Tag: media

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Yeah, Hollywood Has Our Back…

…and is gleefully and repeatedly sticking a knife in it.

WARNING: FOUL LANGUAGE FOLLOWS, BECAUSE I AM PISSED.

Remember this post? I’d been to see The Bourne Ultimatum (a not too pro-American film itself) and had to comment on three of the trailers shown before the feature: The Kingdom, Rendition, and Lions for Lambs.

Apparently the trailer for Redacted wasn’t yet available.

A new film about the real-life rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers who also murdered her family stunned the Venice festival, with shocking images that left some viewers in tears.

“Redacted”, by U.S. director Brian De Palma, is one of at least eight American films on the war in Iraq due for release in the next few months and the first of two movies on the conflict screening in Venice’s main competition.

Inspired by one of the most serious crimes committed by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, it is a harrowing indictment of the conflict and spares the audience no brutality to get its message across.

De Palma, 66, whose “Casualties of War” in 1989 told a similar tale of abuse by American soldiers in Vietnam, makes no secret of the goal he is hoping to achieve with the film’s images, all based on real material he found on the Internet.

“The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people,” he told reporters after a press screening.

(All emphasis mine.)

OK, Brian, here’s my commentary on your film, which I have not seen and will not see:

If you want to make a film that brings “the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people” it had better include Al Qaeda suicide bombers deliberately targeting children and Mosques with VBIEDs. It had better include Al Qaeda torturing and murdering Iraqis with assistance from Iran and Syria. It had better include Americans providing medical care, building schools, providing supplies, training Iraqi police and military units, and all the other good things American soldiers do every single fucking day in Iraq. It had better include showing Americans what kind of living conditions our soldiers and Marines are experiencing as they do the damned hard job of nation-building that your fucking film makes even fucking harder. It had better show the coffins of our dead, and the effects those deaths have on their buddies, families and friends. It had better show our wounded – those who are injured, maimed, even those who lose limbs, and who still want to go back and finish the job. It had better show the “economic mercenaries” like Rocco DiPippo who go to Iraq to help them rebuild, and risk their lives to do so.

You want to make a movie about the atrocities committed by criminals in war? WAIT UNTIL THE WAR IS FUCKING OVER. Otherwise what you are doing is actively, willingly, and yes, traitorously providing a propaganda victory for the enemy. (Yes, Mark, I mean every goddamned word.)

Do atrocities occur in war? In every war that has ever occurred. Are those atrocities standard operating procedure or are they aberrations? Depends on the war. But in this case the five soldiers involved have been arrested, and most have either confessed and been sentenced or tried and convicted. Spc. James P. Barker confessed and has been given a sentence of 90 years. SGT Paul E. Cortez confessed and has been sentenced to 100 years. Pfc. Jesse Spielman received a sentence of 110 years. PFC Bryan L. Howard, who knew about the plan but did not participate in the rape and murders was sentenced to 27 months. The “ringleader” of the crime, PFC Steven Dale Green had been discharged from the Army prior to the case coming to light. He faces rape and murder charges as a civilian in Kentucky Federal court. He faces the death penalty when the case comes to trial, and I hope like hell he gets it. Maybe Brian DePalma can make a movie about that.

THIS IS WHAT WE DO TO CRIMINALS. We don’t make fucking propaganda movies for the other side.

“The pictures are what will stop the war. One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to motivate their Congressmen to vote against this war,” he said.

NO, YOU ASSWIPE! “These images” will anger and inflame the Middle East and cause the Iraqis to doubt and fear us. It will embolden Al Qaeda and bring them new recruits. AND IT WILL MOST PROBABLY RESULT IN MORE OF OUR TROOPS GETTING KILLED.

And not only do you not give a damn about that, I’m willing to bet you’re counting on it since more deaths will increase pressure on Congress to cut and run.

The film, shot in Jordan with a little known cast, ends with a series of photographs of Iraqi civilians killed and their faces blacked out for legal reasons.

Note that it does NOT end with the fates of the soldiers involved, just the victims. Thankfully this cast is not filled with big-name actors, though I’m personally amazed that Spicoli isn’t playing PFC Green (or the 14 year-old girl). I guess he was too busy hobnobbing with Hugo Chavez to make the film.

Brian DePalma just got added to the list of people I will personally kick in the balls if I am ever unfortunate enough to be in their presence. He shares that list with Ted Rall.

Hey Brian, why not make your next project about the rape and murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsome? There’s lots on the internet about that one. I mean, Americans need to know what’s really going on here in America, don’t we?

How in the FUCK did we ever produce a population that holds such hatred of their own country and countrymen? I really want to know.

UPDATE: Related pieces here and here. Without the invective.

UPDATE II: And here. WITH big-name stars.

UPDATE III: If Hollywood wants to make movies about war, here’s a list of books they can option.

Well, DUH!

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Reuter-Rooter reports: U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people. This according to the Small Arms Survey, 2007 coming out in September. Per the report, we 300 million Americans own some 270 million of the estimated 875 million small arms that exist worldwide. We apparently are buying about 4.5 million of the estimated 8 million new guns rolling off production lines each year, worldwide. Even better, the number of guns estimated to be in private hands worldwide is only 650 million, so we own over 40% of them. The other 225 million are held by police and military forces. And best yet, “Only about 12 percent of civilian weapons are thought to be registered with authorities.”

