Why do we carry guns? This is why: “A shootout among members of several rival motorcycle gangs in a busy shopping plaza in the Central Texas city of Waco on Sunday left at least nine bikers dead and nearly two dozen other people injured, creating chaos on a sprawling parking lot packed with afternoon shoppers, law enforcement officials said.” Members of two gangs just happened to pick the same restaurant? Well, not really. “Waco police officers were already at the scene when the confrontation unfolded because they had anticipated problems as hundreds of bikers from at least five groups gathered at the shopping plaza.” . . .
When the excrement inevitably hit the air handling equipment,
The fight spilled into the parking lot, initially involving just fists and feet, but escalating quickly to chains, knives, clubs and firearms. …
“When (police) approached the scene, there were multiple people on the scene firing weapons at each other,” Sgt. Patrick Swanton, a Waco Police Department spokesman, said at a news conference, referring to the officers in the area of the restaurant. “They then turned on our officers. Our officers returned gunfire, wounding and possibly killing several.”
As the New York Times reports, thankfully and miraculously,
No officers, no shoppers or bystanders were injured. The authorities said their decision to place officers outside the restaurant before the gunfire erupted most likely saved lives.
“There were so many rounds fired from bad-guy weapons here, it is amazing that innocent civilians were not injured here,” said Sergeant Swanton, who added that investigators were expecting to recover about 100 weapons. “In 34 years of law enforcement, this is the worst crime scene — the most violent crime scene — that I have ever been involved in. There are dead people still there. There is blood everywhere.”
Moms Demanding Disarmament in America and other anti-gunners have immediately seized on this incident to demand/hope that Texas abandon its move towards permitted open carry. Nope. Crime- and the fear of crime it engenders – is a powerful motivator towards greater gun rights, not away. At least in the Lone Star State. These days.