If it has been said once (here and everywhere else) it has been said a million times. Every time carry laws have been opened up the antis have predicted a bloodbath. Every time this has happened, far from bathing the street in blood the flow has been stanched.
Yet the antis continue with their tired, discredited arguments. I have before separated the antis into two groups: Type One, the most common, who merely wish to eliminate unpleasantness from their lives (and usually have a good hearted - albeit thouroughly misguided - concern for the welfare of their fellow man); and the Type Two Anti, who believes that [1] the common man needs his elite assistance and that [2] therefore the common man must surrender his life to the well-meaning all-knowing elite (of which the Type Two is an example in his own mind). The mindset of the Type Two is almost invariably Maoist. Mao The Dung said: "Political Power Grows From The Barrel Of The Gun".
So no wonder the Left hates the RTKBA.
Now this knife-wielding maniac sank a blade into more than four folks. I will tell you what. I would rather be shot than have a blade hooked into me. Consider the type of wound engendered. A gunshot wound leaves ragged edges that lend themselves to the docking of coagulation factors. If an assailant gets close enough to you to sink a blade and open your aorta, you have maybe one minute to live. A gunshot wound leaves ragged edges for thrombins and clotting factors to stanch bleeding. If I were sentenced to trial by ordeal, and given my choice of being stabbed up close or shot at 25 yards, I'd choose the shooting.
Of course, given any choice I desired; choice one would be to never meet the bad guy in the first place. Or, failing that; to peaceably walk away. This is why I do not visit the Alexandria riverfront in the moonlight, and also why I ignore certain calls for service in certain areas of the City.
When I am armed, I never talk about anything except insipid crap about the weather. If I am armed, then if you make a comment about "president" Obama, I will go into the "Oh-well-they-are-all-crooks" conversation stopper. And I will continue to be non-commital no matter what your argument is. Wanna know how to tell if I am armed?? Just watch as I lay down meek answers to your obnoxious questions. When I am armed, there is a firearm AT EVERY ARGUMENT.....MINE.