Gun control doesn't stop shooters

  (My Eastern New Mexico News column for December 16, 2020)

A couple of weeks ago I was in Lubbock for a while. Before heading home I stopped by a Lubbock Walmart so I could grab a few items without being herded like a cow through a chute. As it happens, I missed the fatal shooting there by moments. I was almost surely still in the parking lot when the tragic crime occurred.

Crimes-- real crimes against life, liberty, and property-- infuriate me. There is simply no excuse. There is also no excuse for enabling such crimes with ignorant policies which help the bad guys by putting the good people at a disadvantage.

What do I mean by this?.

I mean, once again, a place with a "No guns" sign by the door was the scene of a shooting. Will wonders never cease?

Very little makes me sicker than a "No guns" sign at a business. Bad guys will never obey such signs. You might as well roll out the red carpet for those set on murder. You've offered the rest of your customers to them on a silver platter with your compliments.

A "no guns" sign has never in the entire history of the world stopped a criminal from bringing in a gun and shooting someone if it's what he's set on doing.

If someone could be stopped by a sign, he could also be stopped by someone looking him in the eye and saying "No!" In fact, that would probably be more likely to work than a sign posted by the door. At least this is personal and he knows he has been noticed and called out for his behavior.

Instead, those signs, and those who enforce them, only keep out the people who are prepared to defend the employees and customers from such criminals.

It's the polar opposite of being helpful. It's a cheap political stance-- political theater-- prioritizing feelings over reality in the name of imaginary safety.

I never want someone intent on harm to be able to pull out a gun, a knife, a stick, or a fist without being stopped cold where he stands. Not even once. Some might believe that's a little harsh, but he made a choice. When police get in the way of this result, they've done more harm than good.

I don't support criminals or those who side with them by making up or enforcing victim disarmament rules. As if there's a difference.

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Holding your tongue at the gun counter

A couple of days ago I was at the gun counter in a national sporting goods chain. A customer told the counter guy he was just looking, but then commented that he noticed that they seemed to have sold a lot of scopes in the past week. Counter guy said, "We are selling a lot of everything!" He said people are even coming in to buy .22 long guns for home defense. I knew the reasons behind that.

Another counter guy and customer were talking, and I overheard that customer expressing his opinion that Trump had been the defender of liberty, and that Biden would basically be the end of America. 

I bit my tongue to stop myself from pointing out that while Biden is openly an anti-gun bigot with big plans for your guns, Trump was sneakier about it. He pretended to be on your side while violating your rights the first opportunity he got. Trump is no friend of gun owners; unfortunately, Biden-- with the help of a majority of anti-liberty congressvermin-- will probably be much worse.

But, yeah, I said nothing. I just stood there looking complacent and oblivious. It's the best I can do in such situations.

Long ago, I decided it is best to not comment on politics while in a gun store. Other than my favorite gun store back in Colorado, but that was different (...I believe).

During my time in Pennsylvania I had visited a gun store in my first couple of days there, and as I was leaving-- on foot-- it began to rain hard enough to drown frogs. Another customer who was also leaving noticed I was on foot and offered me a ride back to my motel. On the way, he warned me that the gun shop owner was a former cop and that many of its customers were current and former cops. He told me to watch what I said in there to avoid problems. (I hadn't said anything to anyone, so I was safe.) I thanked him for the warning.

You never know when there might be a snake in the grass. Yes, the popular (with cops) thug-rug haircut can be a dead giveaway but don't rely on it.

And anyone might be Stasi.

There's a time to speak up and a time to observe and collect data. Wisdom is knowing which time it is.

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