Texas – -(AmmoLand.com)- There is only one reason why the tragic shooting at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, wasn’t even more tragic: At least one parishioner at the service that was attacked by a gunman not only had the courage to act, the parishioner had the tools to effectively protect the congregation.
In other words, the would-be mass shooter, who had a lengthy criminal record that disqualified him from even touching a gun under the provisions of 18 USC 922(g), was not the only person in that church with a gun. The death toll of innocents was kept down to two. Contrast that to some known gun-free zones. You can probably think of the places where the horrific incidents took place without much prompting, where the death toll was much higher.
Let’s face it: The anti-Second Amendment extremists will want this incident to fade from the collective memory of America, and many in the media will help them do precisely that. You have to admit, if you were in their position, you would want the West Freeway Church of Christ incident to be forgotten, too.
Why? Because it exposes their lack of concern for public safety, and instead reveals that they just want gun bans. When Vice President Biden attacked Texas Governor Greg Abbott for signing the legislation that removed churches from being gun-free zones back in September, he revealed how little concern he had for the ability of law-abiding Americans to protect themselves. He clearly either does not know or does not care that when seconds count in a situation like the one the West Freeway Church of Christ faced, cops are only minutes away.
This isn’t the only mass shooting prevented by someone exercising their Second Amendment rights. The FBI, in a series of reports covering mass shootings from 2000-2018, noted that armed citizens stopped those incident. One notable case was the Clackamas Town Center incident, where a concealed carry permit holder named Nick Meli stopped a mass shooter without firing a shot. You’ll note the media rarely talks about that, either.
But how do we replicate the legislative success that led to an untold number of lives being saved this past Sunday? Well, it’s stuff that has been said before, but it needs repeating: We need to persuade elected officials to pass that legislation. In addition, we need to persuade our fellow Americans to, if not support pro-Second Amendment elected officials, then to at the very least not consider support for the Second Amendment as a deal-breaker.
Doing that, though, requires a lot of work. It requires an honest assessment of the situation. Determine what can be achieved in that situation. You need to think about the appropriate strategy and tactics. Understand the opposition and be ready to counter their moves. Carefully consider the approach you will use, be mindful of how it comes across, and build relationships with local media to reduce the risk of a poor portrayal in reports. Note the recent guidelines the Virginia Citizens Defense League sent out for their upcoming Lobby Day.
This is simple common sense when we are trying to get anti-Second Amendment laws repealed. Unless, of course, you think that VCDL has gone “Fudd” or is “capitulating” to anti-Second Amendment extremists. The fact of the matter is that gains made by Second Amendment supporters in removing gun-free zones in the wake of this incident will likely be limited not by the conniving of anti-Second Amendment extremists but instead from poorly-thought out advocacy on Second Amendment issues.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
No Harold, we do not think the VCDL are being fudds or capitulating. YOU are a fudd who has advocated for capitulation and appeasement time after time. YOU Harold are a traitor who has defended and even promoted infringements against the Second Amendment as produced by the NRA over the decades as necessary. YOU are a slimy, lying little weasel of a boy who is upset because we here at ammoland have chosen to reject your bull crap. You are not a defender of the Second Amendment, you are a Benedict Arnold and we are never going to listen to… Read more »
Thank you so much, Revelator!
Harold misrepresented what VCDL advised.
The ‘Long Guns’ advice pertains to carrying inside the building where the legislators are located. VCDL is not advising persons from carrying outside.
Notice how Harold embeds his own links for self-support.
Not helpful.
@Mack Yes, and it wasn’t hard to see off the get go. VCDL when you read their site is saying a lot of what I have been cautioning people to do while being non compliant. Harold’s goal here was to use them as a shield to protect himself from criticism, and the misrepresentation he gave to VCDL was directly contingent on this. There is a reason when I call him a liar and coward I can state that it is a fact and not mere opinion. 🙂 It’s also why more than a few of his articles contain references to… Read more »
All ‘gun control laws’ are anti-Constitutional. That is, they attempt to bypass or nullify the Constitution. Any ‘law’ not in 100% harmony with the Constitution is null & void. When Americans obey the un-Constitutional ‘gun control laws’, they tell the tyrant they will accept any oppression and will accept those oppressions gladly. When Americans kneel and lick the hand of the tyrant ( as when they obey un-Constitutional ‘gun control laws’), they tell the tyrant they will NOT stand up and fight for their God-given Rights and that the government may take their Rights at will. Government is NOT the… Read more »
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they… Read more »
We’re overdue.
Every day it feels more necessary.
It’s like a broken record, it all sounds good until the last few paragraphs, where your specious reasoning is taking us right back to this strategery baloney. Your (and NRA’s) idea of tactics and strategy are what have put RKBA advocates in this weakened state! Infringements are now all too common. Consider where we’d be now if we had never given the gun-banners an inch.
Harold, please do the RKBA a favor and just go away.
Harold, I have been carrying a firearm for the last 43 years and the lack of “legislative permission” didn’t have much influence on whether and where I carried. But, you do you, Harold.
Haronld Harold Harold You take the mindset of a small boy who, being afraid of things that go bump in thenight, along with the monster in the shed, has been duped into believing that if he waves his little flag with the figures “2A” in red letters, the scary thing will go away. You think it is the “Second Ammendment” that “saved many lives” that day and place. GET THIS Harold: the “Second Ammendment” did NOT “save one life” last weekend. Nope. Consider instead what has led directly and causally to the incident itself: the traitourous refusal of GOVERNMENT to… Read more »
The media is again separating a private citizen who used a firearm to stop murder from all other private citizens. Here the citizen who shot the murder is described as a member of a trained security team, as opposed to simply an armed citizen. This to imply the same credentials as police officers or private licensed security guards. The media is not the only source of this distraction as many site it as the justification to be armed.
What should also be acknowledged here is the necessity of training in dynamic situations. The excellent Appleseed program while fixed rifle positions still puts you through some stress exercises that can be very revealing. In this instance not only is pistol marksmanship required given the distance but some panicked individual is standing up between the sheepdog and the wolf.
First of all, what Harold fails to mention, is that Jack Wilson was not the only church member with a firearm, at least 5 others carried and drew, Jack was just the first to get a shot off. I heard a liberal, panty-waist, pitiful excuse for a man, comment that only because of Jack’s background and training was the bad guy put down and that “all” the people he encountered at the shooting range (more like on a video game) were more dangerous to themselves and others. I wondered right off if the guy wasn’t related to Harold. “Poorly thought… Read more »
YMMV, however, when I am ANYWHERE, I am armed, in a ‘gun-free zone,’ or not. If there is some high tech screening of every individual, or even some pat-down operation going on, I won’t be there. Those (not)protected zones are nothing but an invitation for ‘double-digit’ killings, and I refuse to be some helpless sheep, believing I am safe because ‘no guns are allowed.’ That county fair shooter went under or through the fence, not through any ‘entrance’ to gain access to ‘his’ shooting gallery! If I am ‘required’ to be in some ‘gun-free zone’ that monitors individuals, I only… Read more »
@Firewagon
Haven’t seen you in a while. Happy new year.