The NRA, masters of the spin that they are, came out with an interesting connection. They linked the story of the woman who defended herself with a concealed carry gun and the inflammatory comments made by the sheriff, Chuck Wright, to the more recent Waffle House shooting in which another concealed carry gun owner supposedly saved the day. Meanwhile according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, there's been a "dramatic increase in Right-to-Carry permit applications."
The problem with all that is this. Startanburg is a violent and dangerous city, and not only because of criminals. During the same time that these two unrelated incidents of so-called legitimate DGUs took place, and the people are flocking to the gun shops motivated by fear and insecurity, there have been numerous improper uses of guns. The incidents of gun violence always outnumber those of legitimate DGUs. In addition to that, each DGU contains some element of doubt as to whether it was really necessary or not, while each improper use of the gun is clearly and always improper.
Spartanburg, South Carolina is practically a household name among gun control enthusiasts. Even on this blog we've written about that fair city several times. Two examples follow:
Last April, a lawful gun owners shot one and wounded another.
Last January, a 14-year-old used his birthday present to shoot his aunty.
What's your opinion? Is the NRA doing their usual thing, cherry picking a couple incidents while ignoring dozens of others?
Please leave a comment.
1. You should leave off the word, lawful, when you're referring to an illegal shooting incident. As I've explained to you before, the percentage of gun owners who commit crimes is tiny. The April shooting sounds like a criminal gun owner doing what criminals do, not a lawful gun owner.
ReplyDelete2. You claim that the trend is against gun owners, and yet here we have carry license applications on the rise. The same was true when Wisconsin rationalized its carry law. Now who's whistling in the dark?
3. The NRA produces spin, while the Brady Bunch publishes rational analysis and thoughtful proposals, is that it? I suppose that it's a question of which side a person is on.