> When was the last time you saw
> anyone walking around with a shotgun?
If the hypothetical argument is that an armed society is a polite
society, and adults should be armed with pistols to defend themselves,
then why can't that theoretical pistol be replaced with an equally
theoretical shotgun, which is a more effective self-defence weapon
than a pistol?
do you know how heavy a shotgun is?
Turning the idea completely on its head, if the same nut went into
Virginia Tech with a gas mask and Sarin, who would advocate that all
citizens should be armed with Sarin in order to bring down the
assailant?
no, a handgun would do quite nicely, thank you very much.
This is a bizarre and totally made-up theoretical, but unless your
hypothetical citizenry is vastly different from the citizens in my
world who routinely mis-drive their cars into each other despite years
and years of daily practise, your self-defending pistol citizen is
going to inflict some collateral damage...
again, not everyone would carry, nor would it be mandatory. Just
because you don't want or need the protection, why do would you deny
it from others?
There are hundreds of thousands of carry permits in this country.
very, very, very few crimes are committed by them and even fewer
accidental discharges resulting in injury or death. It's just not a
problem, especially nowhere on the level of auto accidents.
The simple truth is very hard to hear. Those kids had no idea what to
do. A university classroom is full of improvised weapons for those so
inclined, and they probably could have simply run down the hall and
escaped. None of the kids who ran was shot, if reports are accurate.
It gets worse.
Improvised weapons? Are you suggesting they chase after an armed man
with the intent to disable him, with a chair, or a pencil? That's
just foolish. It would require rushing with more than just one
person, all with the knowledge that you would be sacrificing those in
front so that the ones behind would reach the guy before getting shot
themselves.
This is what basically happened on Flight 93, but they had the luxury
of knowing they were all going to die anyway, and this was their only
hope. These kids didn't have that luxury, as the whole episode was
over in minutes.
No, what those kids did was about all they could have done. turned
over desks for protection, lie on the floor to reduce the size of his
target and play dead till he moved on to the next classroom, then
barricade the door to prevent his return.
On the other hand, one person with a handgun who knew how to use it
could have ended his rampage while lying on the floor playing dead
until he turned his back on him.
As it was, the shitstain didn't have to worry about any of that, as
the school faculty guaranteed him there would be no firearms on the
premises, especially once he chained the doors shut.
People are told to stay in place and in groups because it's easier on
the police than trying to classify and protect or prosecute
singletons. What's convenient for the police is convenient for a
madman bent on mass extermination too.
People are told to "do as he says" so that you won't get hurt. What
is your recourse when he tells you to die?
Those kids had no idea what to do and they died. It's not their fault
and it's not their teacher's fault. Tomorrow, or the next day
there'll be another horrific thing that someone dies over, and people
there won't know what to do either. Madmen always see a new way to
perpetrate the unthinkable.
And too, a prepared man can, at the very least, increase the odds in
his favor against a madman.
The very definition of a tragedy.
indeed.
