Articles by Herschel Smith

We recently discussed the new S&W Performance Center 686.  Jeff Quinn gives his take.

Christianity Today:

“I think gun control proponents are misguided in trying to persuade others of their position in the way they usually go about it,” said Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, in The Washington Post.

“There are not two sides here about whether shootings should be stopped, laws enforced, and criminality punished, but rather two sides about whether gun control is a prudent way to carry out those common goals.”

Earlier research by PRRI showed that evangelicals were the only religious group “in which a plurality (40%) say that putting more emphasis on God and morality in school and society is the most important thing that could be done to prevent future mass shootings.”

Evangelical leaders have stronger feelings about addressing gun violence through legislation, according to a survey released by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in August. Most denominational heads and ministry presidents surveyed own a firearm themselves, but 55 percent agreed gun laws should be stricter.

“Evangelical leaders have nuanced views on guns,” said NAE president Leith Anderson. “They accept the Second Amendment, but also deeply grieve when weapons are used to take innocent lives.”

Moore told Religion News Service (RNS):

I don’t think that any gun control measure that I’ve seen would be effective in addressing these issues.

I hold to conservative views on the Second Amendment, but I don’t hold to my views here in the way that I would something clearly revealed in Scriptures. I certainly don’t hold to those things the way that I would the fundamentals of Christian doctrine and ethics, which is why I have very close co-laborers in Christ who are proponents of gun control. They haven’t persuaded me of that, but I don’t see them as being on another “side.” We both are looking toward the same goal.

No, No, NO, NO and a thousand times NO!!  We are NOT working towards the same goal and we are not on the same side.

One side wants to enable people to perform their God-given duty of self defense and defense of loved ones, neighbors and family, and the other side wants to turn to the state, the usurper of God’s providence, for cradle-to-grave protection and security.

I saw the ridiculous statement from the NAE (National Association of Evangelicals), which is anything but evangelical, when it first came out, and I thought it was so stupid that I didn’t bother with it.

And yet for some reason I simply don’t understand, they apparently think they represent evangelicals in America and get press accordingly.  From nuclear weapons disassembly to being pro-immigration and pro-redistribution of wealth, and being anti-gun, the NAE is a shill organization, worthless in every way, a mouthpiece for collectivist thinking draped in clerical accoutrements.  With the world collapsing around them, the best they can come up with is to have a “racial reconciliation Sunday.”

Ignore them.  And carry a gun at all times.

The Legal Intelligencer:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that a former Pennsylvania State Police firearms instructor who allegedly disregarded multiple safety measures and ultimately shot and killed a fellow trooper during training is not immune from a lawsuit brought by the deceased trooper’s mother.

A three-judge panel consisting of Third Circuit Judges Cheryl Ann Krause and D. Michael Fisher, along with visiting Eighth Circuit Judge Michael J. Melloy, overturned an Eastern District of Pennsylvania judge’s ruling that former Cpl. Richard Schroeter was entitled to qualified immunity as a state employee.

Joan Kedra, mother of Trooper David Kedra, sued Schroeter for civil rights violations under the state-created danger theory. According to Krause’s opinion, Schroeter skipped over several safety checks, included checking to see if the gun was loaded, aiming at a person instead of at a target, and then pulling the trigger.

Eastern District Judge Eduardo Robreno dismissed the case and granted immunity to Schroeter on the basis that Kedra’s complaint pleaded only an “objective theory of deliberate indifference” or what a “reasonable official should have known because the risk was so obvious, which was not then-clearly established, and was insufficient to plead the clearly established subjective theory of deliberate indifference, i.e., that Schroeter was actually aware that his conduct carried a substantial risk of serious harm.”

Okay.  Very well.  But I feel certain that this wasn’t … ahem … due to the fact that a cop died rather than a regular person like me.  Right?

So let’s see this same standard applied to every SWAT raid where a baby gets blown to bits from a flash-bang, for every wrong-home SWAT raid, for every trigger happy goober cop who pulls a gun on a motorist, and so on the list goes.  You know, for those cases where someone other than a cop gets shot or dies.

Let me know when that happens.

The Sun:

Finland’s Muslim population alone could increase by more than four times, while the UK could see an increase of 2.65 times in little more than a decade, according to projections made in the study.

Around 6.3 per cent of the UK’s population is currently Muslim – compared to the percentage of 4.9 across Europe – with the country potentially reaching 17.2 per cent in the high migration scenario, to the Washington-based Pew Forum report suggested.

The report said countries like Germany and Sweden that would see the biggest growth in Muslim population, stating: “Countries that have received relatively large numbers of Muslim refugees in recent years are projected to experience the biggest changes in the high migration scenario.”

Under the highest level projections, one in five people in Germany would be Muslim by 2050, Sweden is expected to see almost one in three.

At least in the time of the Crusades, there was a Christian presence in Europe that bound the nation-states together enough to fight a defensive struggle against a common enemy.  Today that exists no more.

I recall asking a Dutch (who spoke English) about the legacy of Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper.  He had no idea who those men were.  I am also good friends with someone who visited the home and former classroom of C.S. Lewis, and the guide told him that the only tourists interested in Lewis were now Americans.  No one in England knew who Lewis was.

You’re looking at the end of Europe.  They want to resist, some of them, but they have no soul for it, no stomach, no foundation, no moral moorings.  Combine that with the narcissistic world view which neglects to reproduce, while the Muslims reproduce like rabbits, and they will be Muslim within our lifetimes, and that by force.

