Before the blood was dry on the ground in Virginia, the esr-style gun nut computer nerds on reddit.com were revealing portentously that VT had recently banned their students from carrying guns — the implication being that things would have been much better if there had been a firefight instead of a mere massacre.
A good response to that, by someone who should know, is found here.
I’m tired of listening to gun-nut’s wish-fulfilment fantasies about being the hero of the day.
One of the first rules established in the old west was that nobody carries in town. It took about three days for that rule to pass in every town, right after the first drunken brawl when someone got shot or killed. It was very much NOT like we see in westerns.
The constant, TV- and movie-fueled fantasies of the gun crowd really get to me. We know what happens when war planning is based on chicken hawk fantasies learned from the 4:30 movie rather than the war college. We get Iraq. Why should we set public policy based on Gunsmoke or Dirty Harry? It’s insane.
And by the way, I’m former co-captain of my school’s rifle team, a damn good pistol shot, a former war games designer for the DOD and have researched and written extensively about black powder, guns and their history. I’m not anti-gun. I like guns. I’m just tired of the Dirty Harry bullshit.
Second place is: “Why didn’t someone count the shots and jump him while he was reloading? That’s what I would have done if I knew I was going to die.”
Sure you would have, Rambo.