When I say “PSA” you immediately guessed it was in favor of limiting capacity, didn’t you? I did too, at first.
Not so much.
I saw this over at Kevin’s site, where I strongly recommend you go and read his comments because he has some well-thought-out criticisms with which I really don’t agree. I respect his opinions, though, and can’t recall ever actually disagreeing with him on anything else. Which is usually a sign that I’m wrong. I’d be interested in your opinion.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Laddie the Amazing Torso Boy 2011-2020
"Freedom Outlaw. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. It’s an attitude — from which actions always follow. It’s a do-it-yourself occupation. And a lifetime vocation."
- Claire Wolfe, Backwoods Home Companion, 6-07-10
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- G. K. Chesterton
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
- Aaron Zelman
"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."
- Barbie
"Never underestimate the ability of shit to find a fan."
- F. Paul Wilson
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The sophistry of villains - Bah!
- Robert A. Heinlein, Double Star
“Truth is, I’m not specifically interested in an armed society. What I want is a free society.”
- George Potter
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence
Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones.
– Reality
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand
If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
- Frank Turner
Don't be afraid to try something big, just because you're an amateur. The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
- Anon
"Nothing scares a police officer more than the threat of being treated the way that they treat people every day."
- Anon
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
- Gen. James Mattis
"Lust for power is the most flagrant of all the passions."
- Tacitus
"The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free."
- F.A. "Baldy" Harper
"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
- William James
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
- Viktor Frankl
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
- Milton Friedman
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
- William Faulkner
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
- Ernest Hemingway
"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
John Moses Browning - The most badass Mormon who ever lived.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- James A. Baldwin
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
- Anon
“I tried to live in such a way that, when dying, I would rather feel happy than scared.”
– Witold Pilecki
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
- Sallust
"Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark."
- Lazarus Long
Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
– Christopher Morley
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”
-Frederick Douglass
ESSE QUAM VIDERI –
To be, rather than to seem
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.”
– Ida B. Wells
Do what thy manhood bid thee do; from none but self expect applause.
He noblest lives and noblest dies, who makes and keeps his self made laws
– Sir Richard Burton
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”
― Father Alfred d’Souza
Quibble: our home defender wasn’t very efficient as he failed to actually, y’know, aim while his eyes were closed. Artistic license, I suppose. As an aside, I ventured out yesterday with a six round semiauto rather than my usual 17. I didn’t like it… The chances of needing it are quite slim. However…
“Quibble: our home defender wasn’t very efficient”
Yeah. I have wondered how well _I_ would do if it were me. I’ve had a few actual nightmares where I’ve got the gun, I’ve got the bad guy in my sights and .. nothing works. Slide falls off. Mis-fire. Jams. I _shoot_ and I keep _missing_ . Like that.
I’ve unholstered twice and been at the wrong end of a gun twice. Nothing came of any of the incidents and I prefer looking down my sights rather than being looked at. I’d like to believe I’d be cool, calm, and collected… but I know better.
Due to where we live (Rural) at least one of us is always carrying. That provides useful for training, critters that want to eat our critters, etc.
Being of the Female type, I was quite surprised that the 3 Ladies waited…and waited…for “Dad” to save them. The chances are that more than one “intruder” is coming in, therefore more than one defender (if all other options are exhausted) would be more efficient.
Also – once you’ve looked down the barrel at anything and had to pull the trigger – it changes your perspective on what really happens once the booger finger does it’s thing.
I suppose I’m just too far out of the “standard deviation” to be reached.
I think its freakin GREAT! Ya, I could quibble here and there. But the dad sorta acted like a real dad would…maybe. And it was pretty nicely done. Good shots, good lighting…excellent professional job. And it gets the point across….what do you need a hi cap mag for?
For me the lesson here is the old saw
‘It doesn’t matter what the caliber is as long as it begins with a 4’
I am surprised that it did not come up yet that he needs (no matter what the capacity is) more magazines. If I put the gun in a drawer or wherever there is at least one full mag sitting next to it.
I do have to admit though that it does get the point across about not limiting magazine capacity.
I could go on about only having one pistol and that it was locked in a safe but that is not the point here.
‘It doesn’t matter what the caliber is as long as it begins with a 4′
Although I would seem to agree with you there, based on a quick survey of the guns most likely to appear on my own belt any given day, I think you reveal a whole lot of geek cred here that may not represent “Everyman Dad”–which is not to criticize; I say this as a guy who pointed out something even more arcane in Dad’s performance, and got (rightfully) called on it by our gracious host. 🙂
You certainly reveal your enthusiast status to me. Anyone who can watch those cases plink down on the floor*, and know, just from the look of them, that they are almost certainly 9x19mm, is hardly an Everyman–not even an Everyman among gunnies. (And bless you for that. Please tell me you’re passing that on every chance you get.)
Pedantica aside, I think the film’s hardware choice was as close to nuts-on as you could get. Dad’s choice of a modern-design 9mm–widely available, reasonably affordable, the very sort of design most likely to be impacted by a capacity limit, and chambered in a cartridge whose known limitations are sometimes willfully accepted specifically for increased capacity–struck me as perfect. Sure, “instructor me” may have trained him differently, in both hardware and tactics (and I love RuralGal’s comments on Dad being the only one fighting!), but not only does an Everyman Dad not necessarily have access to or even know about such things, but he shouldn’t have to.
Personally, I’m liking the PSA more and more, the more I consider it; one of the big reasons is that it actually seems to have people talking about it, constructively. And the hits are continuing to roll in; as of this writing, I see nearly ninety thousand views on YT.
Jeez, I guess that means I’m actually wanting to see more bedwetting over it, as proof that it’s actually getting to the people who most need to
seeconfront it. How messed up is that? 🙂__________________
* And in such a neat little pile, over the course of engaging two targets in different directions! This piece is a handloader’s dream! 🙂
Kevin,
well, yeah. I thought I had made that clear. I agree, 9×19 is definitely an everyman gun….no question. (From the empties, it *could* be a 40, which is marginally better), T hey are pointing this at middle class everyman, good casting, and the gun is perfect…CLEARLY showing the slide locking back after 10…..
I freakin LOVE the piece….I was just saying what the lesson was for ME.
Usually I keep my 45 auto loaded around the house. Possibly it might be one of my 44’s. Either way, DAMN sure wouldn’t be taking more than 2 to put the baddies down for the count. I don’t *care* how much stuff they smoked.
‘Course, I’d be deaf, and I would NEVER get the bits of brains, body and stuff off my walls, but……
I had made the earlier comment as Anonymous….sorry about any confusion.