Gingrich Defends Concealed Weapons

(ABC News) Former Speaker of the House and potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., speculated that concealed weapons could have mitigated the Virginia Tech massacre.
"In states where people have been allowed to have concealed weapons, in Mississippi and Kentucky, there have been incidents of this kind of a killer who were stopped, because in fact, people who are law-abiding people, who are rational, and people who are responsible had the ability to stop them," Gingrich told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

The best way to test an argument is to take it to its extreme. Why not allow people on airplanes, in courtrooms, and in legislatures to pack heat? And on what basis can we assume that rational and responsible people are always rational and responsible? Newt's statement is silly and dangerous.