My comment on NYT regarding Dallas shooting

hci

Using this tragic event to dismiss the notion of "good guys with guns stop bad guys" is a bit premature. There are several problems with this argument.

1. This was a BLM event with the stated purpose of protesting police use of firearms. I am not sure what the purpose of people openly carrying firearms there.  Was it to show to the police that black men also have weapons in order to intimidate the police? I am not sure that these people should be counted as "good guys with guns". At bare minimum, one has to agree that these people were not in a supportive mood of police. Consequently, it was not reasonable to expect these people to come to the aid of police when it was obvious that only police was the target that day, as several eye witnesses stated on TV.

2. The people carrying guns in this BLM gathering did not expect to use their firearms, consequently, many of them did not carry ammo, whereas "good guys with guns" should expect to use their weapon when the need arises, as do all the concealed carrying citizens. There was no point for "good guys with guns" to pack heat without ammo.

3. There are many instances of "good guys with guns stop bad guys". The vast majority of them are not reported by the news media. As CDC report on gun violence suggests, there are millions of defensive use of guns in America each year. It is not wise to use one instance of questionable case to dismiss all other cases.