Nomination For A Hero Badge

Don Rickles, classic insult

I know hockey is big in Michigan. I also know that most old time hockey teams couldn’t come up with a full set of teeth, on a bet. A hockey puck can put a hurting on a person. But is it a viable weapon?

This plan sounds great, if you happen to be sitting in the basement of the police station behind triple layer security. Staring down a gunman armed with a hockey puck, not so much.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an advocate of the “do something” school when confronted with an active shooter situation. There is nothing wrong with imagination and improvisation. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” That is in the context of “something” being a last ditch effort. It was never meant to be the starting and end point.

It has been pointed out, more than once, at a homicide scene, “Damn fool brought a knife to a gunfight.” Figuratively that means that the loser did not have sufficient resources to overcome an opponent. 

Years ago the San Antonio Police Department worked a murder where the victim went up against AK-47 wielding gangbangers with a bow and arrow. Those that don’t know history are condemned to repeat it. The bow and arrow didn’t stack up against a Winchester and didn’t fare much better against an AK-47.

In the gravest extreme, use what is available. I have this vision of earnest fools passing up a rack of javelins in favor of hockey pucks, because nobody told them to think outside the box.