what?! lost, hitmen were after you? why?

You need to read this in context. The question was HYPOTHETICAL about Sandy Hook and Aurora, and assumed that a COMPETENT armed civilian was present. Second, the consensus on The Gulch is that Detroit is a failed government. Here, indeed, the chief of police is saying that armed citizens would help his inept department do its job. Moreover, from that article is this: ".... Authorities added that there were 1,161 non-fatal shootings in the city, ... Despite the drop, Detroit still recorded as many homicides as New York City – despite having a population that's less than one-tenth the size of the Big Apple, the Free Press reported." Detroiters with (legal) guns shoot each other at ten times the rate of New Yorkers who are denied easy access to firearms.

Furthermore, from that same PoliceOne.com website is this poll about what a police officer would do, if, under-cover and armed, they met another LEO.
http://www.policeone.com/Officer-Safety/...
The bottom line is that there is NO WAY to prevent such tragedies.

To underscore the problem in armed civilians who over-estimate their untried ability to respond under stress, consider that in the Empire State Building shooting of August 25, 2012, EVERY ONE of the shooting victims - perpetrator, by-standers, and police - were shot by police. The perpetrator shot no one.

The police must have monthly firearms range training. They live a life of response. Yet, this case is not unique. I can find others, including a Miami, Florida case of a security guard killed by responding officers. Until and unless you are in that situation, you only assume that you will do the right thing at the right time.

I understand and appreciate the apocryphal story of the 87-year old woman who shoots an intruder. If you have a business that requires that you make cash deposits after hours, if your home has been repeatedly burglarized, yes, objective reasons exist to apply for a permit to carry a weapon. That being as it may, letting everyone who wants one have a gun is not going to make everyone else any safer

Finally, allow me to underscore that my bachelor's is in criminology; and I work as a security guard. And I am not armed. This is Texas. In any confrontation, I am the one guy guaranteed NOT to have a gun. I never felt the need for one.

Whoa! Quoting the Freep as a credible source? That's pretty much a left-wing propaganda bullhorn, so I seriously doubt they did any research about whether or not the Detroiters who shot each other were all "legal" gun owners. Most were probably violent felons.

You may be a security guard, but it doesn't sound like you've ever been through a CCW class. The message to a licensee is clear: you are not a cop, so don't act if law enforcement or uniformed security is present. Don't draw your weapon unless there is no other resort, and there is imminent danger to yourself or others around you. You are also not the Lone Ranger, so if you draw the weapon, do so with the intent to kill the person representing the threat; shooting to wound or disarm is fantasy.

As for the "apocryphal" stories about armed homeowners disabling an intruder, they are sadly hugely outnumbered by real statistics of unarmed homeowners killed by armed intruders. It only takes one violent assault to kill you, so demanding that someone has to have experienced prior assaults before they can own a gun is incredibly stupid.

Ah...a man aware of his surrounding :) Good call.

How could a location be more appropriate than Arlington? I'm sure many of the folks buried there would join us if they could.

I will consider myself in good company then. At least you did not say I sound like that Boborowhateverhisnameis guy.

I'll try to keep you straight. I think you sound similar. :)

Yes. He is from AK.

I am not certain a protest at Arlington would be appropriate. I was looking that the park area just to the north of the Reagan Intl Airport.

Who am I getting you mixed up with? MattFrank?

Well, they do have all those nice new armored hummers and a shit load of hollow point ammo...so it would probably take less than you think. Provided the military would turn on it's own people. It would be quite the experiment.

By my count, if you are licensed to carry in 42 states besides VA, you can carry in VA.

Since a lot of the people on this march would be veterans, maybe Arlington Cemetery could be the focal point.

Yeah. If 200,000 gun owners showed up in DC with their guns. It would take an awful lot of jackbooted government thugs to do anything about it.

There may be something to this. The reciprocity list for VA is pretty extensive. http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_Reci...

I think you hit upon my point. Carrying a firearm in DC is illegal, and they do not honor the carry permits of any state. Marching on DC armed is inviting armed conflict with the government.

