We are not having a good week with regards to violence:
A Muslim convert who said he was opposed to the U.S. military shot two soldiers outside an Arkansas recruiting station, killing one, police said Monday.“This individual appears to have been upset with the military, the Army in particular, and that’s why he did what he did,” Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said in a phone interview.
“He has converted to (Islam) here in the past few years,” Hastings said. “We’re not completely clear on what he was upset about. He had never been in the military.
“He saw them standing there and drove up and shot them. That’s what he said.”
Is there any violence we should feel good about? It doesn’t take my Christian values upbringing a tenth of a second to answer: “No!” But it only takes a few moments of introspection to be honest with myself. I’m not proud of it, but I felt good about the Somali pirates being taken out by snipers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we ought to all be pacifists, violence was definitely justified in that situation. But had the pirates all surrendered, would I have been as happy with the outcome? I don’t think so. I enjoy watching Jennifer Lopez in “Enough” kicking the tar out of her abuser. I don’t know, my train of thought is probably leaving the tracks on this one, but we all talk about violence as in and of itself, being a bad thing. Then virtually all of us find a list of reasons when it is regrettably necessary. And from there, a lot of us can admit, it is more than just an unwanted necessity, we actually either enjoy it or are happy about its use when it is against people that we lable as “bad people”.
Obviously there are cases of violence, such as in self defense, which are justified. The problem is when extremists are able to rationalize that it is justifiable to use violence in other cases, such as against doctors who perform abortion or army recruiters, along with thinking they are justified in taking such action (beyond immediate acts of self defense) on their own outside of the law.
Interesting: Arkansas is a right to carry state, and these were highly trained men. How did they get shot so easily? It’s possible that they were NOT allowed to carry. The other possibility is that Arkansas is not a right to OPEN carry, i.e., handguns must be concealed.
Four Southern states — Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas — are considering legislation that would allow people to carry handguns openly in a holster.
I found this in a petition to Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe about the value of open carry:
5. It is well known that the requirement to conceal a normal sized handgun can be difficult, especially in Arkansas with our extreme heat and humidity, since a person will usually have to wear a jacket to properly conceal a handgun and to avoid “printing.”
6. Under some circumstances, the requirement to conceal a handgun can make it difficult to draw the weapon should the life of the carrier or the life of someone else be in danger.
7. Open carry has and will deter crime, as well as providing a valuable option even for citizens who prefer to normally carry concealed.
In any event, one can sure this incident will further fuel the debate on right to carry and open carry gun laws.
I suspect strongly that the soldiers were not allowed (by the military) to carry weapons while in uniform unless the duty required it.
Ah — open carry vs concealed carry. I have a concealed pistol license. I don’t carry anywhere near as often as I should, because I’m a slacker.
WA state also allows open carry (as long as you are not brandishing, of course) without a license. It is best to have a license, because a cop can arrest you if your jacket flaps closed if you don’t have a license. And if you open carry, of course, you should allow plenty of time to talk with Officer Friendly and show him the copy of the relevant law that you had better always be carrying.
Generally speaking, soldiers don’t carry weapons unless they are in an area that they intend to use them. Even while on deployments, for the first Gulf War and the Bosnian conflict, while I had my rifle everywhere with me, nearly the entire time, I and my fellow soldiers almost never carried ammo. We would have it issued for our guard duty shift for example, and turn it back in after the shift was over. Things may be somewhat different now in Iraq, but I can guarantee you didn’t have soldiers with weapons and ammo at an Arkansas recruiting station.