Unqualified Immunity

Growing up in North Dakota, I saw a house that had its roof ripped off by a tornado once.

The homeowner darted out into the street, turned, and . yelled “What about my right not to have the weather destroy my property?”

Uncannily, just a week later a friend was driving through a parking lot when an intoxicated and uninsured driver jammed down the gas backing out of his post – t-boning her, and causing a lot of uninsured damage.

She implored all and sundry – “what about my right not to have an accident?”

A few years later, when I moved to Minneapolis, a co-workers house was burgled; he lost a lot of valuable stuff.

I remember watching him rending his garment (I’d heard about it in the New Testament, but had never actuallyi seen anyone actually rending anything, much less rending it so decisively asunder) beseeching all of heaven and earth – “what about my right not to get robbed?”

If you’re thinking none of those actually happened – well, you know me too well.

But someone just as stupid is happening now, as it happens after every mass shooting (of white suburban kids).

In discussing the moral, legal, constitutional, policy and practical effects of the Second Amendment and proposals regarding gun laws, many of us are forthright about saying we’re standing up for a civil right that, in its turn, protects other civil rights.

Too many times, they respond “What about our right not to get shot?”The Cult – TV Drama Blog – CULTWATCH

If you’re one of them, let me break it down for you.

Your “right to not get shot” is exactly the same as your “right” not to get hit by a tornado; nonexistent. Nature has no mind; it obeys laws of physics, not morality or ethics. And. being not human, it has no mercy, much less moral scruples. But you do; it is your responsibility to not just have homeowners insurance to repair the damage, but to protect your family from the effects of bad weather.

Your “right not to get shot” is even more similar to the right not to get backed into by an idiot. It, too, doesn’t exist – there is no “right to back into . you”, but that’s not the same as a right to be immune to accidents, carelessnes and stupidity. You do have a responsibility, though, to ensure your safety and thqat of your family when you drive; wear seatbetls, carry insurance, drive defensively, the works.

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The “right not to get shot” has the most in common with the ‘Right not to get burgled’but human nature, frailty and carelessness does. be sure, the burglar has no right to rob you – but that, by itself, stops nothing . You have a responsibility, though, to protect yourself, your family and your property from the burglar.

So let’s recap: there is no “right not to get shot”.

There is a responsibility to protect yourself, your family, your community and your freedom from what we can broadly call “evil”, though – anything from street crime to mass murder to tyrannical overthrow.

22 Most Insane Live Television Events In History | LifeDaily - Page 9Now, if you’re a teacher, you have options for how you carry out that responsibility. I’m the last person who’ll ever tell you how you’re “supposed” to do it.

You also have a right to learn what’s the best way to carry out that obligation. And at some point or another, “agitating for legislation” and “virtue-signaling . your stances” might be useful (or at least “feel-good”) responses.

But if – heaven forfend – you are in a school with a bunch of your community’s kids, and someone starts shooting? Your effective options for carrying out that responsibility diminishes to a very concise list:

  • Run. (not an option unless your charges can run with you)
  • Hide – and hope that the killer won’t trip upon you and your room full of screaming children.
  • Fight. You can fight a lot of ways, of course; throwing books and chairs and erasers at the shooter might by you some seconds. Throwing 120 grains of hollow-point pain at him may just buy your children a lifetime of looking back at a psychological trauma rather than a lifetime measured in seconds.

Choose wisely.

10 thoughts on “Unqualified Immunity

  1. I would surmise that most who need to read this won’t get past the part where you tell them they don’t have rights….

  2. Trained S.W.A.T. don’t enter an active shooter setting without a plan, clear command and control, total communication links, and helmets and body armor.

    MBerg and Trump thinks a dozen teachers are going to grab their handguns and run to the sound of gunfire and start shooting? Your scenario is from a hollywood movie not real life

  3. Actually Emery, law enforcement response protocol since Columbine has been to enter immediately and not wait to develop a plan, clear command and control, and total communication links. Additionally most of the initially responding officers don’t have access to helmets or anything more than their level IIIA ballistic vests. Confronting the shooter ASAP saves lives.

    Regarding teachers – no one is expecting teachers to form a hunter-killer squad. But consider this – a 2014 Police Executive Research Forum study reported:
    “What may be a little bit surprising is the number of situations where the people on scene subdue or shoot the attacker themselves. That’s what happened in nearly 40 percent of all the incidents that were resolved before the police arrived.”

    Our teachers should at least have the tools to defend themselves and our children. When an active shooter enters a classroom, a teacher should have more options than using their body as a human shield.

  4. In Emery’s dream world, not only can’t armed students protect themselves, armed teachers can not protect the students, and as demonstrated in parkland, armed deputies cannot protect them. But somehow making it illegal for people under 21 to purchase long guns? They’d all be as safe as if they were sleeping in their mothers’ arms.

  5. I believe MBerg has shown, in multiple posts, that the appearance of an armed opponent always or nearly always stops a lone killer. The Vegas shooter, for example, stopped shooting and took his own life when he became aware that law enforcement was breaking into his room.
    The unreasonable people — literally unreasonable — are the anti-gun zealots. A few days ago I linked to an anti-gun op-ed that demanded that people act on their emotions, and especially their anger.

  6. Yeah, there’s a difference between running in to engage a crazed killer and returning fire when you’re already being shot at.

    Reprobate leftists are determined not to allow teachers, or trained volunteers protect the schools because they know it will work.

    Couple of “teacher thwarts mass shooting, kills gunman” headlines and their gun grab is shot all to hell.

    Their #1 favorite group has killed over 3 million unborn kids. You think they care about a couple dozen more?

    No. They’re prepared to have as many kids killed as it takes to destroy the constutution.

  7. Reprobate leftists are determined not to allow teachers, or trained volunteers protect the schools because they know it will work.

    I’lll go you one further: when word of armed school staff starts getting around, the humber of spree killings in schools will drop off the cliff. Concealed carry will be shown to deter violent crime in the clearest possible way.

    And that will kill Big Left on this issue.

  8. Per Mitch’s comment, after a single would-be school shooter learns the hard way he can’t run faster than a thousand feet per second or so, copycat crimes will go way, way down.

  9. Pingback: Lie First, Lie Always: Lori Sturdevant, Bloomberg Parrot | Shot in the Dark

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