Op-Ed: It's nice to see a gun even things up a bit

By Kevin O'Brien
Cleveland Plain Dealer

When the U.S. Supreme Court gets around to deciding what the Second Amendment means to Justice Anthony Kennedy - who, we are constantly reminded, is the guy who really matters - I hope it won't forget what happened on Sunday in Colorado Springs.

What started out as a perfect example of the dangers of allowing Americans to keep and bear arms - the fatal shooting of two teenage girls and the wounding of their father in a church parking lot - ended instead as a nearly perfect example of the wisdom of allowing Americans to keep and bear arms.

It's only nearly perfect, because the resolution involved a church security guard who had once been a police officer, not just some member of the congregation who happened to be armed that afternoon.

That small imperfection, unfortunately, leaves an argument for the people whose irrational fear of guns overpowers their rational fear of criminals: "This was a former cop," they'll say. "Cops undergo extensive firearms training, etc., etc., etc."

Fine. But just for the record, if I ever need someone to save my life by firing a gun, I'll take the gun enthusiast who's at the range twice a week over the well-trained cop who happens to be an indifferent marksman.

I've got a perfect example of something else, though. It's what happens in a place full of innocent, unsuspecting people where no one is armed except the guy who decides to go on a rampage. That one played out at a shopping mall in Omaha last Wednesday.

No law-abiding person had a gun to stop the homicidal maniac who used his stepfather's semiautomatic rifle to blow away the mall's no-guns-allowed policy, then killed eight people.

Click here to read the entire op-ed at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.