Yeah, baby!

Our closest competitor? India with 45 million privately held arms, but a population of over a billion. Per capita, Yemen comes in second with 61 guns per hundred population. How big is Yemen? About the size of Connecticut? Many of theirs, I would bet, are full-auto capable AK-47s. I bet they’d be amazed to know what they would be worth over here – if they could just sell them legally.

It is the gun-controller’s mantra that “the number of guns” is the cause of violent crime. This report reminds me once again of the conclusion of the 1983 report of a meta-study of gun control research, Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime and Violence in America:

The progressive’s indictment of American firearms policy is well known and is one that both the senior authors of this study once shared. (My emphasis.) This indictment includes the following particulars: (1) Guns are involved in an astonishing number of crimes in this country. (2) In other countries with stricter firearms laws and fewer guns in private hands, gun crime is rare. (3) Most of the firearms involved in crime are cheap Saturday Night Specials, for which no legitimate use or need exists. (4) Many families acquire such a gun because they feel the need to protect themselves; eventually they end up shooting one another. (5) If there were fewer guns around, there would obviously be less crime. (6) Most of the public also believes this and has favored stricter gun control laws for as long as anyone has asked the question. (7) Only the gun lobby prevents us from embarking on the road to a safer and more civilized society.

The more deeply we have explored the empirical implications of this indictment, the less plausible it has become. (My emphasis.) We wonder, first, given the number of firearms presently available in the United States, whether the time to “do something” about them has not long since passed. If we take the highest plausible value for the total number of gun incidents in any given year – 1,000,000 – and the lowest plausible value for the total number of firearms now in private hands – 100,000,000 – we see rather quickly that the guns now owned exceed the annual incident count by a factor of at least 100. This means that the existing stock is adequate to supply all conceivable criminal purposes for at least the entire next century, even if the worldwide manufacture of new guns were halted today and if each presently owned firearm were used criminally once and only once. Short of an outright house-to-house search and seizure mission, just how are we going to achieve some significant reduction in the number of firearms available?

Now, substitute “270,000,000” for the “100,000,000” in that last paragraph and ask yourself the same question. And here’s part of that conclusion that I have not previously quoted:

To members of the gun subculture who have been around guns all their lives and have owned and used guns as long as it has been legal for them to do so, the indictments of gun control advocates must appear to be incomprehensible, if not simply demeaning. We should not be surprised to learn that they may resent being depicted as irresponsible, nervous, potentially dangerous, prone to accidental or careless firearms handling, or as using their firearms to bolster sagging masculine self-images. Of course, from their viewpoints, they have none of these characteristics and in all likelihood resent being depicted as a demented and bloodthirsty lot when they are only guilty of embracing a set of rather traditional, rural, and masculine values. Indeed, one can only begin to understand the virulence with which gun control initiative(sic) are opposed in these quarters when one realizes that what may be at stake is a way of life.

Again, I repeat: Well, DUH!

Like Water Off a Duck’s Back

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Say Uncle pointed to a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed yesterday by columnist and journalism professor Laura Washington. I won’t reproduce the whole piece, but here’s a taste:

Gun lovers disarm control advocates

August 27, 2007
LAURA WASHINGTON Sun-Times columnist

It looks like the petulant, gun-toting NRA stalwarts have won the first round.

Last time, I used this space to ask where you stand on the issue of gun control. A torrent of e-mails later, it’s clear: Gun-control advocates were outgunned, four to one.

The gun lovers were legion, robust and vitriolic. Many of you told me to go places where the sun doesn’t shine and the temperature is way too hot. Yet, if you believe public opinion polls, that reaction is an anomaly. For instance, last April, ABC News polled adults nationwide, and asked: “Do you favor or oppose stricter gun control laws in this country?” Sixty-one percent favored them, 36 percent were opposed, and 3 percent were “unsure.”

CBS News asked, “In general, do you feel the laws covering the sale of handguns should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?” Two-thirds of respondents nationwide opted for “more strict.”

What is the problem with the advocates of gun control? Why are their voices not being heard? They are consistently cowed and overmatched. Gun violence is out of control, yet the gun lovers are ascendant.

You think we’ve got problems now? Just listen to Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential aspirant. At a recent Conservative Political Action Conference, he bragged, “I’m not a newcomer to the NRA,” the New York Times reported on its political blog. “I was the first governor to have a conceal-carry permit, so don’t mess with me.”

Huckabee, mind you, recently made a flashy second-place showing in the Iowa presidential straw poll.

Do you want to be standing in line for gas, popcorn or a gallon of milk and find yourself next to someone who’s packing heat? If he takes the White House, we can all go shopping for embossed leather holsters and pearl-handled pistols. I’ll be looking to accessorize that with rhinestone-studded boots.

You know, the usual Reasoned Discourse™ we’ve come to expect from our opposition. Please, RTWT. (And yes, I do know about the Zogby poll.)

