The Parkland shooter admitted to a psychiatrist that he had planned a school massacre for over 5 years. He looked at previous shootings and studied what previous shooters had done. He learned to pie corners, he learned police response times, he learned to not let people get close.
He knew that he would have 20 minutes to carry out his plan without police interference.
Think about that while carrying in your day to day life. The shooter has a plan, he has the initiative, and you will be playing catchup.
Your car is being burglarized right there in front of your house. You can see them on camera. Your impulse is to run out there and protect your property. I don’t recommend that, and would tell you not to. If you decide to any way, there is a right way and a wrong way. That is the subject of this post.
In the eight years that I have lived in this neighborhood, we have had two attempted burglaries of my pickup truck parked in my driveway. Since my truck is too big to fit in the garage, I have to leave it outside. Both attempts to break into it occurred in the summer, and I wasn’t home for either one. The first time was in June of 2017 while we were in Alaska. Several cars were broken into, and they stole the Jeep across the street. The idiot left the keys to the Jeep in the glove box of the unlocked car that was parked next to it.
The second attempt was a year later and was caught on my security cameras. The cops used my footage to catch the burglar, but he reached a plea deal that included expunging his record. All he got was probation, even though he broke into four vehicles, stealing one of them. One of the cars was a police cruiser that he stole a fingerprint reader from, another was a truck where he stole a handgun, and some items from a few other vehicles. In both break-ins sprees, my truck was spared simply because I lock the doors. The thief tried to blind my cameras with a flashlight, but was unsuccessful. At the time he was trying to break into my truck, he was already armed with a stolen handgun.
The point here is that thieves are frequently armed. That is why I don’t think it is a good idea to leave the house in order to confront burglars. My truck is both empty and insured. The only thing I keep in it are my work IDs and the HAM/CB radio equipment that is mounted in it. Not worth my life. Even if I *do* confront him, my truck will likely be the backstop to my gunfire, so either way I am filing an insurance claim, and the best way to survive a gunfight is not to get in a gunfight in the first place.
If you MUST confront car burglars, there are a few things that are important:
Wear body armor and ear protection. They will give you an advantage.
Don’t exit from the door closest to the burglars.
Don’t forget that there will likely be more than one. Keep your head on a swivel, focusing on the burglar in your car may cause you to miss the one in the getaway car to your right.
Bring enough gun and more than enough ammo. Say an AR with two mags, or a PDW like this one with at least one extra mag. Since you will likely be facing more than one assailant, you want a gun that will allow you to put a lot of accurate fire down range.
Have a good IFAK with a tourniquet and chest seals.
Call the cops before going outside, so backup is on the way. Hope they don’t shoot you by mistake.
Or you can just call the cops, stay inside, then call your insurance company.
Oh- don’t forget your gun in the car and lock the doors.
This video really impressed me. This cop had a criminal try to shoot him in the face, the miss was so close that he had powder burns on his face. Then he got hit in the leg. He exchanged shots with the critter, called for help, did a pretty good reload, exchanged more shots, then put a tourniquet on his own leg. The bad guy was found dead a few houses away. No matter what, stay in the fight. Don’t give up. Have a tourniquet in your car. Have two. Have several more in your house.
Several days ago, I posted about an active cell of Antifa operating in and around the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I have been doing some research and as much of a threat assessment of this as I can. I would have posted sooner on this, but I had several employees get COVID and have just worked a pair of 16 hour days covering their shifts. This is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and write this all out.
When the guy was caught, he had a checklist in his possession. The list itself shows that someone is training these guys to be good little insurgents. Read it for yourself, and you can see that they are being taught how to do this.
This also gives you an idea of the basic load carried by these guys. Note that they do not (yet) have firearms on the list, but as you will see below, many people in this group DO carry weapons as well as firearms.
Using this list and news articles on the arrestee, I was able to find quite a bit of information.
Here is the intel that I have on the cell he was operating with:
Command, Control, Communications
The particular unit he seems to have been affiliated with is the Florida Youth Liberation Front. The Front claims to have chapters in Oregon, Washington, California, Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, New York, and Washington, DC, as well as in Canada. The Washington state version of the Front is known to have been around since 2018. The Florida chapter was formed in 2020.
They appear to be centrally controlled at the national level, and the different chapters coordinate their actions. The Portland chapter provides training for members of other chapters.
Their online presence is hosted by noblogs.org. This webpage is set up for insurgent groups. This platform caters to far-left causes, stating that it exists for the purpose of “connecting radical people.”
Their Twitter feed is not open to the public, but Twitter seems to have no problem allowing a group that advocates for violence, as long as that group is on the left.
