(no subject)

[kebechet]

So, I keep seeing people go on and on about how if other people in the theatre had been packing, the tragedy in Colorado could be averted.

People of the Someone Should Have Shot Back mindset, are you saying that in a darkened theatre filled with smoke and an unidentifiable gas, hundreds of screaming, scrambling, panicking people, and gunfire, under the duress of unimaginable terror, adrenaline, and fight or flight, you would have had the presence of mind to pull out a gun, release the safety, take aim, and headshot a kevlar-armored moving target without injuring or (heaven forbid) killing a fair number of bystanders in the process? Are you confident that other law-abiding gun-toters in the theatre would be possessed of this same mystical composure?

It's good to know that there are so many SWAT and Navy Seal-trained laymen out there ready to protect us at the drop of a hat.

What happened at the Batman premiere is horrible beyond comprehension. My heart goes out to everyone that is suffering because of that madman.

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[bassclefgirl.livejournal.com]

I was at a mini-conference a few years ago and ended up in a session about workplace safety. Woman running it started off with playing the Columbine 911 call ('cause I totally signed up for that!), and then putting forth the idea that if the teachers and/or other adults there had been carrying, the tragedy could have ended sooner.

I teach. I can do a lot of things well at the front of a classroom. The idea that taking down a shooter ought to be one of them? Beyond baffling.

That was the first time I remember hearing the "we'd all be safer if everyone was carrying" narrative. It's still as mind-boggling as it's ever been. I guess it's just another shade of victim-blaming, so it shouldn't really surprise me that much, but... goddamn.