Jan 18 2011
Gun Lobbyists Silent In the Wake of Arizona Terrorist Attack
Just hours before Jared Loughner killed 6 people and wounded many more in Tucson Arizona, it is being reported that a Wal-Mart clerk may have refused to sell him ammunition. Loughner then reportedly went to another Wal-Mart where he was able to make his purchase. ABC news interviewed a Phoenix gun shop owner who said businesses are at liberty to refuse the sale of ammunition. However public safety is left to the experience and common sense of individual vendors as there are no laws to regulate bullet sales. Isn’t this evidence enough that more gun control regulations are needed? It depends on who you ask, and the Arizona tragedy has done little to bridge the gap between activists on both sides of the gun control debate. Arizona can be considered a model state for second-amendment advocates as the state does little to regulate gun purchases and possession. It is one of only three states that allow concealed weapons to be carried in public, no permit required. Concealed guns are allowed in bars, and there is a push to allow college staff and students to carry concealed guns on campuses. A common argument against gun control is that when everyone is armed, the good guys will stop the bad guys with their weapons. Arizona provides a case study with an inconclusive result. One of the men who helped detain Jared Loughner to the ground was legally carrying a concealed 9mm at the time of the shooting. The LA Times reports that Jim Zamudio was going to buy cigarettes when he heard gun shots outside the Safeway and ran to the scene. He pulled out his gun and aimed at a man with a weapon who was standing over a younger man. But in fact, by the time he had arrived on the scene, Loughner had been knocked to the ground and was being detained by an unarmed person, who was holding Loughner’s weapon. So in fact, a second tragedy was avoided when someone saw the mistake Zamudio was about to make and shouted for him to stop.
GUEST: Josh Sugarman, Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center
Find out more at www.vpc.org.
Correction: According to the LA Times Jim Zamudio did not actually draw his weapon. He clicked off the safety and had his hand on the trigger, but his gun remained in his pocket. He began to wrestle with the wrong man before bystanders stopped him.
9 Responses to “Gun Lobbyists Silent In the Wake of Arizona Terrorist Attack”
In several interviews, Zamudio said he was armed, but never said he pulled his firearm from its holster. Also, he would have been justified in pulling his firearm when he observed an individual holding a gun, but he decided the individual wasn’t a threat. Your point that “an unarmed person” was holding Loughner’s weapon is just plain false. He had Loughner’s weapon in his hand and therefore he was no longer “unarmed”. You point out the potential for a tragic mistake being made here, but I haven’t heard you address the real mistake that was made about the same time when police officers killed a fellow officer during a “scuffle” outside a bar when the officer that was killed had to pull his firearm and shoot to keep himself from being injured. The other officers failed to identify that he wasn’t a “bad guy” and shot him when they heard the gunfire and saw him with a gun. The point of this is that even armed professionals can make a tragic mistake!
Check your “facts” please. According to the majority of accounts, Zamudio NEVER drew his weapon
About the concealed weapons in bars comment.
Firearms are allowed in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol for consumption in Arizona as long as four conditions are met;
1. The carrier must have a valid concealed carry permit,
2. The firearm must be and remain concealed,
3. The carrier can not consume alcohol,
4. There are no signs posted prohibiting firearms.
Other states allow open and concealed carry in bars and allow the carriers to drink alcohol.
Pointing out that Arizona allows them in bars is kind of a non issue.
1) The US doesn’t need more gun laws or regulations.
2) No matter how many laws you put into effect it’s still not going to stop crazy people from doing crazy things. If someone is determined enough they will find a way.
3) Why are you determined to encourage the government to take away our rights? It seems like every day people are willing to throw away their rights and freedoms for small measures of false security. You’re conducting rash actions and accusations based upon an isolated incident.
There is no Sure-fire way to know who is going to use ammunition illegally if a Person comes into our shop and acts normal, doesn’t show he or she is nervous there is no real way of knowing what they are truly using it for 99.999% is legal sales it that less than 001% that falls through the cracks and I will not have a customer have to go out of his way just because he looks different, or dress’s different and talks different I can go on and on there Are so many laws on the books there are really too many laws on laws overrides another and it a never ending battle as long as that person said it for himself or for herself I can’t really refuse unless they come out and say I going to go shoot a bunch of people then I can stop it but not even your most evil killer will not show his hand and that is a fact we all have to accept the odds are so small that we don’t even think of it. I am sorry but that is the truth there is no way you can spot a person that is about to do a lot of harm but as I said the odds are so little
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