One common theme I found on every site is the desire for the violent overthrow of government. I don’t understand how these guys’ meetings aren’t attended by a dozen cops. Every other criminal enterprise in the nation has been infiltrated to the point where they have more cops than real members, but these guys? This HAS to indicate some kind of government support. Reading the group’s website, and especially their “ezine” is fairly instructive.
Organization
The Front is broken down into smaller “affinity groups,” who operate at the local level. These groups participate in sabotage, vandalism, and other violent acts, which they call “direct actions.” This is a classic cell structure that has proven to be quite effective.
Other Antifa-affiliated groups claim they are not connected to YLF, but other left-wing extremist groups have shared the Front’s propaganda on social media, and YLF shares their propaganda and event announcements. The wording, images, and tactics are similar enough to indicate a common controlling entity at some level.
Violent Actions
The Front explicitly discourages peaceful protest. In June 2020, the Front advised protesters that they “can never be peaceful” if it means complying with police demands. Journalist Andy Ngo says that the Front “openly advocate[s] for violent uprisings.” In his testimony to Congress in August 2020, he identified YLF as the organizers of riots in Portland and other cities during the summer of 2020.
Their members are known to frequently carry loaded firearms, as well as use destructive devices such as Molotov cocktails, as well as commercial fireworks, which they sometimes modify into antipersonnel IEDs by wrapping them in duct tape and nails.
The Front is known to have carried out several violent acts:
The Front recently sued Andy Ngo for “stealing” their comments and photos. They dropped the suit when it was pointed out that Ngo was covered by “fair use.”
What is the threat?
It would be fairly easy to dismiss this group as a bunch of 20 something soyboy cucks who are cosplaying the revolutionary role while still living at home with mom and dad. That would be a mistake. While it is accurate that they are a bunch of man-children who still live at home and have no real career, this group is much more than that.
They have organization, a decent command and control network, funding enough for travel, attorneys, equipment, and an extensive propaganda network. Their members are motivated and becoming better equipped and trained by the minute.
Judge them by the fact that they are brazen and have no problem breaking the law. They have little to lose, and are out there carrying out violent attacks while the government sits on its hands, and those of us on the right largely sit around and complain on the Internet. Those on the right who DO stand up and say something are declared to be the terrorists and wind up being tortured for over a year in Federal prison, without trial and without bail.
They are dangerous and effective by the only metric that matters: they are succeeding, especially in Democrat controlled areas.
What can you do?
The best thing that we have going for us in Florida is our governor and our legal climate. So, the best thing we can do is stay right here in Florida.
I have watched nearly every minute of the Rittenhouse trial. With my understanding of the law, I think that this was a legitimate case of self defense. With that being said, I don’t think that the law today (especially in politically charged cases like this one) is being practiced in anything close to the manner in which it is intended.
If Rittenhouse is convicted of those killings, we can be sure that self defense in particular, and the justice system in general, are no longer operating in this nation. The best thing to do from that point forward is to run if you are ever involved in a use of force incident. The Ritttenhouse defense fund is in the millions of dollars. If that isn’t sufficient to win a case that is this clear cut, there is no hope for those of us who only have concealed carry insurance.
“Electric weapon or device” means any device which, through the application or use of electrical current, is designed, redesigned, used, or intended to be used for offensive or defensive purposes, the destruction of life, or the infliction of injury.
“Dart-firing stun gun” means any device having one or more darts that are capable of delivering an electrical current.
(b) A person who willfully and knowingly possesses any electric weapon or device, destructive device, or other weapon as defined in s. 790.001(13), including a razor blade or box cutter, except as authorized in support of school-sanctioned activities, in violation of this subsection commits a felony of the third degree
I am assuming that the readers of Rolling Stone are not any more familiar with the maze of laws concerning the carrying of weapons than are the people who advise and write articles for them.
More facts have come to light on the shooting that I posted about yesterday. The shooter was a 27 year old man who had a criminal history. The two victims who were killed were a store clerk, and what appears to be a female customer who was simply in the unfortunate position of being the backstop for the customers who were shooting at the killer.
The two who were wounded were the brother of the mass shooting criminal, and another customer of the store.
Early reporting says there are three dead and two injured. A man entered the gun outlet with a loaded, unholstered firearm. A clerk told him he should not have a loaded gun until he got inside the range. An argument ensued, and shots were fired. Two individuals were killed before he was engaged by other customers of the store, who were injured in the firefight. Other customers outside of the store also engaged the gunman, who was one of the three people who died in the firefight.