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[Charles Brandon]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/16/eagles-of-death-metal-frontman

The frontman of the Eagles of Death Metal, the band that was performing at the Bataclan theatre in Paris when 90 people were murdered by terrorists last year, has remembered his terror at encountering a gunman backstage – and argued for universal access to guns.

The Californian rock band was performing in front of a crowd of around 1,500 on the night of 13 November when three terrorists armed with assault rifles entered the room and began shooting and throwing hand grenades.

It was part of a series of terrorist attacks in Paris that night, that Islamic State later claimed responsibility for.

Vocalist-guitarist Jesse Hughes, who is a long-time advocate for access to gun ownership, told the French television station iTélé in a 19-minute, at times tearful interview on Monday that restrictions on guns in France had helped to enable the terrorists.

Asked if his views on gun control had changed after the terror attacks, he said gun control “doesn’t have anything to do with it”.

“Did your French gun control stop a single fucking person from dying at the Bataclan? And if anyone can answer yes, I’d like to hear it, because I don’t think so. I think the only thing that stopped it was some of the bravest men that I’ve ever seen in my life charging head-first into the face of death with their firearms.

“I know people will disagree with me, but it just seems like God made men and women, and that night guns made them equal,” he said. “And I hate it that it’s that way. I think the only way that my mind has been changed is that maybe that until nobody has guns everybody has to have them.

“Because I’ve never seen anyone that’s ever had one dead, and I want everyone to have access to them, and I saw people die that maybe could have lived, I don’t know.”

The Eagles of Death Metal will perform at Paris’ Olympia concert hall on Tuesday night, with soldiers and armed police standing guards and psychologists on hand to support traumatised fans. Survivors of the Bataclan massacre were given free invitations.

The Bataclan has not yet reopened, but its owners are hopeful it will host events “before the end of 2016”.

Hughes told iTélé that he felt he had “a sacred responsibility to finish this show”.

In an interview with Sweden’s TV4 on Sunday, Hughes remembered hearing gunfire coincide with “the very last note of the song – almost a diabolical synchronicity”.

“I knew exactly what was going on. I think I might have been the only person in the theatre who knew instantly.”

He went backstage to look for his partner Tuesday Cross, and saw a terrorist at the end of the hallway, holding a gun.

“He didn’t see me. The door shut behind me and I was trying to back up, very sneaky – but he noticed me. And I thought I was dead.

“I waited for the shot to hit me. When he went to pull his rifle down, the barrel of his gun hit the doorframe, thank god. And when it hit the doorframe ... I opened the door, and he started firing and his rounds shut the door behind me.”

Almost overcome by emotion, Hughes remembered the “beautiful” scenes he saw as people took care of one another in the Bataclan theatre.

“I know this sounds terrible, but ... I didn’t see anyone do anything cowardly. I just saw people doing some of the most beautiful things that a person could do, and for lack of a better word to describe it, my friends died very beautifully.

“They died very well, with great courage.”

The Eagles of Death Metal are currently on tour, and will perform in Melbourne, Byron Bay, Sydney and Fremantle in March before heading to Europe via Canada.

 

[Tiberius]

What an idiot ...

 

[A Link to the Past]

The problem with "guns could have saved lives in x situation" is that it operates in a vacuum, and does not conversely ask "guns could have taken more lives in y situation". It's an important question to ask - how many lives does gun control cause us to lose, and how many lives does gun control protect?

 

[Treo360]

No, just no. Instead of the number of dead and wounded that we got that night, why don't we just double it?

 

[Charles Brandon]

The problem with "guns could have saved lives in x situation" is that it operates in a vacuum, and does not conversely ask "guns could have taken more lives in y situation". It's an important question to ask - how many lives does gun control cause us to lose, and how many lives does gun control protect?

I suppose you can look at the stats for mass killings prevented by 'a good guy with a gun' in the US (not very many or nil) or you can compare violent deaths in societies with gun control vs societies without.

 

[Moosichu]

More guns distributed amongst all the terrified and confused people would have done wonders.

/s

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

He's entitled to his opinion and fuck, he's experienced something i hope i never do but no, guns are not the answer. I don't want to live in a society where everyone is walking around tooled up. Not that there's a chance of gun control being repealed in the UK thankfully.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Seems irrelevant, if they had concealed carry over there then they'd have their guns checked as they came in anyway and the terrorist would still come in with weapons unmatched.

 

[TheOfficeMut]

He's right. Had civilians been equipped with guns they could have shot the grenades and incapacitated them while in the air, granted they also used their inherent time-stopping abilities.

 

[ohyouagain]

Gun control is to be blamed and not the fact that some guys opened fire with heavy logisitcs and funds behind. Oh yes.

