Cotton debating John Wood re: campus carry tonight

[The Annoyed Man]

Good job, Charles!

[boomerang]

I feel sorry for this guy. It must be incredibly painful to live with the survivor guilt.

[Keith B]

Audio capture: http://www.tacticsandtraining.com/TXCHL ... -Carry.mp3

If it doesn't work immediately, it's because the file is still uploading.

Edited to Note: The MP3 file is 12.4MB and may not "stream" the feed through your browser. You may want to right-click the link, choose "Save as..." and download the entire file to your PC before playing with your favorite software.

Thanks Skiprr. My PC locked up (durn Winders ) and I didn't get it captured from the scheduler.

[Skiprr]

Well, I couldn't stand it. I had to go back and edit out all the commercials and traffic reports. So here ya go (and I'll go back and add this link to my older post):

http://www.tacticsandtraining.com/TXCHL ... EDITED.mp3

This one is 16 minutes 2 seconds as opposed to 26 minutes 57 seconds, and it's saved at a higher bit rate for slightly better audio.

Again, you may want to right-click, and choose "Save target as..." to save the file to your local hard drive.

[shawn]

That really wasn't a fair fight

Charles did very well. I wish I could speak as well as you do. You were prepared and it showed. Good job!

I never realized a classroom was a high stress environment as Mr. Woods indicated. Maybe I just took the wrong classes.

[tfrazier]

So this kid went through a massive tragedy. He's found a cause as a result with people in the gun control crowd filling his head with hero worship for his 'brave stand against gun violence'. Obviously he's got enough courage to try to stand up and debate this issue with others as a result. But he really ought to get someone else to speak for him or go join toastmasters and get some practice in. All that nervous pausing, stuttering, and repeating probably caused some folks to tune out, which means they probably didn't hear our side, since Woods got the first and last word (how is that fair???).

Charles did a great job of sticking to the facts and not attacking the guy or making him look stupid. I was afraid Woods status as a former victim would generate an overwhelming sympathy factor if he just got shredded in the debate.

The host struck me as a bit biased when he asked "why not just leave this alone" after stating out that a lot of administrators and staff at campuses are opposed to it. The guy made it sound as if there isn't a single student, administrator, or educator who is for campus carry.

Charles knocked it out of the park by pointing out the reverse, especially the fact that the students for campus carry organization is the largest student organization in the country.

I feel like Charles won hands down for anyone who was listening and may have been on the fence on the issue, but the way the host moderated and Woods' victim hood sure stacked the deck against us for anyone else.

I'm thankful Charles was the guy representing us...not many folks out there who could have gone up against a victim with that much sympathy factor and won the way he did.


Want a little more insight into John Woods? Click here to read his blog. (WARNING - some instances of foul language in comments and other entries at this site)

[Rollin2008]

Charles Cotton is the man!!!

[Liberty]

That really wasn't a fair fight

Charles did very well. I wish I could speak as well as you do. You were prepared and it showed. Good job!

I never realized a classroom was a high stress environment as Mr. Woods indicated. Maybe I just took the wrong classes.

While we know he is real sharp with the state issues and local concerned, I was really impressed with his command of the facts on how it went down at Virginia Tech. While the debate was framed to be around the mass shooter, Chas. came out of the corner, with the idea that this isn't all about mass shooters.
Job well done.

[Bob Landry]

Yesterday, KLBJ/Austin was doing a blurb on their local news about campus carry. They had a sound-bite from a UT twit(word substitution) that said she was against it because she wouldn't feel safe expressing her opinion in a classroom with someone sitting next to her with a gun. There you have it.. Government education at it's finest. What's even sadder is that people like that have a license to go out and operate motor vehicles..

[Right2Carry]

Yesterday, KLBJ/Austin was doing a blurb on their local news about campus carry. They had a sound-bite from a UT twit(word substitution) that said she was against it because she wouldn't feel safe expressing her opinion in a classroom with someone sitting next to her with a gun. There you have it.. Government education at it's finest. What's even sadder is that people like that have a license to go out and operate motor vehicles..

She also stated that teachers said they would grade students differently based on whether they were carrying a concealed handgun. I am not really sure how the teachers would know this since concealed means concealed. I am just amazed at some of the outright fabricated stories that are being used in this fight.

[DJB.45acp]

This one is 16 minutes 2 seconds as opposed to 26 minutes 57 seconds, and it's saved at a higher bit rate for slightly better audio.

Thanks for posting this Skiprr, many of us didn't have access to listen to it.

David

[Keith B]

In defense of many of these college students, a lot have never been exposed to firearms AT ALL. They are only espousing the idea that they have fostered in their minds liberal view and what may have been taught to them from a home/family that was never exposed to firearms either. When someone takes a stance to try and ban something that they have in their heads as bad, they tend jump on the bandwagon that matches their thoughts and go along with the idea. I know a lot of people who have never even held a rifle or shotgun, and the thought of guns frightens them. Until shown differently they will go with the side they believe is correct.

The only way to show these type of people that guns are not bad, is to take up the torch and educate them on the falsehoods that the vocal anti-gun folks are regurgitating. Talking to someone in a logical manner, showing them the facts, offering (nicely) to let them see first hand that the gun is just a thing, and it is the person using it that turns it bad, is the only way to gain a convert. Charles interview last night was just that, an well versed educated showing of statistics and facts vs. an emotional unfounded 'feel sorry for me because I am a victim' attitude.

Are you gong to convert everyone you speak to? No. But you would be surprised at how many folks you can get to walk away from a level headed reason-session with a new attitude that maybe their initial views were not correct. While they may not personally want to start shooting or carry a gun, they will better understand that those who do carry as CHL's are good folks, and a CHL having a gun may someday be advantageous to THEIR life.

[tallmike]

The host struck me as a bit biased when he asked "why not just leave this alone" after stating out that a lot of administrators and staff at campuses are opposed to it. The guy made it sound as if there isn't a single student, administrator, or educator who is for campus carry.

The host also confronted the the kid with things like, we go shopping every day and people all around us have concealed handguns but none of them ever go off and he had been covering news for a very long time and had never heard of a CHLer going out and shooting someone just because he was angry.

The moderator was pretty fair, but probably more biased in our favor than against.

Good Job Charles. I wish he would have given you more time to speak though.

[tfrazier]

The host also confronted the the kid with things like, we go shopping every day and people all around us have concealed handguns but none of them ever go off and he had been covering news for a very long time and had never heard of a CHLer going out and shooting someone just because he was angry.

The moderator was pretty fair, but probably more biased in our favor than against.

Good Job Charles. I wish he would have given you more time to speak though.

I'll have to listen to the whole thing again...I obviously missed some of it. Probably due to me trying to skip the commercials (before the reader's digest version was posted!).

[Charles L. Cotton]

Thanks for the comment folks.

I also want to say something about Scott Braddock, the reporter doing the show. For many years, Scott was a reporter for KRTH 740AM the premier news and new/talk radio in Houston. He moved to Dallas just a couple of years ago. He is one of the few reporters I trust. He's always been fair and yes I would have liked to have had the last word. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but I don't think he was trying to help Mr. Woods. I'm obviously biased, but I don't think Mr. Woods came across as credible, so that may have been why Scott gave him the last word. Plus, I do think some of my answers took longer than his, so it may also have been to somewhat equalize the time.

As for the questions, he did ask some pointed ones of Mr. Woods also. I'm also quite certain Scott didn't think I'd have a problem answering anything he wanted to throw out.

Scott's a good guy.

Thanks again folks,
Chas.