Knee-Jerk Reaction
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I am concerned, as reported by The Pilot (“Village Bans Guns, Tobacco,” July 25), that the village of Pinehurst has banned concealed handguns at virtually all outdoor recreational facilities, including greenway trails. It seems a knee-jerk reaction to the massacre in Aurora, Colo.
If law-abiding citizens in the theater had carried guns, they would have stopped the massacre. Banning law-abiding citizens from carrying guns means only the criminals will be armed. And the criminals know this. If someone is harmed by a criminal at a village outdoor recreational facility, can he or his survivors sue the village?
I would have liked to have read the actual minutes of the July 24 Village Council meeting, but the most recent minutes posted on the village website are from May 23, 2012.
Peggy Smetana
Pinehurst
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Comments
Courseaire 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Just remember, it takes an armed smoking village to protect a child.
dustyrhoades 9 months, 3 weeks ago
If law-abiding citizens in the theater had carried guns, they would have stopped the massacre.
Yes, what was needed was MORE people firing weapons in a smoke-filled darkened theater at anyone else they see with a weapon. More chaos would have been JUST THE THING THAT WAS NEEDED.
This whole "if more of the people had been armed" argument is so stupid it makes my head hurt. The only thing dumber is the chest-thumping "if I'd had MY gun there, I'd have gone all Bruce Willis on that guy."
JimRussell44 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I admit, all I know about guns is that it only takes a finger flex to operate one. If arming everyone makes us all safer, why do we have concealed carry permits? Wouldn't it be smarter to walk around with your gun showing? That way, the criminals would immediately flee the area, right? Just strap on your 100 shooter (6 shooters are so 19th century) or sling that semi-automatic weapon of mass destruction over your shoulder when you head out to your favorite restaurant, bar, mall or movie theater. As one of the frequent posters said here recently, we need to use logic to solve these problems. My idea sounds logical to me.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"This whole "if more of the people had been armed" argument is so stupid it makes my head hurt."
You know makes my head hurt, liberal silliness that feels it was better for the shooter to be unopposed entirely for 15" to kill and maim at will as opposed to one or two trained individuals that could have returned fire. How ridiculous that you conjure up some "old west saloon" scenario where everyone is shooting in every direction. Of course there is the chance of innocents being caught in the crossfire, is that really worse than the friggin shooting gallery that was taking place. I just wish for once you could take the lib hat off and noodle something out before you just give us the party line. No offense.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
My guess is that if a few bullets would have been sent in his general direction, the chicken shxx "Joker" would have wet his pants and headed for the exit. Either way he was allowed to mow down people at will for far too long.
dustyrhoades 9 months, 3 weeks ago
How ridiculous that you conjure up some "old west saloon" scenario where everyone is shooting in every direction.
How ridiculous that you don't accept that that's EXACTLY what would happen under your "Every man a dead-eyed expert gunslinger" fantasy. I don't know whether it's that you've watched too many movies or that you never learned the difference between the movies and reality. But if you think there wouldn't have been more casualties from a mass of uncoordinated wanna-be Rambos trying to ID which of the armed people, in a smoky, darkened, packed theater was the one to kill, then you are truly living in a dream world. One trained off-duty cop or soldier? Maybe. But not a whole theater full of people firing blind in the dark.
My guess is
Your "Guess" is wishful thinking from a wannabe Rambo who doesn't even have the courage to post under his own name. Fugitive indeed. .
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"But not a whole theater full of people firing blind in the dark."
Only you and the other kooks are pushing this fiction. On average in a crowded theatre I suppose there would be 1-3 armed people. I think that is far more likely than your "everyone is packing scenario", remember there would likely be liberals in attendance and we know they are allergic to guns.
dustyrhoades 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Actually, dim-bulb, I own several guns and am a fan of the Second Amendment. That's a different issue from thinking whipping them out in that situation and blazing away would have done anything but get more people killed.
But go on with your little fantasy. Just clean up after yourself when you're done, mm'kay?
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
So, DR since you are dealing in fiction today, attributing to me things I did not say in the post lets consider the following. Just suppose you "mistakenly" took a gun into the theatre where this massacre happened. As the event unfolds you realize that you are the only one currently there that could oppose this madman. Are you saying that you would not use your weapon?
dustyrhoades 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Sure. But one person is s not the hypothetical in the letter that you're defending.
