Peace Through Superior Firepower

[Apdl]

this article is a very good read and something to pass on the anit gun folks on the edge
http://www.anchoragepress.com/archiv...umentae94.html
"
The other day I was sitting at Barnes & Noble sipping a Nutty Irishman. You may be thinking, "What a sexist name! How politically incorrect!" Which is sort of what I thought until I bothered to ask. It seems that a Nutty Irishman is a latté with Irish Cream and hazelnut. An Irishperson just has Irish Cream, no nuts. Thus, according to Lou, my favorite former barrista, the distinction is justified. I say he's a former barrista because he sort of got canned for pointing out that a blonde co-worker is a ditz. No justification available there. Anyway, as I'm sitting there reading, "Whores of the Court," a book about psychiatrists as "expert" witnesses, I noticed a man with a gun protruding from beneath his jacket. I don't think he realized that he was exposing his pistola, although he probably should have caught on to the fact that everybody in the store was staring at him like a razor blade in a room full of hemophiliacs. Lou rushed over to my table with a look of distress. "Isn't it illegal for him to carry a gun like that?" he asked. "Why, no," I explained. It's perfectly legal to carry a gun on the outside of your clothing. Even though this guy may think his gun is concealed, it's not, and that makes it legal. The problem, obviously, is that people stare and it injects all of the nasty connotations of gun into every situation into which this man walks.
Giving the man the benefit of the doubt, I explained to Lou that, even if the gun were concealed, the man probably was carrying it legally. Alaskans can get a concealed handgun permit with a minimal amount of effort. All you have to do is be a law abiding citizen, 21 years old or more, and meet a number of legal criteria which most people who have never been arrested will easily pass. You are required to fill out an application, take and successfully complete an approved gun safety course, pay an exorbitant fee, submit a set of photos and fingerprints, and voila! Within a few short weeks, you are licensed to pack heat in most of your favorite public places.
That sort of alarmed Lou. "You mean that there could be many people walking around this store with guns hidden under their coats?" he asked nervously.
"God! I don't want some weirdo with a gun around me!" he snapped.
"The problem is," I retorted, "that unless responsible, trained and law-abiding folks are allowed to carry guns, the only people who will be carrying guns will be criminals. That's what I like about Alaska. By and large, Alaskans own, understand and respect firearms. They use them responsibly and with restraint. I take great comfort in knowing that if I'm in danger of severe physical injury or death, there is likely a well-armed Alaskan nearby to aid and assist. Would it be tragic if a citizen killed another? Yes. Would I feel bad? Not really. I would only regret that the criminal gave the law abiding citizen no other choice, and that the criminal forced someone to take an action that nobody should ever be forced to take. Killing sucks, but it's better the innocent citizen refuse to be victimized than that she be slaughtered or raped out of an ignorance or paranoia about weapons."
"But aren't you afraid that one of the people with a gun might use it when he shouldn't?" Lou asked.
"Very. It's a painful truth that many crimes are committed by people who would qualify to carry a concealed handgun. I see it all of the time. Usually it involves an argument that gets out of hand and the consumption of alcohol. Often it involves drugs. But those crimes would, for the most part, happen with or without concealed handgun permits. The sorts of crimes I'm worried about, like muggings and robberies, usually occur in an entirely different environment and under different circumstances."
"What about people who you don't know? Do you know what I mean? Strangers who cut you off at night because you passed them too fast, or who don't like the way you looked at them when you were in the check-out line. Put a gun in their hands? No way!" Lou argued.
"I couldn't agree more. I don't want them carrying a gun, but then the theory is that these types will have exposed their flaws to the system long ago and will have made themselves ineligible to carry a concealed gun or to own one at all. The only alternative is to ban guns altogether, and that would mean that cops and robbers are the only ones with guns. That's unacceptable and illogical."
"I want to reiterate, however, that the law allows a person with a gun to shoot another person only when that person reasonably believes the use of deadly force is necessary for self defense against death, serious physical injury, kidnapping, sexual assault in the first or second degree or robbery in any degree. You can't use it when you were the initial aggressor, if you provoked the conflict, or you were engaged in illegal mutual combat unless you have withdrawn therefrom and effectively communicated the withdrawal to the other party and the other party keeps illegally attacking you. You also have to retreat from a situation before you use deadly force where you actually know of a completely safe retreat route and you can do so in complete safety to yourself and others, unless you are in your own home or on premises you own or lease and you were not the initial aggressor.
When it comes to defending another person, the rule is that you can use deadly force when you reasonably believe, under the circumstances you observe, that the person you are defending could use deadly force themselves. If you see two people arguing loudly in the park and one of them pulls a butcher knife on the other, it would suck to shoot him or her only to find out later that they were practicing a one act play. You'd probably be justified, but it would still suck. That's why you need to be damn good and sure of what you are doing, and that you try like hell to get the police involved first."
Lou looked shocked. "I thought you were the liberal guy in your law firm! I read what you said about the death penalty! You even support lesbians' rights!"
"I said I was for the death penalty, but that it doesn't work and that we are not equipped, as a species, to handle the responsibility of handing out death sentences. I'm not liberal, I'm logical. The evidence is squarely in my corner, just like on this issue. Guns are not bad, people are. If there is a bad person committing a bad act which creates a risk of serious injury or death to me or somebody else, for crying out loud if you can't get away in complete safety, shoot them! I'd rather read a headline like "Mechanic Blasts Would-be Robber" than "Robber Slays Mechanic, Gets Three Years" any morning. As for the lesbians, you missed my point. All people deserve equal treatment under the law, and it's hypocrisy in the nth degree to deny any two people the legal status of marriage based solely upon their gender."
"So, killing on the street is OK, while killing by due process isn't?"
"Are you nuts? Even though we're ultimately talking about killing, you're really comparing apples to oranges. The use of deadly force has to do with the prevention of a life shattering intrusion into your reality or that of another. The death penalty is about retribution and faux deterrence after the fact ... way after. If you shoot a robber it's presumably because you feel there is no option other than becoming a statistic. That has nothing to do with prejudices or inflamed passions like a death penalty deliberation does."
"Geez!" Lou whined. "You don't have to get all worked up over it!"
"Taking lives is serious business. You can't afford to be knee-jerk in any direction on the subject. My partner's position on the death penalty was knee-jerk, and look how silly, irrational and illogical it looked. Careful thought reveals that concealed handguns are not inherently bad. On top of that, I feel safer with them than without them. Just because they're allowed, it doesn't mean you have to carry one. But the first time you or someone you know becomes a victim, ask yourself whether or not an armed person could have changed the outcome.""

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[Ed Ely]

Good read!.

Do you have any idea where the slogan,
"Peace Through Superior Firepower"
came from?

Ed

[Apdl]

good questiong well after 15 min of online research..

I have noting
help please

[Ed Ely]

"Peace Through Superior Firepower"
was the slogan of the Strategic Air Command
(SAC), USAF in the late '50s and early '60s.

Ed

[The Knight Of Light]

Hmmmmm........


Alaska.........

[titus_1133]

I spent the last couple of summers there working in the middle of BFE on top of a mountain looking for gold. Interesting place and even more interesting people.
What you have to remember about Alaska is that if your a woman and going there to meet a man then the odds of you finding a man are pretty good. Conversely, the good will be pretty odd.

[Pegasus3c]

Good post. It was also our unofficial motto in Bosnia.

[Krackels]

Good Read!

[Apdl]

Originally Posted by Ed Ely

"Peace Through Superior Firepower"
was the slogan of the Strategic Air Command
(SAC), USAF in the late '50s and early '60s.

Ed

woot good job