A Good Guy with a Gun

The National Rifle Association stand is crystal clear:  the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.  Their answer to the growing mass shooting attacks in America is to arm all Americans.  It’s the “wild, wild west” with semi automatic weapons of war; a dystopian “Mad Max” vision of America.

Texas Gun Laws

The NRA is incredibly persuasive.  They have convinced the Republican Party to pursue a policy of denying gun controls, and even removing existing regulations.  And NRA persuasion isn’t just based on the votes of their members; their most significant influence is the money they can spend.  The NRA not only donates directly to candidates, it also buys advertising for and against candidates on their own.  It is one of the most formidable forces in American politics.

Texas is at the height of NRA influence.  The state legislature, in response to the shootings at Sutherland Springs Church with 26 killed and 20 more injured, and at a Santa Fe High School with 10 killed and 13 wounded, RELAXED existing gun laws.  Starting today (September 1, 2019) Texas law allows:

• Weapons in places of worship unless the specifically banned by posted signs, 
• Weapons in rental properties, 
• Prevents home owner associations from banning weapons,
• Allows for more armed personnel in schools,
• Eases restrictions on carrying weapons in vehicles, 
• Allows foster homes to store guns, 
• Allows handguns to be carried without license during a declared disaster.

Since the laws were passed there have been two more mass shootings in Texas, the El Paso shooting with 22 dead and 24 wounded, and yesterday, the random killings along I-20 between Odessa and Midland, with 5 dead and 21 injured.  

A Good Guy 

Where are the “good guys” with guns?

The NRA points to the Sutherland Springs shooting as evidence of the failure of gun restrictions and the success of “good guys” with guns.  The shooter who walked into a Church, wearing body armor and a facemask and armed with a semi-automatic weapon of war, shouldn’t have been able to buy the gun (a Ruger AR-556 Semi-Automatic.)  He was court martialed from the Air Force for domestic violence, a disqualifying offense in gun sales.  The system failed to register his conviction, allowing him to purchase the weapon.

After leaving the carnage in the church, the shooter was attacked and wounded by a bystander with a similar weapon from across the street.  The shooter drove away in his vehicle, and the bystander followed in a high-speed chase.  Ultimately the shooter crashed vehicle due to blood loss, and committed suicide.

Twenty-six killed, twenty more injured:  the “good guy” with a gun may have prevented further deaths, but he didn’t stop what happened in the church sanctuary.  

But Chicago

Gun advocates point to the city of Chicago as the “example” of how gun restrictions fail.  And a decade ago, Chicago did have some of the strictest gun regulations in the country.  However, more recent Court decisions have stripped many of those away.  Prior to 2010, Chicago:

• Banned private owned handguns from residences,
• Required permits and registration of firearms, and
• Banned concealed carry of firearms.

All of those restrictions are removed, and the homicide rate has grown (Tribune.)

But the greater issue for Chicago, and for any attempts to control weapons, is the limitation of state action.  Even when Chicago had those restrictions, Indiana was less than an hour away, and had few restrictions on buying or carrying guns.  And while Chicago’s homicide rate has been higher than Los Angeles and New York for a while, it has increased even more since 2010.

A National Choice

Gun violence, and particularly mass shootings, is a national crisis.  No one state has a “corner” on the issue, attacks have occurred from schools in Connecticut, Florida and Colorado, to the nightclub district of Dayton, to Wal-Mart’s in Texas, to conference centers in California.  The one thing these most horrific attacks have in common is a semi-automatic weapon of war, with large quantities of ammunition.

A national crisis requires a national solution.  The answer is obvious; to stop a bad guy with a gun, take his gun away.  

There is no Second Amendment right to a weapon of war.  There is no legitimate hunting purpose for weapons of war.  Weapons of war have a single purpose, to kill and maim human beings, as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And to those Americans who “need” those weapons to “protect from the government” I need to point out that the “government” could overwhelm your puny “AR’s” in a New York minute.  

Our current national impotence is not an answer.  Letting these killings continue must stop.  It’s time for the vast majority of Americans to stop “humoring” the “black helicopter” folks.  We don’t need to ban all guns, and we don’t need to repeal the Second Amendment.  We do need to decide that weapons of war are not acceptable.  It’s time to follow the rest of the modern world, and protect ourselves from the broken among us.