Tag Archive for self-defense

Radio vs Gun

September 13, 2013 Big Brother, Second Amendment / Gun Control, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Comments Off on Radio vs Gun

We live in a time where many citizens are being illegally deprived of their Second Amendment right.  In cities like Chicago it is still nearly impossible for an average citizen to “legally” carry a firearm for self-defense.  This situation becomes even more pronounced when traveling overseas in countries with total gun control.  As such, the issue of how to protect yourself and your family against predatory thugs when disarmed is a situation we have all likely experienced and had to endure.  This article does not seek to diminish the necessity of firearms, but does provide an expedient option that has proven time and again to be highly effective at deterring criminals.

A few months ago a veteran Special Forces operator and I were chatting about the degree to which the US had moved toward tyranny and a police state.  We discussed strategies we had successfully employed when confronted with threats where we desired a firearm, but for one reason or another were unable to carry one.  One tactic we employed domestically as well as overseas was carrying a policy style radio.  At times the radio may have been even more effective than a firearm as its presence alone dispersed a crowd much larger (and likely armed) than someone armed would want to confront.  To employ this tactic, one should consider carrying a Motorola style “police” handheld radio in a manner that looks covert enough to appear cop-like, but overt enough to be clearly seen by thugs. We both used this simple strategy very effectively.

In both our experiences, the moment the radio was seen by the circling predators, they immediately backed off and left the area.  Criminals hate cops, but rarely look for a fight with a cop when they are not cornered.  It is this perception of law enforcement that is so effective at deterring potential assailants.  Further, the radio is generally not a restricted item that security will take from you or that you can be punished for possessing.  As such, it can be carried concealed, overseas, and even through airport security.  It is also an object that is recognized worldwide as associated with official government activities that the public generally would prefer not to be involved with.  The effect can be amplified by purchasing and using the stereotypical “pigtail” earpiece often associated with Secret Service Agents.  Finally, if the radio is actually functional, you can even use it to legitimately call for backup if in trouble.  Employed properly, the criminal will generally pick another target and you live another day.

We are not suggesting that carrying a police style radio is going to stop all potential attacks and may not even be visible during low light conditions or at night.  However, it certainly causes any potential assailant to hesitate and second guess whether or not to go through with their criminal act.  It is within this window of opportunity created where you can effect escape, execute a defense, or potentially avert the attack completely.  Further, when no firearms are available or allowed, it is one item that is available, but goes overlooked as potentially useful for deterrence.  Also, the weight of the radio makes it suitable as an expedient bludgeon.  Although new Motorola XTS 5000 style radios can be extremely expensive, plenty of very affordable Motorola radios such as the Motorola CP185 have the look and function you need for effective deterrence.  Ultimately, you must evaluate your own personal defense plan, but in a pinch, this Last Minute Survival Tip is certainly one to consider.

 

By Guiles Hendrik

Change the Debate: How to Win the Battle for Gun Rights Part I: Understanding the Fight

January 13, 2013 Big Brother, Big Government, Constitution, Liberty and Freedom, Organization, Support, and Advice, Politics, Second Amendment / Gun Control Comments Off on Change the Debate: How to Win the Battle for Gun Rights Part I: Understanding the Fight

Ladies and gentlemen, dark days are upon us.  Not since the Civil War has the liberty and freedom of this Republic been under so great a threat.  What makes this threat so dire is that it is both internal and external.  Unlike past foreign, external threats that were overt and allowed the American people to rally around a common cause, these threats are covert and come from within.  These threats are quietly supported externally by powerful financiers and are designed to lead to America tearing herself apart from within.  These forces could be summarized as geopolitical enemies like China and ideological enemies such as globalists, the heads of big banks, and the European Union.  What they all have in common is a universal disdain for American values, freedom, and liberty, and the threat America poses to their consolidation of world power and control.  The proof is all around.  What was sacred, moral, ethical, and right only 50 years ago is now derided by the government, media, and pop culture.  Our nation is not a melting pot, but a patchwork of government fabricated special interest groups all fighting against the others resulting in gain only for the elite.  The fundamental rights of free speech, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, free press, the ability to keep and enjoy what one earns, and the ability to defend all of the above against those wanting to take it have been abolished or constrained and limited to the point of irrelevance.  Those unwilling to submit to these new pillars of correctness and  to surrender their freedom and liberty are chastised, black balled, insulted, penalized, fired from jobs,  and now even put on terrorist watch lists and arrested.  Only by going on the offensive and recalibrating the arguments can this be turned around.  We have been pushed too far and must reclaim ground.  Ladies and gentlemen, to use a football analogy, we are on the one yard line and the enemy is about to score.  There is no further room to give and we must push them back.