Instead of fisking her piece, I thought I’d drop her a nice email (and copy the paper’s letters-to-the-editor while I was at it. What the hell, worth a shot.) Here’s what I sent:

Ms. Washington:

I read with interest your op-ed in the online edition of the Sun-Times, and I had some comments to make. I hope that you will see this epistle in the volume of email I am sure has been forthcoming since your little jeremiad was published. Provoking an outpour of response was, I am sure, one of your intentions. Let me apologize in advance (though it is not really my place) for those who will shower you with invective and vitriol. We on the side of the right to arms have been fighting against a decades-long slow-motion hate crime,1 and it tends to wear on our patience. I understand such responses, but I cannot countenance them.

I am eternally fascinated by people who see themselves as “gun control advocates.” I find them fascinating because they epitomize to me the phrase “cognitive dissonance.” The fact that you write from Chicago, one of the epicenters of “common-sense gun control” only adds to my fascination.

Cognitive dissonance has been defined thus:

“When someone tries to use a strategy which is dictated by their ideology, and that strategy doesn’t seem to work, then they are caught in something of a cognitive bind. If they acknowledge the failure of the strategy, then they would be forced to question their ideology. If questioning the ideology is unthinkable, then the only possible conclusion is that the strategy failed because it wasn’t executed sufficiently well. They respond by turning up the power, rather than by considering alternatives. (This is sometimes referred to as ‘escalation of failure’.)”2

Or, as I phrase it, “The philosophy cannot be wrong! Do it again, only harder!” We see this behavior in gun control advocates all the time. There’s always a “loophole” to blame. Always a “next step.” But “gun control” never improves crime rates, never reduces homicide rates. Never. Gun control advocates always – without exception – predict “blood in the streets” and “wild West shootouts” when “shall issue” concealed-carry legislation makes progress in state legislatures, but this never happens. Never. Somehow this data fails to make a dent in the “gun control” mindset. The strategy constantly fails, but the ideology cannot be questioned. Do it again, only harder!

Ms. Washington, you note in your piece: “(I)t seems the gun control advocates have been outmatched. Abigail Spangler acknowledges as much. Spangler is the founder of ProtestEasyGuns.com, a Virginia-based group that has been spearheading a slew of anti-gun protests around the nation.

“Gun control activists, she wrote me, ‘are TRYING HARD but they are seriously affected in state after state by lack of funding and contributions.” She recently met, she says, with the leader of Virginia’s only gun control group. “He says they may not even be able to afford any lobbyist at all soon in Virginia!'”

Ms. Washington, the citizenry will offer an opinion to anyone. Opinions are free. But activism costs money – and the anti-gun side has shown that the hearts and wallets of the general public are not really into it. Ask any hundred random people on the street if they favor stricter gun laws and most likely the majority will say “yes.” Ask them what the current gun laws are, and they won’t be able to tell you. Gun rights activists can. The gun control side of the argument has been supported for decades with money from foundations, perhaps the largest contributor being the Joyce Foundation. Look them up. Those of us who believe in the right to arms are the true grass-rooters, and there are far more of us than the mere four million that the NRA claims as members. As someone once put it so pithily: “Poor Lefties; they’ve been playing on astroturf so long that they don’t know grassroots even when fed a mouthful of divot.” 3

Ms. Washington, our side is winning because we can see reality. We are not blinded to a flawed ideology. The ideology you operate under is expressed best as “Guns are baaad, mmmmkay?” This ideology springs from an inability or unwillingness to see a difference between “violent and predatory” and “violent but protective.” You see only “violence” and violence offends you. From this inability you mistake the tools of violence to be the cause of violence, and from that error comes the desire to eradicate the tools. But this does not address the actual cause. In other words, “Gun control is what you do instead of something.”4

When disaster strikes and civil society breaks down, when the government proves unmistakably that it cannot protect everyone, everywhere, all the time, then some people have an awakening – and they go to a gun store or a Wal-Mart and try to buy a gun.

And that’s when they discover just what the gun laws really are.

And many become gun-rights activists because, as one woman put it when she found out she had to wait a week for a gun while being stalked by an ex-boyfriend, “I’ve been against guns and violence my whole life.”5 She and those like her were responsible for that interminable week wait. She finally understood the difference between “violent and predatory” and “violent but protective,” and wanted protection – which the law denied her for a full week.

Some of us are “gun lovers,” Ms. Washington. I am, unashamedly. But many, many more simply want to be able to choose how to defend ourselves. That is a choice you wish to deny us out of a belief in a flawed ideology that you cannot bring yourselves to recognize.

I’d love to discuss this topic with you further, but I seriously doubt you’ve bothered to read this far.

Thank you for your attention, however much of it I was able to garner.

(Footnotes not in original).

Somewhat to my surprise, she replied:

Dear Mr. Baker,

Thanks for your comments on the gun control column. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

Be consoled that you are winning the battle. And yes, I did read your entire letter.

Best, Laura

=================================================================
Laura S. Washington
Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor
DePaul University
Contributing Columnist, Chicago Sun-Times
Senior Editor, In These Times

The fact that she responded was surprising. The content was not.

I sent her a short reply:

Dear Laura:

Thank you for your gracious reply, and for taking the time our of your obviously busy schedule to read my missive.

Water off a duck’s back, eh?

My sincere condolences,

Kevin

But wait! There’s more! Phelps had a beautiful response of his own that I hope he sent to her. I urge you not to miss it.

Footnotes:

1Dr. Michael S. Brown
2Steven Den Beste
3Tamara K
4Say Uncle
5Seraphic Secret

Credit where credit is due.

