FJAG said:
"Donohue told ABC News that the research “concluded that allowing citizens to carry handguns seems to increase violent crime 13 to 15 percent by the 10th year” of the laws being enacted in the state."
Yet, despite (or because of) a vast increase in the number of privately-owned firearms, especially during the Obama years, the US homicide rate is at a multi-decade low, save for a spike in the last couple of years (look up "Ferguson Effect", the most likely cause). That is not disputable, no matter what studies to the contrary may attempt to "prove".
It is the large cities, and, in particular, certain neighbourhoods within them, that are seeing the largest increases. Those cities skew both state and national rates, as their rates are often many times the state and national rates. Many of those cities have extremely restrictive firearms laws, which serve only to encourage and protect violent criminals.
"Another takeaway from the NBER report is that the presence of the gun could turn a would-be good guy into an intentional or unintentional bad guy.
"Donohue and his co-authors cited the infamous 2012 case of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who got into a deadly confrontation with teenager Trayvon Martin."
"“Presumably, George Zimmerman would not have hassled Trayvon Martin if Zimmerman had not had a gun, so the gun encouraged a hostile confrontation, regardless of who ultimately becomes violent,” the report stated."
Mr Zimmerman, a crime watch volunteer, was following a suspiciously-acting hoodie-wearing person in an area that had seen many break-ins and reporting his observations to the police when he was attacked. I have seen no indication that his being armed was a factor in his actions prior to being attacked, or that he was "hassling" Martin. Being armed may, however, have saved his life, as Martin was on top of him, pummelling him, and slamming his head into the ground when he was shot. Florida's "stand-your-ground" law was not invoked in Mr Zimmerman's defence despite it's controversy at the time as, with Martin on top of him, he had no ability to retreat even if he wanted to.
"Gold pointed to the Dickey Amendment as the clearest example of such obstruction. The federal government in 1996 banned the use of any funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from being "used to advocate or promote gun control." The NRA was widely reported to have lobbied for the inclusion of the amendment, written by then-Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., in that year's omnibus spending bill."
Aside from the fact that Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention are no more qualified to properly conduct research into criminal matters than criminologists are to conduct research into plagues and epidemics, CDC was using sketchy research to advocate for gun control measures. Political advocacy was not in their mandate, and barring them from spending public funds outside of their mandate was the right and sensible thing to do.
"The FBI has also compiled some of its own numbers breaking down what role "good guys" have played in active shooter incidents. In a 2014 report, the FBI examined 160 active shooter incidents that took place between 2000 and 2013.
"The report found that in five of those incidents, armed individuals who were not members of law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the shooter, leading to either the shooter being killed, wounded or taking his own life.
"By contrast, 21 of the 160 incidents ended after unarmed citizens “safely and successfully restrained the shooter,” the report stated.
"“Most of the time, if you’re talking about a civilian stopping a mass shooter, it’s the unarmed guy without the gun because they're right there,” Donohue said."
No surprise, given the relatively small number of people actually carrying lawfully. Any unarmed person tackling or otherwise confronting a mass-murderer is either extremely brave or extremely desperate, and anybody getting away with it is extremely lucky - and likely wishing that they were armed at the time. Interestingly, the survival rate for those people was not given.
"There is a growing number of mass shooting incidents that occurred after the release of the FBI’s 2014 report where a so-called good guy with a gun was on the scene but did not stop the shooting or shooter.
"The most recent example is the armed school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who did not enter the building or engage the shooter. Fourteen students and three adult staffers were gunned down."
More than simply being "on the scene", ie remaining safely outside in this case, is required. One has to be active rather than passive. Somebody more "on the scene", like the coach who shielded students at the cost of his own life, might have been able to save himself and some others had he been armed.
Information is still coming out about that particular deputy's actions, and the reason for them.
"Five people were killed at the January 2017 shooting in the baggage claim portion of the Fort Lauderdale airport, where there are regularly armed police officers."
As I have said before, several times, uniformed police and security personnel are easily identified and avoided. This is where concealed carry has the advantage.
"Las Vegas casinos are known to have regularly armed police officers and there were off-duty law enforcement officers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival but the shooter who fired at the concertgoers was able to fire shots for roughly 10 minutes before the shooter’s room was breached by police officers."
This was an entirely unique situation, for many reasons. "On the scene", in this case some distance from the murderer and on the other side of walls, is not the same as a mass-murderer killing people at very close range where somebody carrying concealed may be close enough to engage and neutralize. And I do not believe that this particular murderer's room was breached within ten minutes as claimed.
"In November 2017, a so-called "good guy" did respond to the shooting that unfolded at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, but not until after the suspect had left the scene and already killed 26 people inside the church."
The was engaged and shot by Stephen Willeford, and dropped his rifle before driving of at high speed. Mr Willeford jumped into Johnnie Langendorff's truck, and the two pursued him until he went off of the road and crashed. Mr Langendorff was in communication with the police during the pursuit, and the police arrived soon after it was over.
Had those two not pursued and reported, the police - who arrived well after both parties had left - would not have had a clue where the attacker went, or his status.
Had the murderer not been thus stopped, he may well have moved on to commit more murder elsewhere.
As for arming teachers, doing so creates the last line in a layered defence. After the attacker remains undetected or is ignored prior to his attack, successfully gets into the school (not hard for a student to do), and avoids any formal security that may or may not be present,
who is left between students and attacker? Who are the only ones likely to have any positive effect in the few long, long minutes between the start of the attack and the arrival of police, who still have to get inside and locate the killer?
The teacher does not have to be a brilliant marksman or tactician. Even if the attacker is not quickly neutralized, the distraction provided can allow others to get away.
And, not to be discounted, is the deterrence value of having armed people inside the school, with a potential attacker not knowing who is, or even how many are, armed, and where the armed people are - a similar advantage that submarines have.
This is a first-aid solution. A two-day course and a small packet of bandages does not turn a person into a trauma surgeon, and a home fire extinguisher does not turn a homeowner into a professional firefighter, nor does a smoke detector guarantee that everybody will get out of a house or apartment alive. Sometimes, though, they give enough of an edge - buying precious minutes - until the pros arrive and take over.
There are already many teachers with concealed-carry permits. Like many other permit-holders, they often spend much more time on ranges than the average policeman/policewoman. They also know their schools and students much better, and are much closer to the site of the killing when it starts. They may also have thought through many possible scenarios and mentally rehearsed their actions over many years. They not only have the survival of their students to motivate them, but their own survival as well. That is a significant advantage.
Some jurisdictions permit them to carry in schools, most do not, but more are going that way.
rly:
