the failure of gun control, again

By now, you have undoubtedly heard about the horrific murder of 12 children at a school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and given how much I am typically behind the curve on current events, it should come as no surprise to anyone that others have beaten me to what I was going to say on it. However, I did want to stress two quick points.

The shooter used a revolver. He did not use a semi-automatic pistol, he did not use an automatic pistol, he did not use normal-capacity magazines, he did not use sub-capacity magazines, and he did not procure the revolvers legally, despite the unquestionably draconian firearm-related laws in Brazil that the anti-rights nuts claim would stop illegal firearm trade (including full firearm registration). And notwithstanding all of this, the Rio shooter (who shall remain nameless) managed to kill more people than the Tucson shooter. A firearm is a tool and its efficacy depends entirely on the shooter; the murderer in Brazil had obviously thought and planned ahead, and had not only procured speedloaders for both of his revolvers, but apparently practiced using them as well – the final round count was somewhere north of 60, out of firearms that can hold no more than six rounds at a time.

The shooter was stopped when force was brought to bear against him. Specifically, a police officer shot him in the legs, and after taking a tumble down the stairs, the murder cowardly shot himself in the head. This is a consistent, repeatable, and demonstrable theme amongst the vast majority of mass/spree shootings throughout history – when an active shooter is engaged by people on the scene, the situation typically resolves itself through the death/disabling of the shooter (either self-inflicted or enacted by the responders). Obviously, the “cessation of hostilities” can be greatly accelerated, and made potentially more safe for those attempting it, if the people attempting to discourage the active shooter are themselves armed, as the police officers in this situation were – this increases the distance between them and the shooter, which correspondingly augments their safety and decreases their response time. In short, fighting back slows/stops spree shooters, and fighting back with a firearm does so even faster.

This unfortunate incident more than adequately demonstrates the inherent failure of gun control. Firearm registration failed. Firearm licenses failed. Anti-carry laws failed. Firearm purchasing caps failed. Waiting periods failed. The list just goes on and on and on… and yet you can count on anti-rights cultists exploiting this shooting spree as yet another reason to enact in America all those laws that failed in Brazil. ‘Cause, y’know, that makes sense.

History has shown us, time and time again, the most effective and most successful method for dealing with spree killers; as someone who is sincerely interested in saving and protecting lives, I thoroughly support the implementation of this method wherever and whenever necessary. Unfortunately, given that they support legislation and policies which demonstrably puts people at risk, “gun control” supporters can make no similar claims…