Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/public/wp-config.php on line 27
A Correction — Why Now?
On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog
Random header image... Refresh for more!

A Correction

Back when the NRA first advocated arming teachers in March of 2005, I felt certain the insurance costs of the schools would leap.

David Atkins found a piece in the New York Times indicates that insurance for schools who are arming teachers isn’t more expensive – it’s priceless, because insurance companies won’t sell them policies.

If insurance companies think it is too risky to take your money, maybe you should re-think your plan and consider a few counseling sessions.

11 comments

1 Badtux { 07.08.13 at 11:58 pm }

[snark]Why does the insurance industry hate America? [/snark]

Most homeowner’s policies and umbrella policies exclude gun-related liability — if you get sued over your use of your weapon in self defense, you’re on your own. Clearly the insurance industry is part of the vast left-wing conspiracy, probably closet commies in the pocket of Stalin :twisted:.

2 Bryan { 07.09.13 at 12:48 am }

They are looking at a minimum 7 figure payout if a child is killed or seriously injured and saying, no way. One company is refusing to sell them Workers Comp if they bring in guns.

Without the training and protections that come with the job of police/peace officer, the schools are just buying into trouble.

That’s why I use my Remington 870 – if you don’t leave after having a 12 gauge pointed at you, you deserve whatever happens to you. You aren’t going to find a cop, prosecutor, judge, or jury in this county who will see it any other way.

There is nothing sadder than watching someone rinsing off a weapon because it fell in the toilet when they were pulling up their pants. That’s why I never owned a ‘clip-on’ holster. A concealed weapon is a major PITA, and more likely to get you killed than save your life.

3 Kryten42 { 07.09.13 at 7:14 am }

Yeah Bryan, as I said once before, you are right about the shotgun. Same here actually. 🙂 After I got back from my stint in the USA, and decided I’d had more than enough of the Military/Intel biz, and got back into Engineering, I was living/working in Sydney in what was known as ‘The Hills District’ (on account of the suburbs with names like Baulkham Hills, Beaumont Hills, Castle Hill, Pennant Hills, Rouse Hill… and so on. Baulkham Hills was the affluent upper-Mid class area, and there was a spate of roberies (unsurprising, I suppose the thieves figured out that people in big expensive houses have expensive things inside). A friend of mine that owned a decent computer shop/consulting/repair business who lived there, invited me to lunch to ask my advice on security as his wife was very worried and they has two small kids. I invited another friend who was the local Police Sergent. I told them what I thought about shuttering the windows, alarms etc., and then asked my Police friend for his comment. He said something like: “Look, the cheapest thing you can do is get a big dog and a shotgun. I’ll teach you and your wife how to use it, it’s pretty easy. Point & pull the trigger. Now, if someone you don’t know is trying to get in, you shoot them. BUT 1. Make sure they are on your property. 2. Make sure they are dead. 3. make sure they have a weapon, if they don’t, stick a knife in their hands.” My computer friend looked somewhat taken aback, and said “Why dead?” And the Sergeant said “Dead men can’t tell tales or sue you. And it makes my paperwork a lot easier when I have to come out and sort it out.” I said to the Sergeant when we were leaving “That was kinda blaze, wasn’t it?” He said “No. It’s reality. The way the law is now, the scumbags have a good chance of winning a lawsuit and getting away with it. A shotgun makes it easy. If they are stupid enough to try to get in when you have a shotgun, too bad for them.” To which I could only agree. 🙂

😆 I just discovered there is a wiki for Sydney Hills District. Amazing! There truly is a wiki for everything! 😀

It was a nice place to live. One of the few places I actually miss. 🙂 (And about the only area in Sydney worth living in!)

Regarding Holsters… Yeah, those clip-on’s are dangerous crap! In the SF, we had to wear either one or two (depending on mission profile) secure thigh holsters for the Glock and/or whatever other handgun the mission required (sometimes we carried a really nifty mini-grenade pistol, usually for smoke, either for cover or signals, but alse HE, Phos/Magnesium – one of those suckers would temporarily blind anyone looking at the actinic glare when they went off, and there were other rounds that are highly classified.) These were special holsters that were tailored for the individual, and could be quick release & drawn. In the intel services afterwards, we had a special under-arm holster and a tailored suit to wear over it. 🙂 I got pretty good at a fast draw without shooting myself… but it took some practice! We also had ankle holsters and a back holster (small of the back, downward release) which I’d never used (I figured if I couldn’t get to my primary weapon, I was in such deep doo-doo, that a backup weapons was probably pointless, and was sure to give a pretty good indicator of who I was assuming whoever had me at a disadvantage didn’t already know. 🙂 I did, however, carry a few useful things, such as stiletto’s etc. 😉 I never had to use any of it actually, though I did come close once. 🙂

I only wore a gun because it was expected when I was working the Diplomatic missions. *shrug* would have looked *strange* to them if I wasn’t armed, as they all saw it as normal attire for someing in my job. The fact that I was always required to hand it in for a receipt when I went to a Mission of Embassy, was just part of the game. I once commented to a Russian friend that I was getting tired of it, and asked if I could just leave the bloody gun at the security office so I wouldn’t have to carry it. He looked surprised and asked why… I gave an exasperated sigh and said “Because one day some bloody fool will make me use it! I have been quite well trained that a gun isn’t a decoration! It’s to be used! And swiftly.” He said ( with his usual humor) “well then, we shall have to ensure no fools are in your vicinity until you are disarmed!” And laughed, as usual. *sigh* Russians! They think everything is funny! Hmmph!

