The victim disarmament group Everytown for Gun Safety recently published a video showing a man breaking into his ex-wife’s house, seizing their son, and shooting the woman. The point of the ad is that, if the man hadn’t had a gun, he wouldn’t have been able to shoot his ex-wife. However, If the man hadn’t had a gun, he still would have been able to break in, kidnap the couple’s son, and harm or murder his ex-wife with a knife, bar, or other weapon. Moreover, disarmament laws would not have stopped him from getting a gun illegally. What likely would have helped, as Dan Cannon points out, is if the woman had had a gun and the training to use it effectively: “Who was the woman on the phone with? The police. The police have guns. She was begging someone with a gun to come and save her, most likely by shooting the suspect (her ex). If she had a gun, she could have been that good guy with a gun.” On YouTube, CoyoteTrails edited the ad to show what should have happened:
August 1 Update: “The video is no longer available due to copyright claim by Everytown for Gun Safety.” I guess the organization found the edited video too effective a rebuttal. Anyway, the edited video showed a man breaking into his ex-wife’s house, the woman opening her gun safe and retrieving her handgun, the woman warning the man, and the woman firing her gut at the man—the end.