More guns is not the answer

The recent gun-related slaughter in a Texas church reminds me that I have more than once sat in church wondering – perhaps even during the sermon – what I would do if someone walked in and started shooting.

My conclusion inevitably is: nothing very effective. For the person in the pews, the tactical setup is a trap.

I have further been guilty of fantasizing about what I would do in that or similar situations if I was packing my .357. Fantasy creates livelier, perhaps even heroic, reactions to a gun situation. I’ve never imagined a 95 mph car chase ending with the shooter crashing, but I have imagined sort of … winning, somehow.

Trouble is, fantasy is just fantasy. In a real situation, nothing ever happens as you have fantasized, nor even as you might have planned logically.

In reality, what little I remember of tactical training from my infantry days tells me these situations are not going to be settled or “won” by my being armed, nor from anyone else in the situation being armed, because in the panic after the first couple of rounds (this recent guy shot 450 rounds in a few minutes) there will be no clear field-of-fire. Instead, the tumult will negate every kind of training even the most basic civilian gun-carrier knows, things such as always be sure of what’s between you and the target.

The two Texans who engaged the shooter in this recent case were the right guys in the right place at the right time. They took the right actions, in my estimation, and were part of the right results. But their example will be used by the pro-gun folks as evidence that “more guns” is the answer. Problem is, those two men were an anomaly.They are heroes but they aren’t the solution on any large scale.

In fact, “more guns” is simply another facet of the insanity. The bumper sticker that says “an armed society is a polite society” is a lie. Rather, an armed society is a frightened society. The whole point of civilization is to be secure enough in our daily public and private lives that we don’t need to be armed and fearful.

Violent video games have to take a share of the blame for the mess we’re in, but I think the NRA is also at fault. That organization could and should have, with some compromises plus more virtuous motives, been the unquestioned leader in turning the nation away from its potential for the current craziness. Instead, the NRA has nudged us toward this situation with its sales-savvy, flag-wrapped myth that daily life is a continuous tactical danger which can only be survived by more paranoia, more guns, more gear, and more ammo … all contributors to NRA coffers.

To me, that’s certainly not following an intention of those who wrote the Second Amendment. Rather, it’s a plain sellout to a darker side of the gun industry.

Many Americans seem to think we need to go back to better days. I generally disagree with this kind of nostalgia, except in this case, because if we go back to, say, the 1920’s, we didn’t have these kinds of crazy slaughters for the simple reason that the crazies didn’t have assault weapons.

But we’re in it now up to our eyebrows, and truly there are very few good solutions, either pro- or anti-gun. Who would have thought that the most free, open society in history would become so fearful, sad, and randomly dangerous, held hostage by one of its codified freedoms.

Ron Rude is a retired teacher and former school superintendent from Plains.