many miles of coastline to defend.
The Founders also established the U.S. Army, but owing to the recent experiences of the colonists having ‘His Majesty’s Redcoats’ quartered in their homes, the leaders of the new nation – being somewhat ambivalent about large standing armies – elected to keep the U.S. Army small, at least at its inception. However, the idea was also that this small core was to remain highly-professional to serve as a nucleus around which much larger reserve and militia units would form in times of need.
The Founders intended that the people themselves acquire and maintain their skill at arms such that it would be equivalent to that of the army of the time. In line with that thinking, many militiamen owned rifles capable of accurate fire at 200-300 yards, which was the typical limit of long arms of the time for aimed precision fire.
But as any student of military history and/or firearms technology knows, near-constant innovation since that time has seen the engagement ranges possible by regular infantry soldiers lengthen by leaps and bounds. By the turn of the 20th century, it was possible – even expected – of a well-trained infantryman that he be capable of using an iron-sighted, bolt-action smokeless powder rifle to engage individual/point targets at distances up to 600-800 yards away.
In the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st, the philosophy and doctrine of ground combat has changed somewhat for a variety of reasons, but experienced riflemen still speak of the “infantryman’s quarter mile.” The idea that a well-trained typical soldier or Marine can successfully engage an enemy soldier at 0-500 yards/meters, using his service weapon.
While it may be correct – at least for the time being – that it is rare for the armed citizen to need to be able to defend himself “three football fields away,” saying that it isn’t needed now isn’t the same as saying that it never will be.
And it is well to bear in mind that that while urban lines of sight and distances may be short as a rule, things are very different in rural settings, in which one’s mailbox may be one hundred yards or more away, and one’s property line substantially further than that.
In an age when drug cartel gunmen are as well-armed as professional soldiers, and possess high-tech gear and equipment, it seems only prudent that individuals who may be in danger of exposure to such hazards remain well-trained, well-versed and capable of whatever tools they need to protect their homes and families.
In S. Arizona, a scoped high-power rifle is a survival tool, every bit as necessary as a shovel or a flashlight. Not only for protection of your herd from four-legged threats, but your home, family and property from criminals and cartel paramilitaries. It is all very well to talk about DHS, Border Patrol, and the local Sheriff, but in many places, they can’t get there in time to help you if trouble comes.
This is the reality of life on the border.
On February 16, 2026 at 6:47 am, Chris said:
“The individual quoted at 3:50 lapsed time into the video, clearly does not understand the purpose of the Second Amendment or the intent of the Founders in writing it.”
No, I think the individual quoted at 3:50 knows exactly the purpose of the Second Amendment. Is he a soy boy, a useful idiot, or believes himself to be one of the communist elite? You decide.
On February 16, 2026 at 9:50 am, Rick said:
The video produced by a corporate affiliate of mass media, e.g. NEWS 5, is presented in the style of point/counterpoint. The pretense is to show ‘both sides’. A newsroom will always concoct a different side even where a different side is not likely. The created controversary is a method which sells viewership.
Here, the other side is presented as individual self-defense. This is quite peculiar since this subject was advertised as part of a series to allegedly explore the 2A.
Individual self-defense is now the present theme. No longer is the 2A contrived as being about hunting. Remember how up until recently, the counterpoint was to mention hunting. Now that that foolery has been beaten down like a baby Harp seal, the other side is now presented as individual self-defense.
Only the name has changed. The destructive intent of that other side, the structure of the argument and the infrastructure to support that other side has not changed.
On February 16, 2026 at 9:58 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Rick,
But they know the other side even if they try to hide it in “self defense.” That’s why the prof. of philosophy is so indignant – he is a statist.
BTW, I don’t consider him a real prof of philosophy unless he can go toe to toe with the likes of Greg Bahnsen, Gordon Clark, Alvin Plantinga, etc. Commenting on politics is a cheap substitute for engaging in real philosophy.
On February 16, 2026 at 10:21 am, Rick said:
Herschel,
very much so do they know their side. unchanged is the structure of their side. Only the name is changed. To that end, we can expect more articles, exposé, etc about ‘individual self-defense.
Notice here they ostensibly allow that self-defense is allowed, but they seek to put a limit upon it. (the law already does that: ability, opportunity, jeopardy, as necessary components) but the anti-gunners mean to go further.
Of the professor, he is a character actor only. A bit part at that. He is dressed as an egghead, the ostensible representation as Professor Know-It-All. But he comes off as a squemish nerd.
On February 16, 2026 at 10:31 am, Pat H. Bowman said:
He’s never been to my front porch. It’s 385 yards to my neighbors. Out back off the deck, it’s 1085. If I can see that far, someone out there can see that far. The soy professor should get out of the city once in a while and touch grass. Not that I particularly care what he thinks.
On February 16, 2026 at 10:48 am, george 1 said:
When Palantir, Elon Musk and the MIC deploy their killer robots and the order is one day given to start taking out the “enemies of the state” those higher power platforms might come in handy.
On February 16, 2026 at 12:14 pm, RHT447 said:
Didn’t watch the video. The flashing neon give away is the moment anyone tries to tell you what you do or do not “need”. Only proper response is, “Because this is still America, and I can”.
On February 16, 2026 at 9:23 pm, Ozark Redneck said:
Great posts guys as usual. @Pat, agreed, it is 318 yards from my deck to the locked gate at the end of my driveway…
On February 23, 2026 at 9:26 am, X said:
“Of the professor, he is a character actor only. A bit part at that. He is dressed as an egghead, the ostensible representation as Professor Know-It-All. But he comes off as a squemish nerd.”
He’s a nebbish Jew who thinks that you’re a Nazi and Trump is Hitler and has no connection to the American tradition of rebellion, frontiersmanship, pioneering and self-sufficiency.
The entire thing is a propaganda piece of Jewish and feminized hand-wringing and panty-bunching.
Just remember these people would have betrayed George Washington to General Howe just as Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ to Pilate. This country would not have existed at all if these type of people had their way.