Recently I spoke on background to a couple of producers working on a news special on gun violence-related trauma. Speaking “on background” means that I would not be quoted but the producers are trying to get a better understanding of their subject matter as they proceed to put the special together.
I am usually happy to do this in order to try to have a point of view represented in the final product that might otherwise not be. For me, as someone who specializes not in gun violence but in gun culture, the POV is that of the normalcy of guns and gun owners.
In the course of our discussion, one of the producers asked me, “How do gun owners respond to mass shootings” like Uvalde?
My response (paraphrasing here):
Like any normal human being does. They feel grief, rage, disbelief, compassion, and other normal human emotions.
Many might want to offer their thoughts and/or prayers for the individuals, families, and communities affected, but “thoughts and prayers” have now been weaponized by activists who insist that the only appropriate response to mass shootings is gun control right now. Which, of course, has been politicized as “common sense.”
It was a very interesting question to ask, but an important one, and I was glad that I had the opportunity to answer it as the producer seemed as if he had genuinely never thought of my answer.
Gun Curious 
Also with considerable frustration, as gun owners recognize those ‘common sense’ controls make no sense whatsoever, and only distract from & delay steps that could prevent these horrific incidents.
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Those controls do work. However, in the U.S., they’re undermined by serious built-in loopholes.
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Not sure which controls or loopholes you have in mind.
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The “common sense” term is a real pet peeve of mine
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“loophole” is another loaded phrase. It has a sorta-political-sciencey technical definition (an accidental technicality or unclear section of a written document that allows someone to avoid following a rule or fulfilling an obligation) but in today’s parlance, it is whatever it is that is not in a law that someone thought should be there. For example, the 3 day limit on a NICS hold was not an unintentional loophole. It was intentionally put there to force the government to shit or get off the pot when doing a NICS investigation rather than leaving a prospective buyer indefinitely dangling. But I have repeatedly heard it called a loophole. Language should mean something.
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Well, there is grief, rage, shock (still, believe it or not), disbelief, compassion, frustration, a sense of futility that another “me too” person has competed for the ignoble award, and a sense that as a gun owner, it’s BOHICA (bend over, here it comes again) from the gun control crowd.
I had to shake my head today. Although I am currently in the penalty box on Twitter (mainly, because those who are in charge of Twitter are functionally illiterate when it comes to metaphor and figures of speech), someone posted a comment by Shannon Watts who demeaned the armed citizen who shot and killed a mass shooter in Indiana who was going about shooting people in a food court**. So even when a lawfully armed citizen is a hero, some on the other side find a way to demean a lawfully armed citizen rather than give grudging praise.
** https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/indiana-passer-by-hailed-after-shooting-mall-gunman-2022-07-18/
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Watts complained that with the ‘good guy’, three deaths still occurred. Of course, Watts’, et al., (specious) argument for magazine capacity limits is, they will slightly reduce the body count. Pot, meet Kettle.
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If the teacher who had left the door propped open had followed protocol… (Do you know how inconvenient it is to have to walk ALL THE WAY around to the front of the building?)
If the teacher who left the door propped open had made sure it was locked when she kicked her non-regulation prop out of the way…
If the cops in Uvalde had a spine…
If the teachers had been armed…
The story would have turned out very differently
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But people are people. Apparently, someone decided that City Hall should be locked up after 1700. But we routinely have board meetings in Council Chambers after five p.m. and the powers that be forgot that detail. So someone propped a door open.
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The fact that someone didn’t understand what the needs around meetings are, doesn’t mean that security should be bypassed.
The Uvalde shooter entered at the door that was propped open. Think about that for minute. He knew or suspected that the door would be propped open because it ALWAYS was. Because security is SO INCONVENIENT!
Well, I imagine that the parents in Uvalde wish that the screw-up-teacher-of-the-century had opted for a bit of inconvenience.
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CNN, in its Greenwood coverage, seems to recognize the “good samaritan” (please read the parable and apply its message), but it is followed by the NYT piece that there are few legal gun owners who stop massacres. Actually, I was impressed with the number of bystanders who intervened but also understand the limitation of carrying in many venues. In fact, I have read the Greenwood protector was carrying against the policy of the shopping center. If true, very interesting set of facts.
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This is yet another Rorschach Test about guns in America. Both sides will see what they want to see in this event and nobody will change their mind. Is 22 mass shootings stopped by armed citizens a lot or not many? Depends on your starting point. I’ve even seen people raise the question of whether some of the killed or injured in the mass shooting were killed or injured by the armed citizen not the perpetrator. One of the gun control organization leaders referred to vigilanteism. Etc.
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I suspect the shopping center will not protest too loudly.
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Indeed, they’ve issued a public thanks.
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That, in most states, only FFLs need to do background checks is a big loophole. That ghost guns can be sold in the manner that they are is a big loophole.
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