I also would feel uncomfortable knowing that anyone on the street, in the theatre, at a restaurant, at the supermarket could be carrying a loaded gun on their person. And here's why - despite training, despite temperament, despite the best of intentions: I don't trust you. That's simply it, I don't trust you. I don't trust a person who is not a licensed law enforcement officer of some kind - someone who, by virtue of their job, I would assume they have proper gun training - to carry a weapon. You may be a great person, love your kids, go to church, would never pull a gun in anger at another person - you may be supremely confident of that fact in your own mind, but I'm not. To me, you would be just as likely to be the one sticking up the fast-food clerk as the one defending him, or - in your possibly untrained and excited state - could be the one who with the best of intentions attempts to intervene but misses and hits someone else. Or you could be the one who gets pissed off at me in traffic and, instead of the flipping me the finger you pop off a few rounds at my back window.IMO, this has been the greatest success of the anti-gun movement — the popularization of the idea that we are all psycho killers, just waiting for the right trigger to send us off. Once in a radio interview I was told "there but for the grace of God go you..." ie, it could be me capping that 18 year-old woman at the 7-11. I stopped the host and said, "Bullshit.." BLEEP! I have been really really mad at lots of people many times, and I have never once considered shooting them. That's because there is a fundamental difference between people who do violent crimes and the rest of us. They are NOT like us! I haved looked at human beings over a set of gunsights, and it is ONLY because they wanted to do me or mine harm. I did not shoot them because of my training, which is why I am a HUGE fan of training!
I'm not concerned whether there are documented cases of this happening - I am afraid that they will, when more and more people are allowed to carry concealed weapons.
Bottom line: Never, ever agree with the "situation" definition of violence! This really is a case of US vs. THEM!
I have been really really mad at lots of people many times, and I have never once considered shooting them.Yet.
ReplyDeleteOk, since you and TSM are dredging up this 2-yr-old controversy, let me just spell out the fears of the non-gun-carrying community.
That, if more and more people start carrying weapons on their person, readily available, that regardless how much "training" they've had, there will be a gun fired in anger.
Unless you can stand here and prove to me that proper training removes the potential of humans to kill or injure one another out of hatred, revenge, rage, or just plain insanity then I will never consider allowing the general CCW possession of firearms safe or desirable.
We had an incident here in town yesterday where two (probably drunk) yahoos were tailgating each other on the highway - they stopped, one got out and started wreaking some mayhem on the other's car. He finished and started walking away, and the other guy capped him. From behind.
Self-defense? No, the guy was leaving. Proper apprehension of a subject? No, he wasn't a cop or even trying to restrain.
Anger. Pure rage provoked a shooting. The guy's lucky he only winged him in the leg.
So you see, you can't train out hostility or genuine human emotion, and a firearm makes it too easy and too safe to inflict deadly harm from a distance.
And that's just the people who do have some training. What about the people who obtain firearms and carry them around, but have no training to speak of?