What about the "good guy" with the gun?

Predictably, following the horrendous massacre in Orlando, someone would raise the NRA litany: “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” This time it was that darling of the NRA, Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.

At his Atlanta rally on Wednesday, Trump proclaimed that if more people inside that club had pistols on their hips, the carnage may not have been stopped but would have been considerably reduced presumably because good guys with guns would have nailed Omar Mateen just like Wyatt Earp gunned down the Clanton boys at the O.K. Corral.

Of course that makes no logical sense whatsoever.  Then again, not much of what Trump says does.  According to reports, the club was crowded with 200 to 300 people.  It was dark and noisy.  People were dancing, drinking and milling about and it was a scene of chaotic merriment you’d expect in a popular night club.

Omar, who had firearms training, whips out his AR-15 and starts mowing people down.  Then imagine, say, a half dozen untrained, scared to death patrons pulling their Glocks and starting to fire wildly in the direction where they think bad guy is.  Maybe someone might have pulled a lucky shot and hit Omar, however, I think that highly unlikely.  I doubt that untrained, armed patrons would have stopped the carnage and with bullets flying in the dark from multiple sources it most probably would have been worse.  In the chaos, nobody could tell who the bad guy was and the shooting would have gone on and on.  And if the cops showed up and had to confront numerous shooters what would they have done?  Shoot everybody?

Now let’s change the subject slightly.    There actually was a good guy with a gun at the Pulse Nightclub that night.

It was widely reported that a uniformed off-duty police officer was stationed at the entrance to the club and he “engaged” the shooter.

So, if we had a “good guy” at the door—who presumably was well-trained and armed—why didn’t he stop the “bad guy” immediately, before the “bad guy” entered the night club and slaughtered 49 people?

 

I have heard only one subsequent report about the guard on the evening news which made one fleeting reference to the “security guard.”  It went, “the guard engaged the shooter and then retreated into the club.”  Basically, if the report is correct, the supposedly well-trained “good guy”, was not capable of stopping the heavily assault-rifle armed “bad guy” and ran away.  I will reserve judgement on that until more information becomes available.  I would certainly like to hear the media and law enforcement officials comment on that.

As can be expected, the Republicans will do what the NRA tells them and oppose any common sense gun control measures.   For starters, let's ban assault weapons. Period.  There is no reason any American needs a weapon that is designed specifically for armed combatants to kill people.  Stop telling people that American is so bad and so dangerous you “need” a weapon to protect yourself.  Increase scrutiny for gun purchases:  Full background checks; gun purchase denial to anyone who has even the slightest questionable behavior, domestic violence, sex offense, mental illness, no-fly status…anything even minimally negative.

Personally, I would like to see gun registration.  If you have a gun, you register it in your name and take full responsibility for how that gun is used.  (You know, just like a car.)  Of course that will never happen as long as the NRA keeps bullying and buying our politicians.  So, here we go again, let’s wring our hands, shed some tears, make noble statements about our resilience and wait until some other maniac does it again.