James C. Moore is identified as a “lifelong Texan”.

That, and an op-ed that tries to poo-pooh the notion that a good guy with a gun actually does anything useful in extremis – would seem to be the only reasons he wound up getting his “op-ed” posted on CNN.com. It’s entitled “Texas shooting isn’t as simple as it seems“.

To which one might reply “Thanks, Captain Obvious, your promotion to Major is pending”. Just about any human endeavor, especially those around the edges of insanity, evil and depravity, is an inexact study.

But not nearly as inexact as Mr. Moore would have us think:

But if Wilson is the example of a good guy with a gun who saved the day, what does the other armed parishioner who was killed represent? Will he become proof to gun control advocates that arming the well-intentioned doesn’t work?

Only if the “gun control advocate” is a complete idiot.

This line is the flip side of the Dems’ “If it saves just one life…” canard; “If it doesn’t save every single life, then it’s all a lie!“.

Analyses of the live-streamed video from the church are suggesting that several worshippers were armed and drew guns. One of them appears to have been killed as he reached for his weapon.

In other words, Kinnunan was aiming at the victim, and was getting ready to shoot when the victim started reaching for his gun. It wouldn’t have mattered if the guy was reaching for his kid, his inhaler, his reading glasses, his cell phone or a pack of Certs – he was already in Kinnunan’s sights. Reaching for his gun didn’t save him – but it didn’t kill him, either. Watch the video; the guy had a spit second. It wasn’t enough.

But it was for Wilson.

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, responded to the incident by citing statistics on Twitter that indicate 3,500 people died in Texas from guns; CDC data shows just over 3,500 such deaths in 2017 and the average is one victim every three hours in the state. Deaths, she pointed out, have increased between 2015 and 2017, the most recent year for which there is CDC data. Watts also pointed out that Texas has been home to four of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern US history.

Getting one’s info from Shannon Watts is its own punishment.

“Gun deaths” includes suicide. There is an epidemic of suicide – but that epidemic crosses all means of commission – tall buildings and bridges, rope, pills, or reading Shannon Watts.

And even the “four deadliest mass shootings” bit is a canard.

• Sutherland springs was “Gun Free”. It prompted the legislative changes that allowed Jack Wilson to kill Kinnunan.
• Luby’s Cafeteria happened when Texas was a restrictive “May Issue” state. Nobody in the cafeteria was legally armed. Suzanna Grazia Hupp offered gut-wrenching testimony on the subject.
• The Michael Whitman shooting at the University of Texas, awful as it was, was largely stopped by…armed citizens returning fire with high-powered rifles to keep Whitman’s head down while the police (and a citizen) closed in to take him out – which would be largely illegal today.

If you get your information from the “Gun Safety” movement, you’re not getting information.

Little has been reported about the suspect at White Settlement other than indications he has an arrest record, which will make some critics wonder how he got a gun. But it is not illegal to sell a gun to a felon in Texas, unless you know he is a felon, which he isn’t likely to tell you since he is a felon and wants a gun.

That’s not just Texas. That’s the law nationwide.

And it’s exactly why “universal” background checks are completely absurd – although I doubt Mr. Moore has thought it through to that point.

If you think that’s absurd, sit down right now and try writing an enforceable law that prevents it. There are sufficient loopholes in firearms regulations and such an abundance of supply of weapons that anyone in America can get a gun, good guy or bad guy.

Right.

And when you make it illegal for good guys to get, carry, or use their firearms, who does that leave?

Inevitably?

It’s depressing that a significant chunk of this country thinks this is “reasoning”.