The first major test of the NRA’s mime “A good guy with a gun is the best solution to the mass shootings” is in.  At last week’s mass shooting in Dallas Tx of police can and should be considered the first test of the forgoing meme trotted out by the NRA after mass shootings.  In this case we have so far reported 15 ‘open carry’ supporters at the shooting site.  To date not one of the 15 has been reported to have supported any of the police in the police’s response to the shootings.

While a single sample like this can not be taken as anything but a start it is suggestive that there may be something incorrect with the meme.  First point is that so far not one of the reported “Good Guys with a gun” even attempted to engage the shooter.  In dead most have been reported to have evauated the area with “all do haste” as the unarmed citizens did.  In one well documented instance the the person carrying an assault rifle turned over his gun to a policeman once the shooting started as he did not want to be mistaken as the shooter.  A demonstration of very good common scince.

What conclusion can be drawn from this insedent?  Not much.  We can draw the inference that when untrained people are faced with combat situation, even when we’ll armed, they will not stand.  Instead they will flee.  This phenomenon has been known to both the military and police for many many years.  An is why untrained levies are considered worse than useless by the military.  It may also be why the 2nd amendment starts out talking about a “well regulated militia”, but that is for another post.

The 2nd inference that can be drawn is that when someone who can not be quickly identified as a “Good Guy”, that is someone on your side, it is best to not appear as a threat.  In this case, unarmed, or not in the area in question.  An if you start out armed, get disarmed as quickly as possible to someone who is identified as a “Good Guy”.