A really stupid opinion posted in Forbes

For some reason, after a big shooting incident that makes the news, it seems like a number of writers for news papers need to comment about how it's a good thing that none of the victims had their own guns, because it would have been SO much worse if they did.

The recent Evil in Norway has proved to be no exception.

Some smart guy wrote a short article for Forbes Magazine.
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First off, he says, "In fact, it’s quite likely that more people shooting guns in such a scenario would lead to more confusion and possibly more deaths, some of which might be accidental." Yeah, and it's also quite possible that the good guys with guns would clearly identify the man shooting innocent teenagers and direct their bullets accordingly. And it's quite possible that Godzilla may decide to show up and smash your office building, so why even go to work every day?

I can imagine very few situations where it would be unclear who the homicidal maniac was. Especially a situation that is consistent with the historical record of the acts of violence. The Columbine shooters were a bit of a fluke because there were two of them, but most of the time there is only one person involved, because if they had tried to involve anyone else, they would certainly be turned down, and probably reported to the cops.

The attacks in Mumbai involved multiple attackers, but even there the attackers quickly identified themselves by shooting innocent people. So walk with me here, you are at a mall and hearing loud pops and screaming. You turn the corner and see people running away in a panic, others lying on the ground, and one man going from person to person, shooting each one. Who do think is the bad guy?

Also, the killer picked a summer camp being held on an island miles away from shore. There was no way to escape and no way for a rapid response time. The killer had over an hour before the SWAT team pulled up. He killed SEVENTY THREE people. How could this possibly have been WORSE if one of the camp counselors had pulled out his own Glock 19 and fired back at the killer? What could be worse than this?

I think people who make comments like this can't think rationally about a situation like this. It's too stressful to think about finding yourself in a situation like that, and so they never get beyond, "Gosh that would be terrible." And then when they do get into a situation like that, all they think is "I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this is happening." Then they freeze. It's what happened to Colin Goddard, he was stuck in "I can't Believe this" for like ten minutes. It's not because he's stupid, or bad, he just hadn't really thought about it before.

Well, the people who apply for concealed carry permits HAVE thought about this type of thing. Those thoughts are likely what led them to purchase a handgun and apply for the permit in the first place. They've "gamed out" a response in their mind. Usually it involves running away.

But the people who write editorials like this would never carry concealed, and therefore don't think of these situations in terms of them winning. They think of it in terms of the bad guy will stop when the police show up, or he'll just eventually kill himself.

I used to have an attitude of 'if I die, I die.' But that all changed when I got married. I married the most beautiful, smart, affectionate and valuable woman in the whole world. If she and I had been at Trolley Square that in February, she would have been in danger of being brutally murdered, and I would have had nothing but my shoes to fend off the bad guy. That was simply unacceptable. I felt helpless, because I had been at work, she was at home, and the shooting had already long since ended by the time I heard about it. The panic I felt at being unable to protect her even if we had been together set the gears in motion for carrying concealed.


So, in conclusion, don't believe everything you read in the paper. Use your own brain, do research, and make your own decisions. Don't let anyone discourage you from taking measures to protect yourself just because they don't like guns, or don't want to think about a scary situation.