Are you really safer if your friend has a gun?

Every time there is a shooting, there is a group of people saying, more guns in the hands of the public would make us safer. Is this true? My belief, that in some hands we would be, such as well adjusted retired lawmen and military. A group of drunk college boys carrying guns would be very dangerous, not safe. Personally I had some training with firearms, but in public, if I was carrying, no one would be safer.

Think about everyone you know. Give them all a firearm to carry in public. How many of them would add to your safety in a crowded theater if a shooter started firing? Fewer than 1 percent of my acquaintances would make me feel safer, while I believe 99 percent would make the tragedy worse.

To be safer we need to enforce our preexisting laws or make sensible new ones. Presently this is not possible because the NRA and people in influential places are successfully lobbying for the firearm industry, because I believe, they believe any sensible reform may decrease firearm sells.

Mike Schaen, Mason