WHAT HAS THE ST. LOUIS INCIDENT TAUGHT US ALL?
THE ART OF BRANDISHING WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE!
by Black Wire Media Tues. June 30, 2020 www.cnjfo.com/join-us
You've seen the news, and are cognizant of current events. Hundreds of protestors storm onto your property as "mob mentality" rules. They've trashed a fence gate, some may be carrying weapons. Do you meet the threat and deescalate the situation with obvious bravado and a Clint Eastwood "go ahead, make my day" sweep of the crowd or do you find a safe place to hide where they can't see you or hear you, so they then feel unchallenged and empowered and commence to destroy your property or worse? This incident is what the Second Amendment is all about! It's also a testament to the art of brandishing firearms to deescalate. Not a shot was fired! Everybody kept their "social distance"...
Did the couple do everything "by the book" safety-wise? No, of course not. They're not us (Gun People). Sweeping each other with lack of muzzle awareness is a thing here, and some of the video is hard for 2A people to watch. At the end of the day though, you have to look at the RESULTS!
The 2A community as a whole is a great bunch of awesome people. This incident unfortunately brought out some really juvenile comments and criticisms, right down to the designer clothes they were wearing. We suppose if they had tactical outfits and looked more like "Cops", the trespassing mob would have somehow felt more afraid and left ASAP?
The fact of the matter is the BRAVADO itself is what deescalated the mob. Nobody wanted to be the first miscreant to catch a bullet! And that's just how the forgotten art of brandishing works. At its very roots it's the original form of psychological warfare: The miscreant mind says "Is what I'm about to do worth catching a bullet for"? Today's firearm instructors teach how to run & hide in a safe room, grab your gun & a phone and wait for the home invaders to pour you a Molotov cocktail & burn you out. This couple of means chose to take a stand, and by doing so has taught the world a lesson. Especially those willing to grasp it instead of sharing a meme.
We interviewed Charlie Cook from "Riding Shotgun With Charlie", a firearms Instructor and podcaster that has interviewed many a mover & shaker in the firearms world. He interviewed CNJFO's VP Dave Rosenthal (episode #49) over a year ago, and with almost 80 gun people "riding shotgun" in his front seat, his finger is on the pulse of the 2A community. Here's what Cook had to say:
"Tony Simon summed it up a few years ago: “you’ve got a lawn mower but you’re not into the lawn mower lifestyle”.
"These people are gun owners, but they’re not into the “gun owner lifestyle”. They don’t have the training, clothes, gear, or assortment of hardware that we have. They don’t watch our YouTube channels or listen to our podcasts".
Cook also added,
"When we all gang up on these people and bash them for their poor training and handling, I assume the Anti-gun folks see this, recognize this, and will start to push for mandatory minimum training, certain scores on qualifying targets for concealed carry, and anything else to get the government more involved and to have less people meet the BS training requirements that they enforce! So less people can own guns and it becomes more restrictive! Honestly, they’re probably like the 2.5+ million new gun owners we’ve gotten in the last few months. They bought a gun, learned a little bit, and thought they’d be ok. Did you see their house? Who would have ever thought “protestors” would have made it there?
The 2A community can't be for Constitutional carry, then turn around and hassle someone for not taking a training course. They may have taken enough training for the state to allow them to own and/or carry firearms. However, they successfully used a couple of firearms to defend their lives and their home. And no shots were fired. Yes, it was sloppy. We’ve shot more than they have. But most of us haven’t had to use a gun defensively.
We can make all the funny memes we want. But when their property was trespassed, they met disparity of force with the Equalizer." ---Charlie Cook, Riding Shotgun With Charlie
EDITOR's NOTE:
The art of brandishing can be employed where legal and is a decision by the gun owner to NOT be a victim. It's simply another tool in the tool chest of a gun owner. It's made on-the-fly as events unfold, and has been a part of our history since long before these United States came to be. Be it a flintlock or a Colt AR-15, it gets the job done. History has proven this time & time again. The pages of NRA's American Rifleman magazine are replete with decades of true stories where a shot was never fired!
At CNJFO we report the facts and provide expert analysis. That often means we're not the first to post a one-liner with a meme. We can live with that. May you all never have to brandish under a microscope and face consequences for doing so. And thanks to our great friend Charlie Cook.
