Holocaust Museum shooting not the 'proof' the gun control crowd is looking for

Predictably, within hours of yesterdays assault on the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, gun control advocates began citing it as an example of why more gun control is needed. Actually, this attack proves the opposite.

According to the Washington Times, gun control groups "said it highlights the need for lawmakers to reconsider efforts to ease the District's tough gun laws and allowing firearms into national parks."

DC continues to have very stringent gun laws, yet this shooting still took place. How much worse would it have been had not someone armed with a gun put a swift stop to alleged white supremest James von Brunn's rampage?

"It is dangerous to force more guns into places that American families expect to be gun-free and safe," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "It shows that having even more guns in more places is the wrong answer to America's gun violence problem."

Actually, it shows that if there is someone on the scene who is armed and able to stop such an attack, the death toll plummets. While it is tragic that a security guard was killed, this shooting could have resulted in dozens of deaths had the shooter been allowed to progress unopposed.

The fallacy is that no law, no policy, no posted sign can truly create a "gun-free zone." Only a victim disarmament zone can be created as only those who are inclined to follow the law in the first place will abide by such rules or laws. Does anyone truly believe that a "no guns allowed" sign could have stopped Brunn from pulling the trigger? Especially since it is already illegal for private citizens to be armed on the streets of DC. Those laws and policies are currently in place, and there very well may be a sign already posted on the Museum prohibiting firearms, yet Brunn still attacked. There certainly are strict security measures including security checkpoints, all failed. It was another man with a gun who stopped the violence.

The law failed to prevent this attack, and the only answer is to keep that law and add more? What is truly dangerous is to ignore the failures and continue to disarm law abiding citizens and leave them at the mercy of violent criminals and domestic terrorist hate groups.

Further reading:

Holocaust Museum: Shooting in DC 'gun free zone'

Holocaust Museum shooting short-circuited by a gun

Fenty’s own words: D.C. shooting ‘extremely isolated incident’