Friday, July 6, 2012

Don't Mess With Texas

A new program is teaching US border agents to run, hide and call for help when they are confronted by a shooter. The following was first posted on the National Border Patrol Council (a union representing Border patrol agents) Local 2544 website. This particular entry was dated 06-20-12. The bold emphasis was added by yours truly.
In another nauseating series of "Virtual Learning Center" brainwashing courses that Border Patrol agents are forced to sit behind a computer for hours and endure, we are now taught in an "Active Shooter" course that if we encounter a shooter in a public place we are to "run away" and "hide". If we are cornered by such a shooter we are to (only as a last resort) become "aggressive" and "throw things" at him or her. We are then advised to "call law enforcement" and wait for their arrival (presumably, while more innocent victims are slaughtered). Shooting incidents cited in the course are Columbine, the Giffords shooting and the Virginia Tech shooting.

These types of mandatory brainwashing courses and the idiocy that accompanies them are simply stunning when they are force-fed to law enforcement officers. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that any three of the above shootings would have been stopped cold by an off-duty law enforcement officer or a law abiding citizen with a gun. The Fort Hood shooting would have been stopped cold by someone with a gun as well.
I've never understood the 'logic' behind gun-free zones. That just turns students and faculty into targets (the definition of a gun-free zone is "a target-rich environment"). But I guess common sense has no chance against fear and ignorance.



Meanwhile, back at Local 2544, the following update was added on 07-03-12.
Since this information was posted and after media scrutiny the agency has offered to revise and clarify this training...
It's amazing what a little publicity can do.

As a reminder, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed with one of the weapons the ATF allowed to walk across the border as part of the Fast & Furious gunrunning fiasco. Terry and his fellow agents were operating under DHS rules of engagement that require them to use non-lethal beanbag rounds initially, as opposed to live ammunition. The bad guys, of course, are under no such constraints.
Here’s the part Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Border Patrol management are trying to hide: Border Patrol Agent Terry and the BORTAC team were under standing orders to always use (“non-lethal”) bean-bag rounds first before using live ammunition. When the smugglers heard the first rounds, they returned fire with real bullets, and Agent Terry was killed in that exchange. Real bullets outperform bean bags every time.
Run and hide instead of fighting back. Bean-bags vs. AK 47 rounds. Typical idiotic federal policy.

Contrast that with Texas' most recent move in securing its border with Mexico.
Law enforcement officers working along the U.S.-Mexico border are stepping up efforts to respond to what is in effect a war going on south of the border, where drug cartel violence has spun out of control.

In Texas, where the two countries are separated only by the Rio Grande River, stopping the violence from spilling into the United States means taking to the water -- with 34-foot-long gunboats that pack some serious firepower.

Four new “shallow water interceptors” are now patrolling the river, and two others will be commissioned soon. Those will be responsible for guarding the intercoastal waterway, where cops are seeing a spike in smuggling activity through the Gulf of Mexico.

These gunboats are outfitted with bullet-proof panels, fully automatic machine guns and 900-horsepower engines.
No bean-bags on these babies.


Who would you rather have protecting your family and property? A bean-bag toting patrol or a high-speed armored gunboat?

Let me rephrase that.

Who would you rather have protecting your family and property? The federal government or the state of Texas?

I know what my preference is...

7 comments:

Pascvaks said...

Don't know why I thought of this, I'm sure there's a logical reason people have such stupid thoughts, probably something I ate, or didn't when I should have, anyway, please be kind and don't think be New Age or anything, here goes:

I vaguely recall that California, Alaska, Texas, and probably a few other states (Virginia comes to mind;-) could opt to divide into smaller States... is there anything on the books that says some of us smaller states can't join Texas? If you can divide, it seems reasonable to believe that it's also possible to multiply. Right?

Wonder what the results would be of an effort in, oh I don't know, say Lousiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, S.Carolina, N.Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and a few more states, to join with Texas and become One Big State?

Think anyone would notice any difference in the National mood, the employment rate, the quality of life, the number BBQ places?

Old NFO said...

That looks an awful lot like a SEAL STAB :-)

CenTexTim said...

Pascvaks - Under the terms by which Texas annexed the rest of the US, we can divide into five individual states. However, I don't think the idea of other states joining us will work. As you know, it's been tried once before - the War of Northern Aggression...

NFO - probably modeled after the old STAB boats, but updated. One difference is that the STAB had 2 outboards, while the new boats have 3.

Pascvaks said...

No! No! See that's the beauty of it. No one's leaving. It'll work! My Big Toe says "It'll Work!" Let's give 'er a go, shall we? All appropriations start in the House, we'll have a fatal lock on them thar Yankees and squeeze the Karl Marx out of 'em so fast they'll think they ate a buz saw. Then we'll start cuttin' for reparations, with interest!

NavyOne said...

Hey, I have a shirt that says this! A friend just gave it to me as a gift. . . How about that?

Toejam said...

Bean-bag rounds work just fine if you remove the beans from the bag and replace then with a couple dozen 2-inch steel flechettes.

CenTexTim said...

NavyOne - wear it with pride.

ToeJam - I'm sure the Border Patrol would agree with you.