Got this story from Greg. It’s really way too long, but the top half is the most interesting. Left-wing blogger The Lower Manhattanite has a strongly right-wing, Rush-lovin’ brother in the Navy, and they haven’t agreed on a political issue in decades. But when the brother was home for leave and saw VTech news in the paper, he shocked TLM with his surprisingly not-entirely-pro-gun-ownership view:

“You know what we do on the ship if somebody bugs out with a weapon?”

I shook my head “no.”

“You secure your station and get the fuck off the boat. Get your people off the boat. That’s if you’re in port. Under weigh, there’s a different ‘protocol’. But even then, you don’t play that Jack Bauer/Die Hard shit. Unless they’re real slow, or you’re real close. Still stupid. Psychos with guns. Don’t fuck with ‘em.”

This here, I find highly interesting, in light of various blogs and pundits saying that the fact the kids didn’t fight back or try to tackle the psycho is a sign of weakness, that the US culture is being “feminized” or whathaveyou. Because I’d really like to know if that’s a written Navy policy somewhere. I’d imagine it would have to be. And if I had a forum big enough to get the attention of those who blame the victims, I’d like to know how they feel about the military essentially condoning by established procedure what the kids did (i.e.: getting the hell away, rather than going towards the psycho).