PHILADELPHIA - "Armed gays don't get bashed," and "Pick on someone your own caliber" says an international gay rights group based in Philadelphia whose main purpose is to promote gun rights in the LGBT community.
“The Pink Pistols gives condolences to all family and friends of those killed and injured at Pulse. This is exactly the kind of heinous act that justifies our existence," the group's spokesperson Gwendolyn Patton said in a release Sunday. "At such a time of tragedy, let us not reach for the low-hanging fruit of blaming the killer’s guns. Let us stay focused on the fact that someone hated gay people so much they were ready to kill or injure so many."
Patton went on.
"A human being did this. The human being’s tools are unimportant when compared to the bleakness of that person’s soul. I say again, GUNS did not do this. A human being did this, a dead human being. Our job now is not to demonize the man’s tools, but to condemn his acts and work to prevent such acts in the future.”
Patton said she's concerned that knee-jerk gun-control efforts may make preventing future events harder rather than easier, as only the law-abiding potential victims will be affected by such laws.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to foresee such an event,” continued Patton, “But if they cannot be prevented, then they must be stopped as fast as someone tries to start them.”
Patton suggested state laws be changed to allow carrying weapons into alcohol-serving venues.
She said some bars and other establishments that serve alcohol are difficult to protect because many states forbid the carrying of weapons where alcohol is served, but that just as one might have a designated driver who stays sober, one might have a designated carrier with a concealed-carry permit who goes armed and does not drink.
“It’s sad that we must consider such things, but when there are persons out there who mean us harm, we must find ways to protect ourselves within the law.” she said.
The National Rifle Association has yet to comment on the Orlando shooting.
