flash mobs

[markj]

I havent heard of any flash mobs here which is strange cause whatever dumb stuff others are doing, seems to be done here too. Maybe its a good thing.

State Fair had a huge police presence, malls seem to have police in them too.

[C0untZer0]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09...er-gun-fights/



In this case young people are using it as a form of civil disobedience, but it obviously has the Iran theocracy very jittery...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/iran...er-gun-fights/


Not sure that this is an Internet / PDA facilitated gathering or if it is a pre-planned demonstration but it’s being called flash mobs. The way that Iran’s Intelligence Service is all over it’s citizenry would make me tend to think that there are indeed flash mobs – done with very little planning, very little meeting, and just coordinated on the fly via cell phones and PDAs and what not. My theory is that if there was a lot of pre-planning the Iranian Intelligence service would break it up and arrest the planners before it could be executed.

It seems that right now the Iranian authorities are not well equipped to deal with it, they are responding in the conventional manner. It probably does make a difference that in Tehran the ratio of soldiers, police and volunteer militia is probably, on a daily basis roughly equal to what we would see in the West at a G8 summit or the Olympics or something, so the Iranian "authorities’" response is going to be much quicker than the average American city's LEA response to a mob that suddenly coalesces.

[buck460XVR]

Things like this is exactly why I believe people should carry.

People that carry for things like that are a danger to themselves and the people around them. Many folks call them Mall-Ninjas. If they use their carry weapons for reasons like this they are bigger criminals than the Flash-mobbers.

[C0untZer0]

So - someone who carries because of the very real threat of getting hit in the face with a baseball thrown full force, thrown to the ground by a mob, kicked, punched, stomped on, mugged and robbed - is a bigger danger than the mobsters who are doing it? And they are criminals?

I don't get what you're saying...

Eventually someone is going to get thrown to the pavement by flash mobbers and they are going to get a cracked skull and die of a brain hemorage or a heart attack, or just die from blunt force trauma and being beaten to death.

People have a right to deploy a firearm to stop a robber from victimizing them and to protect themselves from a beating, and there isn't a need to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the beating definately would have been fatal.

On the other hand - if someone is carrying so they can hunt flash mobbers - that is a different scenario.

[Claims Rep.]

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups......

[TylerD45ACP]

^+1 Exactly, A person is intellegent a group of people are collectively stupid. Mob mentality really sets in hard when a bunch of idiots, especially intoxicated, don't think blame will come individually.

[markj]

Saturday I flashed a mob was funny too. All that pointing and laffing...

[steelhawk]

I haven't heard of any flash mobs where I live, but they are happening more often. The best thing to do is get out of there with anyone you are responsible for.

If that isn't possible and they come after you with criminal intent, shoot the closest one a few times, but don't use all your ammo on him.

Lots of CCers have started carrying more ammo because of flash mobs.

[C0untZer0]

The clash between Oakland police and Occupy Oakland protestors was actually an example of a flash mob.

Summoned by waves of emergency tweets and emails, fresh recruits joined the evicted Occupiers and early this evening once again marched on downtown Oakland, intending to reclaim Frank Ogawa Plaza.

They were basically using the Internet / electronic / digital media to congregate in an illegal way.

The city has a proceedure for people to follow for staging a protest, these Occupy Oakland protestors did not follow that.

But anyway, it was an interesting use of the Internet to coordinate their activities. They just happened to choose a bad target to occupy - one that already had a large and well prepared contingent of "riot" police present.

[briandg]

Just a few days ago, I discussed this very thing with a friend and my wife, that sooner or later, the "occupations" were going to turn violent as gangs of anarchists would take advantage of the crowds to wreak havoc. It's been the european model for a very long time. Now, the internet has made it possible to blow this out of proportion.

Try to find the short story "flash crowd" by david niven. One of the very few pieces that he really got right regarding the future.

[Don H]

Larry Niven.

[C0untZer0]

Not only does Larry Niven rock, one of his short stories is a murder mystery set in the far future where the murderer uses a gyro-jet for the murder weapon.

Yes that's right - a gyro-jet pistol/bulllet.

