NY Sheriff: After San Bernardino, everyone with gun permit should carry
Aging hippies in Woodstock, NY, hardest hit.
In Israel, as the Knife Intifada was in full swing in early October, the Mayor of Jerusalem urged those with gun permits to carry for defense of themselves and others against random and surprise attacks.
It was a variation on the theme, “when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.”
Now a Sheriff in Ulster County, NY, north of New York City, has urged residents to do the same in light of recent terror attacks like that in San Bernardino.
The local CBS News affiliate reports:
All licensed handgun owners in Ulster County should carry their pistols.
That’s the message Thursday from the Ulster County Sheriff.
Ulster County is located about two hours north of New York City.
“In light of recent events that have occurred in the United States and around the world I want to encourage citizens of Ulster County who are licensed to carry a firearm to please do so,” wrote Sheriff Paul J. Van Blarcum in a Facebook post. “I urge you to responsibly take advantage of your legal right to carry a firearm. To ensure the safety of yourself and others, make sure you are comfortable and proficient with your weapon, and knowledgeable of the laws in New York State with regards to carrying a weapon and when it is legal to use it.
Here is the image of the Facebook post, posted just before noon today:
In an interview with a local paper, the Sheriff made clear that the San Bernardino shooting motivated his appeal for people to carry:
Van Blarcum said that shooting sparked his comments, saying carrying a pistol is a personal choice, but in an active shooter situation “if you don’t have a gun, you’re useless.”
“Look at all the mass shootings around, people are getting slaughtered and nobody has a gun,” Van Blarcum said in an interview.
The comments to the announcement are mixed. Here is a sample:
There must be particular unhappiness in Woodstock, NY, which is in Ulster County. (It’s not where the Woodstock festival was held, which was in Bethel in Sullivan County, but it is an uber-liberal place with a fair number of aging hippies.)
Legal Insurrection reader SG Lawrence, who is very familiar with the area, notes that Woodstock “Has More Co-Exist Bumper Stickered Priuses Than Anywhere”:
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Goooood sheriff. Good sheriff…!!!
Detroit police chief Craig has been saying similar things for years. The most recent time he was covered saying that was on 1 December.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/12/01/police-chief-says-armed-detroit-cut-terror-risk/76592116/
““A lot of Detroiters have CPLs (concealed pistol licenses), and the same rules apply to terrorists as they do to some gun-toting thug,” Chief James Craig said. “If you’re a terrorist, or a carjacker, you want unarmed citizens.””
Good for him. Because police chiefs are appointed by urban politicians while sheriffs are elected countywide, police chiefs seem to be far more likely to toe the Democrat party line on gun control.
It’s not necessarily Democrat. It’s 1%er vs. 99%er. For example, look at John Dingell (D-MI) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) positions.
Gun control is all about power – Mao demanded that we respect the maxim, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” In the instant that the 1%ers decide that it does not serve their needs to let the populace have arms, gun control will be Holy Writ.
I guess for liberals, it’s better to die crying for your life, than to die fighting for your life.
If they want to die begging, they can knock themselves out. What I don’t appreciate is their desire to make me a potential victim. You have to wonder why leftists are so anxious to see us disarmed. What exactly is it they want to do to us that would be impossible if we were armed?
As “joseywhales” commented elsewhere a few years ago:
A government that desperately needs to take your guns away from you is getting ready to do something they know you’d shoot them for.
I wish every sheriff in NYS would issue such statements. It is refreshing to have an elected official in NYS not holding a finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.
I’m sure his remarks were rooted in reality and common sense, not in “which way the wind is blowing.” I should point out that, in fact, the “wind is blowing” in our favor. More people getting CWP’s, more support for gun ownership (Black Friday gun sales set a record).
“The times they are a-changing,” for the better.
Here in VA, today Governor McAuliffe just signed an executive order making criminals out of law-abiding citizens if they enter a state government building such as the DMV while carrying.
More or less what one would expect from Terry McAuliffe. He’s the classic example of a criminal turned into a law abiding citizen by liberal fiat.
I’m doing my part. Everyday and everywhere except for one visit to the county court annex as a prospective witness on a civil case. Other than that, I’ve never been without a firearm in my pocket, on my hip, or within arm’s reach since taking a concealed carry class 5 yrs ago.
The class instructor closed with, “If you’re going to the trouble and expense of getting a concealed carry permit, then for goodness sakes, carry!” His admonition struck a chord with me.
So, Sheriff, just how many New Yorkers – aside from cops, judges, and The Connected – have permits?
In NY City? None.
In his jurisdiction? Probably quite a few.
