As I suspected, the knee-jerk calls for gun control are coming out in the wake of the terrible murders at the Aurora movie theater.
Yes, the suspect, James Holmes (seen in the above photo) used guns to kill and wound the theater-goers, but perhaps had one or more of the theater-goers had a firearm, they could have returned fire and killed the murderer and saved a few lives. For example, one can watch the video online of the brave 71-year-old man who drew his personal firearm and stood up to two armed-robbers in Florida.
Charles C. W. Cooke at National Review Online reports on the knee-jerk outcry for gun control.
What happened in Colorado in the early hours of this morning was not a “tragedy” but a willful act of mass murder. Beyond his age, name, and ethnicity, nobody yet knows who the shooter is, or why he chose to do what he did. In my view, this is a blessing, albeit a temporary one; for, as has been the way in recent years, once his party registration, television-viewing habits, and random scribblings become known to the public, all sorts of hysterical speculation and unlettered accusations will burst forth.
... Alas, this welcome early absence of opportunity for partisan political blame has created a vacuum that has been filled by another form of folly: Calls for “gun control.” Upon hearing the news, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence immediately changed the front page of its website to aver that, “This is yet another horrific reminder that guns enable mass killings.”
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/310138/colorado-our-odd-focus-charles-c-w-cooke
Just two quick questions for the gun lobby after today: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/aurora-questions-gun-lobby/
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first question - "Why are there never any of these NRA card carrying citizens around when you need them?" - I note in my above post the recent case of the 71-year-old man who used his legal weapon to defend himself and the other customers in a shop in Florida. The other customers were glad that he was there with his legal handgun. There have been other cases as well.
ReplyDeleteYour second questions makes false asumptions and generalizes. Not all gun owners blame Hollywood for the violence in Aurora. I don't.
The young man is probably mental ill and who knows what triggered his attack. We should wait to learn more.
Roger Ebert asks in the New York Times why no legal gun owners shot back. Warner Todd Huston at chicagonow.com answers Ebert and explains that the Cinemark theater chain has a "gun-free" policy - http://www.chicagonow.com/publius-forum/2012/07/roger-ebert-ties-to-exploit-colorado-crime-for-gin-control-purposes/ -
ReplyDeleteLegal gun owners follow the law. Criminals don't.