Of all the hot takes to come out of the Broward County Sheriff’s confirmation that there was an armed officer outside the building where Nikolas Cruz’s shooting rampage was taking place for several minutes who nevertheless didn’t intervene, few are more scorching than this one from John Harwood. The CNBC journo took aim at the “good guy with a gun” talking point:

so it turns out a good guy with a gun was there, with sheriff’s dept training no teacher will ever have, and he didn’t stop the bad guy with a gun — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) February 22, 2018

Wow, seriously?

You probably don't think you are, but you're actually making the point for citizens being armed to protect themselves. https://t.co/KWZHZ1BClS — terry schappert (@terryschappert) February 23, 2018

He really is:

Civilians could never stop a shooter, so only cops should have guns. The cop failed, and also only cops should have guns. Gotta love “heads I win, tails you lose” logic from gun controllers. https://t.co/ZaORNVdbN0 — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 22, 2018

"Good guy with a gun" specifically refers to civilians. It's the argument you use to claim only cops should carry guns. You can't randomly use it when the cops don't do their job. — neontaster 🚟 (@neontaster) February 23, 2018

Do you realize how dumb this is? In this case, it wasn't a good guy with a gun. It was a coward who refused to do his job, which made his possession of a gun completely irrelevant. https://t.co/tK3MfENXbH — (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) February 22, 2018

Also we're supposed to let the police protect us instead of arming ourselves, right? https://t.co/yTu6Wy7X2w — ¡El Sooopèrr! ن c137 (@SooperMexican) February 23, 2018

Keeping up with the liberal narrative on guns can be SO confusing, but at least some are helping make the conservatives’ point for them.

So maybe we should have even less confidence and trust in police? And so defend ourselves? Your point, exactly? https://t.co/p2wGImY49o — Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) February 22, 2018

Congratulations, John. You've just composed the stupidest sentence in the history of the English language. https://t.co/5R5fnWkImb pic.twitter.com/Z43owCtdCa — Jim Treacher is a dumb pseudonym (@jtLOL) February 23, 2018

You call a guy who cowardly stayed outside while students fought off the shooter with Kevlar vests a GOOD GUY? https://t.co/HFvcZwysfR — Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) February 23, 2018

A football coach and a 15-year-old boy without firearms sacrified their lives to save others. How dare you assume what others are capable of based on the failure of this one person? https://t.co/qJIzHIx1pB — BT (@back_ttys) February 23, 2018

the only thing that will save us from bad guys with guns is if good guys without guns take away all the guns from all the guys! https://t.co/fsmSDp2gQ9 — James Taranto (@jamestaranto) February 23, 2018

This is a perfect reason to pull police officers from everywhere they defend Because one coward failed to do his duty That is an idiotic take https://t.co/OperRPXDw1 — Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) February 23, 2018

I knew a guy in college who conceal carried, at risk of expulsion, after watching the cops stand by at Virginia Tech. Couldn't blame him. https://t.co/bJ4V177YhY — CJ Ciaramella (@cjciaramella) February 22, 2018

How conveniently he omits that the TX church shooting was ended by a civilian NRA instructor w an AR-15. https://t.co/iIoAsIlafv — name redacted (@nameredacted5) February 23, 2018

Anything harmful to the liberal narrative will be avoided by a liberal.