Crazies With Guns
Posted by: tony on 12/17/2007 03:06 AM
Updated by: tony on 12/17/2007 03:07 AM
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Expires: 01/17/2008 12:00 AM
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I have been saddened by the recent spate of kooks going off the deep end and heading out to places packed with people to kill as many of them as they can before turnging the gun on themselves. Such lunatics (usually barely post pubescent boys with nihilistic angst) are buying a one-way ticket to hell, but there are a lot of innocent who are affected. The ones killed, the families of the dead, the ones hurt and their families, and also all those who were there, and not injured and the people in the community who now feel vulnerable to crazies with guns.
So the first reaction, usually fueled by the ordinary ministers of the media, is to demonize guns and the NRA. They say if there were tougher gun control laws, this kind of thing wouldn't happen.
Well, if you look carefully at the recent spate of multiple murder / suicide with a gun, you'll notice that in each case, the shooter was in violation of an existing law. So each new and restrictive law that you craft has, by its very nature, zero effect on criminals who by their nature ignore laws, and less effect on a crazy who is planning to go out in a blaze of glory.
What you affect by the restrictive laws, is the possibility of a responsible gun owner with a concealed-carry permit being able to stop a shooter before he kills as many people as he can until the police arrive.
This is how it works when law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry firearms:
And just this past weekend, a disturbed youth who had posted violent diatribes against Christians on an Internet site killed two students at a Colorado missionary center.
He later showed up at a church that had an association with the missionary group carrying multiple weapons and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
But because of the earlier shootings, the church had activated its voluntary security force, composed of members who had licenses to carry concealed weapons and the training to use them.
The gunman killed two teenage girls in the church parking lot and wounded their father before he entered the church.
But once he got inside, he was confronted by one of the church's volunteer guards, Jeanne Assam, a former police officer armed with a pistol.
As witnesses described it, she advanced on the shooter yelling "Surrender," and when he raised his weapon, fired several shots, bringing him to the ground. Police reported that the badly wounded gunman then shot himself to death.
Assam, dubbed "Dirty Harriet" by one writer, was credited by the church's pastor with having saved 50 to 100 lives.
This is why we should not be restricting gun ownership by responsible citizens, we should be encouraging it. The government should be giving tax breaks to people who get trained in firearm use.
Good job, Jeanne. You have saved a lot of lives. You should be proud.
(H/T to the Caveman)
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