
In recent days, the communist hornet’s nest in China has been rumbling again and sword-rattling is once again in the news. Taiwan’s president visited Guam (that’s a US territory, for all of you mask-wearers) and now there are CCP ships are menacing the country from the South China Sea to the outlying islands of Japan. Things look bleak for Taiwan, but American gun ownership is contributing to helping fight the communist menace.
Some Background
World War III is unlikely to develop this week. Why? Because this kind of thing happens a lot. Since 1996, every time the government in Taiwan does something that the mainland government doesn’t like, they show their displeasure with missiles and naval “exercises.”
Periodic high tensions (and even occasional shelling) have come and gone since the Communist Party took over the mainland in 1949 and the nationalist government fled to the island of Taiwan. After decades of brutal nationalist dictatorship on the island, Chiang Kai-shek died and a multi-party government emerged, and along with it, renewed protections for individual rights.
That doesn’t mean a Chinese invasion will never happen. In the last three to four years, tensions have been on the upswing. As the CCP’s military grows in strength, the possibility of either defeating the United States or deterring America’s military from even trying to defend the island grows. So, it’s certainly possible that the situation will end up actually coming to a head in the not too distant future. And an actual war could start with the communist government feigning yet another exercise.
Yet despite the serious threat of a communist invasion, the democratic Taiwanese government hasn’t restored one key right: that of the people to keep and bear arms. During the dictatorship, that may have made some sense, as no dictator wants anone but his own men to have weapons. But, as democratic government emerged, Taiwan’s government decided to adopt a European model and keep restrictions on gun ownership in the interest of “public safety.”
That’s left Taiwan’s military and police, with only their own largely untested skills, to train in a world that largely avoids military cooperation with the country for fear of upsetting the communist government 1,300 miles away.
Efforts To Fix Rifle Training Are Showing Results
Taiwan’s military has been trying to get serious about preparing for a possible invasion. Military reforms and modernization are underway to develop full-time professional forces. The reserves that have been neglected for decades are getting new equipment and real training. But compared to the People’s Liberation Army, Taiwan’s full-time and reserve forces still wouldn’t present much more than a speed bump, one that might be able slow the commies down long enough for U.S. forces to intervene.
A recent post detailing the training reservists have been receiving (text is in Chinese, but Google Translate does a decent job in some browsers) gives a glimmer of hope. Instead of relying on the non-experienced Taiwanese forces to develop training plans and curriculum, U.S. military instructors are on the scene training the trainers and sometimes training reserve troops directly. An obvious increase in training quality, particularly in CQB rifle training, has been seen despite the fact that reservists are only getting 14 days of the upgraded training.
Why The U.S. Military Can Make Such A Difference With So Little Training
It might seem unlikely that a few good trainers could make much of a difference, but the reason is obvious when you realize that the United States military’s firearms training doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
The fact ism the US has the world’s only fully-developed civilian firearms market. The media tends to focus on firearms manufacturers, gun shops, and other businesses that put steel in hands, but there’s also a vast number of shooting ranges, firearms training facilities, instructors, training hardware, software, and much much more available in the US of A. Except for some limits on training foreigners (thanks, ITAR), it’s possible to get the best training in the world if you have the money for a decent gun, some ammunition, and enough left over to pay for instructional hours.
This vast industry also doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Law enforcement instructors and military instructors communicate and move between different parts of the larger firearms industry. Retired cops and veterans go into training, taking their knowledge with them.
Military types take civilian and law enforcement classes to get more rounded and pick things up they didn’t learn from Uncle Sam. Everything that concealed carriers, hunters, private instructors, police, and the military pick up in the real-world or on the range ends up getting circulated, disseminated, improved upon, and spread around again.
Commander of US Marine Corps, General Eric Smith @CMC_MarineCorps said "The advantage lies with us because our last combat was captured on somebody’s iPhone 14. China's last combat was captured on oil and canvas, and they should not forget that" pic.twitter.com/dz451G4g1b
— Michael Turner (@Michael71T) December 10, 2024
Taiwan’s military and reservists are getting plugged into that system thanks to highly-developed training methodologies that have been perfected both in battle and in the free market, something neither Taiwan nor the communist government have had any real access to for decades.
Taiwan Needs to Unleash Market Forces To Have A Chance
This improved training can make a real difference in the event of an actual conflict. China, as is typical for communists, has a large numerical advantage. Better trained and more effective recruits and reservists can mean a qualitative advantage for Taiwan, getting more out of fewer fighters. But the numerical advantage the PLA has is still huge and won’t be overcome with a few hundred thousand reservists, no matter how great their training and equipment is.
To really catch up, Taiwan’s government needs to end its de facto ban on private gun ownership as other countries facing threats have. They need to allow the free market to set up shooting ranges, and allow civilians access to training from American instructors and Taiwanese instructors. And they need to do it sooner rather than later. That would greatly improve the ability of millions to fight and give future reservists a leg up in skills development.
