The following information is summarized from the STRATFOR GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT. Entitled “FANNING THE FLAMES OF JIHAD” by Scott Stewart, the report discusses al Qaeda’s attempt to galvanize lone wolf terrorism or leaderless resistance by reaching out to English speaking individuals already located within the U.S. and other English speaking countries.

Information that is presented in an article such as this one always seems to be about New York City or somewhere other than Seattle. Everything discussed herein is happening right now in Seattle. You will not read about it until arrests take place or terrorists kill innocent people because of the legal and political repurcussions that occur when the media starts naming people or identifying radical mosques. The threat is more than just the threats that CAIR or some other “civil liberties” group will take legal action, however.

Al Qaeda’s goal is to radicalize Muslims and to provide English speaking Muslims information that will motivate and equip individuals and groups that operate without top-down communications to conduct low-technology attacks using guns, knives and vehicles such as automobiles. Training for such attacks does not require travel abroad or a great deal of coordination.

On July 11, 2010, al-Malahim Media, the media arm of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published the first edition of its new English-language online magazine “Inspire”. INSPIRE’S editor is probably a U.S citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia. Samir Khan reportedly went to Yemen in 2009.

The magazine is geared towards making the Muslim a mujahid,” according to the editor. INSPIRE was released by al-Malahim and AQAP, AL QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, the organization that has assumed the vanguard position on the physical battlefield over the past year. AQAP is frequently mentioned in Western media because of several attacks or attempted attacks in the West. Al-Malahim is exploiting media attention in order to reach English-speaking Muslims, including other members of the U.S. military with profiles similar to that of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter.

Inspire praises Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan and failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as examples for all jihadists to follow:

“We call on every Muslim who feels any jealousy for their religious beliefs to expel the polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula, by killing all of the crusaders working in embassies or otherwise, and to declare war against the crusaders in the land of the Prophet Muhammad — peace be upon him — on the ground, sea and air. And we call on every soldier working in the crusader armies and puppet governments to repent to Allah and follow the example of the heroic mujahid brother Nidal Hassan [sic]; to stand up and kill all the crusaders by all means available to him.…”

Thus, be prepared for more attacks such as the Christmas Day Bomber’s attempt to bring down a jetliner in 2009.

Inspire carried a reproduction of a statement purportedly authored by Osama bin Laden earlier this year titled “The Way to Save the Earth” that criticizes U.S. policy regarding climate change and calls for economic jihad against the United States.

An interview with AQAP leader Nasir al-Wahayshi provided al-Wahayshi the opportunity to reinforce several points he has been making for months now regarding his call for jihadists to conduct simple attacks using readily available weapons:

“My advice to my Muslim brothers in the West is to acquire weapons and learn methods of war. They are living in a place where they can cause great harm to the enemy and where they can support the Messenger of Allah.” Al-Wahayshi continued “…a man with his knife, a man with his gun, a man with his rifle, a man with his bomb, by learning how to design explosive devices, by burning down forests and buildings, or by running over them with your cars and trucks. The means of harming them are many so seek assistance from Allah and do not be weak and you will find a way.”

In March 2010, American-born spokesman for al Qaeda, Adam Gadahn, advised jihadists to strike targets to them with simple assaults and urged his audience to not “wait for tomorrow to do what can be done today, and don’t wait for others to do what you can do yourself.”

These calls are part of a move toward a leaderless resistance model of jihadism. The devolution of the jihadist threat from one based on al Qaeda the group to a broader threat based primarily on al Qaeda franchises and the wider jihadist movement this shift will involve more attacks such as the Times Square bombing attempt, the Fort Hood shooting and the June 1, 2009, Little Rock shootings.

“Open Source Jihad” is the term that AQAP uses to refer to leaderless resistance. The resource material is intended to allow Muslims to train at home instead of risking travel abroad.

Cartoon Controversy

Jihadists have not allowed the issue of cartoons to die down over the last five years. Jihadist response to the cartoons has resulted in riots, arsons, deaths. The Stratfor article cites the 2008 bombing of the Danish Embassy in Islamabad and an attack in January 2010 by a jihadist armed with an axe and knife who broke into the home of Jyllands-Posten newspaper cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in Denmark and allegedly tried to kill him. The Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad e-Islami (HUJI) also dispatched American operative David Headley to Denmark on two occasions to plan attacks against Jyllands-Posten and Westergaard in what HUJI called “Operation Mickey Mouse.” According to Anwar al-Awlaki:

“This effort, the effort of defending the Messenger of Allah, should not be limited to a particular group of Muslims such as the mujahidin but should be the effort of the ummah, the entire ummah… Assassinations, bombings, and acts of arson are all legitimate forms of revenge against a system that relishes the sacrilege of Islam in the name of freedom.”

Inspire includes a “hit list” that includes people like Westergaard who were involved in the cartoon controversy and other targets such as Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who produced the controversial film Fitna in 2008; Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the screenplay for the movie Submission (filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, the director of Submission, was murdered by a jihadist in November 2004); and Salman Rushdie, author of the book THE SATANIC VERSES.

Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris was added to INSPIRE’s hit list due to her proposal to have a day where “everybody draws Mohammed”. Norris was responding to threats against an animated television program, South Park. The program angered Muslims because of a brief scene in an episode that lampooned the Prophet.

The al Qaeda magazine aims squarely at Molly Norris, who has been warned by the FBI that she is on al Qaeda’s hit list. Her “anti-Islamic” cartoons appeared in City Arts Magazine. Oddly, the Huffington Post talks about the threat but I must have missed something in the Seattle Times? See also Molly Norris; Huffington Post.

A Seattle Times editorial published July 10, 2010 gives Norris kudos for being satirical and prolific. You would think Norris just draws cartoons in order to call attention to “contemporary social oddities“. I found one editorial in the Seattle Times that scolded Norris for failing to think before she exercised her freedom of speech!

According to the Stratfor report:

One other thing the magazine seeks to accomplish is to help make the jihadist training experience better for English speakers who seek to travel to jihadist training camps abroad. There have been anecdotal reports of Westerners who have traveled to get training and who have not had positive experiences during the process — and of at least one Somali-American who was executed after expressing his desire to leave an al Shabaab training camp and return home. In light of this problem, AQAP includes an article in Inspire titled “What to Expect in Jihad” and designed to reduce the “confusion, shock and depression” that can be experienced by trainees at such camps. The article also provides a list of things to bring to the training camp, including a friend to help ease the loneliness, and recommends that aspiring jihadists learn the local language.

The Stratfor Intelligence report concludes that AQAP intends to support leaderless resistance as a way to attack the West, something AQAP has had some difficulty doing itself. The attacks with automatic rifles in Mumbai, India and the jihad attack by Major Nidal Malik Hasan could have been stopped more quickly with considerable less loss of life if armed personnel had been present to deploy standard active shooter protocols.

