Discussion: Amateur vs. Pro, is it a valid comparison?

Comments:

“If anything else is miss-used to cause harm, then folks demand the individual be held responsible. If a firearm is miss-used to cause harm, the some people blame the firearm.” – GunznGear

“I think that a lot of this effect is to do with the aggressive style of the ‘tactical’ type of firearms, rather than the fact that they are guns.
I would imagine that some people would have quite different views on the purchase of an over-and-under shotgun for clay target shooting than they would with a camouflaged AR with lights, lasers and optics. The shotgun is associated with a recognized sport, whereas an assault rifle platform is associated mainly with serious military operations.” – waveman1500

“Firearms like the AR-15 are designed to protect – protect good people from bad people – and if you met one of those bad people, you would wish you had one of those Ar-15s.” – kz2448

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Who would carry a firearm?

“The world is a dangerous place. Not because of those who are evil, but because of those that look on and do nothing.” -Albert Einstein

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Iraqi girl watches U.S. Army Soldiers pass through neighborhood in Al Qurna

A young Iraqi girl watches U.S. Army Soldiers pass through her neighborhood in Al Qurna, Iraq, April 7. The Soldiers are in the area conducting atmospherics to have a better understanding of the conditions and possible violent threats from insurgents. Photo by Spc. Christopher Wellner

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Al Qaeda’s Leadership in Yemen

Al Qaeda’s Leadership in Yemen is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

By Scott Stewart

On May 5, a Hellfire missile fired from a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) struck a vehicle in the town of Nissab in Yemen’s restive Shabwa province. The airstrike reportedly resulted in the deaths of two Yemeni members of the Yemen-based al Qaeda franchise group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and injured a third AQAP militant. Subsequent media reports indicated that the strike had targeted Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born member of AQAP, but had failed to kill him.

The May 5 strike was not the first time al-Awlaki had been targeted and missed. On Dec. 24, 2009 (a day before the failed AQAP Christmas Day bombing attempt against Northwest Airlines Flight 253), an airstrike and ground assault was launched against a compound in the al-Said district of Shawba province that intelligence said was the site of a major meeting of AQAP members. The Yemeni government initially indicated that the attack had killed al-Awlaki along with several senior AQAP members, but those reports proved incorrect.

In 2009 and 2010, the United States conducted other strikes against AQAP in Yemen, though most of those strikes reportedly involved Tomahawk cruise missiles and carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. Still, the United States has reportedly used UAVs to attack targets in Yemen on a number of occasions. In November 2002, the CIA launched a UAV strike against Abu Ali al-Harithi and five confederates in Marib. That strike essentially decapitated the al Qaeda node in Yemen and greatly reduced its operational effectiveness for several years. There are also reports that a May 24, 2010, strike may have been conducted by a UAV. However, that strike mistakenly killed the wrong target, which generated a great deal of anger among Yemen’s tribes, who then conducted armed attacks against pipelines and military bases. The use of airstrikes against AQAP was heavily curtailed after that attack. Read the rest of this entry »

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Battling erosion in western Paktika

Residents of western Paktika stand in line to receive saplings handed out by members of the provincial government, the Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team, and the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, March 24. Afghan national security forces escorted the tree saplings to their respective district for distribution as well as providing security for the class and distribution process to prevent thievery and corruption. These trees will be equally distributed and planted throughout the region in order to allow the root systems to hold the soil in place.

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How three cigars wrapped in a piece of paper may have lost the battle of Antietam

On Sept. 13, 1862, members of the 27th Indiana Infantry were awaiting orders on a hillside near Frederick, Md., as Robert E. Lee’s Confederate troops approached from the south. One of the men noticed a package on the ground and discovered three cigars wrapped in a piece of paper. The men were rejoicing in their good fortune when a sergeant noticed writing on the paper — it was headed “Headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia.”

They had discovered Lee’s battle plan. The orders had been issued to Gen. D.H. Hill, but one of his staff officers had apparently dropped them; Hill received a second copy from Stonewall Jackson and had not realized that the first set had been lost.

The plans passed quickly up the line, and that afternoon Union general George C. McClellan was wiring the president, “I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap.” The battle of Sept. 17, Antietam, was the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. It repelled the rebel army and permitted Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation from a position of strength.

Lee later told a friend: “I went into Maryland to give battle, and could I have kept Gen. McClellan in ignorance of my position and plans a day or two longer, I would have fought and crushed him.”

http://www.futilitycloset.com/page/11/

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Trump: “I want to take care of our fallen soldiers.”

Forget the political nonsense, ignore the media attacks on Trump. Watch this speech, listen to what Trump says regarding the military, the war and our soldiers, then decide for yourself – you might not take the guy seriously, but make that decision based on hearing for yourself, not based on what you see on TV.

This is not a pitch for Trump, this is not a political endorsement. This is simply pointing you towards information and a viewpoint to consider.

