I find myself citing gun owners’ civil rights authority Stephen Halbrook, Esq. for the second time in only a few weeks.  The man has argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. When Halbrook talks, the wise listen.

17 COMMENTS

  1. We have natural law, the Second Amendment, hundreds of years of precedent, modern crime statistics, modern studies of states which have adopted “shall issue” laws, and even about 20 states which practice Constitutional Carry, recent Supreme Court decisions as well as many brilliant defenders like Stephen Halbrook on our side of the gun debate. Even so, millions of Americans are still deprived of their civil rights. Freedom is a VERY precious and rare jewel.

    • We in the pro-freedom crowd have natural law, common sense, facts, logic, reason, history, statistics, academic studies, research, and SCOTUS decisions on our side.

      The anti-freedom crowd has d!ck jokes.

      Unfortunately, most in government have a middle-school clique-ish mentality; they are more likely to listen to the jokes as justification for keeping us “normals” out of their special club of people whose lives are worthy of defending.

  2. Stephen Halbrook is, as usual, right on point.

    The artificial environment of the big cities, like New York, breeds left-wing thinking. People in these cities are isolated from nature and are often isolated from real world consequences. The fantasy world created by Hollywood, media propaganda, and classroom indoctrination is more “real” to them than actual reality. This insanity, this loss of touch with reality manifests itself in several ways.

    First, you see these leftists push for policies, like open borders, de-funding the police, early release of hardened criminals from prison, failures to enforce rule of law (except against their political opponents), that are not only counter-productive but are actually destructive of society.

    A second manifestation is their loss of belief in objective truth. Prohibitions against lying and deceit mean nothing to these people. They are so embedded in their fantasy world that they believe that they can literally shape the world with their spin and propaganda. They believe that they can remake reality to match their political fantasies.

    Let me provide an example. Due to a comment in an earlier blog, I recently went back and re-visited the NYPD Use of Force Reports (AKA Firearm Discharge Reports). These can be found at the following link:

    https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/reports-analysis/use-of-force.page

    Notice anything about this page? The last report posted was for 2019. There is no report posted for 2020. Why not? After all, we are already eight (8) months into 2021. The data for 2020 is all complete. There has been plenty of time to put the report together. Normally, it does not take this long to post a new one.

    Why the delay? My best guess is that the report looks too bad to post. It is so bad that the leftists can’t figure a way to spin it. They don’t gave enough lipstick to make this pig look good. Given the street violence, that the leftists PROMOTED AND ALLOWED TO HAPPEN in the blue cities during the 2020 Election Year, I bet shooting incidents went through the roof in 2020.

    I bet that Mayor De Blasio has held up the posting of the report because he knows that it will make his administration, and the Democrat Party, look bad. There is no problem in holding it up since the sycophantic media will never question it or push for its release.

    We may never see another “Use of Force Report” published by the NYPD. About the only way would be for a Republican Mayor to be elected again. A slim chance given the leftist machine in operation in NY City.

    You see my point? The leftists reject reality. If the latest reports says stuff that they don’t want to hear, why then, just bury it. The leftists can lie by omission just as readily as they lie by commission.

    • “The leftists reject reality.” There is nothing which makes that more obvious than their assertion that men can menstruate and get pregnant.

      Breaking the American people to their halter is as simple as forcing people to accept their obvious lies as obvious truths.

      Like their lie that only disarmed people are safe from violent crime.

    • Esteemed TN_Man, the nypd use-of-force.page looks then at least temporarily shot down. How disappointing! That is some sizeable pdf. Glad I don’t have any more to read. My favorite part is the “Shooting Technique” section, though. Can’t help but think of Gene Autry shooting back over his shoulder via mirrors. Could help explain some tragic “friendly fire” incidents. One of my friends was wounded in a leg by a buddy in Vietnam with a grenade from an M-79 that miraculously did not detonate, although it flew far enough to arm. After my friend got out of the hospital he never let any of his fellow soldiers get behind him. A policy the nypd police might practice if they don’t already. Just a friendly suggestion.

      • The most interesting section of the 2019 report, for me, is this paragraph on Page 34:

        “Uniformed members of the service discharged a total of 286 rounds during ID-AC incidents in 2019, a 167.3% increase compared to 2018 when 107 rounds were fired, a 68.2% increase compared to 2017 when 170 rounds were fired, and a 40.2% increase compared to the 204 rounds discharged in 2016. This increase was driven by three incidents that accounted for 48.6%
        of total ID-AC rounds fired, or a combined total of 139 of 286 total rounds fired. Forty-seven of the 54 members of the service who discharged their firearms during ID-AC incidents in 2019 discharged ten rounds or fewer.”

        You see what this is saying? In 2019, the NYPD got into a total of 28 incidents of armed conflict with criminals. Just three (3) of these engagements accounted for 48.6% of ALL ROUNDS fired total! Almost half of all rounds fired!

