I’m sure you’ve seen the video of the armed St. Louis couple, and I’m sure you’ve seen lots of jawing on both sides.
A few points.
1. The mob broke down a gate, trespassed and threatened the couple.
2. They had every right to defend themselves.
3. For the sake of basic gun safety, they should not have pointed their weapons at anyone, or put their fingers on the triggers.
4. If you were confronted with a mob like that, you would want an assault rifle, or a substantial weapon with a large magazine.
I’ve always had a distant fondness for St. Louis as a sports town, which in my mind still wins out over its infamy for levels of violence ranking with Detroit. At least they know hockey, and I was really happy for them when they won the Cup.
I was even considering picking up a Battlehawks jersey. Once again, my procrastination saves me!
Meet me in St. Louis.
Yeah, those owners were idiots in how they handled their firearms. I have sympathy for them. Never bought much into the argument that we need the 2A so that we can fight the government. An AR-15 against armored vehicles and Apache helicopters isn’t going to get you very far.
However, I do feel more strongly about it for home defense. Having a house about 2-3 blocks away at most from the Tulsa protests, I can see where someone could use an AR-15 and 100 clip magazines. I don’t have a problem with protests, but then they devolve into looting and property damage. My wife and I were gagging on pepper spray when we took the dog out for it’s last bathroom break of the night of the protest near our house. After the a-holes started smashing windows in businesses, the Tulsa PD deployed pepper spray to try and get the people to disperse. It was 11:00 at night. No more theoretical good was going to come. Just idiots with too much time on their hands looking for something to destroy.
Personally, I’d almost like to see a business owner or a PD with a flame thrower. BBQ someone and that will put the fear of God into looters–contra what I might have said ignorantly on twitter. BBQ the whole couple first rows and they’ll be running the other direction.