An additional problem is the failure to identify lone shooters like Hasan as jihadists. The fact that the lone individuals (sometimes with mental illnesses) or small disconnected groups are not directly communicating with top-down organizational structures (like al Qaeda) results in media reports and official confusion that clouds the issue for a public that is not aware of the leaderless resistance model and how effectively it can work, albeit without the huge potential for destruction that occurred on September 11, 2001. The case of the lone shooter, a Muslim terrorist of Pakistani origins named Naveed Afzal Haq, who killed one and wounded five others at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, is a case in point.

Read more: Fanning the Flames of Jihad | STRATFOR

Federal Way High School ROTC Programs Build Character

By Mark S. Knapp

Federal Way School District’s retiring superintendent Tom Murphy gets kudos for obtaining results. But educators and parents tend to compare their local schools favorably to other schools. Just as most folks dislike politicians or lawyers but tend to favor their own local officials and personal attorney, most people deny that their own local schools may be failing their students. Raising the issue of an “achievement gap” can get a critic labeled as a crank or worse.

Former school board member Charlie Hoff suggested at a recent board meeting that we should challenge parents of unsuccessful kids to motivate underachieving students. He cited a study by anthropology professor, John U. Ogbu, that suggests how- even in affluent communities where only well-to-do families reside- African-American students are underachieving:

“No matter how you reform schools, it’s not going to solve the problem,” he said in an interview. “There are two parts of the problem, society and schools on one hand and the black community on the other hand.”

Ogbu’s conclusions relate to a study of blacks in Shaker school district, equally divided between blacks and whites. Black students have lagged behind whites in grade-point averages, test scores and placement in high-level classes. In 1997, black parents invited Prof. Ogbu to examine the district’s 5,000 students to analyze the achievement gap. Ogbu’s stated:

“What amazed me is that these kids who come from homes of doctors and lawyers are not thinking like their parents; they don’t know how their parents made it. They are looking at rappers in ghettos as their role models, they are looking at entertainers. The parents work two jobs, three jobs, to give their children everything, but they are not guiding their children.”

Such ideas do not endear Charlie to many Federal Way residents — especially those that formulate educational policy. But we cannot improve students’ futures without talking honestly about race, unions, politics and parents in ways that are going to make some professional educators look down their noses.

I recall telling a pastor in Southern California that our churches would attract and retain youth if we challenge kids to prepare for life the way we train soldiers. I suggested that the teenagers in the backseat, three boys that spent most of their time playing video games, should learn to shoot.

One of the youngsters, a 15-year-old sophomore, suddenly announced: “I already do that! I am in Marine ROTC and we go to Camp Pendleton every summer where I shoot targets at 500 yards.”

I asked whether others in his ROTC unit could shoot as well and was surprised to learn that they all could shoot bull’s-eyes at that distance.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to his teenage nephew:

“As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives (only) moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion to your walks.”

Thus, I think Jefferson’s educational policy would have young men and women shooting alongside adults. The curriculum could include navigation and other survival skills that impart a sense of purpose, leadership and responsibility. Team sports provide some of these qualities. But nothing carries quite the quality of discipline and calm purpose that comes with handling a gun.

I didn’t ask the pastor’s nephew about his grades. Japanese-American cultural attitudes probably motivate him in ways that many Americans lack. For example, most of the kids that participate in our Kiwanis Club’s high school Key Clubs are Asian-American kids. They volunteer for many activities and acquire scholarships and character.

Two Federal Way high schools have ROTC. Opposition to ROTC programs on high school and college campuses is intense in some parts of the country. I am not sure how many JROTC programs exist in Seattle area high schools; the next closest programs to Federal Way are in Lakewood and Tacoma.

One local principal reportedly changed his mind when he saw the positive results. Two Federal Way high schools are presently without ROTC programs.

I understand that the only time the Junior ROTC memebers handle firearms is when they drill with World War II vintage M1 Garands- still possibly the most effective battle platform ever designed. If we have such weapons available in Federal Way it is almost criminal not to get some of our students (starting with Air Force Junior ROTC members) out to the range shooting them.

We invite feedback from students, PTA, educators and any folks that care about youth, schools and military preparedness. I am told that any proposals for actual shooting programs (rather than the marching in formation with military weapons that presently occurs in our local JROTC program) has almost no chance of getting onto the Federal Way agenda.

Many Boy Scouts still get out to the range and shoot but that is because the BSA is not subject to the deadly bureaucratic gauntlets that exist in our public school systems.

In fact, many American schools still have shooting ranges that are now used for storing excess junk. There was a time that shooting sports were an accepted extra-curricular activity promoted and cherished in high schools around the nation. Justice Scalia recalls how he would transport his .22 caliber rifle back and forth to school on the New York City subways. Now he would be rushed by a SWAT team! Just speaking out about legitimate gun issues on campus can get a student in hot water.

Cost is one objection to ROTC programs, but football, basketball and hip-hop teams are expensive, too. The Air Force picks up part of the tab but the Federal Way School District also bears some of the cost.

Do playing ball and hip hop produce as much character as the discipline of shooting sports? Is character just a feel-good word deployed to raise funds for sports programs? Our communities and the nation’s security depend on character in tomorrow’s leaders. Let’s aim for ROTC in all our high schools.

Dear Citizen Activists,

Community activists need to appear at a King County Council meeting to speak out on the record regarding the County Executive’s illegal power to ban guns pursuant to King County Code. The fact that SAF has a case pending against North Carolina regarding the issue of emergency power to ban guns during emergencies makes things ripe for action.

See King County’s emergency powers.

A really big is necessary to knit Seattle’s activists together. The event will take some really good organizational skills to host a big all-day event with speakers like Massad Ayoob and Dave Workman. Bellevue firearms attorney and civil litigator David Newman is also a good resource (he teaches classes on gun law). Volunteers can obtain my e-mail address at www.firearms lawyer.net.

My choice for a feature speaker would be journalist Knute Berger who looks like Allen Ginsberg’s little brother and writes about Bell Town and Seattle politics.

The folks in Bell Town will love him! He writes favorably about guns and even “packs heat” on occasion- I think. We could have the event in Bell Town, get the CITIZENS ON PATROL group to participate and charge admission.

Massad Ayoob may be available; he is now affiliated with the ARMED CITIZEN LEGAL DEFENSE NETWORK. This will be a chance for a number of citizen activist groups to promote each others’ causes and benefit our communities. We may decide to plan a two-day seminar later on if we can get this one off the ground.

