When twenty two people were murdered at an El Paso Walmart last weekend, the finger pointing was quick to start. Prominent Democrats said President’s Trump’s rhetoric was to blame, despite the shooter’s manifesto expressing support for radical environmentalism and stating that his ideas predated Trump’s 2016 campaign. But while you’ve probably seen a lot about the El Paso tragedy, there were some other ones that happened recently.
You won’t hear much about them.
In Chicago, a man shot eight people on Sunday. Hours earlier, someone else shot another seven victims at a playground. Unfortunately, the violence doesn't stop there.
RELATED NEWS: Nobody Needs an AR-15? These Folks Did.
Last month, twelve people were shot at a New York City block party. In April, eight were hit at a cookout in Baltimore. The next month, a shooting in New Jersey left six victims. Also in May, three people were shot near a high school in Washington, DC. None received significant coverage.
So why did these incidents get so little attention? The death toll could be a factor: in each case, most of the victims survived. Another explanation?
They don't fit the narrative.
"Common sense gun control" proposals are touted as a solution to mass shootings. The problem is that each of the jurisdictions listed above have already enacted them.
Illinois requires a license to purchase a firearm, and Chicago imposes additional restrictions on "assault weapons" and magazine capacity. While the state finally started issuing concealed handgun permits in 2013, Chicago makes it difficult to obtain them; New Jersey and Maryland make it almost impossible. New Jersey also requires a permit to own a firearm, something Carol Browne knew all about. She was murdered while waiting for hers to get approved.
Obviously, the failure of those policies isn't something they want to publicize. However, there's another type of mass shootings that they don't want to discuss either: the ones that gun owners have stopped.
RELATED NEWS: Texans Who Carry Have A Lower Murder Rate Than Brits
Off-duty police officer Ken Hammond ended one when he was out for dinner with his wife. Church member Jeanne Assam did as well. So did an Illinois Uber driver.
A McDonald's customer was hailed as a "hero" when he prevented a mass shooting at the restaurant. A dental patient shot a gunman who came into the office. An armed mechanic stopped a shooter after the man had shot two of his co-workers. And last year, legally armed citizens took down a mass shooter at a Walmart in Washington:
And while permit holders have stopped plenty of crimes, they rarely commit them. In 2018 over 1.3 million Texans were licensed to carry a firearm. One was convicted of murder and another three were convicted of manslaughter, giving them a per capita murder rate of 0.29 per 100 thousand--far below the national average.
Unfortunately, many aren't able to carry. As noted above, some states restrict the ability of people to defend themselves; so do some large employers like Walmart. That needs to change.
Because the fact is, while gun control laws haven't protected people during mass shootings, armed citizens have. It's a fact many aren't eager to mention.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
Be the first to comment