 

[Mr. Sam]

Seeing as he's - as the article states - "a long-time advocate for access to gun ownership," this is hardly surprising. Bitterly disappointing though.

 

[boiled goose]

Usa has less gun control, and more gun deaths.
Within the us, states with more gun control have less gun deaths.

Facts

 

[danm999]

Individual vs. societal thinking at work here.

 

[Peru]

If other people started shooting in that chaos things would've been much worse.

He's a gun advocate and now with added trauma and emotional instability to strengthen it so one can understand what's happening in his head, but it's obviously not close to a sane argument.

 

[Shuggananas]

Usa has less gun control, and more gun deaths.
Within the us, states with more gun control have less gun deaths.

Facts

People only look at what's convenient for them

 

[Applebite]

Kind of a deceiving title, seems more like he responded to a question about gun control rather than claiming that gun control caused the incident. It wasn't "They died because you have gun control", it seemed more like "Gun control didn't stop the terrorists".

 

[Messypandas]

Greater access to firearms would definitely help prevent situations like this occurring, yes definitely.

 

[Zaptruder]

Wonder how many GAFfers are now thinking:

"Shame that he didn't get gunned down in the massacre."

Spoiler

It'd be all too human to think such a thing - but then it'd be just as unintelligent as the claim he's making.

 

[MrHoot]

Ah yes, the old "If everyone would have guns they would subsequently all be heroes, great shots all around calm men of action"

 

[Charles Brandon]

Kind of a deceiving title, seems more like he responded to a question about gun control rather than claiming that gun control caused the incident. It wasn't "They died because you have gun control", it seemed more like "Gun control didn't stop the terrorists".

Vocalist-guitarist Jesse Hughes, who is a long-time advocate for access to gun ownership, told the French television station iTélé in a 19-minute, at times tearful interview on Monday that restrictions on guns in France had helped to enable the terrorists.

splitting hairs really though

 

[neorej]

Did your French gun control stop a single fucking person from dying at the Bataclan?

Yes. Because there were no confused and scared people at Bataclan wildly firing at what they thought were terrorists.

Because I’ve never seen anyone that’s ever had one dead

Maybe he should watch the news more often. Gun-owners die all the time. Guns are not some magic shield that protects you from harm.

 

[| Praxis |]

Wonder how many GAFfers are now thinking:

"Shame that he didn't get gunned down in the massacre."

Spoiler

It'd be all too human to think such a thing - but then it'd be just as unintelligent as the claim he's making.

What a strange thought.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Every country should be like the US. In the last decade more people have died due to gun deaths than all our wars combined. A statistic to be proud of.

 

[-shadow-]

I don't see how giving the people in the audience would've helped the situation (or am I misreading here?)? I hope I'll never have to experience something like this, but this seems like the worst idea.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

The issue here would be how gun control interacts with border control. If you have relatively lax border control with a country that has lax gun laws then for events like this you effectively have lax gun controls. This is a huge problem for Mexico which suffers terribly from the lax gun laws in the USA combined with their own border control. Really Mexico needs to build a wall to keep USA guns out and have the USA pay for it their gun and drug policies are so harmful.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Can you go to a concert in the US with a gun? Don't you get checked at venues at the entry for that?

And even then, France doesn't have the thousands of deaths from other gun incidents, so using one example like this is wrong. In the end, gun laws safe lives.

 

[Gravy Boat]

Are people allowed to take guns into concerts and gigs in the US?

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Of course, it's a dark, crowded area filled with people who are frightened, confused and initially unsure who or where the threat is coming from.

Obviously you should hand out guns to everybody in the theatre, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Log4Girlz]

Are people allowed to take guns into concerts and gigs in the US?

They're not even allowed at Republican debates!

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Can you go to a concert in the US with a gun? Don't you get checked at venues at the entry for that?

I imagine if you have a gun and prepared to use it that most venue security wouldn't be up to the job.

 

[ClosingADoor]

I imagine if you have a gun and prepared to use it that most venue security wouldn't be up to the job.

I mean for concealed carry, not an attack. I know you can walk down the street with it in most places in the US, but you can't take your handgun inside a concert hall or anything right?

 

[danowat]

More guns = safer?

Yeah, I don't quite follow that logic.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

People should be able to defend themselves. Not surprising.

 

[Izuna]

People should be able to defend themselves. Not surprising.

Shoot a guy with a bomb strapped to his chest.

 

[ClosingADoor]

People should be able to defend themselves. Not surprising.

When you don't allow guns in your country, the situation where a gun is needed to defend yourself will not occur as much.

