60 Minutes’ Fear of a Nation Clinging to its Guns

This was originally televised back in April, but was repeated again tonight:

Too bad Lesley Stahl couldn’t utilize footage of 20/20’s “Virginia Tech” gun experiment (which looks to have been aired the same weekend as the 60 Minutes ep) to buttress her “more gun control/guns are bad” push:

I think there are some good points and merit in the 20/20 scenario staging; however, their experiment itself, I think, is far from empirical and nonbiased.

For one, the “intruder” is already at a clear advantage given he’s a trained firearms instructor firing with the accuracy of such, while the students have only been given a crash course; other than clearing a holster, I don’t really see them getting trained in combative handgun use. Sure, it’s one possible scenario; but how about one of those students trade places and be the intruder, while the firearms instructor be the one sitting in the classroom? Or, if that’s “unfair” and “missing the point”, why not replace the firearms instructor completely in his role as intruder and use one of the students with short-term training to make it “even”? Why give the students baggy clothes? Why create just one possible environment and hypothetical scenario? How about having someone not taken by “the element of surprise and panic”, and arriving on scene to draw his weapon on the attacker? The situation is heavily weighted to demonstrate failure.

I agree with 20/20 points regarding reaction time, stress, tunnel vision, etc. (reminds me of the classic law enforcement video, Surviving Edged Weapons); but not with the propaganda 20/20 is pushing: That guns in the hands of ordinary citizens doesn’t save lives, and if anything endangers them.

So what’s the alternative to 20/20’s hypothetical that they are endorsing? Remove all chances of defending yourself (and others) with an equalizer and just live out the last remaining seconds of your life as a sitting duck.

Here’s an antidote video for the 20/20 piece: