Back in college, my roommate once told me how he waded into a domestic dispute (of which he knew nothing about) to stop a guy from arguing passionately with his wife. My roommate admitted to pulling his gun on the guy. I told him to be careful, because he could have faced a brandishing charge if there was no perceived threat of violence. He said "It's no problem, the gun wasn't loaded."

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I proceeded to lecture him about gun safety. You know what's more stupid than pulling out your gun when you aren't prepared to use it? It's pulling out your gun when you aren't capable of using it. I asked him what he'd have done if the guy would have pulled out his own gun. My roommate replied, "Well, I would have loaded mine real quick."

"Nope," I said. "You'd be dead. And he'd probably be justified in killing you."

I was reminded of that story by this example of anti-gun scare tactics:

The anti-gun-control side made a decent presentation, with data and charts. His opponent then strode to the front of the stage and pulled a gun, aiming it at the audience of what quickly became ducking, screaming women. Having seen a gun before, I wasn't one of them, though it crossed my mind that if I were armed I'd be justified in defending myself against someone who was violating the law against "brandishing."

His point, I guess, was that we should all experience how scary guns are. Immediately thereafter, a "consensus" vote was taken in favor of gun control...

Having not been there, I don't know what I would have done. But Uncle has the right idea. "I guess if I'd been in attendance and capped his ass, I'd still be the extremist, right?"