General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe big reason that more gunz aren't the answer to mass shootings:
No one discusses the fact that amateurs, which is most gun owners, might get it wrong and start shooting innocent people.
It hasn't happened much yet, except for the instances of children getting ahold of gunz, and just plain human error, but there is always a possibility that someone with the best of intentions might decide to become the fixer, and instead, cause unwanted harm.
Personally, I want trained, qualified, experienced surgeons cutting me open. Same goes for airline pilots, bankers, lawyers, auto mechanics, hair dressers, even food prep people.
The concept of the licenced expert used to be accepted practice: Maybe it's due to computers and the ease at which many of us have become good at doing things we could not do unaided. Maybe it's the availability of information on the interwebs. Maybe it's tv fiction. I can't pinpoint why people reject the idea of expertise these days, but they do.
Hence, anyone can be president, including illiterate megalomaniac fools.
So, personally, I'm happier when the people carrying the gunz are at least supposed to be professionals. Ok, ok, sometimes cops are bad and racism messes with my premise. Sure. Of course. But fix the racism and the politics that lead to bad police work, rather than just arming people who are now legally allowed to roam around high on mind-altering drugs.
No solution where humans are concerned is ever fool-proof, but a civilized society would aim to only give deadly force to those with solid training and constant oversight.
We don't let toddlers drive for good reason, Neither should we allow any ya-hoo to run around with a gun, looking for bad-guys to shoot and crimes to vindicate.
Consider the possibility that an ununiformed undercover policeperson is yelling at someone with a gun pointed. Maybe that could be misunderstood by an amateur and the cop could be dead, letting the real criminal get away. There are many ways amateurs with good intentions could cause tremedous harm.
No one thinks about that.
The_Casual_Observer
(27,742 posts)mistake. Like at the end of "The Night of the Living Dead"
lindysalsagal
(20,692 posts)They're only valuable in the hands of experts.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,202 posts)and they aren't all going to be bad guys.