Defenseless in Nebraska; Safe in Colorado
Paul, in a comment attached to a post at alicublog deriding Glenn Reynolds’ suggestion that venues posting “No Firearms” regulations, says:
One of these days, someone will be packing when this happens (Luby’s in Killeen, TX, VA Tech, etc.) and I hope it doesn’t end up with the self-appointed deputy making things worse.There’s a big difference between putting holes in a paper target at the range and trying to shoot someone in a public place who may be trying to kill you or an innocent bystander, to say nothing of the noise and confusion.
Is there a name for this Red Dawn/Dirty Harry fetish? Besides inadequacy?
It has happened, and no, it didn’t start a free-for-all. Instead, many lives were likely saved.I’m betting that Matthew Murray, the deranged shooter, thought he was going to a gun-free zone–gun-free except for his own, of course. That’s the issue: these guys always strike in what they expect to be self-defenseless zones. They’re willing to break all kinds of laws, including laws against murder, to take advantage of that.
Here’s a few more incidents where armed citizens stopped armed bad guys.
By the way, Nebraska does indeed have a concealed-carry permit law. It seems reasonable to me to expect places forbidding licensees to carry be required to accept liability for failing to protect citizens they have rendered defenseless. You may be interested to know that the mall has taken down this notice without comment.
You may also be interested to know that many carry licensees are indeed vowing not to shop in posted venues.
Oh, and all you folks crowing about “inadequacy” and “compensation”? Please see my post here about confusing guns and genitals.