It Keeps Not Happening

For many years now, the states of the United States have been enacting concealed carry laws that enable their citizens to arm themselves with handguns for self defense. Wisconsin became the 49th state to do it, leaving only Illinois without a concealed carry law of some kind. Opponents of these laws have been predicting chaos for years. And during that same time they have also ignored the explosion of gun violence in that city to our south, Chicago. There were 49 shootings in Chicago last WEEKEND. Wow, just imagine how bad it would be if they allowed concealed carry! That's a joke of course, since the number of shootings would be more likely to go down, not up, if they had concealed carry. You'd think that after predicting chaos so many times and continuing to be wrong, they would take a different tack. But I guess when you've got such a good story, it's hard to let it go. You wait, and wait and hope for some clown with a permit to lose it and do something stupid that proves you were right. But darn it, it just keeps not happening. They thought they had one a few years back. It seemed to be the epitome of an impulsive act, the kind we were told would happen daily if everybody started packing heat. A permit holder in Minnesota shot a guy at the drive up window at McDonald's. It looked perfect. A guy gets into an argument with a fast food worker and then pulls out his too handy pistol to impulsively shoot the offender. But the problem is it turned out that he didn't have his gun with him. So he went home got it, and then came back to shoot the guy. But this week they got the story they wanted.

A young black man walked from his father's house to the convenience store. On the way back he is confronted by a member of the neighborhood watch, who is armed. The police tell the watch captain that he should not pursue the man, but he does anyway. By the time police arrive the young black man is dead and the gunman is claiming self defense. My proof that the mainstream media has been waiting for this story is in the complete saturation coverage it has received. The victims family has been on the Today show every morning this week. Countless columns have been written connecting this story to gun control, because this is what kept not happening. This was, FINALLY, the story of a good gun gone bad.

You see, in the debate about concealed carry, advocates make the argument that the "bad" guns are already out there. They are in the hands of criminals who don't give a damn about what the laws say. They are going to carry guns whenever and wherever they want. They are the "bad" guns, and they are a given. Enter, the "good" guns. These are the guns that are now being carried by "good" people. For the longest time, gun opponents would have you believe THESE are the guns you need to fear. Their mantra was more guns equals less safety. They would concede that the bad guns were out there, but they saw all guns as equally bad, and reasoned that more guns just meant more trouble. And so they waited for that thing that kept not happening, a good gun gone bad. And there's not much doubt that is what did happen in Florida.

But it's the massive coverage that tells you something is up. In my opinion, there was a far more compelling story earlier this year. A single mom in rural Oklahoma who had recently been widowed, heard two men breaking into the house where she and her infant lived. When the first one broke through the door. she calmly shot him dead. The other one wisely decided to leave, and was arrested later. If you were a journalist, which story would you rather write about? Unless you have an agenda, it's pretty clear which one is more of a feel good story. But for some reason, the Oklahoma widow never made it on to the Today show. In fact, you likely never heard about it. See, that was a good gun, done good and doesn't help at all.