Back when the bullying thugs of the “National Gun Victims Action Council” were trying to organize their failed attempt at getting people to boycott Starbucks, one of the favorite rallying cries of the anti-rights cultists was, “Why would you ever need a gun in a coffee shop!?”
Well, I do not know about you, but I would consider a violent mob of 25 anarchists wielding metal pipes to be a sufficient reason to be concerned about my continued safety and air-sucking.
One can make a few interesting observations about this particular event, leading with the obvious fact that 25 armed anarchists were incapable of causing any damage to a Starbucks storefront. If that is not just straight-up “sad”, I do not know what is.
Secondly, this took place in New York City, where the anarchists knew they would be safe from any armed response from their intended victims. Metal poles are more than sufficient to cause grievous bodily harm and death, so if they had managed to break into the store and started attacking people, self-defense in the form of deadly force would be more than warranted, but in the city wide “gun-free zone” victim-disarmament zone of NYC, the criminals in this case were safe. I wonder if the anarchists in Texas or Tennessee would be willing to attempt such a thing?
And, finally, while I more than concur with The Survival Mom’s recommendation to be aware of events such as the sixth annual “Book Fair”, by the same token, it is not my responsibility to try to keep track of the goings-on of all violent, abusive, and dangerous groups and entities in my immediate area, and it would be borderline impossible for me to accomplish such a feat. As such, always have a plan and a means of executing it, whether that plan consists of going out the back door (you do know where the external doors of establishments you visit are, right?) or putting a quarter-ounce of lead in the first mob member who swings your way with a metal pipe.
As this incident, the recent George Zimmerman disaster, the apparently ongoing “fail” that is the “Occupy movement”, and other similar events are showing us, violent mobs are a very real, very modern threat despite the incessant claim that we are a “civilized” nation. Of course, the perversely amusing thing about this situation is that as more and more mobs get violent, we will have more and more ammunition – pun intended – for the continued legalization of normal-capacity magazines – after all, when faced with 25 people with metal pipes, I would sure as hell rather have 35 rounds of ammunition than 21.
Your safety is and always has been your responsibility, and in these days of increasing strife, you really have to wonder why some people want you forcibly disarmed and defenseless…
Yeah, but were they anarchists, or “anarchists”? Or even Anarchists?
Re: the Starbucks/Mob observation. Heaven help us all if SB ever decides **** it we’re evil and calls out the loyal drinkers to protect their shops. Next thing ya know we’ll have coffee zombies shambling all over NYC. “Laaaaaaaaattteeee….”. “Frapuciiiino……”. “Biiiiisscottii…” etc…
25 people — why would anyone ever need a thirty round magazine ?
Cause some people need to be shot twice?
Makes a hell of a case for high capacity and/or additional magazines too.
@ Bob S.:
Doh should have refreshed, beat me to it lol
Yeah that situation might be rare, but we seem to be hearing about it more rather than less lately.
25 people…
I’m thinking a crew-served, belt-fed machine gun with a change of barrels handy.
Dang, now I may have to rethink how to carry even more ammunition for my shotgun.
[...] herd will not save you and Just another data point. Mobs are dangerous even when they’re not trying to kill [...]
Anybody worth shooting once is worth shooting twice, IMO.
If only somebody sold a bandoleer of disposable, pre-loaded 1911 mags – say 10 to a bandoleer – shoot and dump – I think I may have a business idea…
your link is busted, here’s a better one:
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/17457272/local-starbucks-attacked-by-a-mob
Apply generous servings of 12-gauge buckshot by SBS Saiga 12.
Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
But I state the obvious, as usual.
@ bluesun: Honestly, my only distinctions would consist of “threats” and “facilitators”…
@ Matt Fenn: “Keep the mobs at bay or no double-foam mocha-latte extra-milk monstrosity venti thingie for you?” Heh.
@ Bob S.: Most reputable self-defense schools and instructors consider “twice” to be the minimum number of times you should shoot a threat, given the relative inefficacy of handgun rounds. “Shoot until the threat stops” takes over after that.
@ Pyrotek85: Bah. I beat you both to it in the post, I just used the right term
.
And, yeah, we are hearing more about these kinds of “events” more and more… I only heard of it through Survival Mom, but that it was covered there at all says something.
@ Braden Lynch: The good news is that a mob of that size is probably below the critical threshold of mass – once you tend to one or two threats, the rest will probably reconsider their options. But when we start counting with three digits, the math gets more… troublesom.
@ Ted N: Ammo is cheap. My life is not.
@ DirtCrashr: Chewbacca-style for 1911s? I could dig that…
@ AntiCitizenOne: Yeah, another observant reader caught me too… no idea what happened to the old link, but it has been updated. Thanks!
And, sadly, since SBSes are not technically handguns, I cannot carry the Saiga loaded in public in TN. A handgun-receivered Draco is legal, but, as a certain moron has shown, it is a Very Bad Idea (TM).
@ MAJ Mike: Unfortunately, a disturbing number of people do not seem to grasp the obvious.
[...] will be Linoge’s writing on self defense and Mob Mentality, and of course the Secret service’s affinity to [...]
[...] This week we featured two posts from Linoge: The herd will not save you and Just another data point. [...]
[...] people’s actions, on the basis of the former. On the other hand, if I am ever faced with 25 pipe-wielding thugs trying to bash through a storefront’s windows and assault the customers, you can bet your ass I want as many rounds on me as I can possibly [...]