Good Guy With A Gun

Every time a mass shooting or potential mass shooting is stopped by what Republicans and the National Rifle Association like to describe as a “good guy with a gun,” gun humpers latch onto the theory that it is the only way to stop a “bad guy with a gun.” But is it though?

In 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a good guy with a gun stopped a mass shooter. But did he really? The good guy with a gun waited outside the church where the bad guy with the gun had just finished killing 27 people and injuring 22 others. The good guy didn’t go in during the shooting, which now seems to be common practice in Texas for good guys with guns.

Waiting outside, the good guy opened fire on the bad guy after he came out of the church. He shot the bad guy, who then took off in his vehicle. The good guy and a second good guy pursued the bad guy who eventually crashed his car and died.

But did the good guy save any lives? After the bad guy left the scene, the good guy chased him instead of going inside the church to check on the wounded. Perhaps he really could have saved a life if he had stopped a victim’s bleeding. Who knows? But it’s hard to argue the good guy with a gun saved any lives or that this incident proves the theory works. Despite there being a good guy with a gun, 27 people died.

Sunday at a mall in Indiana, a shooter killed three people and injured three others before a 22-year-old good guy with a gun took him out. The good guy was legally licensed to carry a concealed weapon. The killer got off 20 shots before the good guy took him down. This good guy probably saved lives. But is this the system we want for gun safety, more people with guns? Republicans and the NRA say yes.

Gun nuts have already made it clear that dozens of dead children are a price they’re willing to pay for their right to own assault rifles. And with this latest incident, they’re surely going to celebrate that only three people died. But wouldn’t it be better if no one died? Can we live with mass shootings if only three people die at each? If so, we have some very low standards and appreciation for life.

We wouldn’t need protection from bad guys with guns from good guys with guns if perhaps no bad guys had guns.

CNN’s Alysin Camerota asked, “are we all supposed to rely on an armed 22-year-old in the food court?”

Kris Brown, president of the gun control group Brady: United Against Gun Violence, dispelled the NRA’s myth of the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun by saying, “If more guns made us safer, America would be the safest country in the WORLD. We need sensible gun laws, not vigilante safety nets.”

Our only option against a mass shooter shouldn’t be hoping there’s a vigilante hanging about nearby. Wouldn’t a better option be ending mass shootings? It can be done. It has been done, just not here.

When NRA fucks say banning guns won’t end gun violence, they don’t really know because we haven’t tried. Let’s give it a try. We’re Americans. We’re supposed to be good at magnificent achievements because we’re the greatest country in the world. Right? So, if we’re so awesome, then banning assault rifles and ending mass shootings should be a piece of cake. Hey, we’re Americans. We’re fat. We like cake. Let’s do it.

The only thing to stop bad guys with guns is for good people to end the carefree and irresponsible distribution of assault rifles.

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Right-wingers with gun fetishes have these fantasies that a bad guy will pop up, armed for a shooting spree, and then they’ll scream “yee-haw,” take the bad guy down with the gun they’re packing for such an event, and they’ll be heralded as a hero on the cover of the next issue of National Review and Gun Fetish Weekly. Somewhere in the headline, it’ll point out that our hero does not have a small penis.

It is a fantasy that rarely comes true. Most of these gun fetishists could have served in the military but declined. But, they’re real big about arming themselves as if they’re about to single-handedly invade Gambia. Or better yet, they have enough firepower to overturn a government insurrection from the deep state when they try to take their guns and remove their Republican president who was fairly elected by more acres than people.

The “good guy with a gun” is more than a fantasy. It’s propaganda and for the National Rifle Association, a selling point. They sell T-Shirts with the slogan, “does not have a small penis,” I mean, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun…” the rest of the slogan is on the back of the shirt, so if you’re a Republican and want to end the suspense, you’ll have to walk around the wearer to find out the rest of that sentence.

Yesterday, two volunteer security guys in Texas took out a man with a shotgun….AFTER he killed two people. Well, yay and skippitydoo. Does this prove the good guy with a gun worked out? Not for two of those people.

In 2017 at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a shooter armed with a semi-automatic rifle was pursued and injured by a “good guy with a gun” before he took his own life…after 26 were killed and an additional 20 were injured. The “good guy with a guy” chose to pursue his Rambo fantasy instead of helping those wounded.

Republicans tell us that the “good guy with a gun” prevented more deaths from happening. But in Sutherland Springs, maybe the good guy could have saved more lives if he had checked on the wounded.

The fantasy doesn’t always work out. While gun nuts highlight the rare success of a “good guys with a gun,” they don’t point out the failures. I bet none of your crazy, lunatic, rabid gun fetishists uncles have ever mentioned Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. Who’s he? He was a “good guy with a gun” who tried to stop a shooting at a mall in Alabama when another “good guy with a gun” shot and killed him. Did I mention Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr was black?

The truth is, even with your Rambo lessons, if you’re packing heat then you’re more likely to shoot yourself than a bad guy. Or, you’re more likely to be shot by police who can’t tell the difference between you and the bad guy. Even if you’re wearing that shirt, the cops will have to walk behind you to find out the end of that sentence. Maybe you should develop a shooting/spinning maneuver. Or, you, despite your Rambo classes, will shoot an innocent bystander or you’ll get shot by another “good guy with a gun.”

Here’s a fact that’s hard to debunk: If you don’t have a gun, it’s really hard to shoot someone.

A 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research study revealed that right-to-carry laws increase, rather than decrease, violent crime. Higher rates of gun ownership correlate with higher homicide rates. And gun possession correlates with road rage. People feel a lot more froggy when they’re packing.

Having the gun fantasy is more deadly than safe. What would be safer for you, me, and even the gun fetishists who will probably end up shooting themselves are gun laws that make it harder for people to commit church shootings, thus eliminating the need for a “good guy with a gun.”

The truth is; The “good guys with guns” create more “idiots with guns.”

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