Incidentally, Dave Poling appeared before the Yakima City Council by himself and got the Council to repeal three laws that violated state preemption. Yakima repealed the illegal power to ban guns during emergencies- just one of the three laws taken off the books! He is doing almost the same thing with the Yakima County Council. Gene Beasley and I wrote letters to the City of Federal Way; In January, 2009, Federal Way repealed all three laws that violated our state firearms preemption statute.

Mr. Newman and I filed a tort claim notice on the Port of Seattle on behalf of an open-carry client and the Port changed its policies to conform with state law. Concealed and open carry are now permitted outside and away from the metal detectors.

The point is that a few of us can make a world of difference just by encouraging each other to stand for what is right! Bell Town seems like the perfect venue!

I still have to read PUGETOPOLIS by Knute Berger if he responds to this missive and gives me his slant on things! I never met Knute in person so he may not look like Allen Ginsberg at all. Nevertheless, he is a Seattle institution of sorts. His BLOG article about Seattle’s Wild West days is a great example of “Mossback’s” writing skills and views on weaponry.

Armed citizens in Pugetopolis are ready for something like this!

Sincerely,

Mark S Knapp, Attorney

There are 10 peaks over 14,000 feet high in the Sangre de Cristo range.

I am intrigued by the fact that the inhabitants of New Mexico’s scarred spaces were the last to submit to North American law. After reading a biography of Kit Carson, I recently came across a travelogue titled “God’s Middle Finger.” The author decided to travel into the Sierra Madre, the jagged range that climbs to 11,000 feet through 900 miles of Northern Mexico — starting just south of Tucson, Ariz.

According to author Richard Grant, the range contains several canyons that are deeper than the Grand Canyon. The Sierra Madre provided hiding places for Chiricahua Apaches well into the 1900s. The presence of the Apaches and the knife-edged landscape prevented the Mexican government from asserting its authority.

Copper Canyon is one of the only tourist spots in the Sierra Madre, however. The Copper Canyon tourist industry advertises: “Don’t miss out on trip of a lifetime because of trouble at the border. It is, however, best to fly here to Los Mochis and just avoid the long bus trips through the border. Hope to see you soon!”

There are not many tourist spots in such fabulous landscapes because the bandits in the Sierra Madre are known to take tourists out of buses and strip them of everything including clothes. The bandits are fairly tame, however, compared to the narcotraficantes. According to Grant, the drug traffickers in the Sierra Madre will often kill people just for the sheer pleasure of killing.

Grant met different people that led him into the Sierra Madre’s rocky topography — a stronghold for many of the Mexican drug cartels. Along the way, Grant learned that, although Mexico is offically a gun-free zone, killing with guns is as natural as breathing in the Sierra Madre.

An AK-47 is the weapon of choice and even young children pack heat with impunity. One of the men told Grant, “Further north they grow more drugs, but here we are hundred percent killers.” Then they began to hunt Grant with high-powered scoped rifles just for sport.

Would you take your family to visit our national parks if you thought you might end up meeting the same folks Grant met? Come to think of it, according to the Seattle Times, Sequoia National Park has no-go zones for visitors and park rangers during the growing season when well-armed operatives of the Mexican drug lords cultivate massive pot farms.

Take the profit out of the drug business by legalizing drugs? Many experts predict that the cartels are already positioning themselves within the U.S. crime industry to diversify into activities like kidnapping and extortion. Securing our borders, on the other hand, seems to depend on the politics of race and corporate greed.

Arizona’s attempt to discourage illegal immigration may be stymied by judicial fiat. Meanwhile, some illegalesidents of Arizona may head north to avoid the harassment predicted to result from Arizona’s new law. Whether or not violent crime statistics move upward in Washington state, the potential for malfeasance by politicians is one reason why our forefathers provided for every man to be armed.

Republished with permission of the Federal Way Mirror.

The manner in which societies organize for warfare has always been dependent on a number of interrelated factors. Technology is an important factor but there are many instances where societies that are behind in the technology of warfare or even behind in industrial strength and other economic factors have been able to become better organized than their opponents. Japan, for example, created the first successful carrier groups and managed to do this virtually overnight in the years before Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor the Japanese executed tactics gleaned from systematic study of the British attack on Taranto that destroyed a major portion of the Italian Navy.

Just prior to WW II, theorists like Liddell Hart advocated in favor of integrating fast moving armored vehicles with smaller infantry units and air cover. The only authorities in a position to follow Hart’s innovative doctrine that were actually listening were members of the German High Command. The Germans’ execution of the lightning-fast tactics that the world came to know as Blitzkrieg overran France’s “state of the art” defenses in a matter of a few days with a loss of German lives that was almost nil!

The ability of the U.S. to mobilize and organize a civilian industrial base in order to convert to the building of carriers and planes and other military armament was one important factor that turned the tables on the Japanese and the Germans.

Hitler attempted to personally manage and direct forces that had been effectively trained to proceed with a great deal of rapid decision making at the operational level. Hitler’s seriously flawed military logic in overriding the advice of his generals and consigning Gen. Paulus’ Sixth Army to utter destruction led to its defeat on the Eastern Front.

Over time, battlefields, as the world historically has perceived battlefields to exist, have become almost a thing of the past. During the Napoleonic Wars, hundreds of thousands of men were formed into massed ranks which presented solid boxes at which their opponents would fire. Soldiers on both sides were ordered to fire into massed ranks of the enemy, usually without taking aim.

The field of battle was filled with black powder smoke and cannon balls would skip across the open ground, often removing heads and arms and legs as the iron balls bounded through rows of soldiers lined up like bowling pins.

The American Civil War and WW I caused great loss of life because both sides had such accurate rifles, machine guns and artillery that the men were pinned down in deadly trench warfare. The certainty of death by exposing men to such accurate long range fire initiated a search for new battlefield doctrine that would avoid the drawn out carnage and attrition of the trenches.

By WW II, the German High Command’s innovative mix of tanks, armored vehicles and planes dictated a new kind of warfare that depended on speed and initiative rather than masses of men. The other great powers had greater resources in terms of weapons and by almost every other manner of reckoning. The Germans, nevertheless, had developed a process of planning, innovating and testing various plans and tactics involving new technologies that other leaders only vaguely understood until the German onslaught demonstrated to the world what the English historian, Basil Liddell Hart, had been talking about for so many years; i.e., decentralized coordination between fast moving infantry, mechanized troops and tactical air support.

By the time of the first Gulf War, the U.S. was able to detect and destroy Iraqi armor so effectively that enemy troops just gave up and walked into the desert. At the present time, there is no enemy in the world that can challenge the U.S. on the high seas, in the air or on land. Our forces are trained, organized and equipped in ways that no other nation can match. Thus, it is as if the U.S. holds the power of a magistrate; i.e., we are literally the policeman of the world.

