Fox News: Too Bad No One At Planned Parenthood Was Armed, Except For All Those Cops

An armed society is a bullet-riddled society

We have to give credit to Fox News for living up to expectations. In our very first post on the murders at the Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, we joked that it was only a matter of time until a Republican presidential candidate insisted the real problem was that the Planned Parenthood office was a "gun free zone." We were only off by a little: Fox News beat them to it. 

On Monday's Outnumbered, Andrea Tantaros kicked off the segment with a rant about how liberals are using the Planned Parenthood attack to shift discussions about terrorism away from ISIS, which has killed zero people in America this week, to abortion and guns. That's just how awful liberals are, instantly assuming a shooting at Planned Parenthood might have something to do with abortion and guns. After that insight, Charles Payne explained to host Harris Faulkner that if only someone with a gun had been on the scene, the attack could have been thwarted, easy-peasy:

Payne: The other side of this, guys, what about, Harris, when they brought in those military style vehicles to help get those people to safety? We're talking about disarming our police. We're talking about demilitarizing our police because "it's not right for them to have those kinds of things."

Faulkner: He was shooting at police officers.

Payne: And also, what if more people had guns there, guys? What if people could've defended themselves?

Tantaros triumphantly chimed in, "It may have been a different outcome. But they don't want to talk about that."

It apparently escaped the notice of the assembled Fox News Brain Trust that police officer Garrett Swasey was killed and five other cops were injured -- and every single one of them was armed.

[contextly_sidebar id="fH6M1NUSBbA7uXWHNYkTvwMNOLfQGc03"]We're also impressed by Payne's jab at concerns over highly militarized police, because the stupid old liberals want to disarm the people who keep us safe. As we noted (again, in our very first post on the attack), if all police departments restricted their use of armored vehicles and tactical weapons to situations like the one in Colorado Springs, we couldn't be happier. Smashing through the doors of a clinic under siege is a very good use of an armored truck. Deploying a line of them (with snipers sitting on top) against the "threat" of black demonstrators really isn't what that equipment is for.

[contextly_sidebar id="Hkx1d6uaJVTddzzPhSGFxWdgVrfL4ISS"]Ah, but what about the non-police victims of the shooter? It took several minutes for cops with guns to arrive on the scene; what if a brave Armed Citizen had been at Planned Parenthood with his or her trusty sidearm? Speculative scenarios are fun, because that way, you can keep the Titanic from sinking or strangle baby Hitler in his crib. Of course, as Yr Dok Zoom observed after a real life Active Shooter situation, it's also easy to see how throwing more guns into the mix could have added confusion and a higher body count.

As it was, one of the victims in Colorado Springs, Iraq war vet Ke'Arre Stewart, was actually shot outside the clinic at the very beginning of the attack; he had stepped out to get a better cell signal for a routine call. The killer shot Stewart from the parking lot as he was coming toward the clinic, and Stewart died after running back into the clinic to warn others to take cover, almost certainly saving lives. Stewart's brother Leyonte Chandler attributed Stewart's heroism to his Army training:

"I believe that's his military instinct, you know: Leave no soldier behind, leave no civilian behind, just leave no one behind," an emotional Chandler said. "So he ran back inside, trying to help out others. I don't know where he was at, as far as how many more breaths he had, but he knew. And before his time ran out I guess that was his main priority ... to help and save other lives."

That strikes us as plenty heroic. If he'd been armed, could he have drawn on the shooter and taken him out, like every single keyboard warrior insists would have been easy? Possibly -- or he might have missed or fumbled his sidearm, reducing the amount of warning time the people inside the clinic had to take shelter. It's also not clear whether the other person who died in the Planned Parenthood, Jennifer Markovsky, who had gone to the clinic along with a friend, was in any position to have Rambo'd the attacker, either.

As for a general policy, we have to say that Planned Parenthood may already have some very good reasons for not wanting a lot of people carrying guns to be sitting around their waiting rooms. Call it an educated guess.

[ Addicting Info / MediaMatters / NBC News / NPR ]