The now infamous Arizona sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who has blamed Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle for the shootings in Arizona, was on a round table talk show a couple months ago. He delivered an extremely convoluted message about guns. Check out this clip of that round table (the full video which includes some talk about mental illness treatment can be found here):
So, uh, what is his message here? First he says that he can't think of a single incident where armed citizens have stopped a crime, which is absurd, but then he goes on to say that he wouldn't let his wife go on a walk without a gun. He also seems to make some odd implication that having a gun can't protect you even if you are a police officer. He is just completely incoherent.
Frankly its incredibly sad that there wasn't an armed citizen closer to the scene of this massacre, though one of the men who tackled the shooter was carrying a gun. Perhaps if there had been someone with a weapon closer than some of those killed may have been saved. It is truly sad.
Now, clearly, it is ridiculous to say, as Dupnik has, that the nut bag who went on this rampage was somehow motivated by anything other than his own psychosis. Quite frankly its completely asinine to implicate politicians, politicos, or even political discourse in the actions of a madman. This man was insane and he committed an act of violent insanity.
The only reason I want to highlight these videos is to show what a mess Sheriff Dupnick's gun policies are. The answer to mass shootings, as Dustin's Gun Blog pointed out in response to a previous anti-gun op-ed by Dupnick, is the exact opposite of what Dupnick wants:
simply placing a sign on the wall that says "Gun Free Zone" does not make it so. It is a Utopian pipe dream that has been proven to be a folly. Disarming Americans does not make them more safe, no matter how many made up scenarios you make up without providing any evidence to back them up.
If more law abiding citizens were armed then fewer armed criminals or nut jobs could have them at their mercy.