This situation prevails as a result of GPS, satellite reconnaissance, networked communications, along with other technogies that make it possible for planners located anywhere in the world to view every inch of a battlefield environment and communicate instructions or reach out and touch personnel and equipment in real time while committing few, if any, troops to the battlefield arena. This is because of robot technology and surveillance systems that make death almost certain for any personnel that expose themselves to the systems our planners and scientists have developed.

According to Max Boot in “War Made New”, however, every victor runs the risk of becoming complacent and relying on the technological and military prowess that provided the last victory. While the U.S. was basking in the benefits of the “peace dividend” our enemies were exploring our weaknesses. The fact that no army will expose itself to the bewildering networks of weaponry deployed by our armed forces creates a new medium of battle. The only way for an enemy to attack is to infiltrate our society with networks that operate with the kind of decentralized structure by which our own special forces deploy.

Each new innovation can only be integrated into a battle system by gradual experimentation and tactical experience. One example of such innovation is information reported by military intelligence that terrorists are using online social networking systems to identify targets, communicate strike opportunities as they arise and conduct survellance. Thus, older technology is always preserved alongside state of the art developments. This fact brings us to an interesting thesis.

It is a matter of less than five yearse before WMDs will be deployed within the U.S. homeland, according to the a new report by the co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission. See EMP Attack. Suit-case nukes, biological weapons and chemical warfare are all available to terrorists and criminals. The argument that nuclear weapons are too high-tech for terrorists is more a kind of denial than a reassurance to any thinking person. Those who really study such subjects at the highest levels state that is not a matter of if but when the enemy will unleash such weaponry.

Many small arms and personnel are pouring back and forth across the U.S.-Mexican border. An epidenic of kidnappings has started in Phoenix and experts predict that the business of kidnapping is spreading to other cities in the U.S. The fact that many of the kidnappings and much of the contraband and personnel crossing the border involves Mexican gangs goes hand in hand with credible intelligence that Middle Eastern personnel are also coming across our Southern border and receiving many kinds of weapons other than just small arms.

When the new administration uses the complaints about U.S. manufactured guns showing up South of the border, ask yourself whether you would care to be defenseless in El Paso, Texas when the violence spills over the border from Ciudad Juárez.

According to the New York Times, cities llike El Paso, Phoenix and Tucson are “hardly alone in feeling the impact of Mexico’s drug cartels and their trade. In the past few years, the cartels and other drug trafficking organizations have extended their reach across the United States and into Canada. Law enforcement authorities say they believe traffickers distributing the cartels’ marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs are responsible for a rash of shootings in Vancouver, British Columbia, kidnappings in Phoenix, brutal assaults in Birmingham, Ala., and much more.”

It will not take a WMD event to paralyze our economy. Even temporary economic and social disruption could make our armed forces vulnerable. Various synchronized forces and events are ready to converge in many parts of the world. Cyber-warfare and political confusion can amount to chaos in the midst of profound despair and recriminations.

Think about the questions that existed (and still exist) after the WTC attacks and the invasion of Iraq. Some people still question whether Al Qaeda was really behind the attacks. The apparent confusion about how seriously the American public should view terrorist threats raises the issue of whether additional unrecognized enemies can wreak havoc. Can terrorists intitiate attacks in a manner that disguises the identity of the enemy power initiating an attack? Can these attacks occur via tactical teams utilizing small arms, WMDs or industrial-financial sabotage by computer-hacking or some other electronic attack?

Think about this scenario: An ordinary-looking freighter ship heading toward New York or Los Angeles launches a missile from its hull or from a canister lowered into the sea. It hits a densely populated area. A million people are incinerated. The ship is then sunk. No one claims responsibility. There is no firm evidence as to who sponsored the attack, and thus no one against whom to launch a counterstrike.

But as terrible as that scenario sounds, there is one that is worse. Let us say the freighter ship launches a nuclear-armed Shahab-3 missile off the coast of the U.S. and the missile explodes 300 miles over Chicago. The nuclear detonation in space creates an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

Gamma rays from the explosion, through the Compton Effect, generate three classes of disruptive electromagnetic pulses, which permanently destroy consumer electronics, the electronics in some automobiles and, most importantly, the hundreds of large transformers that distribute power throughout the U.S. All of our lights, refrigerators, water-pumping stations, TVs and radios stop running. We have no communication and no ability to provide food and water to 300 million Americans.

This is what is referred to as an EMP attack, and such an attack would effectively throw America back technologically into the early 19th century.

DARPA, a U.S. Government R & D technology lab, was able to create microwave technology at a relatively local cost with generally available electronic components that could disarm many high tech weapons systems. Such inexpensive designs are published on the internet.

The best way to deal with roving bands of killers is on their own terms. The low-tech swarming concept developed by terrorists is also one of the evolving doctrines of our own special forces. A unit or individual blends into the social environment and, by means of cheap handheld GPS units (available at any electronics shop or outdoor store), cell phone and laptop, units come together as opportunities are presented. Similarly, the ancient Parthian and Mongolians and Turks were just some of the Asiatic horsemen that were able to envelope their enemies by converging from many directions with little or no apparent leadership.

The fact that the Asian “hordes” knew their enemies’ weaknesses stands in stark contrast to the lack of knowledge regarding the onslaught on the part of their victims (Europeans, Persians and Arabic societies, as well as the Chinese empire, to name a few). Such swarming tactics resulted in whole regions becoming systematically repopulated with mountains of skulls.

When a team comes together the units “swarm” their enemy like wolf packs or sharks. The best weapons against such forces are forces of citizens that are armed and trained to detect patterns, react and respond until the police and/or military take over.

The principle of social organization that most characterized the Twentieth Century is the same principle upon which 19th Century factories and armies were organized; the military-industrial complex organized as a massive hierarchy of professionals, bureaucrats, and engineers; i.e., as cog-like components in a huge machine. The concept of a citizen militia seemed outmoded by the 1950s.

A conventional comment is that, “The professional soldiers can provide for our defense.” The idea of a citizen armed with a deer rifle standing up to Blitzkrieg-style storm troopers seems laughable. The U.S. homeland, however, is unlikely to sustain a conventional attack on our homeland, unless our society is already decimated by the networks of terror cells that may already be waiting for the “perfect storm” to arrive.

The fact that so many naysayers deny that we are embroiled in real warfare is because the nature of the new warfare is such that there is normally not a conventional battlefield space.

The real space where the battle occurs is in hearts and minds of citizens and the outcome is determined by how we prepare for and then react to sudden manifestations of violence in schools, churches and synagogues, malls, streets or workplaces.

Our enemies will exploit any dissension (especially partisan gamesmanship) and attempt to break down our trust by creating horrific fear at the same time as the true aims and source of the terrorist acts become more difficult to identify. One source of such “plausible deniability” may result from more than one set of actors with conflicting ideological and national loyalties getting involved, perhaps in joint operations.