        This goes to a point that I have long tried to make. Most people think that a gunfight is a gunfight. That there is basically only one type. This is gravely (no pun intended) mistaken! There are two (2) types of gunfights. These are: (1) a sustained firefight with a heavily armed and determined opponent and (2) a defensive engagement whereby one is shooting briefly and quickly in defense of oneself or others.

        A Type 1 Firefight will consume a lot of ammo and may result in multiple deaths or injuries. A Type 2 Defensive Engagement will likely be over with very few rounds being fired and generally few (if any) deaths or injuries. All the famous incidents that one hears about, the infamous FBI Miami Shootout of 1986, the North Hollywood Shootout of 1997, were atypical firefights. They are freaks in the world of law-enforcement rather than the norm.

        If you graph the average number of rounds fired, per officer, for the NYPD over time (I have done this), you will see that the averages bounce around wildly from year to year. Some years the average number peaks high. Some, it drops low. What causes this? The answer is Type 2 Firefights. In some years, the NYPD does not have a single Type 1 firefight. Every single engagement for that year was defensive. In other years, the NYPD may have 1, 2 or even 3 firefights. This causes the average number to peak high.

        For example, in the years 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018, the NYPD had defensive engagements only. These are years with low average round counts per officer. In contrast, in the years 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2019, the NYPD had anywhere from 1 to 3 firefights included in the mix. This drove the average counts higher for those years.

        Overall, from 2007 to 2019, the NYPD fought 13 firefights out of 471 total engagements. So, firefights make up less than 3% of NYPD police combat engagements. In other words, roughly 1 gunfight out of 36 is a firefight for the NYPD. The other 35 are all defensive engagements.

        This goes to a point that I made in an earlier blog post. For the military, a Type 1 firefight is routine. For the police, it is rare but it does happen on occasion. For a civilian concealed-carry holder, it is so rare as to be non-existent. Therefore, the police need to be equipped to deal with the rare firefight when it occurs. However, a civilian should focus his training and equipment on surviving a pure defensive engagement. He is wasting training time and resources if he plans to engage in a Type 1 firefight. If he selects his carry firearm and ammo-load based upon the expectation of facing a Type 1 firefight, then he will be “over-gunned” with respect to the amount of armament that he truly needs. Being over-gunned may not bother some people but, if all that ammo and equipment becomes a burden such that you leave it at home rather than routinely carry all that stuff, then you may find yourself without any firearm at all when one is critically needed for self-defense.

    • “For a civilian concealed-carry holder, (A Type 1 firefight) is so rare as to be non-existent.”

      That argument would sound a lot more reassuring if I wasn’t the guy who, whatever line I get into at the supermarket, the register will run out of tape or some such. 😉

      • @ larryarnold,

        Don’t be worried about your bad luck. Your luck would have to be truly bad to end up in such a firefight. Just consider the odds for a NYPD Officer:

        In 2019, the size of the NYDP consisted of 36,397 officers according to the 2019 Use of Force Report. Yet, of all those thousands, only 54 officers managed to get themselves involved in a shooting incident with a hostile human (I am excluding dog shooting, suicides, negligent discharges, etc.).

        Therefore, in 2019, only 1 officer in 674 had to use a firearm in an “Defensive or Armed Conflict” engagement. Only 7 of the 54 found themselves in a Type 1 Firefight. Therefore, the odds of being in a Firefight were 1 in 5,200.

        Not as rare as being struck by lightning or winning the lottery, I grant you, but still pretty rare.

        Assuming a 20 year career as a NYPD Officer, which is about the limit according to the story below, the odds of getting into a gunfight over one’s entire career would be about 1 in 27. In other words, 26 out of 27 NYPD Officers would work their entire career without ever ending up in a gunfight with another human being.

        https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/nyregion/most-police-officers-retire-after-20-years-or-move-up-the-ranks.html

        Of course, the odds would vary depending upon your job. A SWAT Officer would have higher odds. An Evidence Technician would have lower ones. The figure quoted above is an average.

        Now, those are the odds while working for a major police department in a major city. What are the odds for a civilian who tries to keep his nose clean and stay out of trouble? Maybe his odds would start to rival those of getting hit by lightning or winning the lottery.

        As Mas says, a carry gun really is a piece of emergency equipment like a fire extinguisher. You keep it available “Just in Case” but the odds are that you will never need to use it.

        Certainly, the odds of a civilian getting involved in a Type 1 Firefight would approach the “Winning of the Lottery” Figure. Only it would be Bad Luck rather than Good! 🙂

        So, be of Good Cheer! As they say in the Hunger Games, “May the odds be ever in your favor”.

  3. One aspect of banning open carry I have rarely if ever seen discussed: in most of the country it is impossible to open carry during the winter and impossible in all of the country during the summer if one is wearing a raincoat, or anytime while wearing a business suit or sport jacket.

    Unless we are to return to wearing bandoliers over our clothing, open carry simply is impractical as a sole legal means of carrying arms.

  4. “You can’t make this stuff up.” – Stephen P. Halbrook

    Unfortunately, they can. And they do. With impunity. I pray these out of control judges, courts, legislators and their paid for lawyer mouthpieces do indeed get “reined in.” The people have put up with this for FAR too long.

