My Google Alerts are on fire with a steady stream of stupidity from the media:
So why didn’t Arizona’s gun-toting populace and the push for more and deadlier guns protect anyone during Saturday’s rampage?
“Part of the problem is that police officers get extensive training,†begins Algonquin Police Chief Russell Laine. Before they are handed their guns, police officers undergo thorough background checks and psychological evaluations, unlike gun buyers in Arizona, Laine points out. Then cops get lots and lots of gun training.
Maybe the problem was there wasn’t anyone there with a gun? You know, just like the police can’t be everywhere at once. I don’t think anyone has suggested that an armed population is some kind of guarantee. But it makes the odds that someone will be around with a tool handy to deal with the situation more likely than zero.
Actually, one of the first people there was Joe Zamudio and he was carrying. He helped hold down the guy until police arrived some 8 minutes later.
@daniels – Can you cite a source on that? I believe you but, would be helpful to read it directly.
The guys that had the nerve and the awareness to tackle the shooter did it right. They were on the ball enough to act and stop the attacker. Gun or no gun, they refused to be victims and got it done.
I’m confused — the antis say that carrying a firearm to a political event is rude and threatening.
So when few people carry to a political event, they blame the lack of firearms for not stopping the crime?
Is that how they are spinning it?
Here’s a link to the WSJ article
Quote: Mr. Zamudio thought he could help, since he was legally carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic.
“If I’d gone down there sooner, maybe I could have shot him myself,” Mr. Zamudio, age 24, said in a phone interview Sunday night.
Mr. Zamudio, who works at a Tucson art gallery, was at a nearby Walgreen’s buying cigarettes when he heard the shots and immediately turned and ran toward the commotion. “In that moment, I didn’t think about it. I just reacted.”
He saw the blank face of the suspected shooter—”almost a smirk.”
By the time Mr. Zamudio was in close range, others had wrestled the suspect to the ground. Mr. Zamudio helped hold him down.
Thanks @daniels!
My suggestions, in three parts, for a law ending criminal behavior.
1) Criminals may no longer use illegally acquired firearms for any purposes whatsoever. 2) Criminals are prohibited from concealing firearms by any means. 3) Before committing any crimes, criminals must notify the targets, (Eeeeee! Flammable rhetoric alert!! ) two hours before making their move.
Did I leave anything out?
Could someone in law enforcement tell me exactly how much “gun training” police officers get? I suspect (based on all of the other requirements of their job) it is less than 8 hours (not counting range time).
Maybe nobody else was carrying because it was a Democrats function.