As a resident of central Florida, the terror attack at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando has been on my mind a lot lately.
Let’s not mince words here, this is a horrible tragedy carried out by a person indoctrinated into a belief system that thinks killing homosexuals is the merciful thing to do. Am I saying all Muslims believe this? No, of course not, but a substantial number do. This is evident by the 10 Muslim countries that currently have the death penalty for homosexuals. This is evident from this speech by a Muslim Imam.
But let’s take a step back from that, and look at some disturbing facts about the Pulse shooting. The main weapon that the shooter had was a Sig Sauer MCX .223-caliber rifle. The .223 ammunition is the same size projectile as a .22 (basically, the .003 size difference is the size of a human hair). The US military designed the .223 to be a “non-lethal” round designed to take the enemy out of the fight without killing them. (this could explain why some victims were said to be shot 10+ times.
Whatever the caliber used, an important thing to remember is that the Sig Sauer MCX is about 30 inches long. Any firearm is only lethal in a straight line directly in front of the barrel. In the dark, in close quarters (like a bar), it is difficult to swing a rifle around and aim it. Unless the shooter had backed himself into a corner, there should have been ample opportunity to disarm him.
In this video below (that I randomly found on Youtube), you will see someone shooting 100 rounds through the Sig Sauer MCX. It takes him about 10 seconds to change magazines. He is slow, but the Orlando shooter had to dig through a bag with 20 + magazines to get his (unless he had one amazing tactical vest on). Let’s say the Orlando shooter was still twice as fast as this guy. That still means he took 5 seconds to reload after every 30-50 rounds. This gives someone trained plenty of time to disarm him.
Some reports have said that the shooter fired off over 1,000 rounds. Knowing that 50 people were killed and over more injured (many with multiple gunshots) it is safe to say that the shooter fired off a few hundred rounds at least. With the 30 round magazine (or possibly a high capacity 50 round magazine), that would mean the shooter had to reload possibly 20 times.
Think about that for a minute. If the shooter had 1,000 rounds in 20 , pre loaded, 50 round magazines, that means he was able to walk into a bar with a 30 inch rifle and a 40 pound bag of ammunition. The weapons the shooter used were purchased “within a week or so before the attack”, but no one is reporting how and when the shooter purchased the magazines and ammunition. The store that sold the shooter the weapons has said that the shooter had passed a background check, and if the store had been aware that the shooter had been under investigation twice for terrorism, they would not have sold him the weapons. What good is the background check if being investigated for terrorism isn’t part of it? Shouldn’t the purchase of 1,000 rounds of ammunition and 20 magazines put up some red flags somewhere? Sure, he could have gone to 10 different stores and bought 100 rounds and 2 mags at each, we will have to see what the investigation finds out.
There is a reason why these crazed gunman choose the targets they do. Schools, Bars, Churches, these are all “soft targets”. They are places where the shooter will run into little resistance because the people in these places are unarmed. Well you don’t have to have a concealed carry to put up resistance.
I urge every American to understand that we are engaged in a conflict that has come home. The average police response time in America is 9 minutes. The Orlando shooter killed 49 people and injured at least 53 people. The majority of that happened in the first 7 minutes. In a situation like this, it is imperative that we act. The police simply will not get there in time to save you. Take a self defense trying course. Learn disarming techniques, learn martial arts. Sure, you might be killed if you try to fight back, but you might be killed if you don’t. And if you are going to die, die fighting for your life, die fighting for your friends lives, die fighting. It sure beats dying cowering.
Now I am not trying to say anyone at the Pulse nightclub did anything wrong. They haven’t been trained. They have been fooled into a false idea of security. “It can’t happen here” That only happens someplace else”. Well let this serve as a wake up call to everyone: It can happen here. Get trained. The gunman is likely scared, and bound to make mistakes. training will let you take control of the situation.
