Detroit Police Officers shot

On Sunday four Detroit Police Officers were shot by a man who entered the precinct and started shooting.

This made me wonder about the oft stated position of guns right advocates that they carry a gun for protection. Here is a man who walked into a room full of Police Officers who are trained to use a gun. The shooter wounded four Officers before being killed. If the Police can't prevent gun violence in an everyday setting then what chance do the rest of us have?

Similarly when Jared Loughner opened fire in Tuscon, there were people in the crowd with guns. They did not prevent the crime. One gentleman suggested he almost shot one of the bystanders who had taken the gun away from Loughner because he was the person he saw standing with a gun.

The point is not that guns should be outlawed but that acting like more Americans carrying guns prevents people from being shot just doesn't make sense. This is a weak argument used by the simple minded to defend the indefensible. This is like suggesting that prescription drugs help so everyone should be able to get any prescription drug they like as long as they don't have a criminal record. Instead, you need to consult with a Doctor to be deemed qualified to use certain drugs and this should be the same for guns. Automatic weapons, extended clips, and "Cop Killer" bullets should be the crack-cocaine of gun rights - Illegal.

Suggesting limitations on gun rights is not a slippery slope to repealing the second amendment. They are rationale talking points based on escalating violence. The right to "bare arms" is not a free pass on all weapons. The problem is that the NRA has a Howard Hughes complex when it comes to limiting gun rights, and they fight for against limiting anything having to do with guns regardless of how crazy their position may be.

The irony is that when Unions, which most NRA members hate, fight to save the job of a person who is clearly incompetent, Conservative go nuts and use it as fodder to bash Unions, yet at every turn these same people protect the rights of citizens who should clearly not own a firearm. It's the same thing.

Until the NRA is willing to have a "Grown Up" conversation on gun rights we will continue to see preventable deaths by people who shouldn't even be allowed to own a gun in the first place.