Makes Me Proud To Be An American

The actions of these three young Americans in overpowering a heavily armed terrorist and preventing a bloody massacre are in the best tradition of American exceptionalism. They also produced some of the best quotes of the year.

Quote 1

"Spencer makes first contact, he tackles the guy, Alek wrestles the gun away from him, and the gunman pulls out a boxcutter and slices Spencer a few times. And the three of us beat him until he was unconscious." (emphasis added)

Gotta love that. Of course, my first impulse after wrestling the gun away would be to shoot the SOB. Apparently they tried that, but the gun was jammed. Which leads us to...

Quote 2

An amateur video taken in the immediate aftermath shows the suspect on the ground with his legs in the air and his hands tied behind his back ... and a voice saying, “Dude, I tried to shoot him.” (emphasis added)

"Dude..." - too cool for words. You have to give him credit for trying to do the right thing and rid the world of another piece of islamic trash.

There is a school of thought that says if a firearm doesn't work properly, it's no more than an oddly shaped club. The third quote supports that argument.

Quote 3

"Then I grabbed the AK (assault rifle), which was at his feet, and started muzzle thumping him in the head with it..." (emphasis added)

"muzzle thumping" - LOL! I might have reversed the rifle and clubbed the scum with the butt end (more heft to it) but I'm not going to second-guess the men who were there. Muzzle thumping works for me. Besides, it has a nice ring to it.

The incident also reinforced certain stereotypes.

The British, working together with Americans.

A MIDDLE-AGED British IT consultant ... helped tackle a heavily-armed gunman on a French train.

Chris Norman, 62, ... was sitting in the same carriage as two American soldiers and their friend when they heard a shot.

"My thought was 'I am probably going to die anyway so let's go.

"I would rather die being active and trying to stop him then simply sit in the corner and be shot."

I like the way he thinks. I also like the fact that according to this source, 62 is middle-aged - especially since I'm just barely past 62 myself.

The typical French reaction when confronted.

Train staff on board the high speed train which was the scene of a suspected Islamic extremist attack yesterday have been accused of barricading themselves in their staffroom and locking the door, leaving passengers to fend for themselves.

I may be a bit unfair to the French here. Back when I was still in the classroom our 'active shooter' protocol consisted of turning off the lights and locking the door. That's just one step above 'close your eyes and hope he doesn't see you.'

And finally, the media's response. (Source)

Why am I not surprised?