{"id":13736,"date":"2016-02-13T12:54:09","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T17:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/formerlyfundie\/?p=13736"},"modified":"2019-02-16T21:27:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T02:27:43","slug":"some-serious-questions-i-have-for-all-those-good-guys-with-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/formerlyfundie\/some-serious-questions-i-have-for-all-those-good-guys-with-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Serious Questions I Have For All Those “Good Guys With Guns”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Y\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So, you\u2019re a good guy with a gun. I get it. I\u2019ve seen the bumper sticker, heard the slogan a million times, and I even used to be one of you. I\u2019m retired military, was an expert marksman, and was even awarded the Bronze\u00a0Sch\u00fctzenschnur by the German army. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was a bonafide good guy with a gun for most of my adult life thus far. But even in my most pro-gun days, the entire American motif of a good guy with a gun made me ask some hard questions\u2013 and left me feeling less and less comfortable with the whole concept.<\/span><\/p>\n

I appreciate the basic sentiment of it all, really. I want my family to live in safety as well, and my desire-meter ranks precisely\u00a0zero for how badly I\u2019d like to die while standing in line at the deli.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, this idea that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun is really over-simplified. In fact, I think it is dangerously over-simplified<\/em> and should really invite some hard questions for\u00a0those would-be good guys with guns.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first question this invites is, where will you keep it? Studies show that the presence of a gun in the home increases the likelihood that someone will get shot. Further, we have a growing problem in America of toddlers shooting people with guns<\/a> they stumble upon. Will you at least keep it locked up in a gun safe where kids can\u2019t access it?<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ll be that reasonable. But, if you do keep it\u00a0locked up in a safe because you don\u2019t want your kids getting their hands on it, that invites another question: What good would that do you in an emergency? I mean, having it inconveniently out of reach under lock and key sorta defeats the entire point, no?<\/span><\/p>\n

But let\u2019s say you resolve that issue\u2013 perhaps you\u2019ll be one of those good guys with a gun who carries it everywhere. You strap it safely to your hip, have a hollow point in the chamber, and you\u2019re locked and loaded. That too invites a whole additional line of questioning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest question it invites is this: What qualifies you to be a good guy with a gun who is ready to end a human life at a moment\u2019s notice? Is there some special qualification, or is the mere fact that you think highly of your personal character all the qualification you need?<\/span><\/p>\n

Some states (like my home state of Maine) require no training at all to be a good guy with a concealed gun, while\u00a0others require some sort of basic gun safety training. Let\u2019s say you took one of these basic courses: Does a few hours or even a few days of training qualify you to be making life or death decisions in a split second while shopping in Walmart?<\/span><\/p>\n

If it does, why do the military and law enforcement constantly train<\/em>? Why not give our professional good guys\u00a0a few hours of training on a Saturday, hand them a gun, and call it good?<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s give the benefit of the doubt for a moment, and consider that you\u2019re an expert on gun safety and an expert marksman. That still leaves a bigger question: Have you taken \u201ckill or no kill\u201d training? Like, lots and lots of it where you decide if someone lives or dies, on the spot and in less than a second? Because that\u2019s what you\u2019ll have to do in real life as a good guy with a gun.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to be a decent person who owns a gun and is trained on the mechanics of how to use it, but what about split-second judgement calls when a human life is in the balance? This is why professional arms bearers repeatedly take kill or no kill training\u2013 it\u2019s not enough to be ready to shoot, one needs\u00a0to have the\u00a0ability to decide\u00a0if to shoot<\/span> at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me ask you a hypothetical: let\u2019s say you\u2019re standing in the movie isle at Walmart and you hear gunfire and people screaming. You quickly remember that you\u2019re a good guy with a gun, so you draw your weapon and run to the end of the isle. Once you get there, you see a guy with his own gun drawn, and is pointing it in the opposite direction as you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you kill him while you have a clean shot? <\/span><\/p>\n

How do you know he\u2019s the shooter and not good-guy Jeff who is trying to save the day? You only have a second to decide, so is Jeff a terrorist or one of the good guys? Should\u00a0he live or die? What if you hesitate too long and he kills another person? What if you shoot too soon and find out that Jeff was the father of four kids and a super nice guy with a gun?<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you really comfortable deciding who lives and who dies with limited information, surging adrenaline, and total chaos?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what about the cops? Let\u2019s say they arrive at this active shooter scene, and they see you in aisle\u00a0number 4 with your gun drawn. Do you expect them to just intrinsically know you\u2019re a good guy with a gun? They only have a second to decide too\u2013 and now your life hangs in the balance.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So, you\u2019re a good guy with a gun. I get it.<\/p>\n

But have you wrestled with these questions? Politicians and gun makers like to simplify\u00a0the entire aspect of being a good guy with a gun, as if the average good-hearted Joe is qualified and has the ability to make life or death decisions on a dime. And, if it really were that simple, I\u2019d understand.<\/p>\n

But the reality is, it\u2019s not that simple<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Guns, when used properly, end life. Once you pull the trigger there\u2019s no taking the bullet back. There\u2019s no do-overs in this game, and not the slightest room for even partial<\/em> error.<\/p>\n

While I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to protect one\u2019s family, I hope you\u2019ll at least ask yourself some of these hard questions\u2013 because being a good guy with a gun isn\u2019t as simple as they\u2019d lead you to believe.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

The Daily Show recently took on this issue, and tried to find out if basic gun training was enough to be a good guy with a gun. Here\u2019s what they found out:<\/em><\/p>\n