This is the definition of courage under fire…
Daniel Hernandez had only been Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ intern for five days, and on Saturday, he may have saved her life.
The University of Arizona junior was standing 30 feet away from the Democratic congresswoman when she was shot in the head at a meet-and-greet event in her district, and he immediately rushed to her side. As everyone on hand waited for emergency medical support to arrive, Hernandez held Giffords’s head in his lap and applied pressure to her wound.
At the same time, Hernandez advised others on providing help for the other 20 others injured and killed in the attack, and that quick thinking has led many to label him a hero in Saturday’s horrific event.
“When I heard gunshots, my first instinct was to head toward the congresswoman to make sure that she was okay,” Hernandez said in an interview with ABC’s Christine Amanpour Sunday. “Once I saw that she was down, and there were more than one victim, I went ahead and started doing the limited triage that I could with what I had.”
Guns is something of a strange subject for me. Because honestly? I have no issue with people owning guns, being licensed, and being responsible (and learning how to use said gun, so that you don’t hit the wrong target, should the time come to use it on your own property against a deadly intruder. I have gone through proper training and do so every six months. )
The big issue here with guns is that gun shows are out of control. It’s seen as a fetish or a status symbol. A properly run gun show bans parking lot sales with armed guards on patrol to prevent it, only allows licensed gun dealers, requires all dealers to do background checks, record serial numbers, and IMHO bans cash sales. Too bad nobody runs on this. Meanwhile, there are people who run the shows just get their rocks off when people bring Uzi’s and other submachine guns because those are illegal to produce now. The gunshow loophole to me is the big problem, since many people get their illegal guns there to commit crime.
There are also many people who don’t go to classes to properly use those guns. They wave them around, they collect guns to be ‘cool’ and it’s a statement. That bothers me, as someone who knows has learned how to use one. The fact is gun laws are so weak in many states anybody who failed all those these tests can still go to a Gun Show at the local civic center and purchase a firearm without any background check at all. These idiots go these shows for ‘home defense’ and never set foot in a gun range to properly learn how to use them.
In case you’re wondering how out of control some gun shows are, here you go. Guns at gunshows they’re never supposed to be loaded. This may have been a gun range perhaps – but children are never suppose to handle a weapon that is loaded unless VERY CLOSELY SUPERVISED. That weapon sends a recoil on grown fit men, much less a little kid.
I don’t think we need to ban guns as so much as smack down on those gun shows hard. It’s the alternate ways of getting them that is what has dangerous people get said guns. After all if they can’t get it legally, just go to a gun show and they have it.
We need to separate the gun owner from the gun nuts, is what I’m trying to say if I haven’t clarified it. We shouldn’t punish the responsible people who own guns, if that makes any sense.
… And then I realize I wrote in the wrong topic!!!
Set Fail. I actually had the hero and the intern written in the gun topic instead.
However, it’s amazing that this intern was only on the job five days and he didn’t hesitate to save her life. This is one of the few times I smiled honestly about news related to this incident.