Representative Mike Pence of Indiana was quoted in the Times ("A Clamor for Gun Limits, but Few Expect Real Changes" by Adam Nagourney and Jennifer Steinhauer) as asserting, “I maintain that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens makes communities safer, not less safe.” That’s what the NRA keeps telling us. But "law abiding citizens" is not a fixed and stable category. Jared Loughner was a law-abiding citizen (albeit a troubled one) who had never committed a felony until he bought a pistol and shot a Congresswoman and a score of bystanders. In Mike Pence's version of a perfect world, the victims in Tucson would have protected themselves by unholstering their own weapons and executed Lougner summarily. But none of them was armed. The vast majority of Americans reject, in principle and in practice, vigilante justice.
The idea that any public gathering could become an armed public gathering if some people get their way terrifies me a LOT more than the prospect of one loony guy getting a gun and opening fire. Didn't we precisely work really hard back there in the late 19th century to STOP armed vigilantism? Makes me want to bang my head against the wall in frustration and rage: as Eddie Izzard has said, "it's true that guns don't kill people, people do. But guns help."
ReplyDeleteWhen's the last time someone committed an atrocity like what happened in Tucson, Virginia Tech, Columbine (and etc etc., sadly) with,say, a hunting knife? Or even just a good old-fashioned squeeze the trigger and release only one bullet at a time gun?