River at Tampa bay Church Associate Pastor Allen Hawes

“Would I rather ruffle a few feathers, or do I want to count bodies?” – River at Tampa Bay Church Associate Pastor Allen Hawes, quoted in ‘We Are Heavily Armed’ Florida Church Warns No One in Particular [via vice.com]

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20 COMMENTS

  1. I forget, am I paranoid for carrying a gun to church and the mall, or are there mass shootings every day?

        • Awareness, preparation, is often difficult to maintain when/where there is no apparent threat, or reason for paranoia. 🙂 I live in an area with almost no crime, let alone violent crime, and yet there was a murder a few years ago, right in town. So I still go armed everywhere, every day… just in case.

        • My worst paranoia is that we POTG don’t make the bad guys paranoid enough. As soon as every potential felon is kept awake worrying about every victim packing, then we’ve won.

  2. A good start. Only a few million other “gun free zones” to get rid of.

    And a researcher says there are 2,000 serial killers, most never caught.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5106499/Nearly-2-000-killers-large-researcher-claims.html

    No mention of self defense in this, of course. But if the first, or at worst second, intended victim did defend themselves successfully, what are the chances that number would fall fast? And, from the article, it is obvious that women need self defense as much or more than anyone else. They also need the skills and mindset to choose activities and intimate partners with far greater care. How many of these murders were of total strangers?

    • Really the same principle applies re assault, muggings, burglary, etc. If a significant fraction of the victims actively defend themselves, having a long “career” becomes statistically very unlikely for the criminal.

      If 10% of victims actively defend themselves successfully, a criminal would have a ~50% chance of having their career terminated after only 6 crimes.

      Another benefit is that the criminal, on average, is less skilled in that scenario because the average number of crimes committed is lower (less practice making perfect…).

      • It’s almost as if logic and reason dictate removing criminals from society to make it safer. If only there were some kind of structure for handling this. Maybe, it could be a governmental function. Naw, it’s more important to make sure people don’t have to work or pay for healthcare.

  3. I knew the author wouldn’t be able to just report the facts before pooh-poohing the whole idea of the good guy with a gun, but it was published by Vice after all.

  4. Amen…it’s certainly NOT the only heavily armed church in America. Mine is too. Have a nice Thankgiving and stay safe!

  6. Anybody remember the murder map of the U S?
    54% of counties had no murders at all
    6% of counties had 50% of all the murders
    The map showed murder to be concentrated on the coasts and Chicago
    It correlated perfectly with areas that voted democratic in the last election!
    Do a search for murder map

  7. Mass shootings, to my knowledge no Catholic Church has had any shootings during service. I believe the reason is halfway through the sermon the terrorist drops his weapon and falls asleep with the rest of us.

    • “Mass shootings, to my knowledge no Catholic Church has had any shootings during service.”

      Wrong.

      “The suspected shooter is a 25-year-old legal Sudanese immigrant named Emanuel Kidega Samson. Samson immigrated to the United States in 1996.

      The first and fatal shot was initiated in the church parking lot as 39-year-old Melanie Smith was walking to her car.

      Samson then entered in from the back of the “predominantly white” church and took his other shots before being taken down.

      Church Usher Robert Engle, 22, is being praised as a hero for confronting the gunmen at gunpoint during the attack, possibly preventing further injuries.”

      http://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=76085

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