It’s time to change the debate just as the enemies of a free America have attempted with the “gun debate.”  If ,as they claim, we need to revisit the “meaning” of the Constitution and the 2nd Amendment, then we need to codify the fact that an individual has an unalienable right to self-defense of their person, property, and innocent civilians.  Further, it must be clear that this includes the right to own and carry weapons sufficient in power to offer a reasonable check against government tyranny as the central hallmark of the right.  This means that the weapons and armament possessed by the citizenry must be allowed to adapt to the technology of the day.  In 1786, a flintlock musket was the assault rifle of the day and was sufficient to counter tyranny.  Using the same bar, the population today is under armed.  We the people demand better access to true military grade assault rifles, suppressors, and anti-armor weapons and ammunition.  Further, the populace requires access to other high tech electronic warfare and communication devices to protect against spying, surveillance, and stand-off attack in order to balance against the police state that has rapidly risen over the last decade.  Remember, it is the government that should fear the people and not the reverse.  This is not extreme, but reasonable.  What IS extreme and unreasonable is the massive growth of “law enforcement” and paramilitary police organizations to the point cops are indistinguishable from front line combat soldiers and are sitting on every block.  What IS extreme and unreasonable is the Orwellian police state we have funded and built with tax dollars to place a camera on every square inch of land in America, to record every single electronic activity of every person in America without cause or warrant, and to create secret blacklists of people barred from travel and slated for detainment and or execution without due process.  What IS extreme and unreasonable is the police use of military armored vehicles that are now comparable in capability to tanks and drone aircraft used to spy and kill with impunity around the world against our civilian population.

We now face a situation where it is no longer a government of the people and for the people, but one of a government for the government and of the government, which will stop at nothing to protect the government even at the cost of those it is entrusted to protect and serve.  Those enemies of the free people, those elitist usurpers, those friends of tyrants, we know you and will call you out.  We will hound you at every step and turn your game upon your heads till all see you for your true colors.  Piers Morgan, Alan Dershowitz, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Arianna Huffington, Andrew Cuomo, Rachel Maddow, and the like behind the scenes are on notice.  We will not allow you to casually denounce us, mock our freedoms, and undermine our sovereignty.  We will see you fired from your jobs, defeated at the ballot box, discredited in academia, scorned in public.  You are the threat and the living proof why we not only need the Second Amendment in our Bill of “Rights,” but need to expand it to compensate for today’s challenges.  This is our constitutionally protected and defined right and responsibility.

Armed Individuals Prove More Effective at Combating Piracy than World’s Navies

August 16, 2012 Big Government, Constitution, Department of Defense, Liberty and Freedom, Military, Pirates, Second Amendment / Gun Control Comments Off on Armed Individuals Prove More Effective at Combating Piracy than World’s Navies
Private security aboard a commerical ship

This picture says it all about how effective armed security can be. Bring it pirates!

The notoriously dangerous pirate infested waters off the coast of Somalia have suddenly become serene.  For over a month now, pirates have not even attempted to take a vessel.  This is unprecedented in recent years and prompts one to ask what has suddenly changed.  Well, the data are in and they overwhelming show that self-defense has proven to be the most effective anti-piracy strategy.  Who would have thought?

Over the last decade, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been progressively becoming more and more dangerous for mariners.  The seizure of the Maersk Alabama and its crew by pirates and their subsequent rescue by Navy Seals illustrates this situation.  To counter this, the international community insisted the answer was to deploy an international flotilla worth billions of dollars from around the world to protect vessels while simultaneously using “soft power” to improve the lives of violent pirates in hopes they would return to more tranquil occupations such as fishing.  As the years past, it was clear that the piracy continued unabated and at best, the world’s navies were a reactive force staging what often became messy rescue operations resulting in the deaths of both pirates and hostages.

Industry could not wait for government solutions and instead, did what industry does best.  They found their own solution.  To mitigate the piracy threat and the spiralling insurance costs of moving cargo through these vital shipping lanes, the shipping companies authorized armed personnel to ride escort on the ships.  The international community naturally resisted vehemently and brought up the host of hollow gun control arguments of why this would be “more dangerous” and not effective.  “Civilized” nations went so far as to suggest they would restrict ships from entering their ports if there were armed guards aboard.  Nonetheless, the necessity to move billions of dollars in cargo through those treacherous waters required an effective solution to be found.

Very soon then, ships began to hire armed security contractors and or arm and train their own crews for defense of the vessels.  The result has been an unheard of 100 percent success rate at preventing hijackings according to a statement made by Admiral Potts, the commander of the European Union’s anti-piracy force.  Governments in particular are quick to point out that they have conducted raids of pirate enclaves and have implemented programs to help transition pirates into other “occupations,” but the ground truth is indisputable.  That is, that privately armed individuals have been more effective than all the governments on earth at stopping piracy.  Stig Hansen, an expert on Somali piracy is quoted in the below linked Christian Science Monitor article and states, “The naval forces would perhaps dispute this, but I would say that private security is by far the major factor, not the warships.  Pirate commanders I have spoken to onshore tell me that it’s those armed guards they’re most afraid of. It means that they just don’t target the most valuable ships any more.”  Could he have been more direct?

For Americans there is much to be learned from the success of this counter piracy strategy.  As a nation, we are currently facing ever increasing forces determined to force the disarmament of the American people.  These forces aggressively lobby and publicize the lie that it is really the guns that make America unsafe and if we were to just give up our weapons, the government would be there to protect us.  Nothing could be further from the truth as a handful of Somali pirates demonstrated to the world’s navies.  On the domestic front, in Aurora, Colorado, an incredibly fast 90 second response time to the theater massacre was clearly not enough either and demonstrated again the insanity in believing the government can protect you.

In truth, what America needs for security is the same as what those ships required.  It isn’t a police state, or better intelligence and surveillance, or massive government firepower and raids.  It is simply the willingness to take responsibility for your own safety and security and those around you.  This goes beyond taking up arms, but the fact that you can arm is essential and a core aspect of this principle right.  You can never get safer or freer than by living in an armed society of citizens that understand this responsibility.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2012/0808/For-Somali-pirates-July-was-a-very-bad-month