Newsmax’s exclusive broadcast of Donald Trump’s speech in Nashua, New Hampshire on Wed., May 11, 2011 revealing his plans for 2012

http://www.newsmaxstore.com/nm_mag/trump_video.cfm?s=al&promo_code=C401-1

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Retired police officer takes action to stop passenger shouting, “Allahu akbar”, attempting to enter cockpit

“One of the men being hailed a hero for his actions during Sunday night’s flight from Chicago to San Francisco where a passenger attempted to break through the cockpit door talked about his efforts on Tuesday.

Larry Wright, who is a retired police officer, said he did what he thinks anyone should do under the same circumstances.

… A man named Rageh al-Murisi is accused of walking to the front of the plane and attempting to get in the cockpit.

Wright said he was sitting in seat 20C when he noticed a fellow passenger walking past. “As I turned, there was a person walking past me. He rapidly broke into a trot… then yelled ‘Allahu akbar.'” Wright said from his training as a police office he knew there was a problem and he immediately got up and followed the man. He said when he reached him, he was at the cockpit door. Wright said he put him in a control hold with the help of four or five other people.”

“I swore to myself then that I would never be a victim.”

 

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

 

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Hero-of-Chicago-to-SFO-Flight-Speaks-Out-121602259.html

“The world is a dangerous place. Not because of those who are evil, but because of those that look on and do nothing.”

-Albert Einstein

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Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher: agents have NOT been directed to turn back but not arrest Mexican illegals.

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher’s has denied that agents have been told not to arrest Mexican illegals.

[Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever] responds: “I tend to believe there is no written order to that effect. But if your agents on the ground have that perception and that understanding, then you need to go back and change it.

“If they’re lying, shame on them, and shame on me for bringing it up. But frankly, my staff, when they heard this, they said what’s the big deal? We’ve been hearing this forever. And people who live in my county say the same things.

“So something’s going on and it needs to be rectified and fixed so these people are brought to justice.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/LarryDever-BorderPatrol-Immigration-Arizona/2011/05/06/id/395500?s=al&promo_code=C3A5-1

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Spyderco Bill Moran Drop Point Knife Review

Spyderco Bill Moran Drop Point Knife Review

 

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Northrop Grumman Announces New Drone Aircraft

Northrop Grumman

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Spc. Robert Mangini & PV2 Ryan Beach: 120mm mortar in Logar province

Spc. Robert Mangini, mortarmen from Cinnaminson, N.J., native, and PV2 Ryan Beach, an Atlantic, Iowa, native, fire a 120mm mortar round in Logar province, Aug. 29. The mortar round is fired in under two minutes from the time the mortarmen receive a call for fire.

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U.S. Border Patrol to its agents: stop arresting illegal aliens to “keep illegal immigration numbers down”.

“The U.S. Border Patrol has told its agents to stop arresting illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico to keep the illegal immigration numbers down, Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever tells Newsmax.

He also charges that Attorney General Eric Holder is “holding hands with the ACLU” to protect illegal aliens from prosecution, says illegals are committing “heinous crimes” across America every day, and calls claims that the federal government should be solely responsible for controlling illegal immigration “balderdash.”

Dever is sheriff of Cochise County, which shares an 83-mile border with Mexico, and he says his Border Patrol sector is responsible for half of all illegal aliens caught trying to enter the country and halt the narcotics entering the United States.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/LarryDever-BorderPatrol-Immigration-Arizona/2011/05/06/id/395500?s=al&promo_code=C3A5-1

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Kuan Watson Wins Tactical 3-Gun Match

Poster Boy and SWAT-Cop Kuan Watson took top honors at the Tac Pro Shooting Center Tactical 3-Gun Match this past weekend… again. Kuan is the guy on the right. Well done Kuan.

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U.S.-Pakistani Relations Beyond Bin Laden

U.S.-Pakistani Relations Beyond Bin Laden is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

By George Friedman

The past week has been filled with announcements and speculations on how Osama bin Laden was killed and on Washington’s source of intelligence. After any operation of this sort, the world is filled with speculation on sources and methods by people who don’t know, and silence or dissembling by those who do.

Obfuscating on how intelligence was developed and on the specifics of how an operation was carried out is an essential part of covert operations. The precise process must be distorted to confuse opponents regarding how things actually played out; otherwise, the enemy learns lessons and adjusts. Ideally, the enemy learns the wrong lessons, and its adjustments wind up further weakening it. Operational disinformation is the final, critical phase of covert operations. So as interesting as it is to speculate on just how the United States located bin Laden and on exactly how the attack took place, it is ultimately not a fruitful discussion. Moreover, it does not focus on the truly important question, namely, the future of U.S.-Pakistani relations.

Posturing Versus a Genuine Breach

It is not inconceivable that Pakistan aided the United States in identifying and capturing Osama bin Laden, but it is unlikely. This is because the operation saw the already-tremendous tensions between the two countries worsen rather than improve. The Obama administration let it be known that it saw Pakistan as either incompetent or duplicitous and that it deliberately withheld plans for the operation from the Pakistanis. For their part, the Pakistanis made it clear that further operations of this sort on Pakistani territory could see an irreconcilable breach between the two countries. The attitudes of the governments profoundly affected the views of politicians and the public, attitudes that will be difficult to erase. Read the rest of this entry »

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