More gun Control or more people Controlling their Guns

How many people died in the Omaha Mall because the mall prevents people from carrying concealed weapons? It seems that the ban on concealed weapons succeeded, the shooting stopped when the one person with a gun in the mall shot the one person in the mall with a gun. If others in the mall had been carrying, it seems likely one of them would have ended it sooner.

When a lunatic invaded a Church in Arvada Co, he killed and left - he was the only one with a gun. When he or another lunatic (the news is not yet clear on that) entered a Colorado Springs Church, an armed citizen (in this case security personnel) ended the incident by killing the lunatic, not waiting for the lunatic to finish his demented plan.

Ever since guns were invented, lunatics have used them. This will continue as long as guns exist and, considering the ease of manufacture and the wide dispersal of that technology, they will exist for a very long time. The only defense against lunatics with guns is sane people with guns. It is clear that there is no way to guarantee that all lunatics will be identified prior to their first shot and considering the gross intrusion on individual civil rights that would be required to even try to identify lunatics prior to their going over the edge, thinking sane people will never allow it.

We can never know how many innocent lives are saved by the deterrent value of armed citizens because we do not have divine sight, we cannot see which hearts would have stopped beating, which bodies would have bled out. What we can know is that when even lunatics understand they will face other people with guns, they choose easier targets.

When Florida liberalized their carry rules to allow more citizens to carry concealed weapons, the criminals changed targets and tactics. Rather than face a possibly armed citizen, they targeted people who they knew could not be warmed - tourists flying into Miami and renting cars. They car jacked these unarmed travelers, in some cases killing them, specifically because they could not easily be armed.

When the UK banned nearly all civilian ownership of handguns, violent crime exploded. The criminals knew that they were free to use whatever weapon they wished and they would not be facing a superior weapon, a concealed gun. There were more attacks with guns than before the ban. The ban had exactly the opposite effect that those who imposed it envisioned. Similar explosions of violence have followed citizen gun bans around the world. The safest places continue to be those where individual citizens can be legally armed with concealed weapons.

If citizens are concerned about their safety in public and semi public places, they should avoid those that do not allow for armed citizens. If the mall entrance says no guns, then maybe there is another - safer - place to shop!

Cross posted at RobBoyce