By now, you’ve heard the news from London. Seven dead, at least three dozen more wounded – and some in the hospitals are in critical condition. What do we learn from this dastardly attack?
It is known that the attack involved a vehicle running through the crowd, followed by three attackers who used knives to attack people at a second location. Reuters notes that the rampage lasted eight minutes. When seconds mattered, the cops were minutes away. As is always the case, the cops are the second responders to an incident like this. Those on the scene were the first responders.
Worse, the people caught up in the attack were reduced to fighting with chairs, bottles, and pint glasses. You can thank, among other things, the 1997 handgun ban that was rammed through after a mass shooting. The handgun ban was the final step in the process of leaving the victims unarmed and defenseless. It is very telling that the suggestion the British authorities gave was, “Run, Hide, Tell.”
Those same authorities also pretty much outlawed the means to fight back. The British people for years have seen gun-grabbers and politicians eliminate the notion of self-defense as being legitimate as well. Remember Tony Martin, the farmer who used a shotgun to defend himself against two burglars in his own home? Not only did the British legal system convict him of murder, but the British government gave the surviving burglar money to pursue a legal case against the guy whose house he broke into. As late as 2015, police were advising that even colored dye could get you arrested until the process sorts it out.
Absurd, isn’t it? Well, just remember, if Bloomberg and other gun-grabbers get their way, that comes here. Get yourself good self-defense tools that fit your life circumstances, including financial. Get the kind of training you need to effectively use those tools. Join the NRA and support those who are working to preserve your right to self-defense.
That said, securing our right to self-defense is not the only thing we need to do. We need to be willing to be willing to say what the problem is: Radical Islamists who practice jihad. While the majority of Muslims don’t sympathize with terrorists and want to live their lives, too many are unable or unwilling do stand against the jihadists.
According to a poll done by ICM in 2015, only 34 percent of Muslims in the United Kingdom would report a person getting involved in terrorism to police. It should be noted that larger percentages said they would look for help (37 percent) or try to dissuade the person from becoming involved (46 percent). Another ten percent don’t know what they would do. But the poll notes that about 27 percent are assuming nobody they know would get involved in terrorism, and another nine percent would not get involved. Worse, only 47 percent say that Muslims should do more to fight extremism, whole 30 percent think they are doing enough, 20 percent don’t know, and 2 percent say Muslims should do less.
In one sense, what President Trump said in Saudi Arabia needs to be the mantra. Drive the terrorists out. But a large part of that is to make it clear to those who are either complacent or who do not know what they would do that they should be willing to say something when they see or hear something – and to encourage their friends and family to do so as well.
But ultimately, your safety in the initial seconds and minutes of an attack like London is your responsibility. Not just in the moment the attack happens, but lone before it, by ensuring that you maintain the ability to have the proper personal protection tools, and to prevent attacks by insisting that the jihadist threat not be ignored.