Among the most infuriating arguments from Second Amendment absolutists is that without guns, you cannot hope to protect yourself against someone else wielding a deadly weapon. It’s the basis of a macho fantasy: The “good guy with a gun” taking down a would-be killer before they can inflict any damage. But the notion has been debunked and discredited too many times to count. The increase in U.S. gun sales over the past couple of years has coincided with a rising death toll from mass shootings. These additional firearms simply aren’t keeping us safer.
You know who is, though? Professional MMA fighter Kevin Holland.
Granted, the 29-year-old Holland had help from two other guys when he took down a suspect firing a gun inside a sushi restaurant this week. I will note, however, that none of the three drew their own weapon — they rushed the gunman and subdued him. Neither did one of the dozens of customers present in this Houston-area establishment start shooting back, which could have led to catastrophic injuries or deaths. Texans with legally owned firearms can open carry without a permit or training, so it was a distinct possibility. Instead, nobody was hurt at the scene.
Last fall, Holland also detained an alleged carjacker until police arrived to make an arrest. Granted, chasing a potentially dangerous criminal in your car isn’t the safest choice you can make as a citizen, yet imagine how the situation would have unfolded if he’d tried to stop the suspect with a gun. Actually, you don’t have to imagine: Not long ago in Florida, a political staffer got into a traffic collision and shot at the other car in a fit of apparent road rage, only to have the driver shoot back in self-defense, killing him. Escalation of this kind can often be a fatal mistake.
No, we’re past the guns thing now. I’ll take a welterweight UFC dude using a “rear-naked choke submission hold” on a wannabe gangster any day of the week. Hell, he didn’t just save lives, he saved that dipshit from a murder charge. It’s true he can’t be everywhere — neither can Batman — but damn if he doesn’t have a better track record than every pistol-packing LARPer in this country.
Keep ’em holstered, boys, you’ll only make things worse. Let a real badass handle this.
Miles Klee
Miles Klee is MEL’s resident tank-top dirtbag, shitposter and meme expert. He’s also the author of the novel ‘Ivyland’ and a story collection, ‘True False.’
