Friday, January 26, 2007

If I had a gun...

Suppose you're hiking in cougar country and you suddenly find a large cat gnawing on your husband's noggin. What would you do? Exactly; you'd shoot the kitty off of him.

Suppose, however, that this took place in a state park in California, and you didn't have a gun. Would you call 911? Not if you were 65-year-old Nell Hamm you wouldn't. If you were her, you'd pick up a stick and whale the crap out of the mountain lion until he let go of your beau, and then stare him down 'til he ran away.

Here's a toast to Mrs. Hamm, and a pox on the people who have made California a state where handguns are rare and cougar attacks common.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Truly, the weapon is in the heart and between the ears.

I've often heard people say the best argument for an armed population is those pictures of a half dozen nazis herding a thousans people to their deaths, and it's true. But I wonder if they had been armed, they would have gone anyway. There's something in humans that seems to accept violence from other humans more willingly than violence from animals.

Unknown said...

Kudos to her, but part of me has to wonder as to why two "experienced hikers" would go hiking in known cougar country without so much as a pocketknife.

Then again, it's probably for the same reason people don't carry self-defense implements in known hoodlum cities..."it can't happen to me" syndrome.

BobG said...

"Kudos to her, but part of me has to wonder as to why two "experienced hikers" would go hiking in known cougar country without so much as a pocketknife."

I agree, but to a reporter at a newspaper in California, anyone who takes a regular walk in the park is probably considered an experienced hiker.

Anonymous said...

Now that's the kind of woman every man wants!

Interesting that in Tennessee, hikers would be disarmed for exactly the same reason, something the state legislature refuses to do anything about.

HollyB said...

Shudder. That is a chilling and heart warming story all at the same time.
I like to think that I would be brave enough to act as Nell did to save my Dearly Beloved. But then again, I would have been reachin into his pocket for something more lethal than a PEN, too.

Anonymous said...

Pffffft. A modern empowered woman would have used her safety whistle and asked Gaia to assuage the great cat's anger. What a troglodyte this woman is. Clearly she's hurting the movement.

Too bad nature doesn't extend the same laws to humanity that humanity extends to nature through misguided anthropomorphism.

Anonymous said...

I believe that it is illegal in California to have a weapon in a state park, someone correct me if I'm wrong. It has also been illegal to hunt mtn lions in CA for the last 30 or 40 years, we are now seeing the aftermath of that policy.

Brass

Anonymous said...

In California, if your last name isn't "Boxer" or "Feinstein," and you're not a deputy sheriff, they could care less if you just bugger off and die. My state is awash with limousine liberals, and their "let them eat cake" attitude toward the unwashed peasantry is plain to see. It makes me wonder why California's poor and so-called minorities wagger after Democrats and the Hollywood elite with lemming-like efficiency, since the former's role in life is to keep the latter right where they are. In short:

"We value diversity! As long as everyone believes the same thing."

As to the proximate topic at hand, the ratio of rangers to carniverous predators is about 1:20,000. That being said, what's the likelihood of a ranger demanding to search a polite hiker enjoying nature's beauty? Open carry would be great, but concealed carry will do the job, and who's going to find out?

Anonymous said...

And, should the ranger ask, who is going to find the ranger's remains?

Anonymous said...

Remember the 3 Ss! Shoot, shovel, & shut-up!

Anonymous said...

What the California bureaucracy has done to it's citizens is indeed criminal. But we mustn't forget that firearms are banned in all national parks as well.

Matt G said...

You stole my blog entry!!!!

(Checking the time stamps...)

Oh.

Never mind.

Anonymous said...

And legislation has been introduced to allow guns, and carry, in national parks. Not that I expect it to get far this session...

I think cougars/pumas/mountain lions are awesome critters, but they are more important than people. At least, if the ystart gnawing on random people out in the woods, this is a Bad Thing. People should be allowed to defend themselves. Bear Spray can be good, but it isn't the ultimate solution. (I guess that's a pun, of sorts. The bad sort, if it was intentional, which it wasn't...)

A friend, now deceased, told me a year or so ago that, as the monthly meeting of our not-quiote-suburban Seattle gun club broke up, they stepped out of the clubhouse to wirness a mountainlon take down an elk. A magnificent, inspiring site, but a bad omen for kitty...

Anonymous said...

"I think cougars/pumas/mountain lions are awesome critters, but they are more important than people."
What I meant to type was "They aren't more important than people."
I blame the cat that was in my lap...

Anonymous said...

Have they taken up a collection for the Cougar yet?

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, is this time for Firehand's hollow point slingshot balls? If a few hoodlums took to stinging couger's ring-pieces any time one came within range, I don't think you'd see many getting brave.

That and a $10 slingshot is not too much to forfit if you get caught.

Anonymous said...

I want to see more of this lady. I'd like to hear her opinion on national affairs. I'll bet she's awfully good looking, and getting prettier all the time. Dinner and drinks with her and Wes Autrey--that's my idea of a great night out: what Michael Yon calls the privilege of living in the company of heroes.

Anonymous said...

The "Plumam quam gladium fortior" but it clearly has little effect on a hungry cougar!

The victim was correct about one thing: 50 years ago, he married the right gal. And she's right that her hubby has a hard head!

Amazing. Good woman. I hope that I find my courage if faced with a similar situation.

My cat, George, feels that incidents like this give felines a bad name.

Tam said...

"My cat, George, feels that incidents like this give felines a bad name."

My cat, Random Numbers, occasionally looks at me like she wishes she was bigger. Is she grooming me or tasting me?

Anonymous said...

Good for her she did the right thing. Also, I hope he recovers completely and soon. And when is PeTA going to file charges agains her or start up a relief fund for the lion. After all this is Kalifornia we're talking about.

phlegmfatale said...

That's what I get for thinking I know anything: then I come along and read "shoot the kitty off of him." If you could bottle what makes you so clever, I'd buy it by the case.

Draven said...

See? even the big cats in CA panic at the slightest sign of someone being able to defend themselves.