There are no means by which enough police can be deployed to guard all our schools. Think of all the workplaces, intersections, overpasses, malls, churches and other facilities where a few homicide teams or even women and children that worship death and are bent on destruction and suicide can systematically murder many innocent Americans.

The best defense will be men and women, armed with hand guns and proper training. The government will not take the initiative to train you because “thinking outside the box” is the province of a few individuals- individuals that may lack the patience to wade through the bureaucratic gauntlets. Military officers normally listen to credible military leaders, usually from within their own command.

Even a President or Secretary of Defense has a very difficult time changing the military culture and landscape, littered as it is with turf wars. It took years to unify the various armed forces into an integrated structure where each branch coordinates with the other. A few citizens armed with pistols and spare magazines probably cannot stop a WMD. But think of what happens after a WMD event. If a suit case bomb explodes do you think the carnage will just stop there?

There are some quiet discussions going on among our political leaders about the possibility of arming some of the staff in our schools. There may be a need to change some state and federal laws. Every war takes a different kind of thinking than the last war. The concept that may be foremost in the present day battlefield is “swarming”. No one quite knows quite how it works but for defense of our U.S. homeland it could be as simple as several armed people that are near an intersection stopping one or more terrorist teams from systematically executing drivers while stopped at a traffic light during rush hour.

A Pakistani terrorist, Mir Aimal Kasi, attacked CIA personnel outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, killing two CIA employees and wounding three in 1993.

“At around 8 a.m. on January 25, 1993, Kasi stopped his Isuzu pickup behind a number of vehicles waiting at a red traffic light on the eastbound side of Route 123, Fairfax County. The vehicles were waiting to make a left turn into the main entrance of CIA headquarters. Kasi emerged from his vehicle with an AK-47 and proceeded to move among the lines of vehicles, firing into them. Within seconds, he had killed Lansing H. Bennett MD, 66, and Frank Darling, 28. Three others were left with gunshot wounds. Darling was shot first and later received additional gunshot wounds to the head after Kasi shot the other victims.”

Kasi stated later that he wanted to kill people that were more important to the government. Kasi escaped and was hiding in Afghanistan from where the FBI lured him with an offer of a business deal and then captured him by going to his hotel room in Dera Ghazi Khan, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, “rendering” Kasi back to the U.S. Kasi was tried and convicted in the U.S. On November 12, 1997, four US oil executives and their Pakistani taxi driver were shot dead in Karachi, in what was described as a deliberate response to Kasi’s guilty verdict. Kasi was executed by lethal injection in 2002.

All the military experts recognize the viability of the swarming concept. Swarming tactics do not require advanced technology. Just as happens on any other battlefield, technology plays its part and we need the professionals. Ordinary citizens will usually be able to respond to an emergency that occurs in a public location more quickly than the police. If the professionals are tied down by multiple emergencies, trained volunteers with radios, cell phones and preparation for defensive tactical engagement may be able to head off potentially devastating attacks. Or even confront jihadist homicide teams.

Citizen defense conflicts with the way many of us have been trained to react but such thinking is in line with the mental outlook of most freedom loving people up until a few generations ago. One of the reasons that Americans got away from such civil defense strategies relates to the defunct official philosophy that the world would be destroyed by nuclear events if there was ever a war. Thus, the notion developed that there was no use preparing to defend against our enemies since “mutual assured destruction” had become official policy under the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT). Even military forces were reconfigured in a manner reflecting the primacy of the unthinkable nuclear threat.

The contributions of many human resources and various perspectives from inside and outside the ranks of the security professionals is indispensible. Intelligence and sophisticated communications, radioactivity detection, bomb squads and medical/rescue teams have been augmented with billions in federal and state funds. Nevertheless, you can get to your neighbor’s home in an emergency faster than any other “first responder“.

You don’t have to be covered with body armor or trained as a SWAT operator or to operate radar to get a concealed carry license, take some defensive shooting classes and think tactically.

The government has also spent billions to inform citizens about the importance of vigilance and getting ready for emergencies. There is a great deal of training being provided by local governments but, at least for now, the tactical training is something that you will have to develop without government assistance, unless you work for the government. Think about the nature of modern warfare and why individually armed men and women may become more important to our national security than ever before. Our biggest vulnerability is also our greatest strength- the mindset of the average American citizen.

See Citizen Journalists for information related to how journalism and online social networking can relate to Online Civil Defense.

I cut my teeth as a Structural Ironworker but I love literature and philosophy. Standing on a steel I-beam forty stories above the streets of San Francisco with a load of iron swinging over my head taught me about what was important.

When I was ironworking, I read a book by a “LONGSHOREMAN PHILOSOPHER” that worked on the docks of the nearby Embarcadero until he was sixty-five years old!

The February 24th issue of the Federal Way Mirror contained an article by our Federal Way school superintendant entitled “AN ARGUMENT OVER WHAT J.D. SALINGER MEANT”. Tom Murphy’s article is quite literary and philosophical, replete with a reference to recently deceased Salinger’s novellas. Most baby-boomers remember Salinger for “CATCHER IN THE RYE”- required reading when we were coming of age.

I also appreciate literature and I cannot resist commenting on the passing of an important literary figure like J.D. Salinger. As a youth with a penchant for Aldous Huxley novels and Eric Hoffer, I pondered the existential significance of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of Salinger’s 1951 tour de force. I identified with Caulfield’s angst, learned to despise my betters (and any kind of worthwhile accomplishment) and habitually used the “F” word at least once in most of my sentences.

Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I am about to accuse Salinger of corrupting American youth! Modernistic mayhem was being perpetrated on American culture long before and after Salinger’s callow anti-hero slouched around the American literary scene looking for an identity. The New York-Parisian literary mafia regaled us with perversion, blasphemous Gonzo-journalistic drug trips and suicidal ideations unknown to all but the most pagan of ancient mystery-cults. Such authors were not regular reading in the schools prior to CATCHER IN THE RYE but, nevertheless….

In 1780, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, stating that:

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

Imagine Holden Caulfield disarming a crazed gunman. Remember the 52 year old teacher that stopped a school shooting near Columbine, Colorado earlier this year? Discussing whether that teacher should have been trained and armed makes more sense than studying Shakespeare (or rap lyrics) when you have jihad chat rooms abuzz with strategies for invading schools.

Isn’t it about time to start discussing how to protect the kids in our schools? Right now all that stands between the kids and mayhem are good intentions. John Adams’ reference to “politics” wasn’t in reference to the mud-wrestling for power that characterizes today’s political spectacle. He meant the art of getting people to work towards mutual self-interest.

