John Harwood FTW

[highplainsdem]

Harwood quoted the three most relevant sentences from a single paragraph near the end of the NY Times story he linked to:

Link to tweet

"In 2015, a woman in Colorado Springs called 911 after seeing a man in her neighborhood with a gun.

"The dispatcher reportedly explained to her that Colorado was an open-carry state.

"Within minutes, the man went on a shooting spree, killing 3 people."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/02/us/atlanta-gun-laws.html

That paragraph describes a man going from deliberately-and-openly-alarming to murdering in minutes.

But as is pointed out elsewhere in the article, that deadly transformation can take just a second.

It's insane that law-abiding, peaceful citizens are expected to tolerate this because of misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment, the glorification of guns, and the power of the gun lobby.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. "It's insane"

Yes, yes it is. Eventually, it will get so bad that most people will be afraid to go outside their homes. I know that sounds negative, but I feel it's the truth.

[FakeNoose]

2. This incident happened over 7 years ago

... and what has Colorado done in the meantime to curtail open-carry abuse?

Nada. Zip. Nuttin' Honey.

There are more people walking around with guns in public places in Colorado than ever before. I know because my sister and her family have lived in Denver since before this law took affect. It's clear that no state in the US will stand up to the NRA. it can only be done when the federal government takes a stand against the NRA's abuses.

Does anyone believe that the corrupt Repukes will do it? Of course not.

It must be done by the Democratic Party. Who will save the American children?

[allegorical oracle]

10. The ONLY way any action will occur is when some powerful conservatives lose at least one

family member to a shooter. DeSatan is making noise about his "Constitutional Carry" law, which will enable pretty much anybody to open carry without any registration or training. It will take tourists refusing to come to Fla because of the gun laws to possibly prompt reconsidering the law.

[FakeNoose]

12. I used to believe a powerful Repuke would stand up to the NRA

... but I've given up on that. They're all too corrupt I guess. Or maybe just chickenshit.

It's going to be the Democrats - all together - or it will never happen.

[Midnight Writer]

3. They are all "good guys with a gun" right up until they become "bad guys with a gun".

[tblue37]

4. Sometimes the open carry jerk is just cosplaying, but sometimes it's probably a dry run,

to see how much he can get away with before someone tries to deal with him.

[Mr.Bill]

5. It's just a matter of time

until police get a call about an armed robbery in progress and they arrive to find ten people with guns shooting at each other.

[spanone]

6. Fucking Guns...

[iluvtennis]

7. Tragedy results when the US society tries to go back to the Wild West days - did we not learn

anything from history.

[jaxexpat]

8. Too many morons raised on "western" TeeVee and movies.

Too many people who believe in terms like "peacemaker" when referring to a pistol only society's outcasts would openly carry. Too many people who think taming the west meant killing the natives en masse and proclaiming their goddamned God-given right to steal every resource they could wrangle a profit from. It was a big country; nobody could ever admit to discovering the hidden corpses. Yeah, that's the Utopia these dumbasses fantasize about.

[Salviati]

9. Gun control was actually stricter in the so called wild west:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gun-control-old-west-180968013/

Laws regulating ownership and carry of firearms, apart from the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, were passed at a local level rather than by Congress. “Gun control laws were adopted pretty quickly in these places,” says Winkler. “Most were adopted by municipal governments exercising self-control and self-determination.” Carrying any kind of weapon, guns or knives, was not allowed other than outside town borders and inside the home. When visitors left their weapons with a law officer upon entering town, they'd receive a token, like a coat check, which they'd exchange for their guns when leaving town.

The "history" that these people are so keen on returning us to is nothing more than a fantasy made up by hollywood and the gun manufacturers.

[Hekate]

11. Thank you for looking this up. Dime-novels and Hollywood have a lot to answer for.

[highplainsdem]

14. Thanks!

[intheflow]

13. This highly armed man was homeless.

That would explain why he brought all his guns with him but where did he get the money for all the guns and ammo?