Why Do You Need a Gun in a Theatre

Or are you claiming that people should have to worry about guns as they go out to the theatre, just as they shouldn't have to worry about guns when they are supposed to be learning in school?

Coming late again into the story. My only excuse was that I was working yesterday, and only heard bits a pieces of the story throughout the day. Apparently 12 people were killed, and 50 wounded in the attack. Of course, I pray for the families of the dead, and I pray for the return to health of the injured.

Most of what happened after the shooting in Aurora Colorado was entirely predictable. The usual suspects from Mayor Bloomberg, to the Brady Campaign to CNN and ABC News have come out calling for more restrictive laws on the ownership and carrying of firearms. For news on that, I take you to Anthony Martin's piece in the Examiner entitled Media Exploits Colorado Shooting to Push Gun Control. I will repeat what I have said in past posts: namely that more restrictions on the average gun owner does not translate into lower crime. In this particular case, the AMC Cinemark (Thanks for the correction Sean) Theatre had a no guns policy (Read comment at the end.) The shooter had both the guns and the ammunition legally. There are laws already on the books against murder, and assault with deadly weapon. If he were going to violate these laws, which are well known, what makes you think that he will obey yet one more law. This kind of thinking borders on the irrational, and makes anyone who proposes it look, if not stupid, then irrationally afraid of inanimate objects. It is as if gun grabbers actually believed this. (Note, for the humor challenged out there, that was satire.)

Sean Sorrentino has a good article up at An NC Gun Blog entitled Concealed Carry in Theatres in North Carolina. It is indeed illegal to carry a concealed handgun into theatres in North Carolina. The wording of that provision is somewhat vague, and could be applied to a lot of venues besides movie theatres:  concerts (real concerts, like the Symphony Orchestra), plays, County fairs, the State fair, car shows, boat shows, and...well you get the picture. Going into any of these places, you are forced by State law to place your life in the hands of others.

Only you can decide for yourself what to do about this state of affairs. I do not advocate disobeying the law. But Mike Vanderboegh has a Lesson of Colorado: Ignore Victim Disarmament Zones and Pack Concealed Anyway. It is hard to see where he is wrong. The theatre owners and management don't take their responsibility to protect their customers very seriously. Of course, the State takes no responsibility at all, though they are the ones here in North Carolina telling us we can't take responsibility ourselves. One has to make a decision at some point whether to risk his or her life, and that of his loved ones, or to disobey the law in order to obey a higher law. That is the dilemma the State forces upon us when they make laws restricting our rights.

I don't know if having a citizen with a gun would have made any difference, or how much of a difference.  When someone launches a deadly attack, the outcome is never certain.  But the people who were confronted by this shooter should have had at least a chance to fight back.  Maybe more of them would be alive today.

Update:  From the Hill, Gun Control Calls folowing Shooting, but Few Expect Major Changes. The Dems just can't stand it that you might be able to defend yourself, and thus you don't need them.