WOW! A pro-gun artical in the Oregonian newspaper!

[yomama]

Just had to share this. It's not often enough you read an article like this in a newspaper. Even more surprising to me is that the author is an associate editor.

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1197511000106500.xml&coll=7

Praise the Lord . . . and the armed security guard
Thursday, December 13, 2007
David Reinhard

W hat can you say about the Sunday slaughter at a megachurch and missionary training center in Colorado?

What can you say when a 24-year-old man who said he "hates" Christians shoots two twentysomethings dead at the Youth With a Mission office in Arvada, before killing two teenage girls at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs? That we'll never have an ample explanation for such blood-soaked depravity this side of paradise? Yes. That a special wickedness is afoot in the world when this kind of evil runs amok in a house of God? Surely. That there's a savage irony in the fact that Sunday's violence was visited upon people preparing for Christmas, the birthday of the Prince of Peace? Too true.

Yes, all that, but also this: Thank God the New Life Church in Colorado Springs was not a gun-free zone. Thank God volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam was licensed to carry a weapon. Thank God she used her gun to stop Matthew Murray. Yes, thank God. Murray arrived at New Life Church, according to Colorado Springs police Sgt. Jeff Johnson, with two handguns, an assault rifle and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. How many more dead would there have been if the New Life Church had been a gun-free zone and the rampaging Murray had been the only one armed last Sunday? Fifty? One hundred? A few hundred? And how many maimed and wounded?

After a reporter asked if she felt like a hero, Assam simply said, "I wasn't just going to wait for [Murray] to do further damage."

We'd all do well to think about New Life Church and Jeanne Assam the next time somebody reflexively pontificates on the glories of gun-free zones or frets about law-abiding citizens licensed to pack heat.

A church would seem to be the last place where you'd need people carrying concealed weapons. It's the kind of place you wouldn't consider declaring a gun-free zone, because -- well, because it's a place of peace and worship. But would the folks at New Life have been better off if their only recourse had been to call 9-1-1 and wait for the SWAT teams to arrive? Or were they fortunate that Assam had a gun because some of the church's 15 to 20 volunteer security people are armed if they have licenses to carry weapons?

The answer is obvious unless you're willing to sacrifice innocents to a faith-based, fact-challenged, gun-control ideology that trusts gun-free zones and fears concealed-weapons permits.

The answer is obvious unless you favor sending more lambs to the slaughter.

Here's an even easier question: Would the New Life Church victims be alive today if somebody at the Youth With A Mission office in Arvada had been armed when a hate-filled and hellbent Murray came calling earlier that day?

Carrying a concealed weapon is, of course, not for everyone. I get as nervous as the next city or suburb slicker when it comes to guns. I can't imagine shooting anything but my foot or innocent bystanders in a crisis situation. But the knee-knocking of gun-phobias and grandstanding of gun-control zealots shouldn't keep law-abiding -- and gun-competent -- individuals from protecting themselves and the rest of us.

They're probably up to the task. The volunteer security folks at the New Life were organized before Sunday's mayhem. Assam, for her part, had served as a police officer in the 1990s. Of course, not everyone with a licensed concealed weapon will have her experience, but that's hardly the point. Their presence certainly beats the alternative of letting a weapons-laden madman mow down more people.

The facts are clear: The problem's not people with concealed-weapons permits and concealed weapons. The problem is people who don't apply for concealed-weapons permits and aren't particularly attentive to gun-free zone boundaries.

In short, it's not the gun, but who's toting the gun.

Of course, most of us know this. As Alan Ladd said in the 1953 Western "Shane," "A gun is a tool, Marian, as good or as bad as the man using it."

David Reinhard, associate editor, can be reached at 503-221-8152 or [email protected].

 

[apollosmith]

I just sent Mr. Reinhard a letter of thanks. It's refreshing to see the truth about guns presented in the media. The fact that he has done so with eloquence and veracity makes it even better.

 

[Cougfan2]

Before I even saw the author, I knew it must be Dave Reinhard. He's just about the only non-socialist conservative editorial contributor to that paper. Kudos to Dave and Kudos to the Oregonian for printing it. Now be prepared to watch all of the whining and gnashing of teeth in the letters to the editor that this is an isolated incident and she is an ex-cop, but the average CHL holder would have killed more people than the shooter blah blah blah. :banghead:

 

[SASS#23149]

I just sent him a letter of thanks as well.Everyone who reads this post should do it,and tell him to feel free to share the letters with his bosses.

Nice job,Dave!!

 

[strambo]

I don't get the "fish wrapper" anymore...I did send Mr. Reinhard a thank you email and will buy this issue. Thanks for posting.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I don't get the "fish wrapper" anymore...

+1. It's nice that they have some people that can see through the anti-gun propaganda and emotional arguments and tell it like it is.
Part of a "armed security force" or not, there are a lot more people carrying concealed in churches and other places of worship these days. It may irk some people, until an event like this happens, then it might save their life.

 

[Unisaw]

I, too, just dropped a note of thanks to Mr. Reinhard. That was a great article that stated quite succinctly the points that most of us struggle to articulate.

 

[S&Wfan]

Lots of sheep in that peaceful flock at New Life Church didn't die . . . because they had two "sheepdogs" in their midst, including one who was not armed.

Would lives have been saved in Arvada if someone had been armed? Dunno, but probably not. Most Christians are sweet, peaceful sheep and I'm not sure there was a Christian sheepdog there who could have pulled the trigger.

The world needs sheepdogs so the sheep can live safely . . . and in peace!

What was amazing was that a short, petite little sheepdog . . . armed with a Beretta 9mm . . . would advance on a guy with a Bushmaster AR-15 like she did from close range. He fired 26 rounds from the Bushmaster (including killing two and wounding one outside) . . . and she only fired ten.

Now guys and girls . . . THAT'S A REAL SHEEPDOG . . . and a quite attractive one too!

IMHO, few, if any, "rent-a-cops" would have done that. That's probably why she won the fight too . . . she didn't hesitate and took the fight to the guy with the Bushmaster.

She fought . . . just like a "Cornered Cat!"

Jeanne Assam for President! You can trust her . . . with your life!

 

[buttrap]

Thats sure not the usual for The Fish Wrapper. a real breath of freash air to.

 

[buttrap]

Thats sure not the usual for The Fish Wrapper. a real breath of freash air to.

 

[Leanwolf]

Excellent editorial. E mail stating same to Mr. Reinhard.

L.W.

 

[jrfoxx]

In spite of the fact The Oregonian is a Portland paper, it's surprisingly less liberal and more fair and middle of the road for the most part, than say, my local rag, the Eugene Register Guard (also known as The Extreme Moonbat Times ).Good article.Its not all that uncommon to see some writers/opinions iwth common sense in that paper (again,as opposed to mine..)