I've been in stores where some yokel walks in with an AR-15 strapped over his shoulder or a handgun prominently displayed on a hip holster. It's more than just a bit disconcerting. My reaction is usually something like, "This is a 7-11! You felt a need to arm yourself to buy a cup of coffee??" The sad part is that people like this tend to buy into the "good guy with a gun" nonsense that the NRA keeps pushing. Most of these "good guys" don't have the training or the intestinal fortitude to act when things start going sideways. At best, that makes them useless; at worst, it makes them dangerous.
Case in point - several years ago here in Dallas there was demonstration where a lot of people showed up armed, sporting AR-15 's strapped across their shoulders and other weapons. There was a guy in the crowd who started firing at police officers - we lost 5 officers that day. NOT A SINGLE ONE of those "good guys with a gun" stepped forward to assist the police - once things started going pear-shaped, they ALL ran in the other direction. According to a published report at the time, at least one "good guy" ran to the closest cop he could find and actually surrendered his weapon before running off to safety. Dallas was in mourning for weeks over the loss of the officers who bravely tried to do what they were trained to do - and who received ZERO support from the "good guys" in the crowd.
So whenever I hear this BS NRA talking point about a "good guy with a gun", I get a little angry. Tell that fantasy to the 5 widows of the Dallas officers, and see how it's received. It's just a cruel joke.
I'm also of the opinion (and this is just personal opinion, unsupported so far by factual evidence, but I'd love to see a study done) that a large number of the men who feel compelled to appear in public with a large firearm strapped across their shoulder are suffering from feelings of sexual inadequacy. No man who is comfortable with his own masculinity needs a prop to show the world just how masculine he is.
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