According To Denver News Thornton Police Confused By All The Armed Customers In Thornton Shooting.

[TheMastersNemesis]

Based on local news feeds the Thornton police lost time because there were other armed customers in Walmart at the time of the shooting. And these people had to be vetted because the real shooter had already left the scene.

Imagine the police going to an active shooting scene with a number of people firing their weapons in an active situation.

[Yonnie3]

1. It's easy to tell the difference between a bad guy and a good guy.

Bad guys wear black hats, right?

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. There Were Armed Customers. Yet They Were Not Able To Stop This Shooter.

Had they tried they could be dead or wounded too. Plus errant rounds would have taken out a couple of more people.

[Yonnie3]

3. They would have shot each other and unarmed innocents.

Then the police could have shot them.

[Louis1895]

4. Has this been portrayed in a movie yet?

Seems like a logical script element.

[Orrex]

5. I have made this observation several times

I have noted that the presence of armed civilians in the wake of a shooting can only add to confusion.

The gun advocates' response has generally been something along the lines of "Actually most cops want responsible people to act in their absence. "

Yes, I'm sure that cops love to arrive on the scene, finding multiple discharged weapons and conflicting versions of the story. I have no doubt that this streamlines the investigative process and makes the whole thing run like a well-oiled machine.


Parenthetically, can a gun advocate tell me exactly how to distinguish a "responsible gun owner" who's open-carrying his weapon from a dangerous asshole who's open-carrying and about to go on a rampage?

[SandyZ]

6. I had not considered this.

Reading the headline, that was my thought. Imagine being police now a days knowing the number of armed people they are facing.

[TheMastersNemesis]

7. I Have Been In Two Establishments Where I Saw An Open Side Arm.

Seeing a side arm that is likely loaded at a business is a bit intimidating. I just do not want to be around an armed person no matter how supposedly responsible they are.

[SandyZ]

8. Right.

I remember a story of a man walking around with one over his shoulder at a kids baseball game. I would be one gathering the kids and leaving. The whole purpose is to intimidate. Who does that? What kind of person needs that to pump his lacking ego?

[Historic NY]

9. It becomes a choice of just shooting them all............

WTF knows who is the good guy or bad guy.