A man has been arrested after allegedly pulling a gun on a 6-year-old and pointing it at his head over Halloween candy, police say.
  • Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee
    809·
    8 个月前

    This is why the “good guy with the gun” BS needs to die. The real world isn’t a movie: there are no designated heroes and villains. Everyone’s a good guy in their own mind until they point a gun at a 6 year old.

    • TechyDad@lemmy.world
      312·
      8 个月前

      I’ve always wondered how people thought the “good guy with a gun” would work in a chaotic real world situation. Suppose you’re armed and there’s a mass shooting event. You pull out your gun and keep a look out for the shooter as you hear gunfire getting closer. Then you spot a guy holding a gun. You quickly take aim and fire…

      … And hit another “good guy with a gun” who was trying to take out the mass shooter the same as you.

      Oh, but then you get shot by a third “good guy with a gun” who thought YOU were the mass shooter.

      Arming everyone and telling them to be “good guys with guns” just seems, at best, like it would lead to MORE injuries and deaths.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          8 个月前

          Yup, this is how it goes down in my head, and why I don’t carry a gun. I think there’s a decent chance that I could take down an active shooter (not sure if I have the guts to, but that’s beside the point) because I have the element of surprise on my side, but there’s an even bigger chance I get shot either in the crossfire or by the police. Most of the time it’ll be a single shooter, but I have no guarantee that’s the case, so I’d need to be ready for a second shooter.

          I’ve run through a few options, and I just don’t see a clear way to distinguish myself from an active shooter.

          • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            11·
            8 个月前

            Of course, the other option is just say “please no don’t do it I have a wife and 47 kids!”

            You could also try running, yes, or hiding, but “carrying a gun” and “trying to get to an exit or shelter in place and only using said gun if he blocks the exit or finds your hiding spot” are not exactly mutually exclusive, you can do both, you don’t have to “run towards the sound of gunfire” like some marine. In fact that would be the much smarter way to do it, “camping” isn’t frowned upon in real life, this isn’t COD. As for identifying who the shooter is “it’s usually the guy shooting unarmed people,” but failing that, “better to be sure and confirm your target,” unfortunately this puts you at a disadvantage but he’s willing to shoot random people and you aren’t (I hope), so what’re ya gonna do.

              • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                21·
                8 个月前

                Unfortunately from a realistic standpoint even with gun control laws this will not be an impossibility, though they may reduce the frequency. There’s already upwards of 600,000,000 guns in 50% of the populations hands (and women won’t stop buying them, they’re the fastest growing group of new gun owners. More specifically black women followed by all women), even if you ban them they’ll be out there.

                And unfortunately Rittenhouse was textbook self defense, he only shot the guy who grabbed for his gun, and then the guy who hit him with a skateboard and grabbed for his gun, and then the guy who pointed a gun at him, not any of the people who retreated or didn’t attack. I know, he lived in a different state and commuted 20 min to kenosha for work every day where his friends and dad lived, but the gun was kept at Dominic Black’s house and never “crossed state lines” (also, even if it did, it is legal to cross state lines with a gun so long as it is legal in the state, and WI is far more permissive than IL, any gun legal in IL is legal in WI by far.) Also it is legal for a 17yo to have a gun in WI for some reason. Unfortunately even if we agree with his political opinions we currently can’t put him in jail for that, he didn’t actually break any laws.

                • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
                  21·
                  8 个月前

                  Pass gun control laws and he showed up with a gun he should have gone to jail. Your bff is out there now as a darling of conservative media btw

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
              2·
              8 个月前

              I’m not worried about me identifying the shooter, I’m worried about the police identifying me as the shooter or hostage taker if I somehow shoot the perp but don’t kill them.

              Best case scenario, I shoot someone and risk getting shot by the police, worst case scenario I get shot by the perp (and even worse, they use my gun to kill people), and average case scenario, I get out alive without using the gun. I just don’t see a lot of good things coming out of it. My area is incredibly safe, so the chances of needing it are extremely small, the chances of it helping are even smaller, and the chances of my kids finding it are much higher than I’m comfortable with.

