Friday, July 20, 2012

Gun rights?

Today, America is mourning the loss of at least 12 innocent people after a senseless shooting at a movie theater.  Some disturbed guy decided he was entitled to throw a tear gas bomb and then shoot the place up.  Rumor has it that the youngest killed was 6.

While I am completely saddened and horrified at the cruelty that the human race continues to impose on  it's own, that's not exactly what I want to climb on my soapbox about.

Rather, I'd like to talk about the mentions I've seen today on Facebook about "gun rights" and "concealed carry" rights.  Some have posted that they believe that allowing concealed carry and that possibly having a member of that theater audience in possession of a gun would have been the thing that saved people.  A photo of a gun tucked into the back of some dude's pants with the caption, "One guy in the crowd could have saved everyone."  And, one about the average response time of a 911 call being "23 minutes" while the response time of a .357 is 1400 ft per second.

I call bullshit.

From what I've read and seen in video online today, the scene played out like this...

Some guy goes to the front of the theater, throws a tear gas bomb, and then starts shooting.  So, people are first confused by the dude walking in front of them.  Then, they're stunned and dazed by the tear gas.  Then, they're blindsided with bullets.

So, please someone tell me how some jackass with a concealed weapon in the audience would have made this better?!  Some guy (or girl) in row 22 is carrying.  He stands up and fires toward the front of the theater, right?  Because that's where he last saw suspicious dude.

How many innocent people are hit because "the hero" is randomly firing?

Or, lets say this had played out another way?  Dude walks to the front of the theater and decides he's the star of the show and begins his monologue?  It's obvious he's crazy, but NOT obvious that he's dangerous...yet.  Does the same "hero" get to decide when the crazy is on?  He/she stands and shoots the dude because he's "scared".  Dude is unarmed, a little talky, and maybe disabled.

I'd bet that many of the people who walk around with a gun in their pants are SCARED.  And, prone to overreact.

THIS scares the shit out of me.

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