Since at least Sandy Hook, it seems that the National Rifle Association’s boilerplate response to mass shootings has been, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.” Well, an NRA board member took this talking point to its logical–and disgusting–end. To his mind, the pastor of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston is responsible for not only his own death, but the deaths of eight of his parishoners. Why? He didn’t allow the good guys in his church to have guns.
Hours after Wednesday night’s bloodbath in Charleston, a lively discussion about it began at the Texas Concealed Handgun License Forum, or TexasCHLForum for short. Immediately, the discussion turned to whether Dylann Roof would have been able to pull off his rampage if South Carolina allowed concealed carry in churches. Texas, for those who don’t know, does allow concealed carry in houses of worship.
On Thursday afternoon, just hours after Roof’s arrest, one of the moderators, NRA board member Charles Cotton, appeared to blame the church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, for all nine deaths of the previous night–including his own. When a poster mentioned that Pinckney was also a South Carolina state senator, Cotton pointed out that in the past, Pinckney had voted against concealed carry in churches. As a result, Cotton wrote, “eight of his church members who might be alive if he expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead.” He blamed Pinckney for putting “his position on a political issue” above the safety of his flock.
Cliff Notes version: a good guy with a gun could have stopped Roof, but because Pinckney wasn’t willing to allow this, he is responsible for all nine deaths on Wednesday, including his own. I don’t think I need to tell you how much of an insult this is to Pinckney’s family and the families of the other victims. Apparently Cotton realized he stepped in it, because that comment has since been deleted. However, ThinkProgress got a screenshot.
Cotton’s comment was not only grossly insulting, it was also inaccurate. The “good guy with a gun” myth has already been debunked several times over. Most recently, in their book, “Enough,” Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly point out that not one mass shooting in the last 30 years has been stopped by a good guy with a gun. Indeed, a good guy with a gun nearly shot the guy who ultimately took down Jared Loughner. Picture the scene in that church. Can you imagine what would have happened if a bunch of good guys with guns began returning fire as soon as Roof opened up? Enough bullets would have been flying that it’s a safe bet nobody would have made it out of that church alive.
Cotton was apparently referring to a bill that came before the South Carolina General Assembly in 2011, which would have allowed adult South Carolina residents to not only bring their weapons into churches, but restaurants and day care centers. The bill ultimately failed, in part because–wait for it–several members of the South Carolina gun lobby didn’t think it went far enough. For instance, Ed Kelleher of GrassRoots South Carolina claimed that the bill violated the constitutional rights of young adults and visitors to the state. Hmmm, did it occur to Kelleher that if this provision had been included, there would have been no meaningful way to keep convicted felons from bringing concealed weapons into churches?
While Cotton seems to have deleted that comment, that doesn’t mean that he’s willing to apologize. Reached by The Washington Post, Cotton explained that he wasn’t speaking in his capacity as an NRA board member, but as a moderator of that message board. That appears to be the line of the NRA as well; a spokesman said that individual board members “do not have the authority to speak for the NRA.” Never mind that Cotton and his other board members are the ones who are nominally responsible for overseeing Wayne LaPierre. If Cotton has anything left in him, he will either apologize to Pinckney’s family or he will resign.
