When Gunfire Interrupts Coffee

I had no idea there has been a spate of shootings in Seattle.

There was a big one yesterday I just found out this morning, from Drudge.

Immediate questions...

1. How come no one in the coffee shop was armed?  If you believe it is right to meet violence with violence, and if you believe in cops, and you do, and when seconds counts the cops will be there in minutes, why are you not armed?

2. How is it no one has noted the shooter is an outstanding, expert shot?  If he got 5 out of 6 dead, one critical, he is an exceptional, well trained shooter. Killing someone with a pistol with one shot is really quite difficult, near impossible if they are all moving.  Trained by whom (I am guessing military?)  In a time when more soldiers are dying from suicide than combat, what's going on?

Mayor McGlinn promises to work with the community to address the coincidence of several shootings.

For my part, thou shalt not kill.  Just because someone is shooting up a cafe does not mean that person should die.  In aikido we train to go straight at an attacker.  If someone starts shooting, game on.

Although I have no problem with people arming themselves, a second shooter in a cafe can be very confusing, even if shooter #2 is defending himself and the other patrons.  Much better defenders are unarmed, which is the case with aikido.

We train to not get hurt, but when there is a shooter, going straight at him, you are likely to get shot, no matter what your fighting system.  But going at a shooter, and being in control of yourself, at least you have some say so in whether a hit is lethal or not.  Not so the dead people who ducked.

Aikido is a martial art because it is designed for a combat situation.  It substitutes non-lethal response for lethal response.  An aikidoist like any other martial artist responds to threats.

We are told the problem is guns, when in fact it is failed state policies, which are backed by ... guns.  Obama put a 17 year old girl on his secret kill list.  What goes around comes around.

What we need is more people objecting conscientiously to violence and ready to meet it, even at a coffee break.