I will leave Eric to comment on the Charleston’s Emanuel AME mass murder. I will comment on Dim Won’s, a/k/a President Barack Obama, cheap opportunist attempt to advance a pet issue, citizen disarmament, while the victim’s bodies were still warm. B.J. Clinton would be proud, video:
Reaction, Ed Morrissey, Hot Air [1]:
With that said, if I had to give one piece of advice to any politician, it would be that any argument starting off with “We don’t have all the facts” is one that should probably remain unspoken. Another piece of advice would be that gathering the relevant facts before speaking will avoid embarrassments like this portion of Barack Obama’s speech, which comes after a whole raft of examples to the contrary (via Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard):
In the world in which we live, as opposed the imaginary world which only exists in Dim Won’s fervid imagination, the greatest threat to citizens in not other citizens with or without guns, but rather their own governments. The greatest murderer of all time is Obama regime hero Mao Zedong, and his weapon of choice mass famine [2].
In a nation with open borders and impotent home land security, there are no shortage of fanatics will to commit mass murder to advance their personal jihad. Yet not all attempts at mass murder are successful, from Washington Post [3], Lindsey Bever May 4:
On Sunday, [Pamela Geller] was in the news again for sponsoring a “Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” in Garland, Tex., some 20 miles from Dallas, after which two suspects opened fire on a security guard before being shot and killed by police. Authorities did not immediately link the exhibit and the shootings, but Geller did, with vehemence.
It was armed citizens which prevented a slaughter in Garland, Texas. Yet all Geller inspired was the wrath of the lame streamers. In Charleston is obvious that none of the intended victims shot back. Are there deaths the results of the lack of gun control, or the philosophy of victim disarmament?
The cynic in me notes that the political meme that Black Lives Matter only applies when the shooter is either white or police officer. According to DNAinfo [4], there have been 192 murders this year and 22 this month in the People’s Republic of Chicago. There only legal guns in Chicago belong the police or to Mayor’s campaign supporters. Where is Dim Won’s anger? Where is the media outcry?
Addendum: Confirmed, the African Methodist Episcopal Church was another gun-free zone, from John Lott, Fox News [5]:
The horrible tragedy last night that left nine people dead at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., probably could have been avoided. Like so many other attacks, the massacre took place in a gun-free zone, a place where the general public was banned from having guns. The gun-free zone obviously didn’t stop the killer from bringing a gun into the church.
Free citizens are free to choose to arm themselves or not. Just remember, going gun-free is not a risk free option.