The root word in “gunfight” is not gun, it’s fight. That fact needs to be kept at the forefront of our minds as we consider the following.
A conversation regarding the current state of affairs in the United States, particularly in states and cities run by socialist Democrats, led a person I was talking to to respond that he had a gun and knew how to use it. To be fair, my friend, who will remain anonymous, does indeed own firearms. I also believe that he knows full well how to load them and then press the trigger to make them go bang. However, I also know that this same person never has time for training, having myriad excuses whenever the subject is brought up.
In case you’re well-disciplined and ignore both social media and the news, I regret to inform you that the mentally unhinged leftist tools of the Democrat party are no longer satisfied to hold pre-printed signs. They have been emboldened to act and act violently. Charlie Kirk was not an ICE agent, but he was an effective communicator and for that he had to be murdered.
In the span of only a few months, leftists have gone from annoying to extremely dangerous. A Massachusetts woman was recently arraigned for threatening to kill ICE and FBI agents. The judge in that case allowed her out on bond with special conditions.
Just this week, a man was caught on video screaming at Immigration Enforcement officers that it was time “to show up with guns to finish you guys off.” Dana Loesch took to her channel to ridicule a different leftist man displaying his gun-handling prowess by shooting at a paper target at an indoor range with a scoped rifle while making veiled threats against ICE and MAGA folks.
I watched a video clip from X where a deranged woman made threats and flexed by standing in her bathroom and showing the camera how she could load a gun. Many of you probably saw that clip before she tried to remove it, but the internet is forever.
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Before this story could even be published, another “peaceful protester” was arrested and found to be armed. This woman advocates killing ICE agents. “You can just kill them” she stated emphatically on social media.
“You can just get a gun and kill ICE agents.”
I told you all 2 years ago that they want you dead. Many people didn’t believe me.
Believe me now.
— Grummz (@Grummz) January 19, 2026
Last week, rioters in Minneapolis gleefully broke into an FBI agent’s vehicle and smashed open the gun locker, stealing at least one rifle and the ammunition that was stored inside. Whether they buy them or steal them or have them passed on by the ATF, bad people are always going to get guns.
Breaking into a federal officer’s vehicle and stealing his rifle cannot be tolerated. I’m reposting this in hopes these thieves are caught quickly and the firearm is recovered. These thugs are a danger to Minneapolis. https://t.co/CC9OPqkJXc
— Hunter Pollack (@PollackHunter) January 15, 2026
Knowing How to Shoot vs. Knowing How to Fight
Yes, it’s a given that all of those who consider themselves reasonable and rational, “law-abiding” gun-owners wish that there was a way to keep guns out of the hands of evil-doers and the criminally insane. History has shown, however, that such a wish is essentially impossible without a totalitarian government disarming all citizens. In that case, we’re still left with a despotic state in possession of firearms, as well as those who don’t care for or obey laws.
In November of 2015 no French citizen was allowed to purchase or own a military-style, select-fire rifle. That fact did not stop Islamic terrorists from using select-fire rifles to massacre innocent people in three different locations in Paris.
So, where does that leave us? The acquaintance that I mentioned earlier, quite unfortunately, parroted words and sentiments that I have heard far too many times. American gun owners — the gun community if you will — when forced to confront the notion of a threat, such as we have described, fall back on a false belief that their ownership of a firearm and knowing how to shoot is all that is needed to provide them with some mythical cone of invincibility.
Those as examples of deranged leftists above both own guns and know how to shoot them. So where does that leave our reasonable gun owner who feels as though owning a gun and knowing how to shoot it somehow puts them on a different level?
The X factor isn’t whether a person owns a gun and understands how to load and fire it. No, the X factor is ability; knowledge and skill, how to fight with a gun in your hands. Given time, you can teach a chimpanzee to load and fire a gun. It’s not really all that notable an accomplishment. Knowing how to fight is what’s most important. Also, a “shooting” is when one party has a gun and others don’t. A “gunfight” is when all the participants are armed.
Going back to the beginning, the root word in gunfight is fight, not gun.
Learning to fight with a gun in your hands is very different from learning how to shoot. Fighting is as much, if not more about mindset and tactics as it is about how to shoot or the possession of the tool. Yes, skill with arms is valuable and important, but mindset and tactics trump skill when it comes to surviving a gunfight. It is realistic training, the kind that fosters a fighting mindset and tactics that will set you apart from those who would kill you for having a different opinion.
Gunfights aren’t won by the person who shoots the fastest, they’re won by the person who makes the fewest mistakes.
Knowing Your Enemy
Once more, no reasonable or rational person wants to believe that his fellow citizen is capable of violence, let alone murder. Those are ugly thoughts that we would rather not entertain.
Be that as it may, we’re faced with the very ugly reality that there are those you call neighbors who have been convinced by a malevolent media and corrupt politicians that violence is the answer.
