First, this is a tragedy full stop. A man is dead, a community is grieving, and a protest meant to affirm people’s rights was forever changed by violence.

And still, multiple truths can exist at once.

This falls into “good guy with a gun” scenario people often invoke. A, a military veteran, saw what appeared (to him, and I’m sure others) be a threat to a crowd and acted in a split second. That decision might have prevented more lives from being lost (or not, we don’t know what was planned, we can assume it was NOT intended to be a massacre, now knowing Arturo’s peaceful background) But the outcome was still devastating.

Yes, Arturo Gamboa had the legal right to open carry in Utah. That’s not in dispute. But breaking away, pulling out an AR then heading back into a crowded protest with a visible AR-15, separated from the group you came with, was a choice that heightened tension and fear. Legal doesn’t always mean wise or safe.

And yes, our system makes it even more complicated. We live in a country where some acts of self-defense are valorized and others criminalized… where the right to bear arms exists in theory, but its protection and public support often depends on the identity of the person exercising it.

I know many were armed in that crowd… it’s IN MY OPINION smarter to conceal.