Let’s study politics and war again! True believers will sanctimoniously sneer at proposals to arm volunteers. Maybe they had Holden Caulfield as their role model.

Interpretation of Washington state gun laws | Firearms Lawyer

By MARK KNAPP
Reprinted with permission of Federal Way Mirror
Apr 27 2010, 1:42 PM

The Port of Seattle recently amended its rules to permit wearing a weapon in the passenger terminal outside of the areas where the metal detectors are located. The Port is just one municipality that has quietly conformed to Washington state’s firearms preemption statute.

The City of Seattle is frivolously appealing King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer’s order to stop enforcing a city gun ban by Feb. 17, and to take down the “No Guns” signs that were posted at parks and community centers around the Emerald City.

The Port of Seattle and Seattle relied on Cherry v Metro, a case where a Metro bus driver that brought a gun to work — and could be fired because he was not a member of the public. Thus, state preemption law did not apply. Under state preemption, local governments are not permitted to enforce any gun-related ordinances that are more restrictive than Washington’s state gun laws.

As a result, Snohomish County is reportedly dropping its restrictions on guns in parks. To their credit, Yakima, Federal Way and many other cities and counties did not wait to see how the courts would interpret the preemption statute. Preemption encompasses anything that relates to the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader component. See RCW 9.41.290.

Last year, Federal Way’s City Council unanimously agreed with an opinion letter that we submitted in 2008. In January 2009, Federal Way amended its gun laws in accordance with state law.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels knew his edict violated state law; he earlier admitted in writing that he did not have authority to enact the restrictions on guns in the parks and other city property. He issued his decree without the Seattle City Council even voting on it.

Meanwhile, there is recognition by some King County Council members that the ordinance empowering the King County Executive to ban guns during an emergency violates state preemption. A federal statute imposes severe money damages in the event that state or local authorities confiscate weapons during an emergency.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule that state and local governments are subject to the Second Amendment. The case, McDonald v Chicago, will be decided in June — approximately two years after the landmark DC v Heller gun case.

Several states like Montana and Arizona have enacted Firearms Freedom laws to put the federal Leviathan on notice that the Tenth Amendment protects in-state commerce related to keeping and bearing arms and are battling the government in the courts. Additionally, a strong majority of state attorneys general have upheld their constitutional oaths by joining the McDonald v Chicago case.

But keep your eyes on the State Department, which quietly announced that the U.S. will begin taking steps toward signing the United Nations Small Arms Treaty. The biggest threat to the Constitution would be a widespread pattern of violence or threats of violence related to political turmoil. Sedition from the left or the right will subvert freedom more quickly than any ordinance, decree or treaty.

On April 8th, the Tacoma News Tribune published an editorial about alleged death threats against Sen. Patty Murray. The editors stated, “In the furious arguments over health care reform, legitimate conservatives have sometimes been accused of fomenting violence with bitter and angry rhetoric”.

The next day in Olympia, almost three-dozen leftists dressed in black, wearing masks and calling themselves anarchists chanted obscenities at law enforcement officers. The anarchists attacked a newspaper photographer, spray-painted buildings, broke windows and threw newspaper boxes into the street. Police arrested 29 leftists. Two officers were hit - one in the head and one in the groin.

In February, 2008, an antiwar concert at Evergreen State College resulted in severe damage when a deputy’s car was overturned and looted. The name of the hip-hop group- Dead Prez- conveys something of what the anarchists were fomenting at the gathering.

No guns were involved in recent local anarchist attacks. Nor were guns used in 1999 when anti-globalist anarchists went berserk and smashed up the streets of Seattle. A bullet shot through the window of Republican Eric Cantor’s office in Virginia is one recent example of gun violence related to Health Care. Where are the other examples?

Alleged threats by anyone connected with Tea Parties or patriotism are amplified in a virtual reverberating echo chamber. “Wackos on the right have guns,” according to the Tacoma News Tribune.

To put things in historical perspective, however, on August 7, 1970, 17-year-old Jonathan Jackson, armed with an automatic weapon took Judge Harold Haley out of a Marin County courtroom. The left-wing militants took the Judge, Deputy District Attorney and three jurors hostage to demand freedom for the “Soledad Brothers“. Subsequently, a raft of music, heroic literature and popular culture has evolved around the Soledad Brothers who killed prison guards to retaliate for the killing of three black prisoners during a prison fight.

Judge Haley, Jonathan Jackson, and two prisoners were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. The judge was killed with a sawed-off shotgun fastened to his neck with adhesive tape. The anarchist-socialist left (paradoxically such fish swim in the same schools) conducts terrorist operations against police and government on a regular basis in other countries like Greece- Europe’s current symbol of big government’s fiscal insanity.

Angela Davis purchased the guns. At that time an acting assistant professor in the philosophy department at the UCLA and member of the Communist Party USA, Davis is now a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Syracuse University and a frequent speaker on subjects like racial and gender justice. The list of hardcore Sixties radicals that are now esconced within the ivied halls of academia is a fascinating historical pecularity that is quite extraordinary!

When I was 16 years old, I spent a summer exploring radicalism on the streets of Chicago. I slept in a crumbling Anarchist Bookstore and spent time perusing source documents from the earliest socialist internationales, International Workers of the World and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. I studied antiquated handbooks on how to barricade the streets, deploy Molotov cocktails and foment disturbances designed to raise the consciousness of the proletariat.

The following summer saw the Black Panthers, SDS and Yippies (Youth International Party) succeed in villifying the Chicago Police during the 1968 Democratic Convention. A coalition of various leftwing and counter-cultural groups catalyzed a new perception of the Vietnam War when mainstream news journalists, many of whom were already alienated from U.S. policy in Vietnam, were caught up in the reaction to a well-planned maelstrom of leftist provocation against the police in Lincoln Park. The provocations included throwing bricks and feces at the police and taunting the police officers by calling them pigs.

After I received Christ and repented of my former spiritual ties to such mischief, I felt nothing but remorse for even contemplating such things. But I never dreamt that acting out violence against police and other innocent people might lead one to become a professor at Northwest University!

Did Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, formerly radical bombers within Weatherman faction of the SDS ever suspect that they would rise to the top of the academic elite? The couple are friendly with President Obama and have written and spoken at length about their pasts. Today Ayers is an advocate for progressive education and a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago; she’s an associate professor of law at Northwestern University. They left behind a trail of murderous violence that would make Bonnie and Clyde proud- and never repented. Dr. Ayers never even served any time in prison!

Ayers has spent a great deal of time sitting on boards in Chicago that disperse tax-exempt foundation money primarily for edication purposes. Ayers prefers educational programs that promote his radical Marxist-Leninist agenda. In fact, even though Pres. Obama denies a close friendship with Ayers, they have worked together at the foundations.

