...And Again...

I had a blog post brewing in my brain about the Lane Bryant killings a week or two ago in Tinley Park, and then the NIU shootings happened last night. So, let's address them both now, shall we?

My heart goes out to the victims and families affected by these shootings. They're tragedies, plain and simple. And I understand that people are grieving and are hurt by these events, and feel the need to strike out at something. But I have to take issue with the knee-jerk reaction to use such tragedy as an excuse to deprive law-abiding citizens of the right to defend themselves and their loved ones from exactly this kind of threat.

Let's think about this for a second. Nearly everyone is falling over backwards to praise the NIU security team for their quick response -- I've heard figures such as three minutes bandied about -- and yet the head of security himself says that the whole incident was over before security got to the scene. Five innocent people, plus the shooter himself, dead in under three minutes, and many more wounded.

A lot of really bad stuff can happen in the span of time it takes for law enforcement to become aware of a threat and to arrive on the scene, folks. But there is a good number of people out there just roaming the streets and minding their own business who have the skills and the tools to defend not only themselves and their loved ones, but you, too, if you happen to be in their vacinity when something bad goes down. People like current and former law enforcement, current and former military, other trained first responders, and ordinary citizens who have taken up defensive pistol shooting as a hobby. Why shouldn't these highly qualified individuals be allowed to carry a weapon to further increase your personal safety?

Had a single student or teacher been so trained and equipped, had a single random shopper been allowed to carry concealed after completing an appropriate training program, we might have fewer innocent victims, not just around Chicagoland, but around the country.

Let me tell you a story. When I attended my first major defensive pistol competition as a simple observer, I was understandably a bit shaken to see everyone walking around with a gun on their hip. It's not something we're used to in the Chicago suburbs. But a funny thing happened -- everyone was as polite as could be to everyone else. No one was rude or obnoxious. I stopped worrying about leaving my car unlocked, or my purse unattended. And at the end of the day, when everyone was packing up, a bear wandered out of the woods at the opposite end of the field we were parked in. Rather than being scared by a bear in our midst, we all stood around, amused, and watched the bear look us over and then go back into the woods.

Guns in the right hands are tools. They are nothing to be afraid of. Guns in the right hands will NOT be stolen by criminals unless it's over our dead bodies, because we are responsible enough to store them securely and are trained to make sure that we'll shoot the bad guys before the bad guys get our guns. These are the only people who will qualify for a theoretical concealed-carry permit. These are the people who can defend you if your world collapses while they happen to be nearby. These are the people you want to disarm and turn into victims-in-waiting just like you.

Criminals and mentally-ill individuals bent on violence will always have access to guns, no matter what kinds of laws exist. Think about it. Criminals by definition don't follow the law, so restricting the sale of guns to law abiding citizens won't reduce access one iota. I support sensible gun control laws that keep criminals and mentally-ill people from legally purchasing guns. But excessive "gun-control" legislation only keeps law abiding citizens from exercising their right to be their own -- and your -- first responder.

We've had enough victims recently in the Chicago area. Let's not create any more, shall we?