The Brady Campaign extends sympathies to the innocent victims and others affected in today’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum.? This shows that having even more guns in more places is the wrong answer to America’s gun violence problem.
– Brady Campaign Press Release
What the hell are they smoking, and where can I get some?
Sure, the nutjob had a gun, but he possessed it illegally; he served a prison sentence after taking various guns into the Federal Reserve in 1981, and thus is almost certainly prohibited from carrying guns. Furthermore, it’s illegal to murder people (like the museum security guard he killed), something he did anyway. The passage of more laws restricting the right of law-abiding citizens to own and carry private arms would not have prevented this incident.
In this case, the gunman was stopped by someone with a gun: another security guard. Clearly, having more guns (in the hands of good people, that is) was beneficial; I doubt that the shooter was interested in simply shooting a security guard and then leaving.
Of course, security guards are not everywhere, nor can they protect everyone all of the time. I trust that the lesson people will take away from this terrible incident is that no amount of laws can stop criminals from committing their heinous acts, but that an armed good guy can. To quote Breda, “Carry your gun – it’s a lighter burden than regret.”
In the aftermath of such a tragic event, I am reminded of the words of the late, great Jeff Cooper:
The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.
While not armed with rifles, I’d say that the security guards at the museum should be counted among those good men.