‘What we need in this country is education’: Concealed carry expo attracts thousands to city
Sam Rosenberg wants us to know that violent acts are not random. They’re as predictable as boiling water if we know what to look for. But most people don’t recognize the clues.
At his session “Spotting the Wolves” Saturday at the Concealed Carry Expo at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, Mr. Rosenberg said normal people have trouble identifying a threat in part because they don’t think like a bad guy.
More than 15,000 people at the weekend expo consider themselves good guys. Responsible gun ownership is at the forefront of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association’s mission — to provide training, education, legal protection and insurance for gun owners.
The expo included a shooting range, 150 exhibitors and dozens of seminars on topics such as “Family Firearms Education,” “Countering the Mass Shooter Threat,” and “Pennsylvania Firearms Law for Responsible PA Residents.”
At the latter, attorney Josh Prince described Pennsylvania as “generally speaking, an open-carry state.” But transportation laws can be disruptive. Travel with a firearm is allowed only between the home and specific gun-use places like a range or a hunting cabin. If you stop for a bite on the way home from the cabin, you are in violation unless you have a license.
Every state is different, and cities have their own rules. Philadelphia, which he called “Filthadelphia,” prohibits open carry.
“Pittsburgh thinks it can enact its own legislation against firearms,” he said, to laughter, then applause when he said, “We’re suing them as we speak. The hearing is Monday.”
Mr. Prince has represented many firearms organizations. He said state law puts no limits on automatic weapons.
City Council passed, and Mayor Bill Peduto signed, legislation in April to restrict the use of automatic and semi-automatic guns and enhanced firearm accessories and to authorize local law enforcement to confiscate guns from people who have been served with extreme risk protection orders.
The Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League filed a petition in the Court of Common Pleas, and Firearm Owners Against Crime, the Firearm Policy Coalition, the Firearm Policy Foundation and individuals filed a lawsuit.
Jim Brown and Elizabeth Hamel of Indiana County said any limitations are infringements of Second Amendment rights.
“What we need in this country is education,” Ms. Hamel said. “It’s not the gun that needs to be controlled, it’s the person who needs training. I used to be afraid of guns, then I went to a class. Instead of everybody freaking out about guns, they need to learn how to react.”
Reactions to a mass shooter, Mr. Rosenberg said, can be as tactical as finding a quick exit. Rarely do people run out through the kitchen or behind a stage “because we’re not supposed to go there,” he said.
Not one person trying to flee the Las Vegas concert shootings in 2017 ran behind the stage, he said.
A former U.S. Marines close protection specialist, Mr. Rosenberg, a Pittsburgh native, has trained Delta Force operators and Navy Seals. He is the founder of INPAX Academy of Personal Protection and a consultant on violence prevention.
He played a voicemail that an employer received from an employee he had fired three years before. The caller ranted profanely, blamed the employer for his depression, then turned super sweet to say he hoped the man and his family have “a wonderful Easter weekend.” He called the man a “Judas.”
The CEO told Mr. Rosenberg about the call, and Mr. Rosenberg learned that the caller was re-employed and married with kids. He said he didn’t think he was a threat because of those stabilizing factors, but then he listened to the call.
“I changed my mind. Why, do you think?”
Audience members noted the vocal intensity, the Easter weekend reference as a clue to a time target, the fact the man was still fixated after three years and the accusation of the boss as a “Judas.”
Mr. Rosenberg snapped his fingers.
“By calling the CEO ‘Judas,’ he positioned himself as a martyr. When you hear grandiose narcissistic references, that is a critical indicator.”
A common trait among people who take grievances to the level of atrocity is what he called a character disorder of “deep-seated victimhood, injustice collection” and failure to own responsibility for feelings. People say it’s a gun problem or mental health problem, but it’s neither.”
His audience ventured explanations: The breakdown of the family? Violent games? The need for 15 minutes of fame? The look-at-me compulsion on social media?
“All that,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “We have a narcissistic society. It is a societal problem.”