Hurling insults and f-bombs are not answers to my question of why carrying handguns were not used to stop the shooters with AR 15s in El Paso and Odessa, but those were the responses I got on a local political Facebook discussion group. The responders offered no rebuttal to the statistics that whenever masses of kids and adults are killed, the carnage is mass in a short time, but much less if other weapons were used. It appears they had no answer... My thoughts were that those carrying handguns are not stupid: they know when they are outgunned. Here is why I think so. I sat through nights of hearings on the subject of cops complaining they were outgunned by gang members carrying automatic weapons and wanted restraints on clips, ammo in their battle with gang warfare in Denver. Cops were not stupid and they certainly knew what they were talking about. Sales of assault-type weapons are now banned in Denver.I was the mayor's liaison to the city council and I distinctly remember the debate. and testimony. Cops are now armed with weapons of war. Since that time of Denver City Council hearings, Columbine and Sandy Hook, Aurora theater happened when those same weapons, nearly in every case AR 15s were employed by mentally ill and angry white men. Anger is not a mental illness and neither is suicide by cop or racial/ethnic/religious hatred. The frequency of the use of AR 15 eliminates coincidence as a reason. Often the shooters got their guns legally or if failing background checks found other ways to get them using loopholes so that background checks were avoided. (Odessa, Sandy Hook,i.e.) Closing loopholes would be helpful, but the answer is getting AR15 and their ilk off the market and out of reach. Nearly every mass killing in recent statistics involved a AR 15. Two of my grandchildren were affected by school shootings, one in a nearby school to Sandy Hook who hovered under his desk for hours, and the other at Arapahoe High in which two people died including the shooter who used a shotgun..not an AR15. Even then, her classroom where she sheltered hiding was next to the room where the final shots were fired.. and she underwent counseling for PTSD. I can imagine the impact on many more in a mass shooting. Earlier a friend of hers was an Aurora Theater shooting survivor. These mass killings were not home invasions but took place where many victims were grouped together. and were sitting ducks with no time or way to escape.. For the record: I believe those who want weapons to protect themselves should have them and so should hunters have weapons for hunting. I am not even opposed to open carry for those who need to feel more powerful. and making a political statement though I think it is likely filling an emotional need rather than expecting an immediate or likely attack. ..AR 15s, etc are not hunting weapons. Any bans of weapons similar to AR15 be reinstated should have a voluntary buy-back clause. Colorado is the unfortunate granddaddy of mass shootings with AR15 type weapons with Columbine and Aurora Theater shootings, but it has enacted strict laws, including universal background checks and red flag laws. It is an open-carry state.
https://www.axios.com/deadliest-mass-shootings-common-4211bafd-da85-41d4-b3b2-b51ff61e7c86.html
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-03/united-states-mass-shootings
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/08/08/time-magzine-cover-five-arizona-mass-shootings-gun-violence/1955700001/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/20-dead-many-injured-gunman-083507188.html
Treated by FBI as an act of domestic terrorism
Find: Governor Tex treating it as a hate crime
https://news.yahoo.com/buttigieg-says-white-nationalism-is-condoned-by-highest-level-of-our-government-in-swipe-at-trump-145038799.html?ncid=facebook_yahoonewsf_akfmevaatca
https://www.yahoo.com/news/suspected-el-paso-shooter-dad-042822793.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-oppose-violence-against-women-act_n_5ca68295e4b047edf957b5e1?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003&fbclid=IwAR0HcG8CKXOjhfRSAcTUUEOU8HQu32rAMz5VsXVMXXy5_pl2frcymARLxsY
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