As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.
At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.
"Count the shots"? "Just jump him"? "Even if hit, your chances aren't bad"?!
My God, this guy -- and anyone who has thought anything like this -- is just living in a delusional fantasyworld where the things that people do in action movies or shows like 24 are actual options in real life. We might as well wonder why anyone didn't just slip on a Ring of Power and then use the resulting invisibility to sneak up behind the shooter and then eviscerate him with their lightsaber. He probably thinks that in the face of a massive explosion people can outrun fireballs, too.
I hate this kind of crap. I really do. I hated it a few weeks ago when those British soldiers were released by Iran, and a number of right-wing bloggers actually seemed disappointed that they hadn't been murdered. I hate that Derbyshire has the audacity to bring up Flight 93 ("Did we learn nothing?"), as if the situations were in any way similar. I hate the impulse, the ever-constant reflex, to blame victims for everything: it's your fault for not leaving the city when the hurricane came, even if you had no means and nowhere to go if you did. It's your fault for not getting a better job, even if you applied and applied and applied and no one was hiring.
And it's your fault this guy was able to shoot as many people as he did, because your actions didn't match the hypothetical macho-man fantasies of a guy who once engaged in a conversation with Jonah Goldberg (Mr. "I'll have my book done just as soon as my readers are done researching it for me") about why the victims of the Titanic didn't just float to safety on armoires and hutches, and who thinks that women hit their peak of attractiveness just after puberty.
Tell me again about right-wing civility. Please.
1 comment:
I really don't think it's that unreasonable of a sentiment... After seeing 3 people shot with another 20 in the room, I don't think it's all that unreasonable for someone to make a charge rather than wait for their turn to get mowed down. It's a FLIGHT or FIGHT reaction...not a FLIGHT or WAIT TO DIE
It's happened before where unarmed bystanders grapple lone gunmen to the ground... or better yet pick up a chair and throw it at him and then charge him
I think the part about the "it's only a .22" is nonsense, because when you're getting shot at you're not likely to take not of the caliber of the bullet
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