Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainMattJ.
My only concern is if all that heat in one area is actually needed. Let's hope all those patrons know what they're doing should an emergency arise. Based on the average I.Q. of people i pass by everyday, i wouldn't count on all those strangers to handle crisis situations with a calm demeanor. Who knows how collected and how accurate these people would be should there be a shootout. God forbid innocent people die because a whole restaurant tries to be a hero at the same time and ends up missing or shooting the wrong people.
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That, to me, is the myth of the advantage of armed citizens. It works out if there is only one "good guy" and everyone else with a gun is a "bad guy". Makes target selection easy. Unfortunately, if more people are armed, it becomes harder to determine who the good and bad guy are.
Imagine that if some unknown number of baddies try to rob this place. A law-abiding armed citizen looks around and sees a human with a gun. This citizen has about 1/2 second to make, what is probably, the most important decision in their lives. Shoot or not shoot. Good guy with a gun or bad guy with a gun.
There are no save files to reload if I choose wrong.
No amount of time spend on a firing range can prepare a citizen for this type of decision. Police and military, even with training and practice, have difficulty making these decisions. Can we really expect Joe six-pack to be able to make these decisions?
I have spent far too much time at the firing range looking at bullet holes in overhead baffles or through the firing table to feel confident that the average armed citizen can be expected to be able to handle themselves in an actual firefight.
It is not like all the baddies will look a like (although I think some in this country may think so) nor do all the baddies stand at one end of the room and the good guys at the other.
Equally scary, there is a subset of gun owners, as demonstrated in some past legal cases, who seem to think that shooting is not a last resort, but much further up the decision chain.
I would not feel especially safe if I were in a place where the majority of citizens are armed. I simply do not have much confidence on the judgement of the average person.
My guns are to be used as the absolute last resort only to protect me and my family. I am not LE and it is not my job to take down baddies.