When President Barack Obama responded to the tragic killing of nine people who were worshiping at their beloved Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., last month, he immediately blamed the gun, saying, “We don't have all the facts, but we do know that once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hand on a gun.”

I firmly disagree, instead believing the blame lies with the shooter, not the weapon. For instance, in President Obama’s hometown of Chicago during the Fourth of July weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that a total of 10 people were killed and another 53 were injured in a widespread rash of shootings.

That doesn’t exactly make the national news but, obviously, to blame the gun is absolute folly. And to strengthen the “common sense” argument, an Illinois State Police database reveals there were 119,337 concealed-carry permits issued between Dec. 18, 2013, and June 6, 2015.

Now this: At around 10 o’clock this past Sunday night, a man in downtown Nashville was returning to his car when two teenagers tried to rob him. They grabbed his cell phone and ordered him out of the car. As he obeyed, the victim of the would-be street crime reached in his pocket and out came his pistol. He shot one of the would-be assailants in the stomach and, as the other fled, the victim held the wounded robber at gunpoint until police arrived.

The police did not charge the man, citing self-defense, and he had a concealed-carry permit. Want some more incidents of self-defense? Look at this list that was compiled by Fox News a week ago:

-- Miami, June 24: A pizza driver was in a parking lot walking to his car at 1 a.m. when two robbers opened fire on him, putting holes in his car windows. The deliveryman killed one robber and wounded the other.

-- Evansville, IN, June 29: Two men looking for a fight confronted a man, Erick Paula, on a remote country road at 3:30 a.m. Paula fired his gun when the men approached him, wounding both of them.

-- Clearwater Beach, Fla., June 29: An Uber driver, a former New York City police officer, was being choked by a passenger. The driver pulled out his gun and shot the passenger in the foot, wounding him.

-- Baton Rouge, La., June 29: A robber walked up to a man and asked if he could borrow a lighter. As the man reached into his pocket, the robber drew his gun and demanded his possessions. The victim had a permitted concealed handgun in his pocket and shot the attacker.

-- Albuquerque, N.M., June 30: A robber had just held up a business before attacking a pizza delivery driver. The driver, a concealed handgun permit holder, shot and critically wounded the robber.

-- Springfield, Mo., June 30: A car owner used his gun to stop a carjacking. The man wounded the criminal, who was captured a few blocks away.

* * *

Do you remember Lynne Russell, the dark-haired anchor on CNN and Headline News from 1983 until 2001? On June 30 she and her husband, Chuck de Caro, were on a road trip to California with their dog when they stopped in Albuquerque to eat dinner with friends. The decided to spend the night and went to a dog-friendly Motel 6. Lynne went back out to the car to get something and when she returned, a bail-jumper from Memphis, 27-year-old Tomorio Walton, was waiting by the door with a menacing pistol.

He forced her into the room at gunpoint as her husband stepped out of the shower and saw his terrified wife being held by the attacker. “Chuck tried to change the guy’s mind, to reason with him,” Lynne explained, but Tomorio wanted money and any valuables. Becoming increasing agitated, the assailant pointed to a briefcase and was told nothing of value was in it.

At this point Lynne grabbed her purse and handed it to her husband, asking if he could find anything in it of value, and Chuck said yes, pulling a loaded pistol from the bag. At that, the invader lunged at deCaro, rapidly firing his weapon in the gunfight that ensued. He shot de Caro three times in the torso with .40-caliber bullets but deCaro, described as a “crack shot,” shot and killed the would-be robber. Both Russell and de Caro have concealed-carry permits and each had a loaded gun in the room.

Miraculously, no major organs were found damaged in the emergency surgery on de Caro but Russell left no doubt about what resulted. “He is really my hero. I thank him over and over for saving my life. I am really proud of him.” Police will not charge de Caro since it was obviously self-defense.

* * *

There is now some belief that the Charleston gunman, in the midst of murdering those he had just worshiped with at the Emanuel AME church, stopped in the midst of his heinous rampage to actually reload his weapon. Actor Chuck Norris, in a recent op-ed, believes that if someone there had been armed, lives may have been saved.

Before you gasp at the notion of carrying a concealed weapon to church, look at these thought-provoking statistics that the actor provides. In 2005 there were roughly 10 violent crimes in churches across the U.S. In 2007, there were 41 incidents. In 2009, there were 108. In 2012, there were more than 135. In 2013, there were 132. In 2014, there were 176.

Norris writes, “Fewer guns don’t equate to fewer violent crimes: Honduras has 21 times the gun murders that we do and 14 times fewer guns.”

He also believes stricter gun laws don’t equal fewer violent crimes. “Proof is found right there in South Carolina law and with the Charleston murderous thug himself. (Reporter) Dana Loesch explained: ‘In South Carolina, all you have to do is be charged with a felony to be declared illegitimate to carry, which he was in February of 2015. He was charged with a felony for drug possession. It was methamphetamines and cocaine. His father purchased a firearm for him for his 21st birthday, April 4, 2015. That could have been a straw man purchase, which is also a felony.

“He reportedly told someone that he stole the gun that he used in these murders. That’s also a felony. Felony, felony, felony.’

“No increase of gun laws would have stopped the AME church killer from getting a gun, just as in the case of the Sandy Hook tragedy,” Norris believes. “That is why I have a challenge for pastors and church leaders,” Norris pleads. “With all due respect, it’s about time that they woke up to the idea that providing for and protecting God’s flock means increasing church security, from children’s classes to main sanctuaries and fellowship halls. Faith is not an excuse to bypass self-defense.”

Norris quoted Jesus, who told His disciples “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one (Luke 22:36).”

He wrote that at his Texas ranch he has an engraved picture of a gun at the road entrance with the words, “We don’t call 9-1-1,” next to it. “Maybe it’s time a few churches put that sign on their doors, too,” he said.

“When will Obama and other progressives learn that increasing government gun control and legislation won’t keep them out of the hands of bad guys? They will further disarm honest, good Americans who need that protection against murderous thugs like the parasite who walked into the Emmanuel AME Church.”

I believe the NRA guy is right. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

royexum@aol.com