Gun controllers are scrambling to explain away how a good guy — several, in fact –with a gun stopped a bad guy, to rationalize more restrictions on good guys. The Arizona Republic’s Elvia Díaz is fairly representative of what I’m seeing.
Texas church shooting is about a lot more than Jack Wilson’s heroism
The reality of Wilson’s heroism is a lot more complex. He wasn’t just an ordinary parishioner, as gun advocates may want you to believe. The church’s volunteer security team member is a firearms instructor, gun range owner and former reserve deputy with a local sheriff’s department, according to a New York Times detailed account.
I have news for Ms. Díaz. Jack Wilson’s training and experience isn’t all that rare. At this point, I couldn’t begin to estimate how much training time I have had, nor estimate to the nearest thousand just how many rounds I’ve fired (admittedly, I’ve been slacking off lately without the backyard range I used to have).
In a way, even his obvious heroism isn’t terribly exceptional; several other congregants demonstrably shared it. As do thousands of other Americans, which even the anti-rights Violence Policy center reluctantly admits.
In other words, he’s exactly the kind of man you want around with a firearm. But we know nothing about the at least six other parishioners who also appeared to draw their handguns at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas.
Actually, we do know something about those others who responded: They were not a bunch of irresponsible yahoos who drew their shootin’ irons and shot up the place. In short, they were typical, honest gun owners who chose to go armed.
But have we really reached a point when each of us need to carry a firearm anywhere we go? Gun advocates certainly think so. They point to Wilson and the new Texas law that allows him and others to carry firearms inside the church.
When felons and other who are prohibited from firearm ownership are obtaining firearms and going into churches and other locations to kill people, then yes. We have.
“If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.”
— Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin
Again, Diaz gets it wrong:
The Second Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms.
No, it doesn’t; it’s a preexisting right. Just ask the Supreme Court.
Elvia Díaz judges gun owners by her own limitations. What she apparently sees as exceptional is what I call being a decent human being.