UPDATE: Commenter Kevin P. notes that he maintains (an EXCELLENT) Wikipedia page on the Joyce Foundation and their funding efforts. Way to go, Kevin!

KevinLeave a comment

A Sign of Hope?.

Via Kim I just spent the last thirty minutes reading The Day Reality Hit Home, a three-part piece on the UK’s Guardian website. This is a first-person story of how a writer for the über-liberal newspaper had his entire worldview changed after September 11, 2001. It is very much worth your time. I’m quite amazed that The Guardian published it.

For me, the key passage is this one:

A society that places great emphasis on respecting others has next to nothing to say about protecting others.

…my stepdaughter was set upon in a busy high street by a gang of teenagers in an unprovoked attack. Scores of adults looked on and not one of them did or said anything to help. When she described how grown-up faces turned away from her as kicks and punches flew, I could only conclude that everyone was waiting. They were waiting for society to change, for it to become less unfair, with more equitable wealth distribution, so that street violence would miraculously disappear. They were waiting for schools to improve, and more youth centres to be built, and better housing. Or they were waiting for the police, the police who ought to be everywhere at all times but who should also maintain a low profile. Or perhaps they were just waiting for somebody else, anybody but themselves.

Read the whole thing:

Part I

Part II

Part III

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“No wonder so many women have self-esteem problems.”

Via The Unforgiving Minute comes a link to iWANEX Studio, a “professional photo retouching studio.” The title of this post comes from the link, and I think it’s quite appropriate. Go to the site and click on the “portfolio” link. There are several examples of their work available to review. They are, I will admit, very skillful. Here’s an example of after-and-before:

The effect is much more, er, impressive when you see it as a mouse rollover.

Jeebus. What are we doing to our kids?

KevinLeave a comment

What Does it Say About the Media…

…when this gets reported by Popular Mechanics?

Half a World Away: Soldiers in Iraq Don’t Hear Deliberations Back Home (and Often Don’t Care)

TIKRIT, Iraq — It never even hits the radar screen. For the troops on the front lines and the colonels in the rear—and just about everyone in between – the big news in Iraq every day is that they’re still alive and healthy. When it comes to Senate votes on the U.S. presence in Iraq, Sunday talk shows thrashing out length of deployment and stateside pundits talking to themselves, nearly every grunt, airman, sailor, soldier and Marine I speak with just doesn’t care.

It’s not negligence or a lack of opinion about how long they think they should stay here; they’re tuned out because the news doesn’t impact their day-to-day operations – and because comms often leave them uninformed from half a world away.

War deliberations and post-firefight reactions back home can vanish during the 12-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week base-line duty of the average soldier in Iraq. So when line troops are swamped carrying gear from street patrol to street patrol, village raid to village raid, for up to 20 hours a day, they often don’t have the time for, or the luxury of, Internet access. And when they do get it, they’re not punching up CNN – it’s e-mails from home they’re reading.

During last month’s heated, all-night debate on Capitol Hill about when and if the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, I asked several military officers of different ages and ranks about their thoughts on a potential pullout. Nearly every one stressed how important his or her work here has been—and will be. “If we leave within months, Iraq will be a province of Iran,” one colonel said. “Everyone with any education or skills who hasn’t already left will end up leaving.”

A mortarman with the 25th Infantry stationed in Tal Afar stressed that he thought the American media has not been reporting what really goes on during daily ops across the war zone. “It’s all about body counts,” he said. Marines out in the former Wild West of Anbar province said the same. They are proud of the job they’ve done in cleaning up what was once considered a lost, Al Qaeda-infested area. They wondered why America hasn’t heard MORE of that news.

A sergeant 1st class with the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, whose unit is attached to the Marines near Habbaniyah, patrols daily around Al Anbar province. This is his third tour, and he’s confident that progress is being made, despite what he calls early missteps in policy. “I think [Americans] understand our sacrifice, but they don’t understand that we’re just not ready to leave.”

The sergeant expressed an opinion I’ve heard from dozens of line and support troops and commanding officers about the continuing effort to rebuild, piece by piece: “We need a little more time – some places are more violent than others. But that’s how things happen. This country can’t be built in five years. And don’t we have a responsibility to help them build it?”

What is so difficult for so many of them, though, are the seemingly endless deployments, and for the Army, at least, disheartening extensions. Many soldiers will spend two Christmases away from home. —Leslie Sabbagh

I guess you don’t have any “moral authority” unless you’re the anti-war parent of a killed or maimed soldier, sailor, airman or Marine, or an anti-war active duty member of the military. Those who “believe we have a responsibility” to the population of Iraq are obviously just duped ignoramuses who joined the military because they couldn’t get a real job, and only wanted the job training and college benefits. Who needs to listen to them?

It’s Good to Know that Hollywood Has Our Back.

KevinLeave a comment

I just got back from seeing The Bourne Ultimatum – overall, not a bad flick (though being a gun nut the sound effects and continuity errors grated a bit.) But the previews – ah, the previews.

First up, a trailer for The Kingdom, a film about, well:

A team of U.S. government agents is sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.

While I’m not certain, I’m pretty sure this is about Saudi Arabia. Apparently the FBI is sent in to investigate this act of terrorism, and – for some strange reason – the local government interferes! On top of that, our intrepid G-Men are attacked by terrorists themselves! Looks action-packed. Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, directed by Peter Berg. Good cast as well.