              If I was commuting through a bad neighborhood, I could see it being useful. I live and work in safe neighborhoods, so it’s not an issue.

              • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                1·
                8 个月前

                Well that’s why CCW training tells you to put your gun away if you’re sure it’s now a safe area, and if it isn’t now a safe area (possible other shooters for instance) to GTFO and call the cops and your lawyer. Also why you should give a description of the active shooter if you call it in, so they know “oh this dude in a T shirt may be a defender, we recieved a call about a guy in tac gear.” Of course, most often the shooters specifically target gun free zones because you can’t have one there, so you technically likely shouldn’t have one anyway, so makes sense the cops wouldn’t expect a defender in those cases either.

                Yeah it’s something that everyone needs to decide for themselves (my issue is when people like to decide things for others.) It definitely can be helpful in a specific scenario, like a hammer to a nail, but it is also a responsibility and if you aren’t able or willing to, you shouldn’t, that simple. Especially if as you say you are you’re priviledged enough to live in a good area, in contrast to pizza delivery drivers (well, “ex”) who live in bad neighborhoods who may need them.

                • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
                  1·
                  8 个月前

                  Agreed, and I’ll always defend the right to carry, for those who choose to. I think we should have some extra restrictions, like maybe a CCW for concealable firearms (and subsequent training), plus proof of secure storage in some manner if you have kids.

                  The only place I’d carry is at work, and it’s against company policy to carry. So I don’t, it’s just not worth the risk and the likelihood that I’d need it is so remote.

      • Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee
        13·
        8 个月前

        It’s deflective rhetoric so they don’t have to address the truth:

        We don’t know who is going to make a bad decision with their gun until after they do it.

      • Trigger2_2000@sh.itjust.works
        81·
        8 个月前

        Yeah, my coworkers said how great it would have been after the Colorado movie theater shooting (Batman movie) if everyone was armed. They just knew the original shooter would have been killed right away.

        So,

        1. Dark theater
        2. Smoke filled (by shooter)
        3. Bullets suddenly flying

        Who in their right mind thinks basically everyone wouldn’t have been mowed down in a hail of gun fire?

      • Garbanzo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        8 个月前

        I’ve always wondered how people thought the “good guy with a gun” would work in a chaotic real world situation.

        They picture it pretty much how it went down here:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood_Park_Mall_shooting

        Personally, I would just prefer to have a pistol in hand if I ended up in the last part of ‘run, hide, fight’.

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
        1·
        8 个月前

        It’s either that, or the people with guns are afraid to use them when the time comes and they hesitate too long to do any good.

    • stella@lemm.ee
      118·
      8 个月前

      “There are no good guys with guns.”

      also

      “Cops are useless.”

      You see, this is why nobody takes sentiments like yours seriously. If you can’t defend yourself, and don’t have others to protect you, then you’ll always be at the mercy of whoever is the strongest.

      Something tells me all the ‘guns and cops are bad’ people don’t know how to fight.

        • stella@lemm.ee
          23·
          8 个月前

          Yeah. That’s why you should have a gun to protect yourself.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
        3·
        8 个月前

        I don’t think cops are useless, I think they are a flawed institution that we as a society can fix by reforms. And I don’t even see the big deal in this, nothing is perfect, everything can be made better or more appropriate for the situation. Long run it would be better for police unions to agree to some changes in training, scope, and methods because it would restore and gain more public trust. And the public will benefit as well.

      • Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee
        0·
        8 个月前

        I don’t recall saying cops are useless. Are you sure you’re replying to the right person?

        The police do illustrate over and over again that even trained professionals make bad decisions when issued guns. And of course the solution isn’t to escalate things by raising the threat of officers being shot, but instead in finding ways to have less people with guns, so police aren’t on alert all the time and aren’t as tempted to use their guns as their only solution.

        As a thought experiment: If we gave every adult in the world access to fire the entire planet’s nuclear payload and destroy everyone, do you think we’d all be safer? Would the world even last 5 minutes?

