Absolutely not.
Dark. Flashing strobe. Loud. Crowded. A couple of rounds set off a panic. All you’re getting are split second snapshots of the situation. How do you identify the perp and get a clear shot in that situation? I can’t think of a worse environment in which to introduce more guns.
According to State of Florida gun carrying permit statistics by population, there should have been a few armed civilians in that club that night. If there were, nobody fired back. I’m glad that they didn’t. I am positive the death toll would have been much higher. According to State of Arizona statistics, there should have been armed citizens in the crowd the day that US Representative Gabriel Giffords was shot in the head. Everybody ran or hid except for one guy. Same thing with the theater massacre in Colorado. All three these states have liberal gun laws compared to Connecticut (Newtown Massacre), New York and California. It just goes to show that having a gun is one thing. Having a gun and being trained to use it in a bad situation is another. Few people with gun permits have the training and even few are willing to move toward the danger in a situation, rather than follow the instinct to run from it. Life isn’t a Steven Seagal movie.
I have more training, by far, than your average G4 security guard—the company Mateen worked for. G4 is the go-to labor force used to back up the Sheriff in Pinellas County Florida at homeless shelters and jails in this era of privatization. They are nothing more than badly trained cop wannabees, some with a stint in the military on their resume, but every one of them I’ve met—at gun ranges and working in homeless shelters as a nurse—a fucking punks with few exceptions. I’ve always felt that G4’s psych screening, if they actually screen for psych, was faulty because of the employees I met in the course of my duties. This feeling was confirmed when I learned this madman Mateen worked for them for what? —eight years? And G4 didn’t notice that he was a little off? How can they tell who’s nuts when the majority of there security staff are simple bullies with fake badges and real guns.
More guns and more security guards armed with deadly weaponry is not the answer. Better escape procedures and crisis SOPs are the answer. Raising children properly so that they don’t grow up angry is the answer.