Next up, Rendition. This film stars Reese Witherspoon as the wife of an Arab-American who is grabbed at the airport by the CIA and receives extraordinary rendition – i.e.: he’s whisked off to a foreign country where he can be tortured into confessing interrogated properly. Of course a still-wet-behind-the-ears local agent is sent to “monitor” the “interrogation” and is disturbed by what he witnesses. Meanwhile back at home the distraught wife fights to find out what happened to her husband. Written by Kelly Sane, directed by Gavin Hood.

But wait! We’re not done! Third up on this list is Lions for Lambs, starring no less than Glenn Close Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, and Robert Redford, who also directs! There’s not much online about this that I’ve been able to find, but Redford apparently plays a psychologist who can’t seem to understand why young men might actually want to join the military! Tom Cruise plays an opportunistic Senator who spouts lines like “Do you want to win the War on Terror™ or don’t you?!?!” Streep apparently plays the heroic newspaper reporter who is drawn like a moth to the flame of the Senator, but I’m sure is only interested in reporting the Truth™. Amazingly, this film is also written by Matthew Michael Carnahan. Mr. Carnahan’s had a busy year, since IMDB shows that this and The Kingdom are his first two screen credits ever.

Remember when Hollywood made movies like Sands of Iwo Jima and Strategic Air Command? That was propaganda, too – but at least it was in favor of our side coming out victorious.

Arnold Toynbee wrote, “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” He also noted, “Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now.” Finally, “I do not believe that civilizations have to die because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills.”

I’m amazed by the seemingly increasing will towards civil suicide exhibited by so many of my fellow countrymen. I don’t like a lot of what I see happening either, but I don’t outright deny the dangers we actually face for the ones that might be. Perhaps we’ve reached some critical mass past which we cannot stop an inevitable slide into self-destruction. I don’t know. But Hollywood isn’t helping stop that slide, that I do know.

KevinLeave a comment

An Update on the Cape Coral Defensive Shooting.

There’s this story from Tuesday:

Cape Coral couple tries to cope after attack at their home

By PHILLIP BANTZ, Daily News Correspondent

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Jacob Seckler keeps a gun in his pocket when he mows the lawn. He keeps a gun in his pillowcase when he tries to sleep, but the shadows dancing across the bedroom walls keep him awake.

“I’m strictly against guns. I never wanted them in the house,” said Seckler. “Now I wouldn’t be in the house without a gun.”

Mr. Seckler is another person who has discovered that he is responsible for his own protection. It is quite often a significant shock.

Seckler’s stance on guns changed the morning of May 16. He was mowing his lawn when he turned around and saw two 20-year-old men standing behind him. Seckler said one of the men was pointing a gun at his head.

After Seckler, 50, raised his hands to the sky, the two men pushed him past the garage toward the front door of his home in northeast Cape Coral.

That would be the $297,000 home built last year at 2125 Northeast 1st Ave, just east of Santa Barbara Boulevard and north of Pine Island Road, as reported by the local News-Press on May 16. I just thought you should know. For some reason that paper thought it important.

They held him at gunpoint and said they were getting into his house no matter what.

A struggle ensued at the front door. Seckler refused to let the men inside and they beat him over the head with the pistol and their elbows and fists. One of the men bit Seckler’s back. Seckler’s fiancée, Elizabeth Kachnic, 37, said she heard screaming and the door slam repeatedly.

“I don’t know what happened to me,” said Seckler. “I was so scared. I’m not crazy like that, but I knew I had to do something.”

No sir, you are not crazy. You did your job and defended yourself and your fiancée at the risk of your own life. You understood what was at stake, and took the proper action. And you were lucky. No doubt about it.

The gun was pressed against Seckler’s temple. He said he pushed the assailant’s hand down and the gun fell to the ground. Seckler said he screamed for Kachnic to call 911 as he and the two men scrambled for the weapon.

“I got the gun. I just turned around and shot,” said Seckler. “If they did not come here with a gun, they would be alive. It’s their fault.”

And thankfully, that’s the position that Florida law takes as well.

He fired every bullet in the clip.

I have read elsewhere that the firearm in question was a .38 revolver, but seeing as this is a newspaper report and newspaper reporters tend to be completely ignorant of firearms, I will take the “every bullet in the clip” statement with a grain of salt the size of the rock of Gibraltar.

One of the men, John Patrick Moore Jr., was hit as he sprinted across Seckler’s driveway. He stumbled to the edge of the street and died.

The story on this is at variance with other reports as well. Mr. Moore is reported to have been shot in the side. I have no doubt he was able to sprint some distance before his mortal wound felled him, however.

Police say Moore’s accomplice, Damion Jordan Shearod, fled when they lost control of the gun. Seckler said Shearod was hiding in the garage or the side of his home and appeared after the gunfire ceased and ran to a car parked in the street outside Seckler’s residence.

Police say Moore’s 19-year-old girlfriend, Jazzmyne Carrol-Love, was waiting behind the wheel and the two sped away.

Seckler had just killed a man. He hadn’t held or fired a gun since he was 18 years old and serving in the German Army. Even then, he was only aiming at practice targets.