In fact, Dr. Ayers only regrets that he did not actually kill any U.S. personnel with his bombs. Despite claims in the news media that he never killed anyone, however, there is a great deal of evidence that he was accomplice to the murder of a police officer in San Francisco.

In a 1969 speech to the SDS Weathermen in Flint, Michigan, Dohrn said of the murder of eight month pregnant Sharon Tate, “Dig it! First they killed those pigs and then they put a fork in pig Tate’s belly. Wild!” She said of the LaBiancas- also victims of the Manson family- “Offing those rich pigs with their own forks and knives, and then eating a meal in the same room, far out! The Weathermen dig Charles Manson!”

Leftists often assert that violence is necessary in order to advance the cause of social justice. The mainstream politicians and media focus on isolated examples of violence perpetrated by misguided groups or individuals like Timothy McVeigh that act under color of patriotism. The news media collude with the Democrat’s attack machine to ignore leftist violence and threats of violence and smear folks that peacefully protest and actually love their country too much to even consider acting violently.

President Clinton came out on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and renewed claims that talk radio and the internet enable violence by creating a climate of hate. That was how he regained his grip on the levers of presidential power in 1995. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City provided the turning point that Clinton needed after the 1994 gully wash against Democrats in Washington, DC. History does not repeat itself but it certainly does seem to rhyme at times.

The concerted refrain is that rightwingers have guns and we are trumpeting an anti-government call to arms. To listen to the squads of Democratic operatives that have taken to the airwaves, those of us that criticize deficit spending want to eliminate police protection and other core government services.

Most of us appreciate our police protection and that is why we exercise our duty to speak out peacefully on behalf of fiscal responsibility. There is a great deal of history to demonstrate the social disorder that occurs when government strips away wealth by increasing the money supply and devaluing currency. Good officers cannot afford to serve and protect when tomorrow’s paycheck may barely buy enough to buy the family a loaf of bread!

Legitimate gun owners are as likely to be union members, Democrats, gay activists, liberals, leftists or people of color as “Tea Party” activists. Some of us talk a lot about the Constitution because we have this old fashioned idea that it is the bedrock of the American legal system. On the other hand, left-wing groups like the New Black Panther Party have received favorable treatment from the Obama administration despite a recent record of intimidating voters at polling places and violent, racist rhetoric. How long before the American left repeats the historical and deadly pattern of violence that continues to rage worldwide?

Tacoma woman ‘prayed’ for her stalker.

A stalker waited for his victim outside Birney Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington. He had recently been released from Pierce County jail on $10,000.00 bail. He shot Jennifer Paulson as the 30 year-old teacher arrived at school in the morning. The victim and Jed Waits, the stalker, had met in a work situation in 2003. By 2008, Waits was obsessed with Ms. Paulson; they were never romantically involved, however.

Waits was killed in a subsequent shootout with a Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy. Ms. Paulson was known for devotion to faith, family and students

Jennifer Paulson was reportedly a caring, compassionate and selfless Christian. She tutored kids and volunteered to help inner-city youths. She even prayed for the stalker.

Wait’s unhealthy obsession began in 2003.

According to court documents, “he called at odd hours, sometimes 10 to 15 times per day.
He drove from his home in Ellensburg to Tacoma and showed up unannounced at her workplace, asking to see her even though she didn’t want to see him.”

He sometimes sat in his car and just watched her.

Children were not at school, when the special education teacher arrived.

“She was being bothered by this man, but she was still praying for him,” said the Rev. Dean Curry, pastor of Life Center of Tacoma.

Waits killed Ms. Paulson, who was 30 years old, outside the school at about 7:30 AM, February 26, 2010. According to the Tacoma News Tribune:

“Paulson’s devastated family and friends described her as woman of abiding faith who possessed a deep well of kindness and generosity. She focused her life on kids, teaching them at Birney during the week and then helping at-risk children through a church-sponsored program on Saturdays.”

“She was a kind, merciful, loving person,” Ken Paulson said this morning. “That’s probably why she was a special ed teacher, because she loved so much.”

According to the TNT, Paulson graduated from Life Christian School and Academy in 1998, a member of its inaugural class. She was on the honor roll every semester of her high school years.

“She took advanced placement classes, edited the school newspaper, worked on the yearbook and earned varsity letters in volleyball, softball and basketball.”

No one apparently counseled the strong Christian woman, who regularly attended Life Center, that carrying a gun does not conflict with faith.

Pastors and Bible teachers ought to be teaching folks what the Bible says about lethal force. The Great Commission includes deliverance from sin and every kind of oppression, healing, dominion over demonic powers and principalities and putting enemies to flight! That is the “full Gospel” that some folks teach was only for the early Apostolic church and the Old Testament- but not for today.

Those that counsel women like Ms. Paulson should be thinking about what it means to rely on Protection Orders when the stakes can be so high. Pastors, lawyers, family members and police should always remind potential victims that obtaining a Concealed Pistol License and carrying a pistol is an option. Women should also get training so the stalker does not disarm her. There is no conflict between great faith and being armed.

Do you lack faith when you have a fire extinguisher in your home or learn CPR? Think about it. Those of us that counsel women in domestic violence situations should be wise and prudent, not politically correct or deluded by false notions about what Christ taught.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a new law that eventually led to creation of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship. The purpose of this legislative initiative was, “That every facility should be offered citizens outside of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and organized militia [National Guard] to become proficient in rifle shooting, and that this purpose can best be accomplished by means of rifle clubs.”

Even today, federal law provides a definition for an organized and an unorganized militia. The unorganized militia are the able-bodied citizenry at large (traditionally men between certain ages) that are able to defend their country. Pres. Roosevelt believed that America’s military preparedness depended on having people of all ages involved in competitions and other firearms training.

Thus, civilians, the NRA, police & military shooting have all evolved together and there has been a constant interplay of innovation in technology, training techniques, competitions and personnel. Expert civilian competitors often compete right alongside expert military and police marksmen. Those with no police and military training succeed the same way that competitive soldiers, sailors and police succeed- by extra commitment, natural talent and a great deal of training.

The purpose of the DCM was to encourage this kind of interaction and military weapons were distributed from the U.S. surplus. The program almost died out in the Sixties because U.S. policy makers decided that small-arms were almost a thing of the past except for stopping waves of Soviets from crossing into Western Europe. The non-profit CMP was created at the last minute. There are still CMP competitions and reasonably priced WW II Garands and other excellent military weapons are available to folks that participate in competitions and other organized shooting activities.