 

[TatteredHat]

Didn't take him long to use the Bataclan tragedy to promote his own politics.

 

[CyclopsRock]

The problem with "guns could have saved lives in x situation" is that it operates in a vacuum, and does not conversely ask "guns could have taken more lives in y situation". It's an important question to ask - how many lives does gun control cause us to lose, and how many lives does gun control protect?

Yeah, exactly. He probably isn't wrong. It sounds like these guys had a great deal of time to act before they were stopped, and that likely would have been much less time in the US. But heavily restricted access to guns means that France's gun crime rate is incredibly low generally. It's hard to balance such things without resorting to counting bodies but, well, if you do that, I imagine the benefits of lessened access to guns massively outweigh the benefits of there being more on occasions like this.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Usa has less gun control, and more gun deaths.
Within the us, states with more gun control have less gun deaths.

Facts

Facts have a well known liberal bias tho'

People should be able to defend themselves. Not surprising.

See? This a person who know his shit, facts are undeniably trash.

 

[Mistouze]

Dude survived this only to spout this vile shit, SMH.

Funny thing is, a crushing majority of people attending his concert at the Bataclan would disagree with this dumbfuck.

If he loves gun control so much he can stay in the US, really.

 

[Dice]

Even if giving everyone guns did work like that, which it doesn't, if everyone had guns and terrorists knew that, they'd just up their explosives game. Can't stop them with your handgun if you're too busy exploding before you even realize it.

 

[jonnyp]

What an idiot.

 

[Jezbollah]

I just heard an interview with this guy on BBC Radio 5Live. The guy is still an emotional wreck, and I actually think he's not capable of going back to the venue to play again anytime soon (even though they're going to do soon). The guy is clearly in a state of emotional trauma.

That said, anyone with any sense knows his quote is just wrong. What gun control could do anything to armed people with AK47s and grenades they were given that were smuggled into the country?

 

[Spaghetti]

The statistics don't support this. Aren't there significantly more guns than people in the US? And how many mass shootings are there that are only ended by SWAT/police? The "good guy" with a gun argument rarely plays out in reality.

 

[danowat]

I don't know much about gun law, but in countries where you are allowed to carry guns, is there mandatory firearms training for people who buy and own guns?

 

[grimmiq]

So random guy in a crowd pulls out his gun and shoots at a terrorist (I doubt he'd have the chance to aim properly and shoot, so likely miss), terrorists realize the hostages are actually a threat and start unloading on the crowd immediately?

 

[*Splinter]

Wonder how many GAFfers are now thinking:

"Shame that he didn't get gunned down in the massacre."

Spoiler

It'd be all too human to think such a thing - but then it'd be just as unintelligent as the claim he's making.

Err... No

 

[neorej]

So random guy in a crowd pulls out his gun and shoots at a terrorist (I doubt he'd have the chance to aim properly and shoot, so likely miss), terrorists realize the hostages are actually a threat and starting unloading on the crowd immediately?

Nah man, every attendee is an expert marksman, so the terrorists are dropped before they realize what's going on, the bombs get defused by some kid with a high demolitions-skill perk in Call of Duty, everyone cheers, and the concert goes on as intended.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Were there people carrying guns at Bataclan, the total amount of deaths would have likely been even higher.

You simply can't apply your american ideologies and apply them to a vastly different culture. You can only compare the facts, and those facts bear out that the prevalence of gun violence in France per capita is minuscule compared to gun violence in the United States.

Wonder how many GAFfers are now thinking:

"Shame that he didn't get gunned down in the massacre."

Spoiler

It'd be all too human to think such a thing - but then it'd be just as unintelligent as the claim he's making.

Are you projecting here or what? No-one thinks this, the man went through absolute hell and is probably still haunted by PTSD.
His stance on gun ownership is just a common byproduct of being born in the United States. There's no problem in telling the guy he's wrong without wanting him dead. What's the matter with you.

 

[Amalthea]

As if shooting back in a crowded venue would have helped anything. Not to mention that gun laws like in the US would be a nightmare in France with the amount of radicalized youth.

 

[Siegcram]

“Did your French gun control stop a single fucking person from dying at the Bataclan? And if anyone can answer yes, I’d like to hear it, because I don’t think so. I think the only thing that stopped it was some of the bravest men that I’ve ever seen in my life charging head-first into the face of death with their firearms.

“I know people will disagree with me, but it just seems like God made men and women, and that night guns made them equal,” he said. “And I hate it that it’s that way. I think the only way that my mind has been changed is that maybe that until nobody has guns everybody has to have them.

I'm just going to chalk this up to the trauma because none of that made any sense whatsoever.