Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Are Citizens the First Line of Defense?

Bob Owens encourages discussion.

DHS just sent out its annual "be forewarned" report about potential terrorist attacks.

The document suggests that terrorists may consider public gatherings like “sporting events, parades, religious and cultural activities” to be attractive targets.

And, as Owens notes, ALL of those locations/events have one thing in common: licensed CCW holders are not allowed to carry in the vast majority of those places.

...the simple fact is that the large majority of states — even those that allow concealed carry — have lacked the foresight to see a concealed carry permit holder as anything other than a civilian protecting himself or herself. They have yet to grasp the fact that concealed carry permit holders are the first line of defense against a Mumbai-style attack.

Very interesting, indeed.

2 comments:

neomom said...

Of course citizens are the first line. Seems a passenger stopped the Christmas undie-bomber.

The spouse (and much of the local military) shares much the same thought as Bob does.

Jeff Morelock said...

Yes!!! I am a former police officer and spent many years working homicide and as a member of a SWAT team. During my experience, and while attending crime specific training course, I learned and saw many crimes being stopped by citizens and not the police. Same is true for "active shooter" type incidents like VT and Columbine. 75 % of active shooters are stopped by citizens.

Of course this can be applied to terrorism too.