“I was crying, screaming and hurting,” said Seckler, a large man who became tearful while recounting the shooting. “If they would have gotten in they would have killed us both. Everybody says I did the right thing, but it feels so bad. I killed another person.”

That’s something you have to live with. “Better him than me” does not make the taking of a life any easier, but at least you’re around to feel bad about it.

Lives changed forever

Long bands of yellow police tape cordoned off their home and detectives stood in their driveway looking down at a puddle of blood as Seckler and Kachnic packed their essentials and drove away on the evening of the shooting.

They lived in an area hotel for a week. Then they rented a camper and left Lee County for a while. Seckler said he had an emotional breakdown at the RV park and requested a priest. The priest was not available and the police were called, but they could not ease Seckler’s troubled mind.

The Catholic church must be suffering a real shortage of clergy…

The couple returned to their Cape Coral home Monday. The house had symbolized a new beginning for the pair, who left the perpetual hustle of New York behind in January and headed for the Sunshine State.

On the afternoon of their return, Seckler slid his new handgun into his pocket and started up the lawn mower. He mowed part of the side yard before the fear took hold. He went back into his home and locked the doors.

“We have to lock ourselves in to feel safe during the day,” said Seckler. “We don’t feel safe going to dinner and coming home at night. It feels like someone’s hiding around the corner.”

And you know that “the right to feel safe is a fundamental right of all Americans.”

A jogger dressed in dark clothing coming down their street in the middle of the afternoon incites panic. Seckler and Kachnic must always be together when at home. If one is swimming in the backyard pool, the other is watching for an attacker lurking in the bushes or around the corner of the house.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever ride my bike around the neighborhood,” Kachnic said. “We came down here to start a new life and it’s just not fair. It will never feel safe again like it used to.”

No sir, it’s not fair, and you just found that out the hard way. I’m sorry, but at least the blood on the driveway isn’t yours, leaving Ms. Kachic to discover just how unfair the world can be all by herself.

When a gardener knocked on the couple’s front door as they spoke about the shooting, Kachnic jumped off the couch and asked Seckler if she should get the gun before answering. They were both crying.

Post traumatic stress. It’ll get better eventually.

Seckler and Kachnic both have upcoming appointments with therapists. Seckler also has an appointment with a neurologist. Ever since he was pistol-whipped on the temple, his vision has been blurry and he can’t read magazines or street signs.

Good. Just make sure the shrinks you see aren’t GFW’s. Ask to see their CCW permits FIRST. This will ensure that they too understand that the world is not a fair place and that they are primarily responsible for their own protection. Then contact a lawyer about a civil suit against the remaining perps for medical expenses and mental anguish.

While Seckler works to obtain a concealed-weapon permit, Kachnic will be getting a gun of her own, she said.

“It was meant for us both to be dead and they would have robbed us,” said Kachnic. “You can’t imagine the fear. We just don’t know what to do.”

It sounds like you’re taking all the right steps.

Shearod and Carrol-Love were arrested and remain in the Lee County Jail; both have been charged with one count each of homicide and robbery with a firearm.

In 2005, a Lee County jury found Shearod guilty of murdering an 18-year-old Lehigh Acres man, but Judge James R. Thompson overturned the conviction, citing a lack of evidence.

Boy, would I be interested in the transcript of that trial.

The State Attorney’s Office is awaiting a judge’s decision on an appeal in the case. The jury’s verdict will be upheld if the appeal is granted and Shearod will be sentenced.

“The judge who let him go should be in jail,” said Kachnic. “Who knows how many people he’s shot and how many times he’s gotten away with it. I hope they (Carrol-Love and Shearod) stay in jail forever.”

Not likely. Not in our revolving-door “justice” system.

Meanwhile, Seckler and Kachnic are desperately trying to piece their lives back together. They have considered selling their home and starting a new life somewhere else. They have also considered turning their residence into a fortress of sorts, installing surveillance cameras and a tall privacy fence around the property. Seckler is leaning towards the latter option.

“I’m not going to give in,” he said. “We’re going to stay here and make it safer. I know it will never feel like it felt when we moved in, but we’ve got to make the best of it.”

Congratulations on your decision. I wish you the best of luck. Now, in addition to the pshrinks and the medical doctor, please get some quality professional defensive gun use training so you don’t shoot the pizza or the pool guy in your current state of (understandable) paranoia. There’s more to being safe than merely owning a gun. As Col. Jeff Cooper once put it, owning a guitar doesn’t make one a musician.

KevinLeave a comment

Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

From AR15.com comes a “coulda ended worse” story. Let’s start with the post:

Ok so the other day i posted about a guy buying a gun wearing pink crocs…

The reason he wanted a gun was because a former employee stole from them and then he was fired. The employee then said they would hurt his family, throw acid in his wife face etc So he wanted to buy a gun for protection. No CCW so he has a 3 day wait. His Glock is still sitting on my shelf.

Yesterday two guys approached him in the drive way in the AM and pointed a gun at him and told him to go back inside the house. His wife was inside so he wasn’t going to do it. he jumped the guy with the gun and disarmed him and shot him. Killed the guy right there. The other guy took off.

Now the media’s version of the story:

Two arrested in connection with Cape homicide

Two people have been arrested in connection with a Cape Coral homicide, according to Cape Coral Police. But the man who pulled the trigger is not one of those charged with murder.

