http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/the_gun_control_movements_dangerous_incompetence.html
February 20, 2013
The Gun Control Movement's Dangerous Incompetence
By William A. Levinson
"Dangerous incompetence" means exactly that: ignorance, negligence,
and/or dereliction of duty that endangers human life and safety. A
medical quack who prescribes medications for patients he has never
seen, or without going to medical school and passing a licensing
examination, is a prime example. Equally dangerous incompetence, of
the kind that can kill people, pervades the gun control movement.
Dangerous Incompetence Regarding Armed Self-Defense
Senator Dianne Feinstein and Governor Andrew Cuomo, like any medical
quack who prescribes drugs for real or imaginary illnesses, think they
know how many bullets a person might reasonably need for self-defense
against one or more violent assailants. Feinstein thinks it's ten, and
Cuomo seven.
"Interview with a Gunfighter" by Front Sight describes, however, an
attack in which a senior citizen needed 11 rounds of .40 caliber to
stop two armed home invaders. Colonel Jeff Cooper's To Ride, Shoot
Straight, and Speak the Truth describes an incident in which eight
rounds of .380 automatic were required to stop a violent assailant.
Six rounds were not enough to stop a home invader who threatened a
woman and her children in Georgia (he fled the house and drove away
with five gunshot wounds), but he did not know his prospective victim
had run out of ammunition.
The voting public should trust the judgment of a professional law
enforcement instructor such as Massaad Ayoob over that of dangerous
incompetents like Dianne Feinstein, Andrew Cuomo, and the majority of
New York's Legislature, just as we should trust the judgment of
genuine medical doctors over that of quacks.
The cops are the experts on the current criminal trends. If they have
determined that a "high capacity" semiautomatic pistol and a .223
semiautomatic rifle with 30-round magazines are the best firearms for
them to use to protect people like me and my family, they are
obviously the best things for us to use to protect ourselves and our
families.
Ayoob also discusses the previously-mentioned shooting in which the
mother fired six shots for five hits, but did not stop the assailant.
Reckless Firearm Handling in an Official Video
We recently purchased the first season of "24" on DVD. The story plot
is engaging, but firearm handling is typical of Hollywood: the same
left-wing enclave whose often-mindless celebrities support attacks on
the Second Amendment. There is a scene in which Counterterrorist Unit
agents Jack Bauer and Richard Walsh point guns at each other because
they have not bothered to identify their targets as hostile first.
Hollywood does not, however, routinely employ real law enforcement or
security professionals for guidance on its productions. The Department
of Homeland Security, aka Department of Homeland Stupidity under the
Obama Administration, apparently doesn't either. "Options for
Consideration Active Shooter Training Video," for which ratings have
now been disabled because of almost universal negative reception by
viewers, depicts equally reckless and irresponsible firearm handling
by "police officers." One points a rifle at the innocent people who
are running from the active shooter, and another points his weapon at
a fellow "officer's" back during the building entry.
The advice given by the DHS video, which includes hiding under desks
as depicted in the Cold War "Duck and Cover" movie, could meanwhile
get people killed very easily. Here is how that advice worked out for
the Sandy Hook victims.
They found Lanza dead from a self-inflicted gunshot, and beyond him a
group of children huddled with their teacher, all dead. Nearby in a
bathroom another group of children huddled, also dead, CBS reported.
The bottom line is that the Obama Administration has propagated
dangerously incompetent material that can kill innocent people who
rely on it.
Smart Guns: Dumb Idea
The idea of smart guns that fire only for their authorized users is as
old as A. E. van Vogt's The Weapon Shops of Isher (1951). Advocates of
this idea need to distinguish between science fiction and reality.
Estimates of the fraction of police officers who are murdered in the
line of duty with their own weapons range from eight to forty-three
percent. (That is, of every 100 officers who are murdered, 8 to 43 are
shot with their own sidearm.) This is a strong argument for police
sidearms that only the officer, or his or her partner, can fire. As
far as I know, not a single law enforcement agency in the country
considers the technology sufficiently reliable to implement. A gun,
like any other piece of emergency equipment, must work when you need
it regardless of faulty electronics, electromagnetic interference, or
other factors.
The antigun camp has, meanwhile, embarrassed itself twice on the
similar issue of trigger locks. Maryland's former governor, Parris
Glendening, had to struggle to remove a locking magazine from a "safe"
handgun. Handgun Control Inc. lawyer Dennis Henigan excused his
failure to release a trigger lock with the words, "Even if a klutz
like me fumbles on the first try, the benefits of having a lock
outweigh the risks." Had he been facing a violent felon, of course, he
would not have gotten a second try. A person of character would have
agreed with the facts (the technology is not sufficiently reliable in
an emergency) instead of continuing to insist that he is right anyway.
How New York Arms Criminals
New York, which prides itself on having the most restrictive gun laws
in the country, also cases homes and apartments for burglars who want
to steal firearms. New York handgun permits are public records that
are accessible to any criminal with Internet access. The state has
therefore abused the privilege of requiring a permit to own (as
opposed to carry) a handgun by knowingly, willfully, and recklessly
endangering the safety of the permit holders while helping to arm
criminals in the bargain. This sounds like a strong argument for
Federal "gun safety" legislation to void New York's handgun licensing
laws, Illinois' Firearm Owner ID (FOID) registration law, and similar
laws in other states.
Guns Don't Kill People: New York's Paroled Killers Kill People
Gun control advocates cite the Bushmaster "assault rifle" that William
Spengler used to ambush two emergency responders in New York as yet
another reason to ban weapons with high capacity magazines. The
Bushmaster was, however, merely the tool that Spengler, with New York
State as his accomplice, used in his crime. Spengler used a hammer to
kill his grandmother in 1980, allegedly because she wouldn't give him
money for drugs. If New York had not allowed him to plea-bargain for
first-degree manslaughter, he would still be in prison and the
firefighters would still be alive.
The only difference between Andrew Cuomo, Dianne Feinstein, the
majority of New York's Legislature, and a medical quack is as follows.
A quack can be held civilly or even criminally liable for the harm he
causes. Cuomo, Feinstein, and Company are not accountable to anybody
for any deaths or injuries that result from their equally dangerous
incompetence.
William A. Levinson, P.E. is the author of several books on business
management including content on organizational psychology, as well as
manufacturing productivity and quality.
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