"When you have reason to believe that tensions are high and people are nervous or paranoid about something, wisdom says to not do whatever might exacerbate the situation."
Wisdom
actually says to be prepared for the consequences of said paranoia/nervousness. Quite honestly, I remember clearly lots of people being fearful of copy-cats for weeks/months afterwards; why would you specifically
not be armed if you
really thought a do-over was possible in the theatre you visited? Why would you conceal if you didn't care to do so and it was perfectly legal?
As far as people freaking out, it would solely be due to their connotations of guns with violence, which, btw, an awful large number of gun owners & even gun enthusiasts themselves suffer from. If a lawful activity scares others while doing absolutely no harm to anyone, how is it not the 'others' that are at fault in the scenario? The gun was holstered, the gun was plainly visible (
which actually makes it easier to tell what he's doing/not doing with it), and the man was doing nothing notable besides going about his business. Mr. Joker was none of those things, yet somehow that gets lost in the "GUN, GUN, GUN!" freakout. Were the gun hidden, would that have changed the 'threat' he posed? Were the gun hidden, would it be easier for movie-goers to identify a potential 'threat'
before he started shooting? Of course not, but we've come to expect people to act irrationally, for some reason, and even try to justify it.
He did nothing illegal, he hurt no one, and was arrested for standing out and being perceived wrongly as a threat; same logic behind witch burnings.
"In a town of 6,000 people..."
Yeah, yeah, people in urban centers can't be expected to act with any sense whatsoever; we get it
"So if someone were to look like the shooter, your reasoning says they should stay home with the shades drawn to avoid getting arrested or attacked by other theater goers."
Precisely. And the Ryder trucking company should have gone out of business after the OK City Bombings. And all people from the middle east should have been detained after 9-11.
"Rights don't necessarily make exercising good judgment irrelevant."
True, but they are supposed to give police good enough guidance to understand where their authority ends. I understand the 911 calls; I do not understand the police arresting the man for no cause (I know, I know, we can't expect officers to act with any sense whatsoever when they're excited
)
TCB