Three Guys With Guns

At first read, this story sounds like an NRA ad come true: two good guys with guns save the day when they come to  the aid and kill a bad guy with a gun. But upon further perusal, you quickly realize that by the admittance of all involved (except the bad guy-he’s dead), this was a narrowly-avoided clusterf&ck. Here’s what happened:

A shooter approached a restaurant in OKC and opened fire upon its front. The first good guy hears the gunfire, arms, and goes to the scene of the shooting. The second good guy happened to be driving past and stopped to see what was transpiring. When he was told of a shooter, HE arms himself and proceeds to the scene. So. You have the shooter. Good guy one. And good guy two. They concurrently decide the original shooter is the bad guy and shout at him to disarm. When he fails to comply, they open fire. The bad guy dies of multiple gunshot wounds. But not before the police arrive, to find THREE guys with guns on the scene. The bad guy is down by now. But the police, exercising due diligence, handcuff all three and take all men into custody to sort out who is who. The good guys are eventually released. The bad guy, as previously reported, dies. No-one else was hurt during the incident.

But just consider the possibilities! The good guys stated that that THEY have done so, and that it was purely a matter of luck that they didn’t mistake each OTHER for the shooter. So, just think about this. Now you have two people who are shooting at each other by mistake; an active shooter who still might intent on his original plan of action, so he is still shooting. The risk of casualties, intended or accidental, has just risen greatly. Then add to this the arrival of the police, who are of course ALSO guys with guns. How are they supposed to ID the bad guys with guns from the good guys with guns? (Hats? Idk….) In any case, I’m saying that this is getting to be WAY too many guys with guns. (And please please please don’t tell me the answer is to arm everyone. It’s too late at night for me to even begin to address THAT argument.) If the idea is to keep everyone safer, and that WAS the original intent of the whole guns-thing, this does not seem like a sensible way to be managing it. Unless we’ve changed the intent and it’s now just to protect GUNS, not people.