Anyone see this: army-vet-75-saves-16-kids-from-knife-wielding-teen ?
Jim Vernon has been the treasurer of our Peoria, Illinois Chess club for a lot of years.
He has run the Tazewell County Scholastic Chess tournament for 37 years straight. It is a non-rated event for the school children of this county that is next to Peoria County and part of the metropolitan area.
Jim is really a nice guy. I have seen him play chess only once in the 19 years I have lived in Peoria. Jim is the inveterate kibitzer. He really enjoys observing games and then kibitzing after the game: “You know you could have won that piece.”, or “You missed a definite win back there.”
And quite brave and cool headed. So, now we should ban all knives and start licencing people to carry them…
If the perp had swaggered in with guns, rather than knives, in each hand, the story would have had a much different ending. Yes, knives, clubs, axes, etc., are ready alternatives to firearms, but they’re much less effective. Kinda like the Grob as an alternative to 1 e4, or Damiano’s instead of 1 … e5. Or maybe a checker instead of a rook.
Yeah, but as Sam Sloan has shown over the years, real damage can on occasion be done with the Grob.
I’ve done some tactical pistol training, and one of the things law enforcement hates to confront is a perp with a knife who actually knows how to use it. If you shoot the perp in the heart he can still move and strike for a good five to eight seconds and kill you if close enough. A head shot will stop him, but that’s difficult to do with a moving target. That’s why the best thing to do, and what is taught, is shoot into the lower groin and take out the perp’s pelvic structure so they simply collapse.
Thank heavens this young man didn’t have a gun or guns and Vernon used distracting techniques to give the kids a chance to escape. He should be given an award for cool thinking and bravery.
Too bad the teacher wasn’t carrying a gun. Or pepper spray.
It’s best to confront lethal force with lethal force. This teacher is very lucky to be alive as are the kids who weren’t hurt. Pepper spray has been know to enrage some psychopaths, not subdue them.
Pepper spray, especially the LE versions, is head and shoulders above bare hands against a knife attack.
True. However, a firearm is much more effective.
A Ruger SR 40 with 16 rounds of .40 S&W (I mention this model because it is one of my regular concealed carry firearms)or a 1911 .45ACP or a 9mm is the weapon of choice in confronting lethal force be that knives, swords or firearms.
The reality of the situation was that Jim is a 75 year old Caterpillar retiree. He is a veteran and never saw any action until this incident.
He was running a chess club for children at the local library in a small town just outside of Peoria, Illinois. No one would have expected anything like this to happen.
The library, as well as all the schools, have a no gun rule. To expect Jim, or anyone else in this area, to carry a firearm is, well, ridiculous. Also there certainly has been no need to carry anything like pepper spray in this area for an afternoon club like this.
Now, the 19 year old that did this was recently ejected from his high school because he was using the high school computer to view child porn. He was out on bail for this offense.
The reality today is that schools and other gathering places for youngsters are becoming favorite targets for crazy folks. The intent is to garner as much publicity as possible, and the Internet provides the perfect medium.
Youngsters more and more are becoming detached from society and are unable to handle day to day problems that don’t affect those who have normal relationships. The recent spat of school shootings demonstrates this.
I think DARPA should come up some anti-crime measures
Now that this has happened, I respectfully suggest that the no gun policy needs to be reconsidered, especially in the library which is likely less secure than the school.
I run our local chess club in the evening in the downtown of our little “city.” I always have a .40 S&W or 9mm concealed on my waist. Also another member , who runs a business on the highway. You never need to protect yourself until you need to protect yourself and then it’s best to be able to do so given the sorry state of our society. Play chess here with me and you’ll be safer than most venues.
All true. At this point however, schools are likely more secure, less a soft target, than other public spaces like libraries and senior/community centers.
Death ray Bishops?