http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/01/11/20110111tue1-11.htmlI hate the AZ Republic newspaper. The bias usually drools all over my doorstep or keyboard, making an unsightly mess.
But this was a great article.
Still, Dupnik used the opportunities to blame Arizona's lax, new gun laws and, again, the angry "rhetoric" of talk radio. The shootings were spurred, he suggested, by "the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates."
The only new "lax" gunlaws we have is Constitutional Carry.
Our new Constitutional Carry law would not have saved Giffords, because no police officer stopped this guy on his way to his target, found his concealed gun, and decided "hey! he's concealing without a permit! I should arrest him!" The law neither helped nor hindered, because no officer was involved to query the shooter's legitimacy in concealment.
Frankly, our Constitutional Carry law should have encouraged more of the victims of the shooting to carry on their own. At this point they don't have to jump through hoops, take classes, and await goobermint permission to protect themselves... though the classes are certainly beneficial so that a citizen can know proper and legally defensible situations where force escalation is appropriate.
If we passed Constitutional Carry 5-10 years ago and it was more well known and commonplace, perhaps more people around this tragedy might have been carrying and been able to stop or forestall this tragedy somehow.
Shame on you, Sheriff Dupnik.