Pause For Thought

Conservatives always seem to use gun massacres to justify their perverse claim that we'd all be safer if only there were more guns around. Like, maybe, if more people were carrying guns in Tucson that fateful day, someone might have loosed off a few shots and cut short Loughner's killing spree.

In theory maybe. But ask Joe Zamudio. See, he was packing that day, he was in a nearby store when he heard the gun shots and ran out to help... he yelled at the armed man to "drop it" and came within "a matter of seconds" of shooting him. Trouble is, it wasn't Loughner: it was the hero guy who'd wrestled the gun away from him instead.

The Arizona Daily Star, based on its interview with Zamudio, adds two details to the story. First, upon seeing the man with the gun, Zamudio "grabbed his arm and shoved him into a wall" before realizing he wasn't the shooter. And second, one reason why Zamudio didn't pull out his own weapon was that "he didn't want to be confused as a second gunman."

See there's some considered, non-knee-jerk stuff to think about. You know, the kind of thoughts that would sail over the average conservative's head and never register.