But thanks. When you move the goalposts, I know I've won.
NEXT!
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
DR, you proved my point, sorry I was insulting to you. Are we still going fishing this weekend if not can I use the boat?
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"I know I've won."
I think you and Charlie Sheen use the same scoring methods.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Let's all be like Zimmerman and be ready to whip out our guns and shoot someone we think is a threat. What if in Aurora most of the theatre goers had guns and several had pulled them and started firing at the shooter? What do you think would have happened? If that is the case and we all should carry guns, then we might as well do away with law enforcement. Why do we need them if we all are carrying and ready to shoot. I never cease to be amazed at such lack of common sense that prevails our society.
alladat1 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Well stated Pinewood - too bad this forum doesn't appreciate common sense.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Thank you, alladat1. Unfortunately, they don't.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
" What if in Aurora most of the theatre goers had guns and several had pulled them and started firing at the shooter? What do you think would have happened?"
I know it sounds crazy but I say the shooter would have been wounded or killed, I prefer the latter but then again I am a hate filled extreme right wing rabid Rushbot booger eating conservative.
WFB 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Everyone should be issued a gun upon birth.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You're right, fugitiveguy. He probably would have been hit. However, how many bystanders would have gotten injured or killed. Also, what would they have done? Someone call out "Okay, who is going to pull out their gun and shoot this guy?" If everyone had a gun, then in that state of panic, probably many would have started shooting. It may have been worse loss of life than what happened. Certainly, many people shooting in a confined area is a sure disaster. Also, many would most likely not be expert marksmen and with panic ensuing, a definite disaster waiting to happen.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"Certainly, many people shooting in a confined area is a sure disaster."
I think to the dead and wounded and there families what happened WAS a disaster. Leave it to the anti gun crowd to think that the possibility of a single innocent being injured is worse than allowing a madman armed to the teeth mow down dozens of innocents.
OldPilot 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Considering the fact that the shooter was dressed in black, wearing body/head armor and by all reports popped a tear gas grenade in the dark exactly what would one, two or a bunch of stalwart citizens blazing away under those circumstances have accomplished except shooting each other and a bunch of innocent bystanders? Dusty and all,with due respect, all you get by arguing until you're blue in the face with those who have drunk the Kool-Aid and frevently believe the answer to mass firearm killings is more firearms is blue in the face! There is, in fact, no cure for those impared by idealology, stupidity or insanity so honestly it isn't worth debating.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Amen, OldPilot. There is no other result to numerous people shooting wildly into a crowded venue but a bloody nightmare. As I said before, if everyone is armed everywhere they go, then we just need to do away with all law enforcement. If someone tries to rob a store, then the clerk or a bystander just pulls out their gun and shoots. I tend to believe that the founding fathers are spinning in their graves with what society has done. The right to bear arms was during the time where there was no police and people needed guns to protect their homesteads and families and to feed their families. It always amazes me when people use something that was passed centuries ago for the time and what the necessities were for that time and want to bring it into recent times and claim that it should be applicable. Laws need changing in respect to what is in the best interest of the public at that time. Now I'm sure all the people that want guns in everyones' hands will jump on this!!
irkim13 9 months, 3 weeks ago
In my opinion, if concealed weapons were allowed the coward would not have chosen this as his target. "Amen, OldPilot. There is no other result to numerous people shooting wildly into a crowded venue but a bloody nightmare"
isn't that exactly what happened only the coward was the only one with a gun.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You think it would have been less than a bloody nightmare if several dozens of people had been shooting, irkim13? It was a nightmare period, but could have been tremendously worse if multiple people were shooting. Just plain common sense.
irkim13 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Obviously no one knows, my point was it would never have happened ( due to his cowardice) if concealed guns were allowed and if it did happen anyway the trained few would not have just shot wildly but precisely or they would not have shot at all. The other point is 1 gunman alone results in a bloody nightmare... Fact. More than one especially some with adequate training.... who knows? Possibly only a few dead and injured (the Coward included), which obviously is still tragic but on a lesser scale.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"In my opinion, if concealed weapons were allowed the coward would not have chosen this as his target. "
Which dispels the myth of safety in "the gun free zone". The only one who is truly safe is the perp. By the time the cops get there even in the best of circumstances, its all over. I wonder what those poor people crawling around on the ground getting shot multiple times would have liked 1 or 2 fellow movie goers to at least put up a little cover fire to allow them to escape.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"the trained few would not have just shot wildly but precisely or they would not have shot at all. "
I have made this point in similar fashion several times today, however the anti gun folks insist that the only possibility is the legal gun owners would just start blasting away in all directions, I just don't see it happening that way.
