An unfortunate series of events

I found this story of a trial in the wake of a bizarre shooting in Atlanta off the ARFCOM GD. Whoa, dude!

Long story short is that a man who was just ambushed in a gunfight ended up shooting a responding cop who thought he was a bad guy. The comments in the article are against the man who is being charged, though I note that they are all cops. The main argument is that the guy charged - the one who shot the cop, named Thomas - is a scumbag because the cop was in uniform and he should have known that he was a cop, not a badguy.

While I don't support people who shoot cops, based on the information in the article I have give the benefit of the doubt to Thomas because it does sound to me like this was a case of "fog of war" mixed with unusual circumstances. Think of these key items:

- Thomas has no criminal history, and was in the process of conducting a lawful business transaction while legally carrying his sidearm for defense.
- He considered that he was in danger of a coordinated attack, and very shortly afterwords was ambushed by several men, one of whom had a firearm and engaged him in a gunfight.
- He was fleeing from armed scumbags when, moments later and while he was in the process of summoning law enforcement for help, a man appearing in a police uniform jumps out of a personal vehicle -- not a police cruiser(s) with flashing lights -- and points a gun at him.
- The man in a police uniform had visible tattoos covering his arms.

The tattoos aren't indicting on their own, sure, but ask yourself this: Would a reasonable man -- who was actively fleeing from a coordinated armed attack where he exchanged gunfire, and that he believed was still in process -- think that a man suddenly appearing, in a police uniform, before the police are even called, be in fact police? The cop was a really real law enforcement officer who happened to still be in uniform after his shift was over, and he was almost right on top of where the shooting was and heard the gunfire, but instead of being in a police cruiser with a partner and/or backup he was in a shiny Tahoe with tinted windows. What would you think? Have you not heard of scumbags impersonating police officers in order to rob and kill their rivals and victims? I have; and that's why, if I were a juror on this trial, I would see reasonable doubt.

What do you think?

Detroit or Afghanistan?

Tough call. Remember this video when you're whining about your commute home today:



There's a bunch more combat videos at MP.net.

Close range gunfight

Count me out.

This is video footage with audio from the recent shootout at a Detroit police station.


Yikes!

I would have wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. It puts it into perspective when you consider standing on a static range shooting at paper, and you are putting round after round into the target with great accuracy. From what I can see here in this video, the whole daggone ballgame changes when your paper target comes and finds you at your desk and starts blasting away with a shotgun.

As a rather large and intense Drill Instructor once told me, "when you're being shot at, I promise you that you will be so low to the dirt that your helmet will plow a trench into the earth!"

I think his statement was accurate!

Gunfight in Mexico

There really isn't much to see, as this is a cell phone video shot at night, but the audio tells of a gun battle with full auto weapons, and not gunshow ARs and AKs. The only semi auto fire that I can tell is at the very beginning.

The back story is that the Mexican military had some drug lord cornered, and a convoy of cartel guys came to get him. I wouldn't bother watching the whole thing; it sounds the same from the first minute til almost the last. It does give you an idea though.

Someone didn't read their Sun Tzu

This is a great lesson of what happens when you blow your element of surprise.

LAKEBAY, Wash. – An attempted invasion robbery at a home on Key Peninsula that housed a large marijuana grow operation turned into a gun battle between the owner and the robbers Thursday night. One robber is dead, at least two other people are wounded and as many as four people may be on the run in the neighborhood.

The video says that the home owner was expecting the company, so I would imagine that he probably fired first. Shear numbers of gunman don't always add up when the potential target is armed and ready for you.

I wonder what kind of legal fallout is going to come out of this. Sure, the scumbags were invading the home, but the question of the day is whether or not the homeowner's leafy hobby negates his US Citizenship rights to protect his property. I guess you could always argue that anyone growing pot deserves to not get shot to death by a band of unprepared morons, and by shooting back, you are in fact attempting to maintain your gift of life.

Also, the article mentions the use of handguns and shotguns. Why would the owner of a 'substantial' amount of pot not be armed with the latest and greatest AR15 or AK clone? You would think that he would be better prepared. Must be that all the good stuff in Washington state is flowing like a river to Mexico.

H/T Ace.

Modern day gunfighter shot in the head

. . . .Fortunately his helmet saved his life. Video at the link.

For anyone who wanted to know whether a kevlar hemet is actually bullet proof, it isn't, but it can still deflect enough to keep a bullet from hitting gooey stuff.

Wyatt Earp's gunfight testimony

Super bad-ass! Click on over to Hajisplace for a look at a sworn affidavit of the events up to and including the gunfight at the OK Corral.

Violent times in California

Sounds like it was a pretty good shootout in LA this weekend between rival gang members. Someone should have told them that it was illegal to discharge firearms in public. Fortunately, nobody was killed which leads me to believe that gang bangers can't shoot. Good.

Now, raise your hand if you think these yahoos were a) sober, and b) carrying unloaded holstered guns. Thought so. Perhaps all the Cali hippies should stop picketing Starbucks for not discriminating against regular folk, and instead direct their wrath towards businesses that rent out Hummer limousines. Who rents those things anyways? Gangsters, right? Lets stop gangsters in their tracks by banning Hummer limos.

Also, some little scumbag stabbed a bus driver to death. What possible good did that guy think would come from killing a bus driver? I generally could care less if violent scumbags kill other violent scumbags over something as trivial as colors or whatnot, but leave the working folk alone.

Armed defense against machinegun toting pirates?

Blasphemy you say?

Try again.

Light those bastards up!!!

Welcome to your nation's capitol!

"There were so many gunshots being fired, my family got down," said Robert Drumm of Oklahoma, who was touring the nation's capital with his family.

Sounds like it was a pretty nasty firefight at the U.S. Capitol. I wonder if his weapon was properly registered.

Other tourists were taking cover as well. They're lucky they didn't go for a scenic tour of beautiful South East DC.

One less criminal

A scumbag that robbed a bank in Virginia this morning was gunned down in what appears to be a pretty good sized shootout. The fight went down at a middle school soccer field where the gunman was killed by three cops.

That makes for a nice advertisement to the middle schoolers to not grow up to be a criminal.