The wrong lesson learned

By now we've all heard about the shooting at City Hall yesterday.

People are drawing the wrong conclusions, of course.

It turns my stomach to hear how Councilmen and others in City Hall at the time of the shooting, as they themselves relate in interview after interview, dove under desks and cowered under chairs as the gunman fired away.

Imagine if even one or two Councilmen had been carrying guns on them and had opened fire on the shooter. Imagine if such a line of defense were allowed all over the country.

Now imagine the horror of being utterly helpless as a lone lunatic fires at a defenseless crowd, who should be so lucky as to have an armed policeman in their midst.

A single man with a simple handgun was able to throw dozens and dozens of people into a panic. Why? Why do we react to these sorts of wake-up calls by clutching ever-tighter to our mothers skirts? Why doesn't anyone have the strength of character to stand up and say "I'm a law-abiding citizen and I shouldn't have to live a life based on fear and chance: the fear of being attacked by a madman, the chance of having an armed police officer their in time to save me."

All citizens should be able to own and carry firearms, for the protection of themselves and of their fellow citizens. If you think otherwise, you believe that the rotten people outnumber the good guys. If people were allowed to carry guns into City Hall, do you think that other maniacs would have joined in on the rampage? If so, then you have better reevaluate your views on democracy and majority rule.

Or, do you think that the dozens of decent people in the room would have fought back?

Or, do you think that it would be much less likely for a man to be so bold as to enter a crowded room and open fire if citizens carried guns (Do you think this guy would have ever walked into a saloon in the old west and opened fire? He would be shot before he could finish reaching for his gun.)?

First off, it's pathetic that we've allowed ourselves to be reduced to antelope who will by the hundreds if one lion advances.

Second, the proper use of guns is home-grown skill, something fathers teach their boys and girls (imagine a father caring enough to wake up at 4 in the morning to take his kids on a hunting trip, or one who takes the time to teach his children the proper use of firearms, etc.). Our society, so eager for divorce and abortion and other anti-family ills, would be well served to adopt that sort of "gun culture."