Arm the public

In the wake of the tragedy in Tucson there has been a lot of talk in the media from politicians, lawmakers, reporters and liberals about proposing stricter firearm legislation. These individuals are talking about legislation to limit the capacity of magazines for semi-automatic firearms in an effort to make sure that the Tucson tragedy doesn’t happen again.

I disagree wholeheartedly and am quite certain that the capacity of that lunatic’s magazine had nothing to do with the fact that he went to that function with the intent to kill and harm innocent people. 

A similar incident took place at Virginia Tech University in April of 2007 where an obviously insane individual decided he was going to take the lives of as many innocent people as he possibly could. These two incidents are only similar in that not one person present had the means to defend themselves and others against armed psychopaths.

Placing political party affiliation aside, those individuals who blame firearms themselves, as well as “high” capacity magazines, for the actions of humans are unfortunately placing the blame on the wrong culprit.

Fact:  Firearms do not fire rounds off on their own!

It takes the action of squeezing the trigger to send the firing pin forward to ignite the primer which sends the projectile out of the muzzle and towards the target which was obviously acquired by a human’s eye. Therefore, firearms and their magazines were not at fault for the events I referenced above. The blame must be placed solely on those individuals that purchased the firearms legally and decided to commit such heinous acts of violence.

If only one individual present at last Saturday’s shooting would have had a firearm on their person and had acted to protect themselves and others the news headlines would most likely be drastically different.

In my line of work I encounter people every day who carry firearms everywhere they go as protection for themselves and their families. Most of the individuals would gladly use their firearm to protect others in a situation such as Saturday’s tragedy.

No one can predict when an individual determined to take another’s life will strike. I urge everyone to be prepared to defend themselves and others should you be placed in such an extraordinary situation. Right now we need not only to mourn the loss of those who passed and wish for a speedy recovery for those injured, but also must stand together as a community and exercise our right to bear arms making our state a very dangerous place for evildoers.

Bridger Kimball is an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor, Arizona Department of Public Safety Certified Concealed Carry Instructor, and Co-Owner of Caswells Shooting Range.    

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