My biggest concern is that America isn’t far behind.

Unless you do this sort of thing every day – and I don’t – it pays to rehearse some of the basics.  These links are worth the study time today.

WRSA: Fighting in the Forrest

WRSA: Practical Marksmanship Lesson

WRSA: Practical Carbine Accuracy

M4Carbine.net: 5.56mm Trajectory

Sniper Central: .223 Remington

Sportsman’s Guide: Ballistics Charts

The Mercury News:

Correction: This commentary has been updated to correct the type of weapon used by the gunman in the Sutherland Springs, Texas, shooting — it was an assault rifle, not an automatic weapon — and by the hero who shot him — who also used an assault rifle, not a “single rifle.”

And that, dear reader, is all you need to know.  You don’t need to know that the formal definition of assault rifle includes selective fire.  Assault rifles aren’t machine guns, or something.

The most important thing you learn from this is that there is such a thing as the “single rifle.”  In the author’s world, anyway.

Perhaps we could get the author to drop by and tell us what that is.  If it’s more powerful in its awesomeness than an assault rifle, by God I must have one.

To the author, I would also like to know, “What color is the sky in your world?”

H/T reddit.

Prior:

• High Magazine Clips And The Shoulder Thing That Goes Up
• The Captain’s Journal » High Ammo Clips
• The Captain’s Journal » Automatic Bullets In Rapid-Fire Magazine Clips
• The Captain’s Journal » Duck Hunting With Bullets
• The Captain’s Journal » Guns, Accoutrements And Idiots
• The Captain’s Journal » The Fully Loaded Ammunition Cartridge
• The Captain’s Journal » The High Magazine Round
• The Captain’s Journal » Mother Jones On “High-Caliber Rifles”
• The Captain’s Journal » The 40-Clip Magazine

NYP:

Police holding a weapons amnesty were stunned after a man handed in Clint Eastwood’s MP40 machine gun he used in the film “Where Eagles Dare.”

Officers say the prop German sub-machine gun was dropped at a police station by an unnamed male who worked in the film industry.

He told cops the MP40 sub-machine gun was used by Eastwood in the movie while he was disguised as a Nazi.

It was handed in at the Bridgwater Police Station in Somerset.

In the UK, guns are highly regulated with handguns all but banned. Amnesties are regularly instigated by police wherein citizens can turn in illegal guns without facing penalties.

Richard Vise, evidential property and stores manager for the Bridgwater Police Station, said: “A man walked into the station claiming to work in the film industry.”

”He said the machine gun was used by Clint Eastwood in ‘Where Eagles Dare.’ He said it was a prop which we have since confirmed. It could be valuable.”

Vise added that the majority of guns will be destroyed.

I’m right here, others are here, but no, this idiot had to turn this in to the UK police to be destroyed.  Or played with by them.

Cue WiscoDave, who through his tears may say something like, “I’ve tried to live a good life. Been kind to animals, children and the elderly. This stuff never happens to me… sigh.”

Yea, I know.  I’m right there with you buddy.

Avoid, barricade, and whatever else.  A few twists on the “run, hide and fight” claptrap dispensed by the DHS and there you have the CMPD advice.

Police focused on tips like having an exit strategy and escape route planned. If you can’t immediately escape, barricade yourself in a room or turn off the lights to make the room look like it’s unoccupied.

Police also said that if you’re within arms-reach of the shooter, attack them from the neck up, go for their eyes and try to jam their gun.

Clergy members told Channel 9 that they’ll be working on putting together an action plan for emergencies. Many are also planning to secure their buildings by shoring up the doors and installing locks.

For more information, call 704-336-2310 or email crimepreventionunit@cmpd.org.

Not a word on anyone doing what they need to do, which is carry a weapon and be prepared to use it by spending time at the range.  Not … a … word.  Just wait until the super Ninja warriors get there to handle it.  Perhaps only a few people will have perished at that point.

Hey, CMPD, how will you handle it when scores of people perish inside a place of worship in Charlotte and you haven’t told them to be prepared to effect their own self defense?  Are you okay with that?

Oh, and I doubt your estimate of an average of five minutes to respond to an active shooter.  Prove it?

PJM:

Here is the full report.

First of all, I realize that nurses do not swear the Hippocratic oath like doctors.  Second, I do not believe in the concept of thought crimes.  I don’t want such an idea ever applied to me, and I won’t apply it to her.

Still, there is the notion of legal obligations and criminality that may have come from negligence or even intent, and so she should be investigated.  She has the right to think what she wants, but she doesn’t have a right to act on it if that means violating laws against persons.

Now that the individual has been addressed, think for a moment about how she got here.  The society enabled her, perhaps even persuaded her and encouraged her to think this way, to blame all evil in her universe on the white patriarchy.  Evil, problems, social ills, etc., are all a function not of individual choices she and her community makes, or of the moral conditions of the soul.  They are always and forever a function of someone or something else.

This is the condition wrought by modern education and the entitlement state.  It isn’t just that it steals from you and your family.  That would be bad enough, for we know from the Scriptures that the “Good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22), and how do you do that when much of your wealth goes to the state?  It’s worse.  In cases like these, she may have inflicted pain or maimed or even killed someone because of her attitude.

Ponder this for a moment.  If they tried any harder could they find a better way than things like this to foment a class war, race war, or culture war?  One is tempted to conclude this is their intention, yes?  Would you want loved ones to be treated by this girl or someone like her?  How would you ever know if the nurse treating you is someone like her?