Consider if you will the vile and disgusting public celebration of the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk. These people didn’t simply nod in quiet assent, they ran to social media to express their joy that a man of a differing opinion had been murdered. They made bloody Halloween costumes to mock Kirk’s murder. Do I need to remind you of the public lament by the unhinged over the failed assassination attempt of President Trump?
You might rationalize that the numbers of those who did so were a small. How many unhinged hyper-violent leftists does it take to murder innocent men and women? What you must come to grips with is that the dangerous members of the left have become fully convinced that they have the moral justification to use not just violence, but murder against anyone who has an opposing political opinion.
Parting Shots
This is not a subject that we want to discuss and in a sane world we wouldn’t have to. Nonetheless, we live in a dangerous world, a world where many American citizens have been indoctrinated as willing minions of an evil by-any-means-necessary philosophy.
They have guns and they know how to shoot. The question isn’t whether or not you own a gun and know how to shoot, too. The question is whether, when faced with such unhinged evil, you have the capacity to fight back against it and succeed.
As always, if you choose not to decide, you’ve still made a choice.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.
“This woman advocates killing ICE agents. ‘You can just kill them’ she stated emphatically on social media.”
Ok, wanna play that huh…. are you really sure?
Ya sure do talk tough and stupid when the camera is on you trying to get others to do your dirty work for you. Make sure its on you and you are talking tough and stupid when someone walks up behind you and kills you – its gonna be a heck of a selfie.
“What you must come to grips with is that the dangerous members of the left have become fully convinced that they have the moral justification to use not just violence, but murder against anyone who has an opposing political opinion.”
I’ve been warning of this for years. I have personally seen how unhinged and prone to violent acts these types of left wingers become.
We used to have a very large left winger anti-gun contingent here. They did not mind one little bit getting right up in your face, pushing and shoving. One even tried to stab me in a store one day – she actually grabbed a kitchen type knife from the store shelf and came at me with it, she was angry that I was armed – lucky for her I did not shoot her because store security just so happen to have seen what was happening and tackled her but I already had my gun coming out of the holster when they piled onto her but if they had not I would have for a fact shot her if she persisted in her attack.
Over time I’ve also seen the rioting and protesting left wingers.
I’ve looked in their eyes when they are triggered, its not reason or logic or even signs of intelligence – its rage and wanting to harm or kill plain and simple. And even when not triggered they are looking for a reason to get triggered.
These people operate on emotional confirmation bias, not reason or logic or common sense. And even when they are not being triggered they are looking for some way to get triggered – they have this constant need to be validated, to be affirmed, to be a ‘victim’, for their inner self manufactured rage and angst to be satiated, and they view everything through the filter of emotionally driven confirmation bias and completely ignore context and reason and logic. They are not stable people, you can not reason with them, when you encounter them get away from them fast because if you do not you may need to end up shooting them.
Hey, .40!
I have not been commenting much here on SNW or on TTAG, but I do read your posts (and others, of course). Here is an anecdotal illustration of your comment about rage driving the left:
My neighbor is a retired college professor. We get along very well as long as I ignore the fact that he coats his gardens with carcinogenic chemicals. (By the way, he has cancer). Other than that, he is very pleasant and very grateful for the help I provide….unless Trump’s name comes up. (I NEVER mention it). Then, his demeanor instantly changes. His eyes open wide, his voice gets louder, his words get sharper, and his face gets redder. Instant anger. I learned a long time ago not to beat my head against a brick wall.
Anyway, why am I not posting much here or on TTAG? Well, I finally retired this month, and now I finally have to answer the question “What do I want to be when I grow up?”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
“Then, his demeanor instantly changes. His eyes open wide, his voice gets louder, his words get sharper, and his face gets redder. Instant anger.”
Oh yeah, I’ve run into those types. Just the mere mention of the name ‘Trump’ is enough to send them over the edge sometimes. I like to have a little fun with it at times, like chanting ‘Trump Trump Trump’ to the left wingers that inhabit the outdoors tables at a local coffee place, man, if looks were daggers they would have stabbed me to death but they start screaming how Trump is (what ever they can come up with from what they have been fed as they try to scream it and spit and sputter their words) and all red faced and animated and I think I caused one guy to maybe have some kind of cardiac event one day ’cause as I was driving off he suddenly stopped screaming at me and I could see him in the rear view mirror bent over clutching his chest then he fell.
These unhinged mentally ill left wingers are basically everywhere in society. Like a disease virus left unchecked they have spread. You can’t even get medical care without running into them, and they do actually want you dead.
Social Media Provides Sickening Proof of Just How Far Left Healthcare Has Become.
ht* tps://redstate.com/beckynoble/2026/01/27/social-media-provides-sickening-proof-of-just-how-far-left-healthcare-has-become-n2198562
You Can Run, But You Can’t HIDE: DataRepublican NUKES Every … Donor to MN Anti-ICE Signal Group.
ht* tps://twitchy.com/samj/2026/01/26/signal-group-list-of-donors-n2424356
Seems like estrogen is the real hormone of irrational rage.