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You have your "facts" a little mixed up. With the exception of exactly one case (Giffords shooting), every mass-shooting in the past 50 years has been in a location where ordinary people were prohibited by law or other rule from carrying a weapon. Yes, even the ones on military bases. Unless they are in an active war zone or otherwise stationed in an area where carrying is necessary, US soldiers are not permitted to randomly wander about base carrying firearms. Only MPs and soldiers on guard duty are allowed to be armed, which means military bases are really no different from any other location where only the police and security guards are allowed to defend themselves.
And as already mentioned, Holmes wasn't armored. If he had gone to one of the larger or closer theaters where a few of the audience members could legally carry concealed there likely would be a few more people breathing the air today. I'm not saying a good guy could have stopped the shooting completely, and yes it's even possible the good guy could have hit an innocent. But instead of 12 deaths and 70 injuries, maybe 4 deaths and 30 injuries. And even if some of those deaths and injuries were caused by the good guy's bullets, wouldn't that still be better than 12 and 70? Also, Holmes started with a shotgun, switched to a rifle which jammed, and then finished with a pistol.
"Ordinary" people don`t want to be playing cowboys in their adult years. That`s nutty.
And as already mentioned, Holmes wasn't armored. If he had gone to one of the larger or closer theaters where a few of the audience members could legally carry concealed there likely would be a few more people breathing the air today.
If all theaters let normal, law-abiding people carry, most still wouldn't bother. But a few would. And this Holmes guy would have known that, no matter which theater he chose, among the hundreds in the audince that night, there were probably a half dozen or so who were armed.
He clearly wasn't afraid to die, it's just a fluke that he didn't get taken out eventually by police. His goal was to create massive numbers of dead victims, to have lurind headlines plastered across the nation for weeks or months after he was gone. But if Concealed Carry had been allowed, he would have known that the huge body count he wanted to rack up, to create weeks of lurid headlines after he was dead, probably wouldn't have been possible.
As a result, there's a much better chance he would have put his silly ATAS stuff away and stayed home that night.
The greatest advantage of Concealed Carry has always been, that many crimes don't happen in the first place.
It's something the fanatical gun-haters don't want you to remember.
"Ordinary" people don`t want to be playing cowboys in their adult years. That`s nutty.
I agree.
I am not a police officer or a "cowboy", and when I carry I don't imagine myself to be either. I know a lot of people who carry for self defense (people ranging from my 65-year-old mother who sometimes caries cash bags to the bank, to my neighbor who is a former US Marshall, to me). Exactly ZERO of those people hope to be the person who gets to stop a mass shooting. Exactly ZERO of those people want to shoot someone. Carrying a weapon is no different from carrying an insurance policy. No one capable of critical thinking wants to use it, but it's there if you need it.
The whole "cowboy" fantasy is nothing but an anti-gun straw-man argument. But keep on using it if makes you feel better.
Is that why police open carry? In order to have their weapons taken from them and used against them?
No point in a cop carrying concealed, unless he's undercover.
When he's in uniform, you know he's armed.
For civilians, concealed carry is much better. Even if Concealed Carry is allowed for all law-abiding adults (as the Constitution requires), most people still wouldn't bother. But a few would... and the criminals don't know which ones they are. But they know that somewhere in the crowd, there's probably a few people carrying guns... and so they'll be a little more reluctant to pull anything.
The biggest advantage in universal concealed carry, where all law-abiding adults are allowed to carry a gun, is deterrence. Even though they know most people still don't bother, the crooks know a few will carry. It keeps them guessing... and fearing, as it should. WHile the law-abiding have nothing to fear from other law-abiding citizens... any more than they need to fear the car next to them on the drive to work.
For civilians, concealed carry is much better. Even if Concealed Carry is allowed for all law-abiding adults (as the Constitution requires), most people still wouldn't bother.
The Constitution makes no statement about concealed carrying. It states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. At the time of writing concealed weapons were considered cowardly, dishonorable, and only people with evil intent would choose to intentionally hide weapons about their person. This is still true today, armed criminals try to retain concealment of their weapons until they are needed.
Prohibiting concealed carry would not infringe a persons right to bear arms. Stating that people must conceal their bearing of arms if they are bearing arms would infringe a persons right to bear arms of the kind that cannot be concealed.
I'm not saying that the constitution prohibits concealed carrying, just clearing up that there's no basis to make the assertion that concealed carry is constitutionally correct.
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What is safer (for the individual or society), Open Carry or Concealed Carry?
