Yesterday's events reminded me of some of the go-rounds I've had with memebers of the KOS multi-blog, RKBA. I'm thinking they must be having a tough, conflicted day today. But, as usual, I'm probably mistaken.
Read this diary and its key scenario, then see if there still is justification for everyone to be walking around packing heat. All you combat veterans out there may have some valuable commentary either way.
I Really Didn’t Want to Write This One
Shortly after my editor introduced me and my column to the paper’s readership, someone wrote a letter to the editor welcoming me and "looking forward to your comments on ..... and guns." The addressee lives/ed in "Alias", or as a friend of mine calls it, Ft. "Alias".
My friend coined this description because of all the retired military personnel who have settled there. As a former military person myself, I have more in common with those folks than we have differences in spite of the progressive track of this column.
They, like me, were extensively trained to use firearms correctly, with respect and with more than a little expertise. Furthermore, all of us had at least some training in the use of arms in a combat situation; some had to do it for real in our various military campaigns of the last 60 years, or so. The point here is that our training was intended to prepare us for real combat when our visual and mental fields of vision became keyhole sized due to stress, fear and anxiety at the highest level. Obviously, no training can completely prepare one for actual combat, but just shooting a pistol or rifle at paper targets won’t even begin to prepare a person for the real thing.
I say this is a column I didn’t want to write because it will sound too much like "I told you so." to some who know my feelings on this subject. To the guy in Ft. "Alias": I have resisted dealing with gun issues in this space because I refused to be baited into another mindless debate over something that is both deadly and counter-productive to any sane discourse. Here’s why.
The tragic events in Tucson, AZ yesterday (8 January) are clear indicators of why the NRA and other 2nd Amendment advocates have it all wrong about every citizen carrying a loaded weapon around in public. First of all, Mr. Loughner, the alleged shooter in Tucson, was recently dismissed from a junior college for documented disruptive and abnormal behaviors. A month later he bought the Glock 17 and extra long ammo magazines that were used in yesterday’s shooting spree. There was no paper linkage between his sociopathic behavior at the school and the gun purchasing controls in Arizona. The same problem occurred at Virginia Technical University 2 years ago with the student who killed over 30 people. Simply stated, that disconnect must be fixed everywhere.
In previous writings on blogs, e-mails to friends and letter writers I have offered a scenario where something like yesterday happens in a crowd of people, where some nut starts shooting at everybody and everything. In view of what I mentioned earlier about combat situations, imagine the scene where maybe 100 amateur gun owners/packers thought they saw who did the shooting and started shooting in that direction through their tunnel vision. The first person to draw and fire at a suspected original shooter is seen as the guilty party by somebody else who draws his/her gun and blasts away at shooter #2. The ensuing chain reaction could possibly leave dozens killed and wounded, maybe more.
It is a scenario like this that has rational people, like the 64% of surveyed readers of the Austin American-Statesman, who say they don’t want people carrying guns into public buildings and, least of all, college and university buildings. Thank goodness some people are using their brains to think instead of just for buying into gun group propaganda.
I do realize, however, that guns will always be part of our culture until they are banned outright. In view of our upbringing where virtually every bit of entertainment we’ve ever seen from our first Western movie to today’s exceedingly violent computer and video games, the use of guns will continue to be the ultimate leveler for those who feel dispossessed, ignored, powerless, or otherwise fearful. The rest of us rational gun owners will just keep hoping we don’t have to use them to defend ourselves and our families from people like Mr. Laughner, and will continue to ask ourselves if we could really pull the trigger.