Just to elaborate on what should be the main takeaway in this: the insane gun culture that exists in places like Tucson, Arizona…and all over America…
Republican Peter King has proposed federal legislation that would prevent people from knowingly bringing guns within 1,000 feet of an event at which members of Congress and federal judges are appearing. Whether this would have any effect on anything is quite debatable, for sure, and is probably nothing more than a symbolic law to make Republicans feel better about themselves, but…
The mere mention of it at a site like National Review, the most sane (?) right-wing corner (really, not saying much), is enough to set up off an alarm in the 2nd Amendment crowd, 95 comments strong (a lot for them), and filled with words of wisdom such as:
Why not require that EVERYONE be armed within 1000′ of a congressman? Polite debate and immediate dispatching of miscreants would take place. What’s not to like?
This clown wouldn’t have gotten off 30-odd shots first, of that much we can be sure.
Again, this is a common assertion, that an armed citizenry would have prevented something. That a crowd of holstered guns would be able to suddenly turn and react in a situation as this one, or in any other situation imaginable, taking out the shooter before any damage is done, saving innocent lives. How? Doesn’t matter. They are convinced. But if it ever were to happen, this time in Tucson was the place, with its conceal and carry laws. In fact, I have read that some people at the event were indeed packing heat.
So…what happened?
The shooter was disarmed by three elderly unarmed citizens, one of them a woman, after getting off 31 shots and killing 6 people, injuring 14 more.
The law will never pass, nor will any gun control in this country, despite the logic, despite the truth, despite the madness. But take heart, vigilantes: Sales in Glock Pistols Up After Arizona Shootings.