This story is truly horrible and nightmarish.
I wish it were not the case that news stories like this were so common. If the news were mostly stories about heroic gun-carrying citizens taking out evildoers like home invaders, robbers, or rapists before they could cause harm, or much harm, it would be pretty easy to defend my political positions, because then I’d be pro-gun.
It would be so much easier if what I cited as evidence for what I believe were essentially positive news stories of heroes winning. I’m sure such stories are easy to cling to for gun owners. Citing them bolsters a pro-gun viewpoint, and those stories are ones to be proud of. When and where they exist, which is rare, especially compared to the evidence against.
This story is all the reasons why I think the way I do, and it should be my “side’s” trump card. But when I read it, all I can think of is how terrible it is for the people affected. Why is this an argument for my “side”? Why is my side even a side?
It feels disgusting to cite the particular details of a family and community’s tragedy to push an agenda. There’s no pride involved when citing it. There’s nothing to boast about to win some online argument or political debate.
Good things that can be cited for my side are statistics, evidence of absence, the murders that did not get reported. The lowering of violence. Success stories in other countries.
But none of that really has the same impact.
On one side, you get the rare hero who stops an atrocity before it gets out of hand. The hero story. On the other side, you get mountains of tragedies where no one wins.
This story isn’t some wonderful thing that I can excitedly share with people to bolster my point of view. Yet it should be part of the debate, even if (preferably) in the abstract.
Someone *not *dying is *not *news. It’s not exciting and it’s not morale-boosting, even though it should be.
But whether it is news or not, that’s the goal. There’s no victory party when my side of the argument wins the day and our goals are achieved, because nothing actually happens if we win. And that’s the point.
And nothing we do actually brings back this man’s heart from being broken to pieces, nor his daughters who died senselessly. So where is the feeling of victory, in fighting this particular good fight? The endless depressing stories… make the arguments seem pointless, futile, and demoralizing.
I’m not in it for the feeling of victory, either, because I know it’s never going to come, even if we make a difference. It’s just that sometimes I get really jealous of the opposing side of this debate. The heroic and optimistic viewpoint that guns cure and stop violence because they’re being held mostly by good and skilled people is such an attractive narrative, compared to all this real suffering.