In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, the National Rifle Association proposed putting more guns in schools. After a racist shot up a Charleston prayer group, an NRA board member argued for more guns in church. And now predictably, politicians and gun rights advocates are calling for guns in movie theaters after a loner killed two people at a theater in Louisiana.
The notion that more guns are always the solution to gun crime is taken seriously in this country. But the research shows that more guns lead to more gun homicides -- not less. And that guns are rarely used in self-defense.
Now a new study from researchers at Mount St. Mary's University sheds some light on why people don't use guns in self-defense very often. As it turns out, knowing when and how to apply lethal force in a potentially life-or-death situation is really difficult. The study was commissioned by the National Gun Victims Action Council, an advocacy group devoted to enacting "sensible gun laws" that "find common ground between legal gun owners and non-gun owners that minimizes gun violence in our culture."
The study found that proper training and education are key to successfully using a firearm in self-defense: "carrying a gun in public does not provide self-defense unless the carrier is properly trained and maintains their skill level," the authors wrote in a statement.
I think this study only reinforces what should be an obvious recognition that guns are not a magical charm which provides protection simply by having it in your possession.
I would further argue that even trips to the shooting range will not adequately prepare a person to use a gun in a real life situation where they are frightened and under duress.
As we have seen even police officers quite often miss their target when firing at an assailant, fail to access their guns when needed, and panic when fired upon.
Once again in my opinion guns are one of the worst things to rely on for personal protection.
I was trained to carry and shoot by Law Enforcement officers. The one thing that always stayed with me was the fact that even trained officers MISS more often than not in a volatile situation - even in a closed room! The last thing you want to do is have to pull a weapon, or be around if someone else pulls one. There is greater danger of an innocent person being shot accidentally than there is of a shot taking the bad guy out.
ReplyDelete"Once again in my opinion guns are one of the worst things to rely on for personal protection."
ReplyDeleteAnd thank god (small g) it IS just your personal opinion.
SO are you agreeing, or being smarmy? I happen to agree with Gryph. I know of three young men in my town who killed themselves with their parents' guns. They were depressed teens, who would be alive today without the access to a gun and with proper counseling restored to middle and high schools, instead of one person for 600 students.
DeleteThanks, NRA and GOP.
I've done simulations where you know the other person is going to pull a gun on you (fake gun). No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't get my gun out of the holster and aimed before they sighted me and pulled the trigger. I'm pretty athletic. So we spent the rest of the day on hand to hand techniques. What to do after they pull the gun. And that stuff works really well. Way safer and I don't have to ask the bad guy to hold on a moment while I fish my gun out of my purse.
ReplyDeleteThe only time someone is safer with a gun is if they're calm under pressure, and carry because they live where there are wild animals.
ReplyDeleteJuly 9. 1914, a 71 year old man went to a matinee with his wife. The man had been on the Tampa Police force for at least 20 years, retired as a Captain and went to work for Busch Gardens in Tampa as head of security, then retired from that job. His Tampa policeman son was on the way to meet the parents at the movies. The link below is what that well-trained professional did with his own gun.
ReplyDeleteMany articles will come up if you google Curtis Reeves shot and killed 43 year old Chad Oulson, or google Florida popcorn shooting or Florida movie theater shooting. The theater they were in didn't allow guns but Reeves got angry, said he was going to report Oulson to management, came back with a gun. He hasn't come to trial yet but will sometime in the near future.
Reeves himself had just been texting but he told Oulson to quit texting even though it was during the previews -- the movie hadn't started yet. There were only 25 people in the theater, Reeves could have moved. He had had issues before in the same theater about people texting. It sounds like another version of an old man screaming "you kids get off my grass".
http://abcnews.go.com/US/trial-date-expected-florida-movie-theater-shooting/story?id=24481718
If you asking what the point of my rant is, it's this: "well-trained" professionals don't always make sound decisions. Had Reeves himself followed the "No guns allowed" rule of the theater, Chad Oulson wouldn't have died. Reeves is claiming Stand Your Ground but IMO, Reeves had no "ground" to stand, he was in the wrong.
Training is one thing, and all gun owners should be forced to have it and pass examinations. BUT, there is another factor -- experience. Paid security people work with their guns on them, and probably make decisions daily on whether to pull the gun and then whether to shoot it.
DeleteAn ordinary person, even if trained and certified, will hot have the experience of using that gun to make the right decisions when and if the time calls for them. Training is needed, but is not enough without experience using them when needed but not when they should not be used. That is why guns should be in the hands of professionals only.
Paid security people like the University of Cincinnati cop who shot and killed an unarmed man at a traffic stop?
DeleteGryphen, you make a valid point and that's why leading ammosexuals urge all concealed carry enthusiasts remember to "shoot first, shoot to kill and keep shooting til your weapon is empty". Jeebus will know you tried to do the right thing and He'll forgive when you dont. Plus Walmart is having a two-fer-one sale on ammunition. Can you think of a better time to grab a gun and get there to enjoy life as the NRA wants you to?
ReplyDeleteA recent incident in Floriduh emphasizes the pointlessness of concealed carry: two volunteers shadowing sea turtle hatchings were assaulted by some nut who "hated sea turtles". When one old volunteer pulled his weapon and displayed it to scare the assh**e, the assh**e took the weapon away from the volunteer and shot the old man as he was turning to run.
ReplyDeleteLesson one: speak softly and call the cops. (Florida PDs are very eager to help)
Lesson two: don't pull a weapon you don't intend to use. (Especially when the assailant has about 30 years on you, and much faster reflexes.)