CONSERVATIVES WOULD RATHER HAVE A LIMITED BODY COUNT THAN NONE AT ALL

This is how the Texas church shooting looks to a local TV reporter and some local cops -- and to most of Red America:

Six seconds is as long as it lasted at the church shooting this morning. For as many people there who were armed — one clearly had recurrent training, knew what to do and fired the fatal shot immediately ending the threat. That’s heroism.

— Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) December 30, 2019

We’re so thankful for the minimal loss of life due to a Texan exercising his right to carry. We thank him for his heroic actions.

— Sheriffs' Assoc of Texas (@TXSheriffs) December 30, 2019

Two people are dead in that incident in addition to the shooter. To the right, that's a good outcome. I believe much of the right would rather have that outcome in every shooting incident than have fewer shooting incidents -- say, the level of shooting incidents there are in European countries, or Canada, or Japan, or Australia -- because if fewer murders mean fewer guns, they prefer more murders. Plus, the sin/punishment cycle in the church shooting pleases them. They'd rather experience vicarious vengeance against an evildoer than have less evil.

I wonder if they know that in the stabbing incident at the Hanukkah party in Monsey, New York, the attendees also fought back -- though not with guns.

... “I grabbed an old antique coffee table and I threw it at his face,” Mr. Gluck said.

On Sunday, members of the Hasidic community said they took some solace in the way people at the Hanukkah party did whatever they could to repel the attacker, with some throwing furniture at him.

“People inside fought to stop him,” said Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, who is friends with Rabbi Rottenberg and said he had spoken to those who were in the home. “It was very heroic of them. They didn’t just let this happen — they tried to defend themselves.”

The stabbing incident was horrific, but so far, no one has died. If alienated men engaging in rage-induced violence is the national pastime, it's less horrible if it's done with weapons other than guns.

Glenn Reynolds has weighed in -- yes, Instapundit still exists -- and I'm sure it won't surprise you that his reaction is the opposite of mine.

BUY A GUN: Jews Are Going Underground: A month of terrible anti-Semitic attacks culminated with a stabbing yesterday of multiple people at a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York.

Wait, did I say buy a gun? Buy several. Query: At what point can President Trump invoke his power under the Civil Rights statutes and the Insurrection Act to declare that New York authorities are incapable of controlling their streets, and send National Guard troops to do so? And is his authority broad enough to suspend New York gun laws so that citizens can arm themselves? (Spoiler: Probably).

I assume Reynolds is referring to New York State, not New York City -- the Monsey attack happened well outside the city limits -- so I'll remind him that in 2018 our gun control state had a murder rate per 100,000 population of 2.9, while the rate in Tennessee, his home state, was 7.4. (The rate in New York City is approximately 3.6.)

The gunners' fantasy is that you can greatly expand access to guns while arming only good people. Maybe that's an oversimplification. Perhaps they merely believe that if you make guns more available, the increase in the rate at which good people acquire them will exceed the increase in the rate at which bad people acquire them. I have no idea why that would be the case, but I can't see any other explanation for the gunners' faith in gun proliferation. If it's not that, they must prefer the vigilante killing of murderers to a decrease in murder.