I belong to Paul Bunyan Shooting Club in Puyallup and starting in February and throughout the summer, the Club will shut most of its facilities for certain days during which CMP practice and various rifle competitions are held. Normal rifle shooting at Paul Bunyan is at 200 yards or less. For me this is one of the few opportunities in which I can experience shooting at a target from 600 yards. In Service Match competition, all competition is with open sights and equipment that is standard for military rifles.

The preferred rifle for many is the semi-automatic version of the M-16 that most U.S. troops use in the field; i.e., semi-auto rifles (that means one shot with each pull of the trigger)that the media refers to as an “assault rifle” because they are usually black, accept magazines that are made to be easily removed and replaced with a fully loaded magazine and look like the full-auto weapons that our armed services deploy in times of war.

Many of the guys and ladies that shoot rifles either own one or would like to because they are accurate, easy to use and you can easily put a scope on many of them or other interesting equipment like lights and foregrips and things that make them no more threatening than much more powerful guns (that have more recoil and killing power) but those that want to take away guns- and our Constitution- want you to believe that they only want to ban the really evil guns with no legitimate sporting purpose “that are only made to be used for killing lots of people in a war“.

Once certain features (like foregrips) are banned it just becomes a matter of manipulating the definitions. The average member of the public that thinks the media is talking about full-automatic machine guns can hardly be expected to understand all the technical data on which federal and state gun restrictions hinge. It could easily be argued that a semi-automatic pistol is much more insidious than a military style rifle because pistols also hold quite a few bullets, are reloaded with removable clips and can be carried concealed.

Pistols were also designed for use in warfare and have killed many of America’s enemies along with innocent victims of crime. That is why the drafters of the Constitution saw fit to protect the use of such weapons! If they are militarily useful, the weapons can also be used to deter criminals, terrorists or even foreign enemies that might come to our shores.

Our club has some CMP Garands and the club occasionally lets members use them to participate in shooting events. The club’s Garands are semi-automatic 30.06 tack-drivers, modified with match-grade, free-floated barrels for more accuracy when the barrel heats up in competition. M-1 Garands hold eight rounds.

Hitting a six foot high target at 600 yards with iron sights is an accomplishment in itself! Hitting the X-ring is extremely gratifying. Many teenagers are very skilled in such competition. It takes the ability to go into an extreme state of focused quietude that is the opposite of football, video games and other activities to which many of us are habituated. Women of all ages are also devoted to various disciplines involving both rifle and pistol shooting- and shotguns.

Another amazing event is an Appleseed Shoot. This is a grueling weekend of training that is similar to boot camp. While you learn the techniques that “make every man, woman and child a Rifleman,” you also learn about our Revolutionary War heritage. Every kind of rifle is used and every age and background. This movement is nationwide and draws people from all over. I went back and attended in North Idaho because I lived there for many years. In Couer d’Alene at the Fernan Range and Gun Club, I met men and women from Montana, Seattle and many places in the Northwest.

The rifleman’s skills are just as important now as ever before in our history.

I have also shot Steel Plate competitions. At Paul Bunyan we have very young kids that participate with their moms and dads and the young ladies (and older ones) often outshoot grown men that have years of military experience.

There is also a group of guys that work in public maintenance for Sumner with whom I have competed in combat-style IPSIC shooting. You run through a maze of multiple targets while shooting for speed and accuracy (sometimes at moving targets). I mention the guys from Sumner because if anyone ever attacked the City of Sumner with guns, the SWAT team could arrive late and the bad guys might be in more trouble than the residents of Sumner. These guys have trained to hit when they shoot and they train to shoot fast. They reload and shoot rapid-fire with pistols while they sprint past targets. My approach is to learn to do what they do while walking with an occasional jog.

Everyone is helpful and one reason to be there is to learn to shoot and handle jams and other unexpected developments while you have gobs of adrenaline downgrading your fine motor skills. After you run through one course and shoot as many as ten or twenty- or sometimes thirty rounds- you begin to get a feel for how men trained in times past- like the Texas Rangers that learned to shoot from the saddle while riding past a target at full gallop.

A new sport that is becoming very popular is cowboy action shooting. The Renton Fish & Game Club hosts these colorful affairs. All the guns are copies or originals from before 1900 and people wear expensive cowboy costumes and assume fictional identities (often from favorite Western dramas). Ladies seem to be especially drawn to this and everyone shoots a shotgun, usually two six-shooters and lever-action rifles. The targets tend to pop up, roll on the ground or spin and often loom within mock-ups of saloons, mining shafts and stage coaches. There also cowboy events held on horseback

Another sport that is becoming just as popular as cowboy action shooting is three-gun IPSIC. Based on the multiple-targeted configurations discussed above, 3-gun competitors race through mazes with military-style carbines that are semi-auto versions of the weapons used by our U.S. military in warfare. Pistol and tactical shotguns are also part of the fun. Targets may be close or 500 yards away so many of the rifles hold more than one kind of sighting system in order to transition from close quarters combat to distances at which you can barely see a man-sized target.

Some of these competitions emphasize shooting from cover and attempt to recreate what happens in actual combat. Although recreationists and professionals often use simulated ammunition to conduct exercises against actual opponents that shoot back, you cannot substitute for training with real weapons.

Many attend schools like the Firearms Academy of Seattle (that I attended) where the skills of legal reasoning, sound tactical judgment and good decisions are provided. I announced a class on the LAW OF ARMED DEFENSE in January, 2010 and over forty people attended- many of them husbands and wives. All these activities are marked by prudence and the highest regard for safety and good citizenship. Even though more people have more guns than ever before, gun accidents are lower than ever before.

More people are carrying in public (judging by the increased number of CPLs issued across the U.S. recently) so it is good that so much education and training is available. Every state now has concealed carry except for Wisconsin and Illinois. A concealed carry law was passed in Wisconsin and then vetoed by the Governor a few years ago.

In all these competitions and training events there are some that will be going into the military or law enforcement, others that have already served and many that will go into other pursuits. After the Civil War, shooting sports became fashionable in colleges, the mansions of the wealthy and every part of American society from shooting ranges in working class neighborhoods to the White House. The U.S. may be experiencing another time like we saw in the early 1900s when shooting sports were integrated into American life- including the public schools. Justice Scalia tells how he would ride the subway in NY and take his .22 rifle with him for shooting practice afterw school.

A Ninth Circuit judge recently stated in a written appellate decision concurring with the majority opinion in the NORDYKE case that a terrorist attack like the Mumbai attack (in which 179 innocent people were killed by automatic weapon fire) would not get very far in the United States because of the Second Amendment.

But without the citizens that exercise their right to keep and bear arms, the Second Amendment would only be words on paper for lawyers to argue about. Incidentally, almost every Constitutional legal expert now concedes that the 2nd Amendment means what the Founders thought it meant when they drafted it. Pres. Roosevelt was right! Whatever goals people that shoot pursue, they add strength to our nation.