Insanity
The gunman, dead on the sidewalk
Let's promptly call bullshit on the talk from gun nuts about how the Charleston church shooting deaths might have been avoided if someone in the church had been carrying a gun. (Have you no sense of decency?)
Here's one example of why this talk is disconnected from reality: On Aug. 24, 2012, in the shadow of the Empire State Building, a gunman shot to death a man who had laid him off from his job. Two policemen nearby tried to arrest him. Here's The New York Times account of what happened next (emphasis mine):
From about eight feet away, the officers confronted Mr. Johnson and when he pulled out his gun, they opened fire, shooting a total of 16 rounds. Mr. Johnson was killed and nine bystanders were wounded, perhaps all by police bullets.
Here's the story: (Cops in a tough spot)
As the story points out, the bystanders were not necessarily directly hit by police bullets. And please understand: I am not in any way criticizing what the officers did in this situation. The situation could have been much worse. More people than the gunman could have been killed. My point is that the officers-highly trained professionals forced into making a split-second, life-and-death decision in a crowded space-hit the gunman with just half of their shots.
It's at best difficult to believe that a gun-carrying ordinary citizen with far less training than a New York City cop would be likely to stop a nut with a gun in a church, a school, a workplace, or any other crowded place. These armed citizens could very well claim more casualties than the criminal would, or their ineptitude might prolong the situation, making it even worse.
More to the point: How many stories do you hear about armed citizens shooting criminals and preventing multiple casualties? They would be media heroes. The NRA would make sure of it.
Name one.