irkim13 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Me either
russellw 9 months, 3 weeks ago
If I'm in there you can count, at least, one returning fire.
russellw 9 months, 3 weeks ago
By the way, I'm not concerned with who says I can or can not ccw.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It is so easy to say what you would do if you are not in the situation. With something like that, panic ensues and people do not act in a cool and deliberate fashion. That is why police go through such rigorous training. Unfortunately, most people do not learn to be sharpshooters that can stay calm and collected when something of this magnitude happens. I'm not sure that the people in that theatre would have been real thrilled to have bunches of people pulling out guns and shooting and adding just more panic to the situation. They wouldn't have known if the others were attempting to protect them or were other perps. In a crisis situation, people cannot necessarily determine what is occurring. That is why many times people are unable to give identifying information.
fugitiveguy 9 months, 3 weeks ago
" I'm not sure that the people in that theatre would have been real thrilled to have bunches of people pulling out guns"
bunches of people, I'm envisioning 1-3 max who would bother to take the training to have their cc permit. Why do you and so many others insist on this bunches or "everybody" shooting wildly. I guess its the only way your argument holds any water at all. Its just not a realisitic depiction in my opinion. Its confounding to me how the anti gun people feel its better to have people take their chances with a heavily armed madman with no one else armed. It just seems loony to me and I'm not just saying that to be insulting. Its always over before the cops get there, the cops simply arent a factor in most of these situations.
getreal 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It is so easy to sit in your home in front of your computer fugitiveguy and boast about what you would have done. BS, you would have been down on the floor crawling to safety like the rest of the people in there. Their eyes were stinging and blurred from the teargas, it was dark, the movie was still playing with loud sound and the creep was dressed in black with a bullet proof vest on! It happened so quickly, most thought he was part of the entertainment so no one had time reach for their gun even if they had one! You sound foolish and arrogant, you are not John Wayne, you just think you are. That is a dangerous delusion. How many terrible accidental shootings have there been? People killing their family members by mistake, thinking they are intruders? Bet the shooters all thought they were cool and could handle a gun in a tense situation. I hope you don't live anywhere near where I do, you sound dangerous. Happiness IS NOT a warm gun!
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
What makes you think that there would only be 1 to 3 people and that they would be trained? Some are saying that if people were just armed. Do they mean all of us? If so, then who is to do the defending? Do we gather everyone together at the beginning of an event and see who is armed and decide who will do the protecting? It's ridiculous. You make it sound like a script from a movie. There will automatically be several trained gun carriers at an event that will calmly stand up and shoot the perp and save the day. It's like what happens in a burning building. Panic sets in and cool and calm heads do not prevail.
pinewoodnc 9 months, 3 weeks ago
The whole issue is sad. It is something I'm afraid will continue as our society becomes more numb to violence as it is exploited in the media daily. Computer games full of violence and movies depicting violence. It is a sad commentary on our society.
clarabelle 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"irkim13 - Obviously no one knows, my point was it would never have happened ( due to his cowardice) "
It wasn't cowardice - he is INSANE.........nothing was going to stop him from doing this!
irkim13 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I would go further and add to cowardice, Evil. It does exist.
Arestorer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
What happens when those armed movie goers stand to shot a carriable size pistol(much lower accuracy) and shoots a few other movie goers??? What would they feel like or be charged with???? Small self-defence pistols arent exactly what you want to be trying to lob rounds 75 to 100 feet.
Behan 9 months, 3 weeks ago
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_KNIFE_ATTACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-02-06-05-46
The_AnonymusProfit 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You wanna no the good thing, fortunatly most Americans are pro gun
greentara13 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I used to go to the movies to escape; now I am going to stay home to escape all the vigilantes . Plus it really irks me when people text in the middle of a film; I would shoot too. For all you know they could be a terrorist, leaking secrets to the outside. NUKE EM!