“It was 100% racial,” claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran who told the station that young people beat on his car.Witnesses describe numbers varying from "dozens to hundreds", running between cars, pulling people out to beat them, knocking at least one person off a motorcycle and viciously assaulting that person. Eric said:
"I saw them grab this white kid who was probably 14 or 15 years old. They just flung him into the road. They just jumped on him and started beating him. They were kicking him. He was on the ground. A girl picked up a construction sign and pushed it over on top of him. They were just running by and kicking him in the face."The Milwaukee Star-Tribune reports:
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he thought the attacks were premeditated.Business Insider probably has the most honest headline, "Race War at Wisconsin State Fair".
"I believe that a group of individuals, young people, got together and decided that they would wreak havoc on families, on people who wanted to take their families to a safe gathering at State Fair. I am outraged by what happened," a visibly angry Barrett said. "I will not tolerate any behavior like that in this community."
At first impression, this is like the flash crime mobs we're seeing widely around the country, but (of course) I have no way of knowing if it was coordinated online. Several of the reports I've seen give the strong impression it's the clash across the Bracken cube: perhaps corners 1 and 8 in this case.
Civilians are neither trained nor equipped to deal with mobs. The tactics and equipment we were trained to use in law enforcement require numbers of officers working in concert from the same page of training. The civilian firearms raining I have had never addressed this possibility.
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong, but I think that if you methodically started dropping the ones violently beating people, then dropped the ones in the front line of any that decided to moving on you in response, the crowd would quickly lose its taste for hurting 14 year olds and others. I expect they would "unass" that area rather quickly, when the fun stopped for them.
Pepper spray in the large canister size ("Bear attack") in your vehicle might be useful on those intent on smashing your car or ripping off your wife's purse, etc. - any instance where you are being attacked but not facing bodily injury, although a lot of purse snatchers managed to knock down and injure their victims.
I've also thought about buying one of those stun guns for use if you are caught in a crowd. They make them the size of pagers and cell phones, and one could be carried on a belt quite easily. Haven't gotten around to it yet, but where I live it just isn't a high priority.
Or, although you might be accused of not being "gutsy" enough, you could move to an area where the only blacks you will meet are decent, kindly people, not inclined to go "wilding", or to "flash mob", or any such thing. If such a group of attackers comes out my way, I wouldn't have to worry about shooting any innocent people.
Reg, your first two paragraphs are exactly what I was thinking. It's absolutely a no-win situation. I've even thought I might have to take a beat down while carrying and doing my best to make sure no one gets my gun. But I'm not sure I could stand by and watch them kicking a 14 year old in the face, like the guy Eric apparently did. I know sometimes situations require this, but still...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'd be arrested for defending the defenseless and injured, just as I'm sure you'd be dissected in the "unbiased press" for being a racist just looking for a chance to shoot black youths. But I also think that taking down a few might convince the others to disperse. Heck, a shot into the air might do disperse the crow. And still get you arrested.
Typo correction in my reply: An email tip points out "Heck, a shot into the air might do disperse the crow." should read "Heck, a shot into the air might do disperse the crowd."
ReplyDelete