Rhapsody
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2005
- Messages
- 391
purplesparklies|1444155787|3935443 said:Ah. Thanks for clarifying.
I think that guns in the hands of the right people could help in situations of mass shootings. People need to understand and acknowledge their abilities/inabilities with their weapon. The average person would likely do more harm than good as it is not going to be easy to quickly and accurately assess a situation and respond effectively while in the midst of those chaotic, stress filled and adrenaline charged moments. One also needs to be willing to accept the consequences and legal ramifications of acting. I could exercise my right to concealed carry but I choose not to as I recognize my limitations. The only reason I have my concealed carry is for safety leaving work at night. I teach fitness classes and exit into a dark and largely empty parking lot after evening classes.
I do, however, think there is an issue with large areas being pistol free zones. That makes is very easy for those who wish to perpetrate a crime to know they have little risk of being stopped. The possibility of someone else being able to take them out can be a powerful motivator to reconsider. Fear can be a healthy thing.
But what happens when there's multiple people who are armed and trying to "do the right thing"? It's just going to cause chaos. People will be shooting from all directions and no one will know what's going on. And the likelihood that anyone other than a professional would have the training to handle that and not do more harm than good is pretty slim. We all want to think about what would happen in the best case scenario if there was an armed "good guy" there, but we also need to really strongly think about whether the best case scenario is the most likely one or just what we hope would happen.
I sat through the news of both the Columbine and Aurora shootings just hoping no one I knew got hurt, glued to the radio and TV, but never once did I think that things would have been better if yet another person had had a gun in that situation because I assure you things were g*dd*mm crazy enough already