I’ve been hit with dozens of texts and FB messages asking me if I finally understand the dangers of guns or asking me if more guns is the answer. And predictably, the media has started it’s assault on guns, highlighting how many people have been killed since the 1960s and the fact there are over 300 million, legally owned guns in the US. Well let’s let’s look at that for a second and review recent events to see if guns and CCW license are really the problem.

Out of 300 million guns, four guns and one man were involved in the commission of this crime.  If we assume that only 10 million people own all those guns, that still means that 299,999,996 guns weren’t involved in a crime at all.  Nor were at least 9,999,999 gun owners.  And if we add up all the mass shootings and all the guns used along with all the victims, distracted and drunk drivers use their cars to kill or maim many thousands more people annually and yet, we haven’t re-instituted prohibition, banned personal electronic devices that are usually the sources of distraction, let alone attempted to ban cars. Why, because magically, when the subject isn’t a gun, we’re able to apply logic and reason to realize it makes no sense to criminalize and demonize inanimate objects due to the decisions and actions of so few people.

Last weekend, we were all hailing the actions of Samuel Williams, a 71-year-old, Floridian with a concealed handgun license who was minding his own business in an Internet cafe when two armed thugs burst in. Sam produced his own weapon (a “measly” little .380) and took on the two aggressors without hesitation. The thugs immediately decided they had somewhere else to be and ran over each other trying to extract themselves from their intended victims.  One of the suspects later stated they’d targeted the Internet cafe, in part, because they didn’t expect any of their intended victims to be armed.

And then; yesterday morning, at midnight, James Holmes cached weapons and armor at an emergence exit for a theater that was specifically designated as a “gun free” zone.  He then bought a ticket to enter said theater, sneaked over to that exit to don his gear, and then proceeded to murder a dozen people and injure at least 50 others in a room full of unarmed victims. But, the moment Holmes faced an armed response, he immediately ceased all aggression and was promptly arrested by responding officers.

The consistent theme here is the cessation of aggression when shooters or would be shooters are met, not so much with authority, but someone who is willing and able to take them on.  It’s not as simple as saying more guns, but clearly more people able to respond in kind is a determining factor in whether or not shooters or would be shooters will continue their plans.  It’s a Utopian fallacy to think we can just ban all guns to put the genie back in the bottle.  But statistically speaking, one is far more likely to be injured or killed by a drunk or distracted driver than they are to be shot by a mass shooter or even an armed robber and there’s little real evidence that banning guns will change that.

Opinions will vary but, mine is that I’d much rather be able to defend myself against a mass shooter than be relegated to calling 911 and waiting to die until “help” arrives. While the Aurora PD deserves huge praise for what has to be a world record response time (under 90 seconds), the fact is, all the killing and shooting was done BEFORE they arrived.  And in this age of cell phones versus hard lines, you should experience calling 911 from your cell phone sometime.  Doing so can be an eye-opening experience with respect to how long it really takes to summon help.

-Gary