        The more people you give access to deadly weapons, the more likely you are going to run into someone who is stupid, impulsive, or downright crazy and is going to use that weapon to harm themselves or others.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
          2·
          8 个月前

          so police aren’t on alert all the time

          I got pulled over for not seeing a stop sign at night in a bad neighborhood. I remember the young cop watching my hands with the flashlight and the light was shaking slightly while I searched for my registration.

          That was not an enjoyable experience for me or him and it shouldn’t have to be anything except mildly annoying. He shouldn’t be thinking that I am ready to kill him and I shouldn’t be worried that he will make a mistake and me getting shot.

        • stella@lemm.ee
          01·
          8 个月前

          I think you’re asking the wrong questions.

          You should be asking if society is safer if people have guns than if they don’t. Of course, answering this isn’t so simple because which society matters.

          • Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee
            1·
            8 个月前

            Society is never safer with guns, and the more society you have the fewer guns you need.

            If you live in barbarism, sure, you might need a gun, but barbarism is antithetical to a healthy society.

            • stella@lemm.ee
              01·
              8 个月前

              Every developed nation with strict gun control is safer.

              Lots of rural America is still very underdeveloped. The only protection these people have from threats is the protection they can provide themselves.

              This is what I mean by ‘which society matters.’ There are many differences between nations than just their gun laws.

  • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
    302·
    8 个月前

    “He also shared that just the night before the incident, two people had knocked on their door severally and ran away before he opened the door.”

    This is what had him terrified

    • andyburke@fedia.io
      252·
      8 个月前

      This guy needs to move to someplace remote if someone knocking on his door scares him enough to point a gun at a 6 year old.

      • Caradoc879@lemmy.world
        181·
        8 个月前

        Seriously… if you’re ready to shoot a couple kids ding-dong-ditching you then you don’t need your gun, you need a fucking psych ward.

        • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
          9·
          8 个月前

          This was just something kids did when i was growing up. The thought of someone ever coming out with a gun never even crossed our minds. Now it’s like you can’t go to Target without worrying.

      • stella@lemm.ee
        25·
        8 个月前

        You probably don’t know what he’s dealing with or who he’s angered.

  • spider@lemmy.nz
    6·
    8 个月前

    Wow, reminds me of this:

    The shooting happened when Hattori, on his way to a Halloween party, went to the wrong house by mistake. Property owner Rodney Peairs fatally shot Hattori, erroneously thinking that he was trespassing with criminal intent.

  • Something_Complex@lemmy.world
    1·
    8 个月前

    Sounds like a movie where his friend gave the candy that had intelligence sent by the CCP and now he really needed it back to make it to the drop off on time.

    But I’m just daydream at night

    • Null User Object@programming.dev
      392·
      8 个月前

      One should be able to deduce that the headline would be different if he had. Therefore, one shouldn’t even need to read the article to realize that one already has all of the information one needs to know the answer to this question without asking it.

      • stella@lemm.ee
        12·
        8 个月前

        I think it was a rhetorical question to shed light on the fact that he did not fire.

      • stoy@lemmy.zip
        1224·
        8 个月前

        Not really needed:

        Mom and daughter goes to drop off goody bag at house, does this, realizes that they dropped it off at the wrong address, goes back to pick it up, shithead point a gun at the daughter’s head when they try and pick up the goody bag.

        • ZeroCool@feddit.chOPEnglish
          319·
          8 个月前

          Not really needed:

          Yes, it is. The answer is in the link which I already provided. That person’s laziness is not my problem.

          • stoy@lemmy.zip
            147·
            8 个月前

            Memmy didn’t show me the parent comment when I made mine, it looked as if your comment was the only one, sorry about that, still learning Lemmy/Memmy

        • dan1101@lemm.ee
          6·
          8 个月前

          It was a 6 year old boy, also from the MSN article:

          He revealed that Wen and his family were in high tension because of several incidents of home disturbances.

          The family had allegedly experienced their house doors being “banged at midnight and evening.”

          Zou said, “His three kids were terrified and worried that somebody tried to break their door and break in.” He also shared that just the night before the incident, two people had knocked on their door severally and ran away before he opened the door.

          Certainly no excuse for pointing a gun but gives at least a little context to his paranoia.