Of course it's hard to monday morning quarterback, but wouldn't you want someone in the theatre armed if it happened while you were in the theatre? If the answer is no, then I guess we just see things completely differently. Maybe you are smarter than me or something, I don't know. I just know I would much prefer that someone be armed than to be nothing but a theatre filled with practice dummies.
See, i still disagree with this completely. On some level you are correct, as we can generalize everything. If you take Suzie who bought a Glock for home defense and has kept it in a drawer by her bed for the past 5 years then yes, you are right. However if you take someone who is a hunter/sportsman/enthusiast that shoots once or twice a month and has maybe taken a training class they would be much more prepared than your "average" cop. Your statement about firearms training not being the most important factor is both right and wrong. Actual firearm manipulation is a much smaller part of proper firearms training than what non gun people think. Even something as simple as most states CCW class requirements focus so much more on safety and threat identification. Look at the 4 basic rules of gun safety as defined by the great Jeff Cooper.
It isn't as easy as just having someone armed = no mass shootings ever, or even having a person armed = increased safety. Asking "Would you rather have someone in the theater be armed?" isn't the same as asking "Wouldn't you rather have someone take the shooter out?" While we're making wishlists, I'd rather there never be any mass shootings.
I think it depends on whether the employees turned off the movie / turned on the lights. I'm sure there's some movie safety protocol that tells them to do that but it's not like they'd always follow it.
I think you're kind of moving the goalposts here, you're trying to pit the ideal gun owner against an average or below average LEO. I have no doubt that there are many, even a good percentage, of gun owners who could operate effectively in a mass shooting situation. But I doubt very seriously that the average gun owner could equal the average LEO. That isn't even getting into expanding that scope outside of just "gun owners" to "everyone" when talking about expanding the CCW population.
This is a bit of an exaggeration but it's on the right track. These shooters are cowards, which is why they pick these kinds of targets. I have no trouble believing the vast majority of them would jump ahead to the kill myself step as soon as someone starts shooting back at them.
Because I'm a human, bro, and have emotional responses to shit. Knowing that down the road an entire classroom of babies got murdered by some crazy guy would make me have one of those.
I doubt it. At least I doubt that it is that easy to apply a blanket statement like that to all of these shooters. I believe that cowardice does play something of a role in the way they choose to do these shootings, but in the situation there is no telling how they would react. There's going to be general chaos and adrenaline and who knows what other factors. I think they were saying that guy in the movie theater took some kind of drugs, too.
Emotional responses are all well and good, but let's be real here. Public schools are safe places with or without armed guards.
Statistically, sure. But that doesn't really matter to a parent sending their kid back to school after something like this happens. So we spend some money to make people feel ok about it. Doesn't really hurt anyone.
I'm fine with feel-good measures, but yes, statistics should matter to a parent.
It depends on what you mean by "matters." I can simultaneously be aware that hey, schools are really safe and also be a little anxious about sending my kid to school after a particular event. The statistics by themselves are not going to allay those fears when you are still in the aftermath of something actually happening.
Me too. But translating that understanding to the emotional undercurrent that determines my day-to-day disposition towards life isn't always trivial.
I know, but feel good measures annoy me in the absence of evidence based policy.