In response, you could point out a dozen cases of non-CHL holders doing the same thing or stories of CHL holders defending themselves.hirundo82 wrote:The problem is that people are irrational, emotional beings. If you have two people debating and one talks about the statistics showing that CHL holders are on average far more law-abiding than the general population, and the other one says, "Yes, but this one person with a CHL gunned down a young girl in front of her mother," an observer is likely going to walk away with a negative view of CHL holders in general.MechAg94 wrote:I think y'all are overreacting on this coming back at us. This is the not the first CHL holder to screw up and he won't be the last. The DPS statistics already show that CHL holders in general are good people and commit crimes at a much lower rate than the average population. This one incident won't change that.
As pointed out about the "bus" incident above, the media is going to say bad things about us regardless of how good or bad the shoot is. I would rather not have this incident happen either, but I think we are all agreed that (barring some unknown evidence) what he did was stupid and wrong. I would have no problem saying that to anyone.
I would also have no problem pointing out this kid did not need a CHL to have the gun with him at that time. We have to remember that all the CHL represents is that we have no significant criminal record and we are over 21. It is only a "good guy" badge because we make it that way through our behavior.