> Based on the narratives, do you feel it was better the quadbiker, two male mountain bikers, and the father and his daughter were unarmed?
Tough call. My gut tells me that it would be better if they were all armed, as a matter of course. Then I look at this particular specimen — Graeme Burton — a parolee who had already served a sentence for murder, who was about to commit his second murder, and who had a history and talent for violence, a sociopath with no conscience.
And he did not want to be taken alive, as subsequent testimony showed.
If Mr Kuchenbacher were armed, Burton would have harvested whatever he was armed with. He was riding a quad bike not expecting to be ambushed by Burton.
The first pair on the bikes may have been able to stop him had they been armed: they didn’t have that choice as they were unarmed and forced to flee.
There is an excellent chance a well-armed Burton would have emerged from the trails to meet the police, with several dead people left behind in the hills. As it were, we know that the best the police could do is hit him in the leg.
On balance I’d prefer everyone armed. But that comes at a significant risk.
> I think it would have been better if the those adults had possessed firearms. Graeme Burton would have been facing tougher odds.
Agree. And facing tougher odds, perhaps he would have acted even more ruthlessly than he did.
Under the same circumstances, I’d prefer to be armed.