  6. The ACLU has, in the past, compelled release of the Firearms Discharge Report. No doubt they’ll manage to get the latest Use of Force Report released. Eventually.

    That said, it does take some time to assemble the stats and suporting documentation, gin up the draft report, get buy in from all the stake holders and put out the final product. Uh, forgot getting the lawyers to go over it. This can legitimately take time. If creative writing is involved it can take more time, as can reclassifing incidents to a more palatable level. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report is a well massaged document, but the massage ususally takes place at the local level.

    How much time can be variable. NYPD typically includes some thumbnail details on certain incidents. I’ve read a couple that could spark some spirited speculation on what actually happened. I’ve read some root cause evaluations on non-NYPD incidents that could have won Nebula (science fiction) Awards. Apparently, alternate universes where the laws of space & time are different actually exist and can bleed into ours.

    Analysis of the SOP-9s (individual firearms discharge report) at the internal training level can be a valuable tool. When the compilation gets turned into a politically charged item, it’s pretty much lost it’s initial purpose.

    • I would “lay odds” that the 2020 NYPD Use of Force Report will not be released until AFTER the 2021 Mayoral Election which is scheduled for November 2, 2021.

      De Blasio and the Democrats will not want to do anything (like release this report) that would give the Republicans any ammunition to use in the upcoming race. I am sure that the ACLU will understand and “play ball” with this move.

      Maybe it will be released after the election when it can’t do them as much damage. Certainly, if the Republican Candidate were to be so lucky as to win, he will see that it is posted. It will be proof that he needs to take strong steps to re-establish “Law and Order” in NYC after De Blasio and the Democrats have driven it into the ground!

  7. When Warren Wilhelm Jr. was elected Mayor of New York, they said the city would disintegrate.

    I had no idea it would only take 18 months for Giuliani’s New York to devolve to New York 1975 as a direct result of ‘bail reform’ and the elimination of ‘qualified immunity’.

    Congratulations New York. You got exactly what you wished for and far more importantly what you voted for.

    • Cold Pizza,

      Well said! In 1987, Florida legalized “shall issue” concealed carry permits. This was a radical thing to do in 1987. The Left wrote that there would be “blood in the streets” as Floridians gunned down each other as a way of settling disputes. At the time, there were carjackings of rental cars, because they had markings on them to show they were rentals. The criminals figured they were being driven by visitors on vacation, easy targets, with plenty of cash. Of course, Florida has a lot of senior citizens, who are vulnerable to criminal attacks. We all know what happened. Carjackings and crimes of all sorts went down, I believe. Certainly, the predicted Wild West “blood in the streets” never happened as a result of the new gun laws.

      But what do we see in NYC? There is more “blood in the streets” than there used to be. Why? Not because of some new gun law which recognizes the Second Amendment right to carry a gun, but because a Democrat, elected twice by Democrat New Yorkers, defunded the police, and told them to do less policing. De Blasio is soft on crime. “Blood in the streets” is a result of rule by Leftists, not a result of following the Second Amendment, and the natural law to be able to defend oneself. New Yorkers are idiots. Most of the people who live in cities are idiots. The evidence is clear. The Democrats’ policies result in more crime, more misery, more poverty, and yes, more “blood in the streets.” The Democrats hurt the poor, who they claim to help. The rich are able to move to safer areas, probably areas where Republicans are in office, not Democrats.

      The only time “blood in the streets” is a good thing is when one gangbanger kills another gangbanger. That reduces crime in the future. Of course, if they “spray and pray,” then innocent bystanders can be hurt. So, it is better for all if the police can reduce even gang on gang violence. This is what the NYPD did when Giuliani and Bloomberg were the mayors. NYC knows how to reduce crime. Instead, they prefer to follow the tenets of their religion.

  8. Like the virus mask or vaccine mandates or marijuana use employment policies, economics could straighten everything out.

    If Amazon can’t employ enough people who pass marijuana screening, they drop the policy. If a store with a mask policy notices a drop in sales, they quickly drop the policy.

    Eventually if people won’t go to the cities due to safety concerns and inability to defend themselves, they will adjust too and just not show up.

    BTW, hope you enjoyed the Olympics. It could be the last. If f viewers can’t relate to ‘wokeness’ in the athletes representing them, advertisers can’t relate to a 50% drop in TV ratings and revenue either.

  9. This is (somewhat) off-topic but I still thought that it was interesting and (sadly) educational. See this news story:

    https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2021/08/08/stand-your-ground-doesnt-apply-if-you-leave-and-come-back-n48552

    If the facts as reported are correct (who knows until the trial is over?), then this is a prime example of what NOT TO DO after a self-defense incident. If accurately reported, then this guy acted stupidly.

    I would “lay odds” that this guy never attended one of Mas’ classes. It looks like he had little or no training at all. Maybe his brain was not working correctly due to blood loss? Either that, or this guy allowed himself to be driven by pure emotion.

    In any event, if one is involved in a self-defense incident, DO NOT emulate this guy!

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