A doctor was shot and killed in Newport Beach. You can read the story here:

http://www.ocregister.com/news/police-409541-hoag-beachnewport.html


Here's a commentary from one of his colleagues:

Ken Cheng

All of these posts are quite interesting but maybe we should clear the air.

I am a physician who works two buildings over from Dr. Gilbert. He and I were friends and we trained together at UCI. I have sent him many patients over the last 19 years and he will be missed in this community. What happened today is a horrific tragedy.

I am also a sworn law enforcement officer with the Orange County Sheriff's Department. I have trained in these situations and until you have gone through the training, the comments made here are "interesting" but not necessarily factual.

For the purposes of clarity:

There are no signs declaring this area as a "gun-free" zone (although I agree that such a sign is an open invitation to tragedy since criminals intent on doing evil are going to break laws so a silly rule of being "gun-free" does nothing to improve safety.)

No one was walking around with an AK-47.

Dr. Gilbert's office is on the second floor of building 520 (Dr. Jordanides' office is in a building 510.)

Brian Grever paints an interesting picture of "what if's". However, one can not legislate away evil; no society has ever been successful at making rules to prevent evil. Evil will ALWAYS be in our society. As such, "good guys" should ALWAYS be alert and vigilant. Even when you think you are safe (like in a theater, or mall, or for me, in an exam room at a doctor's office), you should be alert. The best way to prevent crime is to always be vigilant. Guns are not evil. Guns do not make a society barbaric; the loss of a moral compass is what leads PEOPLE to be evil. Guns protect us from those who insist on evil. Guns allow the responsible gun owner to defend against an individual who is bent on committing evil acts with gun.

And.......arriving officers don't go around "blasting everyone" with a gun.

We also shouldn't forget the benefit of responsible gun ownership; estimates are that between 800,000 (data from the gun control advocating Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence) and 2 Million (data from Harvard Law Journal) crimes are stopped annually because of the presence of a civilian owned firearm. To only focus on the deaths from guns (and insisting on a gun ban) is like banning surgery because thousands die each year during surgery. Let's not forget the good.

I am particularly amused at the post of "using our knuckles." If a bad guy comes up to you with a gun (or a knife, baseball bat, box cutters, etc.) I hope you don't expect your knuckles to do too much. I can only hope to see you in the ER and not the morgue.

Things that don't work: Many studies show that assault weapons bans don't work, including a study by the US Department of Justice based on our last assault weapons ban ("no discernible reduction in gun crime.").

Things that do work: Many studies show that harsh punishment for crimes that involve the use of a firearm will lower the crime rates. Also, studies show clearly that crime rates drop significantly when criminals are fearful that they may encounter firearm-involved resistance. This is seen over and over again with interviews with imprisoned felons, as well as in states that are "shall issue" in regards to concealed weapons permits. The inverse is also seen in England, where firearm ownership is practically banned and crime rates, especially violent crime rates, has skyrocketed.

Nonetheless, there will always be differing opinions, which I will respect.

I will miss you Ron as you have been a tremendous asset to our medical community. May God watch over your family and friends, and may you continue your good work with Him.