Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Armed with Knowledge
On June 12th of last year, a heavily armed man motivated by radical Islam shot and killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando. I wrote last year about some the self-defense lessons we could learn from that horror, and to help prevent a such carnage from happening again, Operation Blazing Sword (a non-profit organization dedicated to providing firearms training for the LGBTQ community) and Pink Pistols, a nationwide group of LBGTQ gun owners, teamed up to provide a free active shooter awareness and survival class for everyone in the Orlando area on June 17th of this year.
Well, that is, until their class was cancelled at the last moment by the church that was hosting it, claiming the seminar (which mimics similar classes taught to teachers and governments across the country), “violated the non-violent, Just Peace stance of our national denomination and this local church”.
The seminar had no violent content. It wasn’t a class on how to draw your gun and blast a jihadist into his or her heavenly reward, it was about how to spot someone who was up to no good, how to get out of the area that he/she was in, and how to find materials in the environment that might give you a fighting chance of survival if those first two options didn’t work. Why was this banned? As best as we can tell, it was banned because a group of people who don’t believe in being a victim tried to help other people not be victims, and what was too much for some people’s delicate sensibilities. My wife, who is a teacher, went through much the same training, the only difference being she received her training as part of her job, not from a firearms training organization, and that one difference is apparently the only difference that matters to the leadership of the United Church of Christ in Winter Park, and the denomination as a whole.
The timing of this cancellation has placed Operation Blazing Sword and Pink Pistols in an awkward situation: Invitations and announcements have have already been sent out, and no replacement venue has been found as of this writing, leaving the seminar itself up in doubt. Protecting human life from reckless slaughter is not a conservative thing, it’s not a liberal thing, it’s a human thing, and finding a location for seminar that might prevent a repeat of the slaughter in the Pulse nightclub represents a real opportunity for conservatives to demonstrate acceptance, tolerance and diversity. If you know of a location in the central Florida that is suitable for this seminar, or nor someone who has such a place, please reach to Operation Blazing Sword or Pink Pistols of Central Florida and help remind the world that armed gays don’t get bashed.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
This is a shame. I’ve been reading lately of SJWs suddenly wanting to arm themselves and learn to shoot (at least one hopes they plan to learn to shoot), and even though they’re doing it because they think Trump is coming to get them or something, I’d applaud any increase in gun ownership on the Left. The only way we’ll ever begin to combat the negative image of guns and gun owners is more gun owners among the lefties. They’ve successfully created such a negative image of guns that there is a huge amount of work to be done if we ever hope to reverse it. The organizations you cite above are a big step in the right direction. (Ha! The “right” direction. See what I did there?) A great post.
It’s just another example of the hierarchy of victimhood that’s out there. Protecting illegal immigrants is more important than protecting women from abuse. Black Lives Matter is more important than gay pride, and so on, and so on.
Me? I don’t believe in victimhood. Saves me a lot of worry.
OMG That link is truly horrifying.
Sigh.
Incidentally, the linked article cites the following demands from the Black Lives Matter protesters who blocked a gay pride parade: Black Lives Matter refused to budge unless pride organizers acquiesced to a list of demands, which included increased funding for black-related pride events, “prioritizing black trans women” in hiring, and “a commitment to more black deaf & hearing ASL interpreters.”
They left out a biggie: the Toronto police shouldn’t be present providing scene security for the parade, and the gay and lesbian police officer’s float must be excluded from next year’s parade.
Now see, this is why I’m not a liberal. It’s just too much work trying to keep up with the order in the Hierarchy of Victims. I mean how do they remember if a black gay person takes precedence over a black trans person, and do they move up the ladder if they’re also Muslim, and oh never mind.
Anything in Geneva? Why aren’t the gun ranges supporting this?
Is Pulse still open? I can’t think of a more fitting venue.
Unfortunately I think at least some of them are looking to arm themselves because they realized that they are talking about a revolution and the people they want to kill (conservatives) own most of the guns. They finally realized that scenario has a high probability of a less than optimal outcome.