[C0untZer0]

I think it's interesting to see how different cities fare with these occupy Wallstreet protestors.

In Chicago our protestors are kinda wimpy, but the bussinesses mostly like them because they buy a lot of coffee. Tourists come to see them protesting and in general food and beverage sales are up.

Totally different story in Oakland and Fresno.

In some cities these protests are a riot waiting to happen, and you'd have to be a fool to get anywhere near them. But unfortunately - this occupy movement is an ongoing thing. It's not like they scheduled one week of protest and then they all go home. It's ongoing. And other people still have to go to work every day, so they're working maybe a block or two away from a riot waiting to happen.

[briandg]

Oh, for the love of God!

did I REALLY say David Niven!? I need to crank up the meds a little.

Yes, that is right about the gyrojet. I might have been able to come up with the name of that story, but I have a feeling it's just not there anymore to retrieve.

[MLeake]

Niven had another murder mystery involving a time-accelerating device, and a flashlight (light amplified by time compression into laser-like intensity), and yet another where a laser was reflected to its target via a chunk of polished ice, which conveniently melted immediately after reflecting the lethal beam.

Given more thought, I could probably come up with some other interesting methods Niven has used to kill characters (aside from drowning by immersion of the head in a toilet bowl - Footfall).

Niven also likes to quote Kipling with some frequency, which I enjoy.

[C0untZer0]

I think the gyro-jet story is called "The Alibi Machine" which was published in different magazines and books but I think can still be found in "A Hole in Space".

There's also a published interview with him somewhere in which he talks about science fiction and technological advances or anachronisms as a component in sci-fi murder mysteries.

IIRC the shooter with the gyro-jet teleported into and out of the crime scene. Now I'll have to go dig through my books. I looked on Amazon and some of the original paperbacks are going for $50.00 !

Neutron Star was basically about the investigation of the death of two researchers, and Beowulf Scheaffer discovered it was gravity that killed them - or rather differences in acceleration that is so intense in proximity to a neutron star that the scientists were ripped apart.

Protectors use gravitic lenses the same way kids use a magnifying glass to burn ants... Niven had a lot of futuristic ways to kill people.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

That's all well and good folks but space weapons are irrelevant. So are socio-political theory of the causes of the occupy movement.

Thus, cease and desist such.

[TexasJustice7]

QUOTE: TYLERD45ACP:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed Threegun I think a head shot would be very difficult on a person while under diress even at normal SD distances. The adrenaline is going to reduce skill by some percentage.
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I sure hope I am never caught in this situation, because I know I am not accurate enough to make headshots. I have to shoot at the chest profile
myself. With two revolvers, I only have 10 shots but I do carry those extra speedloaders. But I would not surrender to the flashmob, as I have a disabled family member to protect, and I will protect to the last bullet.
If I expend one revolver, I would attempt to reload from my speedloaders
and I carry 3 or 4 of those. I would attempt to leave with my disabled family member and shoot whatever flashmob member stood in my way or tried to block us from leaving. Surrender is not an option in my view but after one or two of them were shot, I believe it would slow down the others. I guess I would leave headshooting to the experts. I do not however, consider it my duty to protect store property or anyone but me and my family member. And if they get me or my family member I intend to take as many of them with me as possible. I guess that is a time when I might wish that I carried a SA with extra magazines instead of the 38Spl and 44 Spl that I carry.

[Andy Griffith]

Napalm should work pretty good.

Although, most of those protesters would best be served with a cold shot of water from a firehose...especially in sub-freezing weather.

[C0untZer0]

I guess the aim of the Occupy Oakland group was to re-occupy a specific venue. And that location was well gaurded and most of them were given CS nasal decongestant and then they went to jail.

They employed the tools of flash-mobbers but they congregated at a spot where the police already were.

They could have used those electronic tools to congregate where the police were not.

[Capt. Charlie]

Well, I figured this one would just die of old age, but just before halloween, in true zombie fashion, it was resurrected.... twice. Now that halloween's over though, just like our zombie forum, it's time for this to enter the grave.

Seriously, space weapons? Napalm? When we start talking about things like that, it generally means there ain't much more of substance to talk about.

Closed.