The Dayton shooting was a terrible, horrible tragedy. I don’t think anyone would think otherwise. After all, that much loss of life really can’t be considered as anything else.

However, those who survived the shooting weren’t granted some profound wisdom that others are denied simply because they didn’t get killed.

That doesn’t matter to some people, particularly the media. They think survivors have some unique perspectives, and one Dayton survivor wants Gov. Mike DeWine to veto constitutional carry.

A survivor of Dayton’s deadliest shooting called on Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday to veto a bill that would allow concealed carry of handguns without a permit, while a gun rights group urged the governor to sign it.

“My father, Derek Fudge, was shot and killed beside me in the 2019 mass shooting in Dayton,” said Dion Green. In August 2019 a gunman killed nine and injured 37 in the city’s historic Oregon District.

The Buckeye Firearms Association asked its supporters to contact the governor and tell him to sign the bill.

…

Green spoke at a virtual news conference hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety. Green, who created the FUDGE Foundation in his father’s honor, is a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, the local-level affiliate of Everytown.

He was joined by Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey; state Rep. Tavia Galonski, D-Akron; and Meeka Owens, a Cincinnati city council member.

Green might have a point if one could make the argument that constitutional carry would have made Dayton worse. The problem is that it wouldn’t have.

The killer there walked up with an AR-15–a weapon that’s not known for concealability–and opened fire. Constitutional carry had nothing to do with the shooting.

However, it might have prevented it.

After all, someone in the area with a gun–one they might not have been carrying that night because they had to wait for a permit–could have put the killer down with a minimal loss of life.

Or not. We simply don’t know if there was anyone fitting that description who was there that night.

What we can say is that constitutional carry isn’t more likely to lead to additional shootings or violence. Quite the opposite, really.

Green is upset that DeWine may sign this bill. He said the governor promised he’d do something about guns, and DeWine has actually tried. The legislature has rightly held its ground because nothing up for discussion would have made a damn bit of difference.

But constitutional carry isn’t part of that equation.

I don’t blame Green, though. I understand that after losing someone in a situation like that, it’s not unusual to blame the gun, not the person.

Who I blame is the media, who knows that Green isn’t somehow more knowledgeable about guns, gun rights, gun violence, or anything else than the average person. They put him up on the TV as if he has some degree of expertise that he doesn’t, then try to frame any criticism of him as some vile attack on a survivor.

Well, I’m going to clue you in on something. He’s no longer just a survivor. He’s an activist now, and that means he signed up to play by big-boy rules, which includes being called on it when he says incredibly stupid things.

It also means the media doesn’t get a pass for covering it.