I don’t miss any of it (with the exception of a great Russian Restaurant in Glebe called Rasputin’s that one of the Embassy staffers and his wife ran. It was an often used meeting place, and his wife was a very fine cook! And the Vodka and beer were always at the perfect temperature!) 😉 😀

Curiously, I discovered that there was a ‘Rasputin’ restaurant in almost every city that has (or had I should say) a Russian Mission/Embassy. 😉 Including one in Glebe Ottowa! 😆 (and I doubt it was coincidental).

Once, there were rules. There were *way’s of doing things* and they ensured that nobody got hurt unless they broke the *rules*. In the years I did that job, I understood and followed the rules strictly, especially the *unwritten* rules. I never felt threatened, because I ensured that whoever I was dealing with didn’t feel threatened and at least respected me as I respected them. It all worked very well. Now… I’d have to be insane to do that job today. Nobody follows any rules and nobody trusts anyone. No wonder nobody really knows what the hell is going on and everyone is nervous. And all the field workers are all young brainwashed patriotic numbnuts without a clue about the reality of the World! I wouldn’t trust any of them. Not only will they use a gun if they have one, it’s the only thing they know how to do!

I haven’t handled a weapon in more than two decades, and that suites me fine.

4 Badtux { 07.09.13 at 3:55 pm }

And all the field workers are all young brainwashed patriotic numbnuts without a clue about the reality of the World!

That was what amazed me so much about the Shrubbery’s “reconstruction” of Iraq. It was run by a rotating cast of young brainwashed patriotic numbnuts who were indoctrinated in neo-conservative ideology even where that ideology conflicted with the actual reality on the ground. If it was a choice between reality-based actions and ideology-based actions, they chose ideology-based actions even when said actions made things worse.

I am allergic to ideologues of any stripe, having seen the mess they make of places (heck you saw one of those messes up close and personal, Kryten), but the young smug ones annoy me most of all because they are total tools impervious to any reasoning that doesn’t come out of their ideology’s Little Red Book. If you complain to them that their ideology isn’t working, they smugly assert that the problem is that their ideology has never been properly implemented, not the ideology. Sound familiar, anybody?

SIGH!

5 Badtux { 07.09.13 at 4:15 pm }

Regarding use of weapons, reality is that for ordinary untrained civilians, a weapon is useful for self defense only under certain limited and very restrictive circumstances. Most people will take so long to identify that someone is wishing them harm that once the adrenalin cuts in and shuts down higher order thinking, they will have no time to damp it down enough to find their weapon before they’re done in, much less use it — even if their weapon is located on their person! I keep running through various scenarios and the ones where a concealed carry weapon makes things worse for a civilian well outnumber those where it makes things better.

Reality is that I’ve lived 50 years without needing a concealed weapon, and chances are I’ll live another 30 years without needing one. After that I’ll be too senile to care, if I’m even still alive…

6 Bryan { 07.09.13 at 5:39 pm }

The biggest problem with concealed weapons is not getting shot by uniformed officers, who do not react well to people not in uniform having guns. That’s why you see all of those windbreakers these days with the oversized badges on the front and large letters on the back announcing what they are, i.e. police, sheriff, FBI, etc. The jackets were a reaction to a large number of ‘friendly fire’ incidents.

‘True believers’ are the new locust, leaving devastation behind wherever they go. They don’t question anything in their ‘religion’, and ignore everything that conflicts with their certainty. All failures are the result if improper implementation caused by counterrevolutionary elements.

7 Badtux { 07.09.13 at 8:18 pm }

BTW, in case you didn’t notice, [url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_07/is_your_iphone_illegal_in_flor045714.php]the Florida legislature has inadvertently outlawed your Internet connection[/url]. So now you’re a criminal. Don’t worry, I won’t narc on ya. ROFL!

8 Badtux { 07.09.13 at 8:19 pm }

Grr, I was just using a PHPbb in case you didn’t figure out why the bloody BBcode rather than HTML. Sigh!

9 Bryan { 07.09.13 at 11:20 pm }

Well, if I were to use my connection to gamble then the device used would be legally considered a ‘slot machine’ as defined in section 849.16, Paragraph 1 of Florida statues as of July 1, 2013. Since I don’t use them for gambling, I’m in good shape and legal.

One should actually read the laws that are assumed to be so strange, including the applicable subsections.

OTOH, it does criminalize Chuck E. Cheese’s arcades because I am reliably informed by a grandnephew that they hand out cards of some kind that fall within the definition of the bill.

10 Badtux { 07.10.13 at 1:35 am }

That giant Chuck E. Cheese rat always struck me as a suspicious character anyhow, so it’s no surprise that he’s now a criminal in Florida ;).

11 Bryan { 07.10.13 at 7:48 pm }

I assume that someone in the lege accidentally ate a slice of their ‘pizza’ at a child’s birthday party, and has been plotting revenge ever since.