Now why in the name of all that is holy I did not think of this, I have no clue, but Fits nailed it right on, as he was musing on the heroism of Jeanne Assam, who took on the Colorado church gunman with nothin' but a pistol, and, more importantly, the will to use it...
This is why its difficult for me to read the gun boards as chairborne commandos went on a tizzy explaining how going up against a AK or SKS is suicide with only a pistol...
A-yep. Most of the time it might not be such a good idea, but to twist an old saying, the pistol you have beats the rifle you wish you had -- and in this case, the puny little pistol filled the role of fight-stopper just as a rifle could have. The rifle the church gunman had was superior, but the pistol in this case turned out to be good enough in the hands of Ms. Assam. You wonder why it riles me so to hear people say things like "(insert any pistol round here) sucks because it's a pistol round and all pistol rounds are inferior"? It's because of situations like this. Which is where the post title comes in. It ain't gotta be superior -- it's just gotta be good enough. Of course all other things being equal a longarm is going to trump a sidearm. But the inherent flaw in the "all pistol rounds suck" argument is that those who make it seem to operate in the vacuum of everything else being equal. And combat just isn't that way, as we've seen this week with the story of what went down in that church. I wouldn't mind seeing those who denigrate the sidearm be plunged into the heat of a situation like that and then ask them, "Whaddya want to take with you to take the goblin on, Sparky, a pistol or just a prayer?" Thank God Jeanne Assam didn't share the opinion of the aforementioned chairborne commandos. Heaven only knows how many more would have been slain, how many more would be grieving this morning, if she had.
As for Ms. Assam...Lord, but I just can't find the words to describe what I think about what she did. I can only say that I hope that if ever I find myself in the situation she found herself in, I have the intestinal fortitude to do what she did. God bless her, and the rest of the sheepdogs that walk among us. If there were more like her, with the tool she happened to have with her, the would would be an infinitely better place.
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