Good point.
I also suggest that if I were in the audience and armed that night John Wilkes Booth would not have made it off that stage or I would have died also trying to kill him.
It would not have saved the President, as he was already shot by that time, but it would have established an expectation for those who would try such a thing.
In answer to the supposed question: Yes, I would have been armed and I would have gone after Booth. Also, it is not likely that I would miss if I shot at him unless he shot me first.
It is a moot point, to be sure, history is what it is, but it is also just a matter of one’s own set of values and what one is prepared to do at any given moment in time. I wasn’t there so we will never know that outcome, will we.?
GOD Bless,
RAWGUY
The audience was confused, giving them little time to react. Only in movies does the hero always react with lightning speed. In real life, it is the rare individual to who is able to react in time.