I am wondering just how close a protest can get to DC while staying on Virginia soil. There may be something to that, but there again we need to know Virginia's reciprocity laws with permits, open carry, and rifle carry. My guess is that such a protest would still be ignored like the bikers were.

The press is usually with "whatever important is happening", while WE are usually in the - I'm not making this up - are 2 blocks away, in the fenced-off "free speech area". They usually wander by, maybe snap a photo to show that there was no "legitimate" or "meaningful" protest.
Remember "if it bleeds, it leads"? It's also true that if you didn't see it on TV or read about it in the paper, it never happened.
ARRRG

So whoever carries is "inviting armed conflict"? I disagree. Marching on Washington in protest (like any other march on Washington protest) is a united group of like thinkers protesting something government is doing, or hollering for something they SHOULD be doing. Peaceful protesting. How is exercising your 2nd Amendment right inviting an armed conflict with the Government. You're buying into stereo typing.
I like how you ended with "at this point" though. A message of "keep your hands of our guns" needs to be sent...BEFORE 'that point' comes. Again I say...empty holsters... WEAK.
(However, now that I think about it more...DC is anti gun and has laws against carrying...so there's that problem...I guess that puts us back to marching at State capitals. Clusters of lunacy all over with how we're being legally limited to express our views or voice our opinions or protest. What's happening to our Country!!!?? Where the hell is the press?)

What's the difference? Do we HAVE a 2nd Amendment or not?

I'm still thinking about the rest, but Mike-I could be an aeronautical engineer and that does not qualify me to fly a plane. so what's your point? do you need to practice if you carry? yes. should we not allow CC because you can come up with some stories where things went down poorly? probably not. why so whipped up over this?

Mike, Mike, Mike. Too many generalizations, too much sloppy thinking. To wit:

Yes, the police must have monthly training - in some places. In others, they only have to qualify [that's shoot 20 rounds] every 3 months. In many, their results are not supervised nor critiqued.
My students and I have practiced beside a LOT of police officers, and they get away with shit that my students are furious about: leaving the range filthy [trash, used targets, brass],
poor safety discipline [if you consistently run the aim point of your pistol - the zone that starts 1" in front of where the muzzle stops- across someone else's body, you deserve to have the gun taken away from you;
destruction of range property, usually by shooting large calibre rounds at targets posted for small calibre;
to the really scary one: TRULY LOUSY shooting. The exception seems to be the SWAT team/TAC TEAM/ etc members who can at least shoot well.

I certainly don’t feel any safer when police are present unless I know the officer personally.

"...you only assume that you will do the right thing at the right time..."
If you make sure you have serious, competent, frequent training, FAIL.
The place where the Wizard and I are doing our CCW certification has a “black site” where they run any kind of scenario you, or they, want, using AirSoft guns. There’s a big sign that says “You WILL be hit by Air Soft pellets” as a warning. Many of us who have been in the military or have military connections of some sort will smile when I say that I think it’s going to be “good training”.

If one does not dry-fire-practice several times a week, live-fire-practice AT LEAST once a month, and participate in some sort of scenario training, all assumptions he makes are worthless. If he DOES DO the right training, he won’t be assuming. He’ll be knowing. and it doesn’t matter if he wears a uniform or not.

and I’m not sure when, or if, I can address “objective reasons…to apply for a permit to carry…”.that’s dangerous talk.
I’ll see if I can do the “..letting everyone who wants one…” question in a day or two. I will say it’s just pure silly.

No, I live in West Tennessee.

In AK???

I guess people need to take some overmanwarrior lessons-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxAaiR9D-...

Yeah, we are usually armed at state level events, but I thought you were talking about marching into DC armed.

Not too bad at private establishments. We have gotten quite a few gun free signs removed from local restaurants. We don’t have to do it on a state level as CC is legal here. Our last major rally was a good one with people like the youtube personality Hickok45 and some of the state senators participating.

This year we got the parking lot bill put thru too, which simply put means that an employer cannot fire you for keeping a firearm in your car.