No Pistol Could Have Stopped This
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 1 month ago
Alex Yablon:
On Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip, a gunman rained bullets on a crowd enjoying a country music concert from his hotel room hundreds of feet above. At least 58 people were killed in the barrage, and an estimated 515 other victims were rushed to local hospitals for treatment, making it the worst mass shooting in American history.
If the carnage in Las Vegas ultimately alters the gun debate, it won’t be just because of the casualty count, staggering though it is. It will be because the circumstances of the shooting nullify the central animating argument that the National Rifle Association has deployed throughout the numbing succession of public mass shootings—there have been 28 of them, by one count, since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Our good friend Alex wins the idiot-argument of the week award. To say that a pistol couldn’t have stopped this is effectively the observation that a long gun has a longer range than a handgun. The missing piece in the argument is that all shootings for which self defense is necessary occur from stand-off distances where a pistol is ineffective.
We all know this is false, and Alex doesn’t believe it either, else he would be arguing for the disarming of police. I would suggest that even Alex knows that he’s being dishonest.
This is a horrible try, Alex. Next time don’t mix apples and oranges.
On October 5, 2017 at 1:17 am, Joshua Smith said:
For the sixteen-millionth time, the second amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with self defense.
On October 5, 2017 at 2:46 am, DJMoore said:
Moreover, if more than two or three crowd members had been carrying long guns, I shudder to think of the casualties in the hotel from the return fire.
Fire extinguishers have not extinguished the fire risk.
There is always a way for a sufficiently determined enemy to slip through the tightest cordon.
Crap happens. Deal.
(And yes, what Joshua Smith said.)
On October 5, 2017 at 8:12 am, Ned said:
Yeah -bullshit. Had the unarmed security guard – Jesus Campos – who was shot through the door while confronting the shooter, been armed with a mere “pistol” who knows how the thing would have ended.
Remember – when you dial 911, police are only 72 minutes, and a few thousand rounds away.