Thoughts on the 19 April Rules of Non-Engagement

Mike sets the stage; go read if you haven't already.

Some additional grace notes:

1) The Elephant: Look -- no one wants to get shot, and no one wants to have a non-functioning rifle (even temporarily) if there is a likelihood of being shot.

There are Bad People in the world.

Some of those Bad People wants Bad Things to happen to citizens who have the temerity to openly, publicly, and legally exercise basic human rights in public.

So yes, it is possible that Bad People -- of whatever persuasion -- could do Bad Things on April 19th.

But do you remember this picture?


Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, May 4, 1970.

67 rounds fired from the Ohio National Guard's Garands.

13 seconds.

4 students dead.

9 students wounded.

No NatGuard casualties.

Ask somebody who was around forty years ago about the effect that the Kent State shootings had on American politics of the day.

Then ask them what would have been different about those consequences if there had been a return volley from the Kent State students that day.

Without question, the world-changing propaganda coup handed to the anti-war forces that day by the Ohio Guardsmen would not have occurred.

Transition now to modern day.

I will be using a chamber flag on April 19th.

My rifle will be unloaded and slung, with its muzzle pointed at the ground.

My sidearm will be in its holster.

Every time one of the state security agents look at me through their camera lenses and through their riflescopes, that chamber flag will be in place, showing the world that my rifle is slung and unloaded with a demonstrably empty chamber.

I want the British, Swiss, and Russian television crews who will be covering the April 19th events to show their viewers that chamber flag, as well.

If a Bad Person -- no matter of what affiliation -- should take a shot at me, I want them to be shooting at a permitted human-rights demonstrator who is legally carrying a sidearm and a slung, demonstrably unloaded rifle.

If that shot should hit me, I want my freedom-loving brothers and sisters to use their digital still and video cameras to record that my pistol was still in its holster and my rifle was slung and unloaded when I was shot.

And I want those stills and that video to be on the 'Net -- and beyond the reach of the American state security forces -- within minutes of the shooting.

Those memory chips with those photos and vids will be the most important pieces of storage media on the face of the earth on April 19th.

And they will change the world -- just as the Kent State photos did forty years before.

That's why I will be using a chamber flag on April 19th.

And that's why I urge you to do the same.

2) Common decency: There is an even simpler reason to use a chamber flag on 19 April at the RTC event:

The organizers have asked you to do so.

If you want to hold your own freedom event with your own set of ROEs, you are perfectly welcome to do so.

But at this event -- our event -- civilized men and women will abide by the rules of non-engagement agreed amongst the planners.

Nothing more.

And nothing less.

3) Basic Weapons Handling Skills: Is it even possible that someone's basic weapons handling skills could be so deficient that they could not clear their rifle of the chamber flag and proceed if they were legally, morally, and factually justified to do so?

Sadly, I guess it is possible.

For anyone in that category, I suggest some basic weapons familiarization skill drills this weekend and next.

See you on April 19th on the banks of the Potomac -- armed or unarmed.