In excess of twenty five hundred in Rockland and Westchester counties two years ago when the Journal News did its part to ensure growth in the licensed carrying public by posting an irresponsible piece in its little rag.
But, don’t take our word for it, have a look for yourself. Perhaps one of them will save your life one day.
http://archive.lohud.com/interactive/article/20121223/NEWS01/121221011/Map-Where-gun-permits-your-neighborhood-?nclick_check=1
Not me. I have a license to carry. You are on your own. I won’t save your ass. If you don’t carry a gun, that’s on you.
When a good guy with a gun thwarts the plans of some bad guy with a gun and saves them, these hand-wringing bed-wetters will call him a hero or their guardian angel. Until such time, he’s a knuckle-dragging menace to society.
Upstate NY has some fine, normal people. This sheriff is one of them.
Anti-gun nut jobs like Greg Gattuso (quoted in a tweet above) establish “gun-free zones” and then argue that armed citizens are incapable of stopping mass shootings in places they are not permitted to carry firearms! Effing moron.
We have enough experience with attacks by terrorists to know that the damage and death they desire can be inhibited PROVIDED someone is available on the spot to give a vigorous response.
It started on 9/11, with a stock market that had already decentralized, and security personnel that had already considered an attack by airplane. The loss that day, horrific as it was, would have been more than ten times as high, without the planning and heroism of our first responders.
And, there were the US citizens on the fourth plane on 9/11, that took it down rather than let it reach its target.
The terrorist on the french train was stopped by people who decided that their lives were forfeit, so they might as well resist.
Two security guards stopped the attackers that tried to shoot up the “Draw Mohammed” contest in Midland, Texas.
But there was nobody available to stop Nidal Hussein in his “workplace violence.”
And there was nobody at that Christmas party yesterday to stop those two murderers. The police showed up readily, and handled the problem in San Bernardino very, very well. But, they were a mere five minutes too late to prevent the deaths in the initial attack.
It is time to get pragmatic about Islamist Perverts. We did it with Ebola, we can do it, now.
Police, firefighters, and EMTs are rarely “first responders.” “First responders” are the people at the scene of an incident when it occurs; those at the scene have a moral responsibility to defend their own lives and to protect the lives of others in their charge. Everyone else arrives late.
I heard an eyewitness account from a man( Glenn Willwerth) that worked in the next building. He had a permit, was carrying, and went downstairs after hearing gunfire. He stayed by his building, prepared to defend his staff and family. This should be the norm, not the exception.
“Cross-examining Lawyer: You sprang from cover with revolver in hand?
Rooster Cogburn: I did.
Cross-examining Lawyer: Loaded and cocked?
Rooster Cogburn: Well, if it ain’t loaded and cocked, it don’t shoot!”
“I am confused as to why the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office… would encouraging citizens to take up arms for their own safety.”
Because you’re an idiot?
Government isn’t and shouldn’t be an omnipresent protector. That would involve European style dehumanization for the good of bureaucracy.
The SB police force did a great job, but after the fact. I want to be able to stop any attack as it happens.
A well-armed and trained citizenry is the best No Gun Zone.
Islamist and Progressive ideologues are dangerous to society. Their beliefs generate violent revolution while proclaiming peaceful ends. Each group in its own way will exploit the oppressed class so as to redeem the oppressed class from exploitation but they never get around to the redemption part (latest “Progressive” example – global warming).
Pray for Judd Hirsch’s wind turbine.
Good for this sheriff! As someone who lived in Ulster County (Stone Ridge, to be precise) my first nearly 7 years here in NY, I find this greatly encouraging.
Despite the fact that the very longtime and fortunately now-retired Marxist Maurice Hinchey was the Congresscritter, Ulster County is not rabidly liberal, Woodstock notwithstanding. Most of the lefties either have moved up from NYC or have second homes up here. Lots of gun clubs, pickups with gun racks, hunters and gun owners. We’ll need them when the Islamofascist $h!t hits the Hudson Valley fan. Everyone here was very personally affected by 9/11 (my son-in-law was in the National Guard and spent weeks at Ground Zero and still will never talk about it, my landlady in Stone Ridge was an IT manager working in the WTC during the 1993 attack and lost good friends on 9/11, and hubby and I were in Manhattan on a home furnishing trip on 9/11). We take Muslims at their word and deed – they mean us nothing but the end of life as we know it.
So, Sheriff, how many ordinary citizen applications for CCW (or whatever the hell it’s called in your shite hole of a state) have you approved to be sent along the pipeline before they are ultimately rejected by the local judge?
So…. damn easy for you to say what you said, your position already allows you to carry nationally. Other ordinary folks? Nope… didn’t think so, but it makes good propaganda for your re-election.