Doonesbury Say What?

[thewayne]

"You just never know if I'm packing or not packing."
— Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, owner of a .380 ACP Bersa semiautomatic handgun, a gift from her husband

and

"After the elections, I let my guard down. Now I know I need to have [the gun] on me."
— Rep. Heath Shuler, D-NC

I believe people should be able to lawfully carry weapons. I also believe Arizona has gone way too far in making it too easy to carry concealed weapons, even allowing them in restaurants and bars. But the problem here is that the guy who shot up the Safeway and a congresswoman and killed a Federal judge and 9 year old girl, among others, was a nut job. IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP A DETERMINED NUT JOB.

Look at Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was surrounded by cops, and Ruby got him. Reagan was surrounded by Secret Service, and John Hinckley got him. Congresscritters are almost never alone, and if they're in public and making a pubic appearance, they're almost certainly distracted. And carrying your own sidearm won't do you a bit of good against a sniper, just look at JFK and MLK. Which isn't a great example regarding carrying a sidearm, but it does show the difficulty in defending against a determined assassin.

There was a congressman talking about 'I'd like to see him try something like that at one of my rallies in Texas!' Loughner was stopped by a woman, who had already been shot and wounded, who snatched a magazine from his hand as he tried to reload. He had another magazine, but the spring broke, and two guys jumped him and kept him pinned until law enforcement arrived. So you're going to fire in to a crowd of people to try to stop an assailant? It's going to be interesting, and appalling, to see how many people are injured or killed at future political assassination attempts.

Oh, and Jean? If you're relying on a .380 to keep yourself alive, you're in deep trouble. A .380 is not a very powerful load, and short of a Walther PPK, which I have owned and shot extensively, most .380's are crap and unreliable. Get a Glock 45 ACP Mini if you want to stop someone and keep the gun small.

Comments

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

While I can understand why people feel they need to carry guns, I'm concerned about what you touched on. Do we want shoot outs between two untrained people in a crowd?

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I think the actual threat to politicians is rather small. The Loughner/Giffords incident was exactly that: an incident, one happening. There's going to be a lot more heated rhetoric about guns, as if we ever have a shortage of heated rhetoric. I just hope people don't get hurt or killed because of mistakes.

It's almost impossible to stop a single nutjob intent on killing or mayhem, especially at something like an open air meeting where access is not controlled. And unless you have multiple guards with guns drawn, ready to shoot people, you're probably not going to stop at least one shot from going off. But multiple guards with guns drawn make it far too easy for an accident to happen and an innocent to get shot or killed, not to mention that it represents a significant financial investment to maintain that level of protection.

What a mess.

[silveradept]

Furthermore, there was someone with a pistol there and a willingness to use it - and he almost shot the wrong people!

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Bersa Thunder is a great little gun. I've had a Walther ppk and a Bersa, and I actually preferred the Bersa. I ended up selling it, though, because... I do that. (sigh) Probably end up getting another one some day.