Shoot first laws authorize gun owners to shoot someone engaged in a felony, not shoot someone who maybe-coulda-woulda-might commit a crime at some future time, not shoot someone involved in a misdemeanor act.
Too often, drunk or sober, gun carriers demonstrate poor judgment and poor safety practices in their decision to draw and fire their weapons. They should lose their guns, their rights to ever have guns again, and we should stop authorizing so many people to carry firearms, and repeal the shoot first laws that give them the idea they can use their guns in this unsafe, illegal way. They are endangering us, not making us safe, not helping law enforcement to stop crime.
The problem is that gun owners apparently in practice, despite supposed training, haven't a clue when it is safe or not safe to shoot, or when it is legal for them to shoot. Numb nuts in the example above clearly thought he was large and in charge of his gun when he shot his girlfriend. Had you asked him moments before he tried to be Quick-Draw McGraw if he was safe, and in full control of his weapon, he would have told you how safe he was, how there was NOTHING to worry about - and then showed you, shooting his girlfriend.
We see this in the numb-nuts, the dangerous FOOLS, who think they could have taken out the Aurora shooter in a crowded, dark, smoke filled, tear-gas filled theater, without acknowledging that would have endangered others. These idiots also fail to acknowledge that they could not have clearly seen the shooter, that the shooter was wearing ballistic armor that would have made it unlikely their bullets would have harmed him (other than some bruises). They fail to acknowledge that there bullets would not only have endangered those in that theater, but like the bullets fired by the shooter, would have endangered people in the adjoining theater. They think they are superheroes when they have a gun, and that makes them dangerous, delusional, and stupid.
It is not only the "I could have taken out the bad guy" braggerts that are part of the problem. We have frequent examples in shoot first law states of incidents like this one in Florida, the 'gunshine' state.
From WESH, Ch.2, Orlando FL:
Armed shopper shoots at Walmart shoplifter, police say
Officials: Shoplifter caught in DeLand
ORANGE CITY, Fla. —Gunfire erupted in the parking lot of an Orange City Walmart store on Wednesday when an armed shopper fired shots at a suspected shoplifter, police said.
It started as a shoplifting incident inside the store on Veterans Memorial Parkway near Saxon Boulevard. A thief loaded up a cart of merchandise, and loss-prevention employees tried to stop him as he left the store, officials said.Authorities said the shoplifter, identified as Eddie McKee, 42, knocked Ann Buongiorno to the ground as he ran out of the store.
...An off-duty law enforcement officer saw McKee running for his car and ordered him to stop, but McKee fled.
Investigators said another man in the parking lot, who was identified as Jose Martinez, pulled out a gun and fired at least four shots at McKee. The back window of the car was shot out, and bullet holes were found in the trunk.
Martinez told authorities he was trying to mark McKee's car, but officials said bullets landed inches away from the cars of bystanders.
"There was no one in danger," Martinez said.Really? Because law enforcement doesn't seem to agree, nor did people who were in the parking lot near where the shots were fired, inches away.
McKee was stopped near South Kepler Road and East New York Avenue in DeLand, authorities said. He faces a misdemeanor charge.
Investigators said Martinez was charged with two felonies, but he does have a concealed weapons permit.Trigger happy shooter Martinez shot up a car in a Walmart parking lot, endangering the off-duty cop who was trying to handle the situation, endangering the shoplifter - who did NOT deserve to be shot for shoplifting - and endangering the other customers and employees of the Walmart, as well as pedestrians, drivers on the nearby street, or people in buildings withing a mile or more of the Walmart.
Like the claims of those who believe THEY could have taken down James Holmes in the Aurora theater in Colorado, the gun huggers, these concealed carry permit holders - especially in lax states like Florida where the state frequently issues gun permits to people they shouldn't, both in Florida, and in other states, this gun hugger didn't know EITHER when it was legal to fire his gun at someone, OR when it was safe to do so.
If you follow the gun hugger blog sites or other bullshit piles of misinformation, you will similarly see a lot of emphasis given to Geoge Zimmerman being justified in shooting Trayvon Matin because he was high on pot. The reality is that the autopsy detected a TRACE amount of THC, an amount which could have as easily come from exposure to use by others smoking marijuana. It was not sufficient to indicate an altered state, nor was there any quantity in his system or on his body that rose to the level of a felony. We don't shoot people for having been around someone else smoking marijuana; we don't shoot people for having previously smoked marijuana, we don't shoot people for supposedly having marijuana who only have ice tea and skittles in their pockets. There appears to be NOTHING that Trayvon Martin did which justifies the claim by George Zimmerman that Martin was acting suspiciously, was behaving as if drunk or high - which have very different behavioral characteristics, they are not the same. The ONLY thing that George Zimmerman thought was suspicious was that Trayvon Martin was a black kid in a hoodie walking through his neighborhood. THAT, like shoplifting, was not a felony; in the case of Trayvon Martin, it was not even a misdemeanor. George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin for having a trace - a TRACE - amount of THC in his system. George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin because George Zimmerman was a coward with a gun who stalked and harassed a teenager who was minding his own business, and then George Zimmerman got into a confrontation with Martin that Zimmerman himself initiated by his behavior, contrary to law enforcement directions. George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin when Martin acted in self-defense, with more courage than Zimmerman demonstrated. Without a gun, Zimmerman would be far less likely to engage in such rogue behavior. With a gun, Zimmerman shot an innocent kid for acting in self defense; with a gun, Zimmerman fired shots in a housing area where a missed shot could EASILY have endangered others.
People who are gun-huggers, people who are paranoid cowards like Zimmerman, people who are vigilante-minded like the shooter Jose Martinez in the Walmart parking lot, endanger everyone, while doing NOTHING to prevent crime. They cause damage, they cause injury, they cause deaths that all could be avoided. They get in the way of law enforcement, they endanger law enforcement; they confuse crime scenes for lawful authority. Concealed carry permit holders are the pocket-sized version of loose cannons, who are themselves the criminals, not the solution to criminal behavior by others.
