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Is it an “anti-self-defense” sign? Or an “anti-offense” sign?

A sign is never going to stop a would-be mass murderer from carrying out his plan.

But, then, that fifty-cent sign isn’t meant to stop a would-be mass murderer.

It’s designed to stop the crackpots among gun owners who don’t want to kill anyone, or even hurt anyone, but who just aren’t as responsible as they ought to be.

I have some friends who are gun owners, and because of specific training they’ve gone through, I’d have no problem being around them if they were carrying a concealed weapon. And I may well have: if their gun were properly concealed, I wouldn’t have known they were carrying to begin with, would I?

But I know them and I know they’ve been trained, drilled and trained some more.

If I’m in a crowded theater, or a restaurant or a stadium, I have to hope that everyone who might have a concealed weapon is just as responsible and well-trained as people I know personally and trust. I have to hope that none among them is the kind of guy (or gal) who’d react first and think later, who’d take an unwarranted action against what might look like a threat but really isn’t. I have to trust that none among them would make a severe tactical mistake that would only make someone else with a gun make a mistake of his own in a chain reaction. Particularly when chain reactions in which guns are involved always carry the possibility of ending very badly.

I have to be willing, in every public place, to put my lives in the hands of everyday people I don’t know and who aren’t highly-trained law enforcement officers. That’s a bit much to ask in my book.

If someone in that Colorado theater had been armed, it is unquestionably possible that he could have ended the threat sooner.

RoyGBiv wrote:Here's an interesting thought from one of the comments on that article...

Is it possible that the CO shooter made a conscious decision to take his madness to a "No guns" posted movie theater instead of taking it to a Colorado college campus (he was a student in CO, remember) where concealed carry was finally affirmed to be legal earlier this year? College campus where licensed carry is allowed, or a movie theater where CC is discouraged by management?

We'll probably never know... but.. made me go "Hmmmmm"...

I have to be willing, in every public place, to put my lives in the hands of everyday people I don’t know [...] That’s a bit much to ask in my book.

7075-T7 wrote:

I have to be willing, in every public place, to put my lives in the hands of everyday people I don’t know [...] That’s a bit much to ask in my book.

Oh, please...

Same thing is true every minute of the day. We all have to trust others to behave, but be prepared if they don't.

Every time I hear someone say, "I just don't trust it if someone was armed around me, what if they just shot me for no reason?!", I always think it's just that person projecting their own insecurities, of what they might do, onto other people and condeming them for it.

AlphaWhiskey wrote:I personally have far more concern with the driving habits of those around me than I do whether or not they are carrying!

AlphaWhiskey wrote:I personally have far more concern with the driving habits of those around me than I do whether or not they are carrying!

AlphaWhiskey wrote:I personally have far more concern with the driving habits of those around me than I do whether or not they are carrying!