Chris Mercer was a law abiding citizen who owned multiple guns, per NRA doctrine, right up until he went on a shooting rampage on a community college campus.
So was every mass shooter in memory--right up until they weren't.
That is silly and untutored. Your equivalence logic implies that every law abiding citizen has the same likelihood of using (or not using) a firearm to harm the innocent. Most continue to abide by the law, a few such as Mercer, do not.
And we know that those who harbor extreme socially hostile feelings (such as Mercer), even if were previously law abiding, are unlikely to be substantially deterred by intolerant attitudes and legal prohibitions. Moronic intolerance such as a "gun free" campus, banning concealed carry, and disarming the lone security officer did nothing. Nor did, for that matter, going through a background check.
But most good folk are law abiding and not filled with rage, AND they are deterred by intolerant gun attitudes and prohibitions on gun use. Ergo, there is disproportionately several thousand fold MORE of such innocent folk who are/will be unable to defend themselves under conditions of social and legal intolerance.
If you increase tolerance, the much larger pool of innocent and the potential pool of victims will be the primary beneficiaries. You will increase both deterrence and their ability to stop killings. If you increase intolerance, the spree and mass killers will benefit.
As I said: "We don't need more guns per se', we need to tolerate law abiding citizens and public officials having practical access to firearms so as to provide equal means of self-defense." because most will continue to be law abiding, and it is INTOLERANCE of such access that benefits the Mercers of the world, not Jane Doe.
That should not be difficult to grasp, even for the most fevered gun defender in America. Unless you think "the American Character" is that EVERYONE is must be prepared to defend against a violent criminal or deranged individual , and identify such at a glance and preferably (?? not sure your actual position) neutralize the threat, your argument is beyond specious.
It is not difficult to grasp that either EVERYONE should have access to a firearm (if they wish) to defend themselves from an intruder, mass killer etc. OR citizens and officials should be able to defend others promptly and effectively. Perhaps you could explain how disarming the innocent and victims is not "specious" nor "beyond" heartless?
Joedad said:
You've just bitch-slapped and smacked down max in a few words.
In the US there is no divine right of kings but there is certainly a divine right of gun ownership. Hopefully that too will pass.
Do you hear the sound of one hand clapping? It's deafening.