Damion Jordan Shearod, 20 of 3900 Central Ave., Fort Myers, and Jazzmyne Rahshel Carrol-Love, 19 of 611 Rabbit Road, were both charged with second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. Shearod was also charged with trespassing. Both are in custody at the Lee County Jail.

Police spokeswoman Dyan Lee said Carrol-Love drove Shearod and the shooting victim to the address to commit an armed robbery. But a struggle ensued, the gun was dropped and the robbery victim fired at the suspects as they feld(sic) the scene.

The shooting victim still has not been identified.

From earlier today

Cape Coral police are currently investigating a shooting death at 2125 Northeast 1st Ave, just east of Santa Barbara Boulevard and north of Pine Island Road.

The unidentified victim, a black male in his 20s, police said, was face down on the driveway of the home when police arrived. Police said he died of a gunshot wound. Several neighbors reported hearing gunshots. The victim was not carrying any identification, police said.

Police have not officially ruled it a homicide, calling it a death investigation.

The victim does not appear to be a resident of the home, police said. Two other people — Jacob Sechler and Elizabeth Elizabeth Kachnic — are involved, but police are not sure in what capacity. According to the Lee County Property Appraiser’s website, the home is owned by Kachnic. The home, according to the website, was built last year for $297,000.

Kachnic was taken by police for questioning. Sechler was treated at the scene for injuries and released.He also was questioned by police. Sechler did place a 911 call about a disturbance at the house at 11:22 a.m.

Police believe the victim was running from the home prior to his death.

If it is officially ruled a homicide, it would be the third in three weeks in the city, after going almost the first four months of the year without one.

“Jazzmyne Rahshel Carrol-Love.” Sounds like a winner from one of Mostly Cajun’s Sunday birth announcements. Note the story indicates that the wealthy victim assailant shot that poor assailant victim in the back!

But here’s an update on the story:

Man shot dead in botched Cape robbery ID’d
Cape shooting has many unanswered questions

Police have identified the victim (editor’s note: No, the police have identified the dead alleged perpetrator. The victim pulled the trigger.) in a fatal shooting on Wednesday as John Patrick Moore Jr., 20, of 2616 Jean Marie Court in Fort Myers.

He was one of three suspects in a botched robbery attempt.

At approximately 11:22 a.m. Wednesday, police said Moore and two other suspects,
Damion Jordan Shearod, 20, and Jazzmyne Rahshei Carrol-Love, 19, drove from Fort Myers to 2125 NE 1st Avenue, where, police said, they planned to rob Jacob Seckler. He lived at the residence with the home’s owner, Elizabeth Kachnic.

Carrol-Love, the driver, remained in the vehicle as Shearod and Moore exited the vehicle.

Moore was armed with a gun and both men went to confront Sechler and tried to force him into the home, but a struggle ensued. Moore dropped the gun during the struggle and Sechler picked it up.

Both Moore and Shearod continued to struggle with the victim to regain possession of the gun, but the attempt failed, and Sechler fired at the suspects, striking Moore.

Moore fell and died in the victim’s driveway.

Note that there is now no “shot in the back” inference.

Damion Jordan Shearod and Jazzmyne Rahshei Carrol-Love were arrested Wednesday and charged with homicide and robbery with a firearm. Sechler was not charged.

Updated 10:45 a.m.

When two Fort Myers youths were arrested Wednesday night in the Cape Coral shooting death of a friend during a botched robbery, it was a familiar scenario for one of the suspects. (My emphasis.)

Police said Damion Jordan Shearod, 20, Jazzmyne Carrol-Love, 19, and an unidentified male were involved in an attempt to rob a Cape Coral couple at 2125 N.E. 1st Avenue Wednesday morning. But when one of the suspects dropped the gun, the would-be victim grabbed it and shot one of the suspects, killing him in the driveway. Police still have not released that man’s identity pending notification of his family.

While it doesn’t appear Shearod pulled the trigger on his friend in that shooting, he and Carrol-Love have been charged with second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. The Cape homeowners, Jacob Selack and Elizabeth Kachnic, were not arrested by police.

But Shearod had been convicted two years ago for pulling the trigger on another friend, Giannis Avrampoulos, killing him, on Jan. 6, 2005.

The News-Press archives indicate he should have been sentenced to 24 years to life in prison. It was not immediately clear why he did not remain in prison. (Again, my emphasis)

Originally, Lee County Sheriff’s deputies charged both Shearod and his brother, Euric Thomas, then 17, of Avrampoulos’ killing, in which he was choked, shot multiple times and then robbed. Charges were later dropped against Thomas, but Shearod was convicted for the killing on July 12, 2005.

Shearod was acquitted by a judge four months after he was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison, court documents show.

It was not immediately clear why Lee Circuit Judge James Thompson reversed the jury’s decision to convict Shearod of shooting Avrampoulos, but the state was appealing the decision.

Updated 7:40 a.m.

One of the two youths in jail today on murder and robbery charges had been charged with another murder in January 2005, Lee County Sheriff’s Office booking records show.

Damion Jordan Shearod, 20, was arrested Jan. 10, 2005 in the murder of his friend Giannis Avramopoulos, 18, of Lehigh Acres, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Shearod was accused of getting into an argument with Avramopoulos, pulling a gun out of his waistband and shooting the teenager, the report said. Shearod was released by court order later.

