Posted on 04/10/2009 12:43:14 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
America is facing an epidemic of gun violence.
Thirteen people were killed last week in Binghamton, N.Y., when a gunman, identified by authorities as 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, executed a mass shooting at the American Civic Association. The aftermath of that bloodshed has raised many questions, including whether armed, everyday citizens could take down such a gunman and save lives. Could you protect yourself if you only had a gun?
There are 250 million guns in the United States, enough for almost every man, woman and child to arm themselves. The FBI performed 12 million gun-related background checks in 2008, according to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. And with more than 50 deaths resulting from mass shootings in the past month alone, the argument for ordinary citizens arming themselves in schools, workplaces and anywhere else continues to grow.
But if teachers at Colorado's Columbine High School or the students and faculty of Virginia Tech University had concealed or open-carry permits, range training and loaded handguns mixed with their school supplies, could they have taken down men armed to the teeth, ready to die and acting under the element of surprise?
Watch "If I Only Had a Gun" tonight on a special edition of "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET
Some, like the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, which claims to have more than 38,000 members, think it would at least give people a better chance to survive.
Matt Guzman, leader of the advocacy group's Texas chapter, said that an armed student or citizen might even be more effective in taking down a gunman than law enforcement.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
It may not get you out of a shooting, but you have a much better chance of walking away from one if you do have a gun.
But have you ever noticed how many FEWER people carrying guns are the victims of shootings?
“Could you protect yourself if you only had a gun? “
Actually the question should be...
Could you protect yourself if you had NO gun.
The answer to that is an absolute NO.
End of lesson.
“gun violence”?
Kinda like “SUV rage”?
Carrying a gun may not, but shooting the gun you carry will.
Gee.....I guess we'll never know as the choice wasn't even available. I hate libtards.
There. Fixed it.
As usual, the disinformationalists argue from the false premise that any solution they don't like be 100% effective.
No -- no agenda here, folks. Move along...
I hate libtards, too! They have the brains of tapeworms and maggots.
tell that to Suzanna Hupp.
Wow. 12 MILLION background checks in 08 and only 50 deaths from ‘mass shootings’ in 09. That’s a percentage of.....really, really small.
No shots fired, BUT THE CRIME STATISTICS FALL!!!!
Fact: Having a loaded weapon raises your probability of shooting the assailant by more than 125 MILLION percent.
Things like that wouldn’t happen if more law abiding citizens were like this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWgp2abM2w
It is an amazing scientific discovery, considering that a student's life depends on eliminating the threat, whereas a LEO's life depends on just the opposite.
I don’t agree with your BARF alert.
The article very accurately describes adrenaline dump (tunnel vision, loss of fine motor skills) and raises an excellent question about whether carrying a handgun would help the average person thru a shooting crisis. And it provides excellent advice on what you can do if you don’t happen to have a gun handy.
I wish we could get ABC here in New Zealand: I’d be fascinated to see how the students do in the simulation. I will go out on a limb and speculate, tho’ — I suspect it’s not as easy for them as pull-out-the-Glock-and-shoot-the-Bad-Guy. I bet most of them adrenaline dump and freeze up.
I’d be really grateful if someone could watch this one and tell me how it goes.
*DieHard*
***** liers and puppets
In a situation like Virginia Tech University shootings, the very worst case is exactly what happened. No change.
In the best case, fewer people, and possibly none would have died.
Somebody point out the down side here, cuz I missed it.
Electing Obama won’t necessarily improve your life either.
Wearing a life vest won’t absolutely prevent you from drowning if your boat sinks either. Nor will having a fire extinguisher in the house absolutely prevent it from burning down.
However, both will put the odds on your side, should either of those eventualities occur.
Jack
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