The Colorado tragedy, and the drumbeat for gun control.

First things first, I feel awful for those affected by this shooting. I cannot imagine how terrible it must feel to lose a loved one to a crazy person.

The newest news reports are reporting that this subject was dressed as the Joker character from Batman, and told authorities that he was in fact the Joker. Obviously this person has some sort of mental issue going on, and that in my opinion must be what pushed him to do something like this.

Not even 24 hours have passed since the incident occurred, and we are already hearing the drumbeat for more gun control from the usual sources. Initial reports are saying that this movie theatre was posted with no guns signage, so legal concealed carry permit holders could not legally carry their firearms into the building. Obviously these sighs did not stop the shooter, because criminals do not care about signs, because…they are criminals.

A gentleman from Chapel Hill, NC called into one of my favorite radio shows tonight claiming that there is no need for civilians to own 30 round “clips”. He kept stating that he defends his home with a Mossberg shotgun, and a .357 revolver. The radio host asked him if we were to ban 30 round “clips” if this subject wouldn’t have found a way to get one, and the caller conceded that the subject would probably be able to get them, and he then rambled on and on about how no citizen needs a 30 round “clip”, not realizing that he had already conceded his point. Guy from Chapel Hill, my primary home defense weapon has a 30 round magazine. I hope like hell I’ll never need it, but for the same reason that I carry a gun, or have insurance, its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Now, I’m not saying that a concealed carry permit holder would have been able to engage this subject, however I would much rather have a fighting chance, than be fish in a barrel. If half of the people in the theater had been carrying, I seriously believe this psycho would have thought twice about committing this act. Adding more gun control would do nothing to help these kinds of situations, it would in fact make these sorts of things worse, as more “good guys” would be unarmed, and we already know that the bad guys don’t care about the law, so they will remain to be armed.

This knee-jerk reaction calling for more gun control is disgusting. We need to be pulling together, and mourning the loss of good people to a crazy person, instead of calling to restrict the rights of more good people. I know it hurts after something like this happens, but don’t be fooled into thinking we need knee-jerk legislation because of this.