“Why The U.S. Military Can Make Such A Difference ”
Well, you mentioned ONE WAY the U.S. Military can make such a difference, and a good way. But recently in the news there was (what I thought was) a much more effective way for our military to stop the oft-threatened Chinese Invasion:
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-would-destroy-taiwan-semiconductor-factories-avoid-china-trump-adviser-2023-3
Here’s the gist: Taiwan makes pretty much all the best chips used in AI at its TSMC factory. China really, really wants to be the king of AI, so the best way to do that is just to seize Taiwan and take over the TSMC factory. The US really, really wants to be the king of AI. The US just ordered the TSMC factory to halt all deliveries of their products to Chinese customers. Now THAT is gonna piss off China, and start them mobilizing the “show of force” routine.
Which leads us to the linked story above. Trump’s prior National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said that if China invades Taiwan, the US military would destroy the AI chip factories. The quote was the US “and its allies are never going to let those factories fall into Chinese hands.”
“Taiwan needs to end its de facto ban on private gun ownership as other countries facing threats have.”
*Highly* doubtful that will happen, strictly for cultural reasons, sad to say.
It’s simply not in their national psyche…
I’m not sure how well “Here, have some human rights, now go die for us who have been denying you those rights your whole life.” schtick plays.
Especially when everyone knows it’ll be followed up with “thanks for dying now we’re gonna take those rights back.”
Countries seem to have a real credibility problem. Without forced conscription very few people are willing to die defending them. Maybe countries should stop treating their people like cannon fodder and tax cows and oppressing them like they’re the lowest quintile of criminal degenerates.
Here in the U.S. China is not the only thing to worry about:
U.K. ‘Grooming Gangs’ Scandal Could Happen In The U.S. Thanks To Leftist Justice System.
“The same conditions that allowed rape gangs to run rampant in the U.K. are already in place in some U.S. jurisdictions.
The United Kingdom’s ‘grooming gangs’ scandal has reentered the public spotlight, largely thanks to X posts by Elon Musk showcasing court transcripts.
They detail how groups of men, mainly Pakistani Muslims, groomed and raped thousands of English girls across the country over a decades-long period. The simultaneously infuriating and blood-curdling descriptions of the violations those girls suffered are only compounded by the British authorities’ complicity in and cover-up of the abuse.
The first reports on these crimes came out in the early 2000s, and the grooming gangs may go back as far as the 1970s. And though this scandal has reappeared multiple times since then, only growing the list of victims, those in power have done outrageously little to stop it.
Despite years of reports about these crimes, local officials turned a blind eye to what was happening in dozens of cities. Police refused to investigate. …
Despite years of reports about these crimes, local officials turned a blind eye to what was happening in dozens of cities. Police refused to investigate. In multiple cases, the police arrested fathers who had tracked down the locations used by the rape gangs to abuse young girls. In others, the victims found themselves arrested for ‘breach of the peace’ while the perpetrators got off scot-free. The British Home Office, the office within the British government responsible for law and order, advised in 2008 against the prosecution of ‘grooming gang’ members, claiming that their victims had ‘made an informed choice about their sexual behavior.’
British leftists hurled accusations of racism and Islamophobia at those who tried to speak up. And, of course, the British media joined in lockstep with politicians to downplay and bury the stories. Even so-called ‘conservatives’ helped cover it up. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in 2019 that further investigation into the crimes would be a waste of time, and his government claimed that releasing the government’s official review of the scandal to the public was not in the ‘public interest.’
Why? Officials wanted to maintain good ‘community relations,’ which is code for maintaining racial harmony with Britain’s large immigrant Muslim population. The police knew that the culprits were predominantly men from countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, but they ‘were told to try and get other ethnicities.’ British politicians feared that reports of the rapes would turn Britain’s white native population (and anyone with a soul) against Muslims.
…
According to data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September, nearly 650,000 illegal immigrants convicted or suspected of serious crimes roam free within the United States. Of those, over 13,000 have been convicted of murder, 2,500 for kidnapping, and nearly 16,000 for sexual assault. Numerous cases of illegal aliens allegedly raping children have emerged across the country under President Joe Biden’s watch.
The American propaganda press has consistently parroted the left-wing talking point that illegal aliens commit crimes at a lower rate than native citizens. Researchers at the Center for Immigration Studies have argued that scholars have misused crime data to peddle their preferred narrative. The researchers found that illegal aliens ‘have above average conviction rates for homicide and sexual assault’ when using the correct data. Additionally, the media have dismissed concerns about Venezuelan gangs taking over whole apartment buildings near Denver, and they have consistently parroted the FBI’s lie that violent crime has decreased by ‘historic’ proportions.
…
The Department of Justice has also neglected to prosecute criminal aliens, according to a letter from March. Four Republican House members from California demanded to know why federal prosecutions against previously deported illegal aliens with prior criminal convictions in the Central District of California ‘dropped from 188 cases in 2018 to only FIVE in 2023.’
‘Some of these illegal immigrants are convicted criminals who pose a serious threat to the safety and well-being of our communities,’ the letter stated, according to Fox News. ‘However, it has come to our attention that the DOJ has been systematically reducing the prosecution of illegal immigrants previously deported who have a criminal violation.’
…”
h ttps://thefederalist.com/2025/01/10/u-k-grooming-gangs-scandal-could-happen-in-the-u-s-thanks-to-leftist-justice-system/
why? to curry favor with a voting bloc and stay in power.
13,000 people would likely be alive today if Biden-Harris did not facilitate their murders.
Now do Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, and Israel. What’s the latest Puppet-Harris death toll? Elections have consequences.