Last week’s jihadi terror attack at the Old Dominion University in Virginia will be swept from the news cycle almost before the ink can dry on this page. The ODU story has nothing the leftist media wants to cling to, nor does it provide enough innocent blood for Democrat politicians to dance in.
The facts of the ODU case actually preclude the designated mouthpiece for modern Democratic socialists from spending any amount of time on the story; a convicted-felon perp, an avowed ISIS supporter, foreign-national naturalized Muslim, paroled early by Biden regime, a felon in possession, used a stolen gun to attack US Army ROTC cadets while yelling something about a snack bar. And the ROTC cadets fought back and took him out.
Yes sir, all of those facts conflict with widely promoted narratives. Don’t be surprised if CNN opines as to how Mohamed Jalloh was enjoying the warm spring weather in Norfolk, Virginia and having a pleasant stroll on campus when his life was cut short by an angry, violent ROTC cadet.
No one in the legacy media is going to point out what should be obvious, so we’ll do it here. The established narrative and advice from both government and corporate cowards, that is, “In the event of an active shooter; run away, hide, and then if you have to, fight.”
If the ROTC cadets would have followed the prescribed avenue of cowardice, the single innocent death would have surely been much greater. If the cadets had followed the advice of “security experts” the leftist politicians would have had their desired blood in which to dance. Let’s give thanks to the Lord above that such was not the case.
Mindset, Tactics, Skill, Gear
We have previously discussed the Four Pillars of Fighting; Mindset, Tactics, Skill, and Gear, listed from most important to least. The cadets who stopped the jihadist at ODU were disarmed by policy. ODU unsurprisingly has a gun free zone policy which, again, did nothing to stop the terrorist from attacking. Of course, you will not hear CNN or NBC reporters talking about the abject failure of gun-free zone policies.
Despite being forbidden by policy from possessing the best tools available to stop terrorists and rampage killers, some of the cadets instead possessed something more important; a fighting mindset. It was the fighting mindset that set them immediately in motion to prevent a mass murder situation from occurring. It seems that they may have already received the lesson about how to respond to an ambush; attack directly into the ambush with great ferocity.
‘Brave ROTC students credited with stopping deadly classroom shooting at Old Dominion’
We do find it interesting that a CBS news outlet would praise the cadets for fighting back when they expressly went against the “run, hide, fight” mantra. They even reported the quote from FBI spokesperson Dominique Evans who said the students, but noted that the suspect himself was not shot. Good for the cadets for not running to find a trash can or a fire extinguisher as the “run, hide, fight” folks like to suggest as weapons.
‘Rendered Him No Longer Alive’
If there is a single lesson to be learned regarding all too real danger of Islamic Terror attacks in the United States, we have had four in two weeks, it would be that the mindset needs to be; render them no longer alive as expeditiously as possible.
“rendered him no longer alive, I don’t know how else to say it, they basically were able to terminate the threat,”
We normally think that we will use our concealed firearm for that purpose; protecting innocent life and destroying evil. However, as we can see from the example of these cadets, the most important pillar is a fighting mindset. Of course, fighting mindset conflicts with the “run, hide, fight” mantra which is pushed by both corporate cowards as well as cowards in government.
While we are on the subject, can we discuss for a moment the moral bankruptcy that is wrapped up on the “run, hide, fight” advice? If we listen to the disgusting cowards who tell us that is what we should do in the event of an “active shooter emergency”, that translates to those who are young, strong, and fast get to live while those who are older, weaker, slower, or infirm are left behind to die. Is that the societal behavior we are seeking to foster? “If you are young, strong and fast, run away and leave those who can’t keep up to die.”
We hear similar things spouted from the gun community regarding self-defense scenarios. Just last week someone commented on an article regarding being an armed citizen as to how your first response should be to get away. The myopia present in such statements is severe. The assumption is that you, a physically strong and fit person, will always be alone when danger arises and that you can out run the gunman’s bullets.
I don’t know about you, but when I am in public, I am often accompanied by my wife as well as by my grandchildren. I have strong legs and I can still sprint. Should I run away at the first sign of danger? How about other public settings where I might not have any relatives with me? I might be in a restaurant, store, church, etc. At the first sign of danger, should I run past the women, children, the older and less physically capable and just leave them to their fate?
Four Possible Outcomes
In his book, “The Four Pillars of Fighting,” James Yeager explained that, regardless of motives or details, if you find yourself in the middle of a rampage killing or terrorist attack, there are four possible outcomes. You will either be regarded by history as: a Living Hero, a Dead Hero, a Living Coward, or a Dead Coward. Your actions will determine that outcome.
Once more, thank the Lord above that the cadets at ODU didn’t listen to the various “security experts” and decided to act rather than run. Fortunately, history will judge them to be living heroes and we hope that down the road the Secretary of War will seek them out and fast track those men to command positions in our military.
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.
The LeMay Threshold: ‘If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting’
If you kill the terrorist mass/school shooter, they stop too.