I hear you. But we simply don't see this happen in real life.Keith B wrote: I am an officer responding to a call of, or just heard gunshots down the mall where I am working off-duty security. I immediately head to the scene, only to see 6 people with guns drawn. I have no idea who ANY of them are. I now have to take time to sort out who are the BG's and who aren't. The BG can easily identify me from my uniform. If there is only one gun displayed, and they are waving it around, it is a lot easier and shorter time for me to make the call on their intentions and potentially get drawn down on the subject vs. sorting through the others and maybe not picking out the right one.
On the other hand, we DO see occassional rampage shootings, whether at the mall or at VT, where the BG is the only one with a gun and people are simply slaughtered.
And once in a while we see one of these things go down where there is an armed citizen present who stops the attack or at least limits the carnage.
In real life, when armed citizens intervene they do so immediately. This is because they are already present at the scene, even though by mere chance.
The LEO response is typically some amount of time afterward because they almost always have to be called to the scene. So by the time the LEO gets there, things have quieted down. That might be why we do not see the scenario that you posed.
So I think society has more to gain by addressing those situations that happen more frequently rather than worry about those that remain hypothetical.
Maybe LEO's might have to modify their training if the actions of armed citizens become a bigger part of the mix.
with both posters
's advocate, I have to say I really agree with you guys. And, we have provided some good fodder for our fellow forum-mates to build their counter conversations with those who say it is a problem.
