People who say more good guys with guns is the solution lack firing neurons

Via NBC Latino

The NRA’s argument that more guns is necessary to prevent mass shootings, or any shootings was always nonsense.  The ridiculousness of this argument is on display yet again, with the recent news out of Georgia where a man shot and killed a young Latino man who accidentally pulled into his driveway.

Via NBC Latino:

Rodrigo Diaz, 22, was driving around with his girlfriend and two friends when he pulled into a driveway, thinking they had arrived at another friend’s house, his brother says. But instead he pulled into the driveway of Phillip Sailors, 69, who thought his home was being robbed, his lawyer says. Sailors then shot Diaz, according to the police report, citing what Sailors told officers at the scene. Diaz later died while in the intensive care unit.

“Basically, what happened is they were looking for one of my brother’s girlfriend’s friends,” says his brother David E. Diaz-Valencia, 23. “The guy came outside and my brother’s girlfriend said he was screaming, ‘Get off my property!’ and he shot into the air. My brother was backing out fast because he was scared and he rolled down the window to say he was sorry and he was not doing anything wrong. Then the guy shot him in his head.”

When officers arrived, Angie Rebolledo, Diaz’s girlfriend, had blood on her jeans, both arms and both hands as she was attempting to get a response from him and screamed frantically that her boyfriend had been shot, according to police.

Thankfully, Mr. Sailors isn’t the next George Zimmerman and the police have charged him with murder.  It seems to me that everyone having a gun would lead to accidental shootings much more frequently than the prevention of the next Newtown or Aurora but that’s just me having common sense.  It’s a relief that this time the debate about gun violence prevention is different than in the past, and if we keep pressure on our elected officials to act, they might just feel compelled to pass something helpful.

The main thing is that when these types of incidents happen instead of viewing them in a vacuum, we always need to think about it in context.  The fact of the matter is that there have been nearly 1400 shootings since Newtown in this country and when the father of one of the Newtown victims is heckled at a hearing on gun violence, it’s a reminder of how entrenched the opposition is and how hard we are going to need to work to get something done.

 

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