"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. " - Robert A Heinlein Beyond This Horizon (1942)
I was working in my office at about 1:30 this morning when news came about the massacre in Aurora, Colorado.
My first thought was "... is this a terrorist, ala that Hasan slimeball and Ft. Hood?"
And then I became riveted to the coverage as facts began leaking out.... there were two shooters; no.... one. There were 10 dead, then 14, then 13, then now, apparently, 12. There were 20 wounded, then 30 then 50.
I began to wonder: what would I have done in that theater?
Well, if he hadn't got me first, I'd have shot him. And I'd have shot him because I don't go anywhere without my .45.
That used to be a problem in my family. After all, when I was going to church, or to the store... or to the movies... who needs to be armed in those places?
Clearly, the answer is now "we all do."
I'd been carrying since Koenninger's moronic, yet somehow prescient piece
demanding the resignation of now Democrat County Commissioner Marc Boldt resulted in some death threats back when Marc had been a legislator and I'd been his Legislative Assistant. I was my own security in the district office.
But this post isn't to proffer an argument on the 2nd Amendment or gun control or any of that. It's not even to point out that Commissioner Boldt voted for an ordinance that would have enabled the county to confiscate our weapons if they were so inclined.
No, this post is to point out the obvious: had at least one armed individual been in that movie crowd, there is an increased chance that the likelihood of this vast amount of death and destruction would not have been as great.
I'm not going to get on the Tea Party-style high horse and make the absurd claim that NO one would have been killed.
But now, we're going to be faced with absurd demands to make ever-more restrictive gun laws... as if any of those would have stopped this from happening.
What I am suggesting here is the same thing I suggested as a result of the Virginia Tech massacre given the response to those, like me, who suggest that no place should be off limits to firearms merely because it's a school:
"In situations like these, I tend to think of those writing these editorials in terms of "what would THEY want if their life was on the line?"
If these writers were at risk in a classroom. If there was a Columbine-style shooting going on in a school where they happened to be; would they pissed that I was carrying a .357 magnum? Would they be so outraged when I pulled my weapon and ended the threat?
It's not hard to imagine these sanctimonious hypocrites in a Virginia Tech classroom, whimpering on the floor in little liberal, whinny puddles, howling with outrage that some student or faculty member; or even worse, say, a college-student military-veteran had actually come to class with a firearm and was ready to use it to SAVE THEIR INCREASINGLY WORTHLESS LIVES had actually done so.
Within the past year, my wife has started shooting. Got a nice little Walther PPK that gets it done. Now, however, is the time for her to get her permit and begin to carry it, like I do, everywhere.
Because if we had been in that theater, maybe we'd have made it. If SHE had been in that theater unarmed?
Likely not.
Unfortunately, this is likely to become a political football, where both sides quickly lose sight of the issue: government cannot keep us safe; we have to do that ourselves. And in this day and age, those most strident in their demands that we be disarmed should really stop and ask themselves this question first:
"What if I had been in that theater?"
Because your efforts to disarm us will only embolden those who are not really likely to follow the law in the first place.
Then what?
It's a sad commentary that our society has reached this point. But it has. So, what to do?
Get a weapon and stand a post in your own security. If you know how to use a weapon, then you should be armed. If you don't, then get trained and THEN get armed.
Unfortunately, there are two classes of people in 2012: the sheep.... and the wolves.
Which one are you?
The people in the theater?
Which one were they?
