smr wrote:Excuse me but having a concealed handgun could have reduced the carnage! Just look to Israel, how many terrorists have been killed by concealed handgun owners....a bunch!
A couple of points, seeing as I live 23 miles from Orlando and have a concealed weapons permit:
1. You can't compare Florida permit holders to Israelis. In Florida, a "shall issue" state, you get a permit with minimal training unless the State finds positive evidence to deny it. I could have just presented my DD214 military service record and got the permit, but chose to take the Sheriff's Dept course for the training on legal issues. There is NO training on tactical issues, like they do in Israel with their mandatory service. I suspect that in a mass shooting situation, some permit holders would wind up shooting each other even after the bad guy had gone down.
2. Concealed weapons are a bad idea in a place that serves alcohol. For every incident where a permit holder saves the day, you'd have a hundred where some drunk shot another drunk over a football game or a pass at his girlfriend. The Pulse nightclub had an off-duty police officer present for security, and he did his job, but one cop is not enough for an attack like this.
I believe that self-defense is a right, recognized for centuries, and that a right is useless without the tools to exercise it. I also believe that no right is absolute. Just as free speech does not allow me to slander you, self-defense should not allow me to put the public at risk by carrying a firearm without proper training. That's proper training, including legal and tactical. It should also restrict me from carrying while under the influence, just like with driving.