Shearod’s court appearance for Wednesday’s charges is scheduled June 18. His last known address is 3900 Central Ave. #308, Fort Myers. He is also known as DJ.

The second youth arrested, Jazzmyne Rahshel Carrol-Love, 19, has no prior record with the Lee sheriff’s office. Her last known address is 611 Rabbit Road, Sanibel. She is also scheduled to appear in court June 18.

The identity of the third suspect, who died at the Cape Coral home, still has not been released.

Posted Wednesday

After a botched robbery attempt, two Fort Myers youths were arrested Wednesday night in connection with the shooting death of their friend in Cape Coral.

Both suspects are charged with second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.

According to Cape police spokeswoman Dyan Lee: Damion Jordan Shearod, 20, and Jazzmyne Rahshel Carrol-Love, 19, along with an unidentified man, drove to the home of Cape couple Jacob Seckler and Elizabeth Kachnic at 2125 N.E. 1st Avenue with the intent to rob them.

But when the unidentified man tried to force one of the would-be victims into the home, he accidentally dropped the gun, Lee said.

“The unidentified (deceased) male dropped the gun during the struggle and (Seckler) picked it up,” Lee stated.

Shearod, Seckler and the unidentified male wrestled for control of the weapon, but Seckler ultimately overpowered the two and fired at the suspects, killing one at the edge of his driveway.

Lee said the deceased man is not yet being identified pending notification of his family.

It is the third homicide for the city in as many weeks following four months without one.

“I’m horrified,” neighbor Maralee Haldeman said. “I heard about four or five gunshots, and at first I thought it was fireworks or something. I rushed outside and that’s when I saw (the deceased) there.”

Initially, police responded to what they thought was a disturbance at 11:22 a.m., Lee said, but officers found the man dead when they arrived. He was not carrying identification.

Seckler was the one who called police.

Neighbors said Seckler, who is in his late 40s, moved into the home with his girlfriend Kachnic, 37, in January. Kachnic is the owner of the home, which was built last year.

Police questioned both Kachnic and Seckler, who was treated for minor head injuries caused by a scuffle on the scene.

A connection between the couple and the gunshot victim was not immediately clear.

Kachnic had contacted police Tuesday to report her housekeeper stole a $5,800 watch and checks worth $480. Kachnic told police her former employee admitted to taking the items, but then left several vulgar messages on her voice mail.

In one, the accused woman reportedly said, “Tell Elizabeth to come to Fort Myers and get her watch. When she gets here, I will whack her (expletive).”

“Elizabeth feels very threatened and wants her watch back,” reporting officer R. Schilke wrote. “But she doesn’t want trouble.”

Haldeman described the neighborhood as quiet, and Kachnic and Seckler as “very nice.”

“They didn’t have any enemies,” she said. “They didn’t live here long enough to know many people at all. That’s why I think this burglary has something to do with it.”

Records show the couple moved to Florida from New Rochelle, N.Y., about 20 miles outside New York City.

As for the suspects, Carrol-Love does not appear to have a prior criminal record, but Shearod was arrested in the past for another homicide in 2005, as well as burglary and vehicle theft. It was not immediately clear why he was released after the 2005 homicide charge.

Yep. Those waiting periods really help keep the public safe, don’t they? One wonders if the dead perp had to wait three days before he took possession of the revolver that ended his life.

The original AR15.com poster updates with this:

A person who worked the scene and who is a good customer here shared some awesome info.

The dead bad guy was wearing a shirt that said “Murder King, Have it your way”
I guess he had it his way….
he had baggy pants on and when he started to run his pants fell down around his ankles and tripped. He was NOT shot in the back. he was shot in the side. It was a 38spl s&w. One round entered the left lung and continued into his heart.

Who says that the .38 Special isn’t enough round? Defensive shooting is like real estate: location, location, location! And another update:

The gentleman came to pick up his gun today. Went it and shot it a bit. Did very well. Picked up a holster and some ammo. he was pissed… his eye had swelled up . he more upset about the black eye than anything.
here’s somethig pisses us off. the PD told him not to go home for 2 months. Told him to take a vacation. they searched the dirt bags house and found quite a few firearms there. Told him not to go home and he doesn’t want to go there alone. I gave my cell number and said i was off the next two days and i would go with him ,clear his house so he and his wife could get whatever they needed and check on their house. Don’t go home for 2 months. Thats a damn joke.
Another member here graciously offered to cover a course for him and his wife at Front Sight. i let him know and he said he would love to. i forwarded the e-mail to him.

Please note that AR15.com is a message board. The finer points of capitalization, punctuation, and grammar are lost to a large portion of humanity. Still, it was an interesting story, and one with even a better ending: As I understand it, Florida recently passed a law protecting people from civil lawsuits if they are involved in a justifiable homicide. The victim here will not be further victimized by the legal (not “justice”) system. In England I have no doubt that Mr. Sechler would be sitting in a jail cell while the Crown Prosecution Service did their best to prove that he used “excessive force.” He would at least suffer a six week murder investigation as did Thomas O’Connor. Interestingly enough, Mr. O’Connor was advised to move away after his incident as well.