does arizona need less restrictive gun laws to prevent gun violence?

[Uncle Wig]

The guy being referred to, who was carrying his own gun, never even drew it. This is according to HIM in an interview with a local reporter on Saturday. The ones who subdued Loughner and prevented him from firing any more were unarmed.

[Mac1337]

He didn't draw it because he was on top of him. Would you charge the perp if all you had in your pocket was a smelly wallet? You too would sell your mother for a 45, may be even a 38, if your life was on the line.

[sekker]

Only the US continues with this insanity that guns save lives.

Sorry, spent too many years in Baltimore. More guns = more homicides, especially handguns.

I live in a state where it is a citizens constitutional right to hunt - but handguns are still rare. We do not have the same murders because people own rifles, not a ton of Saturday night specials.

[Dennis S]

How come one of the open-carriers didn't just take him out after the first or second shot? That's supposed to be the advantage of open-carry, isn't it?

[michaelb]

Grace62 wrote:
What I don't get is how he passed the background check (there was one done by the FBI) with a criminal record and after having been expelled from a public community college as an adult for aggressive, threatening behavior. He was told he had to have a mental health clearance to return, so there was little doubt as to what was going on there. He was considered dangerous.
That should create a flag of some sort to prevent him from buying a weapon, I would think.

Although there may be some variation among the states, I don't believe there is meaningful enforcement of the mentally ill aspect of the federal gun law. The "background check" would have simply been a computer check of the NCIC database for any prohibition entered in the system. The info is sent in to NCIC by the states, and most (maybe all, maybe some?) states don't really report mental health commitment orders to the feds for this purpose. And I am pretty sure to be "brady disqualified" for a mental illness requires at minimum either a civil order of commitment or some other court decision in order to qualify.

[cbelt3]

Dennis S wrote:
How come one of the open-carriers didn't just take him out after the first or second shot? That's supposed to be the advantage of open-carry, isn't it?

Never been shot at, have you ? Without extensive combat / law enforcement class training, your first reaction is to run and hide. At least it was mine. And you can empty a 30 round mag in a Glock in probably 5 seconds at rapid fire. I know I can get all 10 rounds out of my S&W .22 auto target pistol in about 3 seconds, and it's a big 'ol with a very large and massive slide.

CCW license classes teach primarily safety, then a small amount of target acquisition and gun handling, not to mention 'shot avoidance' (How to run and hide). They do not teach you how to be Rambo.

[Dennis S]

cbelt3 wrote:
[quote=Dennis S]
How come one of the open-carriers didn't just take him out after the first or second shot? That's supposed to be the advantage of open-carry, isn't it?

Never been shot at, have you ? Without extensive combat / law enforcement class training, your first reaction is to run and hide. At least it was mine. And you can empty a 30 round mag in a Glock in probably 5 seconds at rapid fire. I know I can get all 10 rounds out of my S&W .22 auto target pistol in about 3 seconds, and it's a big 'ol with a very large and massive slide.

CCW license classes teach primarily safety, then a small amount of target acquisition and gun handling, not to mention 'shot avoidance' (How to run and hide). They do not teach you how to be Rambo.
How come when there's a Virginia Tech type shooting, the gun people all say we should let all of the students carry guns so they can stop the shooter?

[Mac1337]

Dennis S wrote:
How come one of the open-carriers didn't just take him out after the first or second shot? That's supposed to be the advantage of open-carry, isn't it?

Because the guy was shopping at Walgreens across the street. He was one of the three guys sitting on top of him. There was something in his pocket that made him go for it, and it wasn't his driver's license. The perp had plenty more rounds if he wasn't brought down. You may not like guns now sitting in your pajamas in front of the fireplace but you too would sell your mother for a 38 Special if you were caught in there.

[Dennis S]

Why weren't there other people carrying guns that could have shot him? I thought that was why we want people to be free to carry guns around. I thought in Arizona and Texas and other states like that, that people were carrying guns to church and everywhere else just itching for some nut to start firing so they could be the hero and take him out.

[Black]

Dennis S wrote:
Why weren't there other people carrying guns that could have shot him? I thought that was why we want people to be free to carry guns around. I thought in Arizona and Texas and other states like that, that people were carrying guns to church and everywhere else just itching for some nut to start firing so they could be the hero and take him out.

It's simple. There's just not enough guns.
Arizona needs to stop pandering to the anti-gun lobby and enact and enforce mandatory carry.