05-29-2021, 12:39 AM
(05-28-2021, 04:52 PM)Dill Wrote: This reminds of Fred's hypothetical example on the "Teen girl killed in Columbus by police" thread: how would law officers sort out who's legal and who's not if they stop four guys open carrying--especially, in this case, if no "government permission slip" or background check has secured a paper trail.
If open carry is legal and you have no probable cause to believe a crime has been committed by anyone there is no cause to determine if anyone in this scenario is "legal".
Quote:Second comment, if I remember correctly, many Western frontier towns forbid open carry. Somehow, they got the impression that even if it allowed gun toters to better defend themselves in public, that did not make the public safer. Can this be about more than safety, especially public safety?
Many, if not all, Western frontier towns were also racially segregated by force. Is that an endorsement of segregation and bigotry?
Quote:Finally, I'm wondering how the new law might affect future mass shootings. I can envision a worst-case scenario in which a mass shooter with a death wish walks into a tightly packed music or sports venue and opens fire. Then good-men-with-guns fire back. Can everyone tell who the original shooter was, e.g., those guys who just ran out of the restroom guns drawn AFTER hearing the initial shots? Is it certain that our pistol packers would not fire into bystanders, adding to the shooter's desired death toll? Then the cops arrive on scene too, ready to use deadly force cuz its their job to protect, and perhaps they have been taught not to take chances with their own safety.
Yes, that is indeed a "worse case scenario". Could it not happen already, with Texas issuing CCW's in large numbers? You think maybe when law enforcement shows up the "good-men-with-guns" (btw, it is horribly sexist of you to assume that no females in the crowd would be carrying and want to help stop the bad-guy-with-gun) will obey law enforcement commands and surrender? Once everyone is in custody, sorting out who the actual mass shooter is would not be very difficult.
