there is no way of being able to ascertain the difference. the lack of weapon control in the United States reminds me of Iraq - that country is also awash in weapons with no controls. what the United States lacks is a national (read federal) efficient data base to control who may apply for a weapon and who may not. the second amendment to the constitution is not an open door for an uncontrolled armed civilian society, nor is there any need for one. currently, there are really no restrictions and the extreme segments of our society believe their own government is an "enemy".

lack of education, racism and neo-nazi philosophy dominates the world view of these individuals. believing that carrying a weapon provides any kind of defense in a civilian shooting incident is just ignorant. even people with 300 hours of training, per year, cannot tell where bullets are coming from in an immediate situation. these people pose a tremendous threat to innocent bystanders and themseves.

having been in, and photographed conflict situations, inadvertantly, in civilian situations i can simply say that there is no way to identify the gunman (gunmen). the civilians who fall victim in this type of incident never even see the shooter.

when this occurs, the best thing anyone can do, even with a sidearm or rifle, is run and take cover and hope the shooter makes a mistake, where you have a clean shot. even then, there is always the real risk of also killing bystanders while trying to take out the shooter.

civilians exercising "open carry" not only endanger people around them, but also make themselves immediate targets by law enforcement in an active shooting situation. they themselves, in such a situation, may possibly be considered as accessories to the shooter, with tragic results.

there is no way of being able to ascertain the difference. the lack of weapon control in the United States reminds me of Iraq - that country is also awash in weapons with no controls. what the United States lacks is a national (read federal) efficient data base to control who may apply for a weapon and who may not. the second amendment to the constitution is not an open door for an uncontrolled armed civilian society, nor is there any need for one. currently, there are really no restrictions and the extreme segments of our society believe their own government is an "enemy".

lack of education, racism and neo-nazi philosophy dominates the world view of these individuals. believing that carrying a weapon provides any kind of defense in a civilian shooting incident is just ignorant. even people with 300 hours of training, per year, cannot tell where bullets are coming from in an immediate situation. these people pose a tremendous threat to innocent bystanders and themseves.

having been in, and photographed conflict situations, inadvertantly, in civilian situations i can simply say that there is no way to identify the gunman (gunmen). the civilians who fall victim in this type of incident never even see the shooter.

when this occurs, the best thing anyone can do, even with a sidearm or rifle, is run and take cover and hope the shooter makes a mistake, where you have a clean shot. even then, there is always the real risk of also killing bystanders while trying to take out the shooter.

civilians exercising "open carry" not only endanger people around them, but also make themselves immediate targets by law enforcement in an active shooting situation. they themselves, in such a situation, may possibly be considered as accessories to the shooter, with tragic results.