Armed Militia in Action
Billy Beck demonstrates how it’s supposed to work:
That kid was frightened when I yelled “Hello!” up the road at him.
For years now, people have been hiking and biking up and down Daisy Hollow. It’s really funny: they roll out here from Ithaca or wherever in all their gear. Hikers walking with ski-poles in the summer. You name it, etc. People who live out here think they’re cute. When I go walking, I go up on the hill with a rifle.
The very first time I laid eyes on him, he looked like he was walking out the end of a neighbor’s driveway. He’d made about seventy-five yards up the road by the time I had my boots on and was out the door.
Walking up to him, I could see that he was apprehensive. I said from about fifteen yards away, “I hope you will understand why this is necessary.” I had all his attention, now. I’d say he was in his early twenties.
“You know,” I told him, “We’ve been watching people hike up & down this valley for a long time, but that is the very first time I ever saw what looked like someone coming out of that driveway.”
Read the rest to see how it comes out.
That’s all an armed citizenry is about, folks: people looking out for each other.
[Edit: In comments, Beck clarifies he was not armed for this encounter. I believe the overall point stands.]
As always, Robert Peel’s Policing Principle Seven holds: “…the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
Beck takes a lot of heat for things like not paying taxes, not enlisting, not shouldering his share of the social responsibility.
That right there is Beck doing his share, directly, not subcontracting it to someone in a uniform. He exposed himself to risk, he accepted the potential responsibility of putting someone to death on the spot.
I can’t point to the last time I did that. Can you?
Moreover, he accepts that burden without setting himself as an Only One who can act with Officially-backed impunity. Like, oh, Grady County Oklahoma Deputy Sean Knight [Link via Beck, here.]
Tags: Billy Beck, Militia, Rober Peel, Sean Knight
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Thank you, sir.
I must make this clear because it looks like I didn’t: I was not armed when I approached this man. Some might think that foolish, but nothing I saw in him made me think that I would have a problem of that sort. For one thing, he was wearing this hilarious enormous backpack. (This is a day hike out here for these people. I can’t imagine what they all carry in these packs.) If it came to anything actually physical, I was confident that I would have my way with him.
I just had to know, and I was satisfied.
Everything was cool when we parted, and I always like that.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:38 am
You’re welcome, and I’m glad I at least didn’t misconstrue your main point.
I don’t know why I thought you were armed for this encounter; I appreciate your clarification. I’ll say this, though: I bet the fact that you own guns is deeply intertwingled with your willingness to investigate.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Yes, sir, it is.
October 25th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
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