new ruling makes it legal to kill cops?

There is a story that has been making the rounds, and the information is being wildly misrepresented by the media.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=46406

The basic situation is that several cops entered the mans house to serve a warrant to look for drugs (what else). While they claim they verbally announced themselves as police, they apparently didn't knock and just entered the residence.

The resident did what many people who do when some unknown person bursts into their house: he shot, killing one of the officers. Almost as amazing as the fact that the rest of the cops let him out of there alive is the fact that a grand jury chose not to indict him on murder charges, saying that there is no evidence that he knew they were police and was acting in self defense.


Several news outlets are now saying this ruling has 'legalized the killing of cops' which is just sensationalist bullshit. Even before this incident, it was as 'legal' to kill cops as it was to kill anyone else. Which is to say it is illegal accept under very specific circumstances. There are no "unless the offender is a police officer" exceptions in criminal laws that involve injured parties. The way the laws are enforced may make it sometimes seem that way, however.

Furthermore, this wasn't even an actual 'ruling', just a grand jury decision to not bring him up on murder charges. The only unique thing about this situation is that justice actually won out. Although the DA may still try to bring up the charges again, so this guy isn't out of the woods yet.

Whatever your feelings are on who is the 'bad guy' in this situation, what SHOULD be learned from this incident is that, right or wrong, minor drug (and any other non-violent) offenses are not worthy of death on the part of the 'offender' or the police. So why are they creating these situations that make it highly likely that somebody ends up dead?

The justification for these raids is that with advanced notice the offenders may have time to destroy evidence. So the only upside is POTENTIAL evidence for nonviolent crimes. Crimes which many times are only misdemeanors. While the downsides are potential losses of life on the part of the citizens, their pets, innocent people and, as in this case, the police.

Is it worth it?


-TLH

How to seal a gunshot wound in 15 seconds

We preppers are always looking for serious first-aid options that the average person can store and utilize when disaster strikes. For years the best a civilian could get their hands on was gauze pads and a tourniquet. With the invention of Quik-clot there was finally something that you could carry in your first aid kit that could deal with more serious wounds, although it still wasn't really good enough for serious gunshot wounds.

Now an Oregon startup company has created a device that is supposed to stop the bleeding in gunshot wounds in as little as 15 seconds

http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/how-simple-new-invention-seals-gunshot-wound-15-seconds

The sponges work fast: In just 15 seconds, they expand to fill the entire wound cavity, creating enough pressure to stop heavy bleeding. And because the sponges cling to moist surfaces, they aren’t pushed back out of the body by gushing blood. “By the time you even put a bandage over the wound, the bleeding has already stopped,” Steinbaugh says.

The syringe-like device works by injecting dozens of expandable sponges directly into the wound cavity. The sponges expand to fill the cavity and stem the flow of blood. As with any first aid technique apart from actual surgery, this is still just a temporary stabilization method and not a final solution. You would still need to get the individual some serious medical care. But it will certainly allow you more time to do so, and increase the injured person's chances of surviving. Which is what first aid is supposed to do.

While the current price tag is estimated at about $100 a pop, that is expected to come down as they begin to mass produce the product. If they can get them down in the $25 to $30 range it would be worth having one or two on hand in for a serious first aid kit.


-TLH

EDC can save lives

One of the most common questions I get from 'normal' people about various EDC (Every Day Carry) items I have is "why do you have THAT?" and it is usually in reference to something fairly useful like knives or flashlights. Even more ironic is that they only know I have it because something has occurred that made me pull it out, which should answer their question.

While having EDC items usually turn minor inconveniences into non-issues, they can also make the difference in life or death situations. Consider this incident in Quebec a few days ago:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2550111/Pictured-The-woman-killed-horror-accident-scarf-trapped-escalator.html

The Quebec coroner's office is conducting an autopsy on Naima Rharouity, a 47-year-old mother of two who was killed after a piece of clothing she was wearing became caught in an escalator at a Montreal train station.

Rharouity was at Fabre metro Thursday morning when the accident happened. It appears that she was traveling down an escalator when she fell. An item of clothing became stuck in the mechanism and tightened around her neck, strangling her.

Witnesses told police they saw the unnamed victim struggling to free her scarf after it got lodged in the teeth of an escalator on her way down to the subway platform.

‘While she was trying to pull up her scarf from the escalator, her hair got caught too and from there, everything got tied up at the end of the escalators,’ said Constable Jean-Pierre Brabant, of the Montreal police.

Commuter Bassam Joubarani told CBC.ca he saw two Good Samaritans rushing to the aid of the 48-year-old woman, who was lying unconscious on her back at the bottom of the moving stairs. 

Joubarani recalled seeing the trapped victim still breathing, with half of her body resting on the escalator. 

Based on the information in this article, it appears highly likely that this woman would still be alive if she or any of the people nearby had even a small pocketknife on them at the time. Any decent EDC knife would make quick work of any hair or clothing that was trapping her.

You aren't going to get a warning about when these types of things are going to happen, so if you want to be ready for them you have to be ready all the time. Make sure your every day carry is actually EVERY DAY.

There really is no excuse for not always having a decent knife on you.


Post a comment about any time you have had your EDC items come in handy.


-TLH