Armed Citizens Can and Do Stop Mass Shootings

In the wake of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh this past weekend, progressives have predictably responded with calls for increased firearms regulation.  In the words of Paul Joseph Watson, “Imagine my shock!”

In an opinion piece for the Huffington Post (again, “Imagine my shock!”), author Philp Eil writes,

“Our gun obsession and refusal to significantly regulate firearms have led ― predictably, you might say ― to a string of mass shootings in almost every conceivable public place: nightclubs, elementary schools, high schools, community colleges, state universities, military bases, supermarkets, airports, nursing homes, Planned Parenthood clinics, cafes, IHOPs, Waffle Houses, coffee shops, malls and hotels. According to Mother Jones, There have been more than 100 of these events (indiscriminate rampages in public places resulting in four or more victims) since 1982, and Saturday’s attack wasn’t the first mass shooting at a religious site in recent memory. Think of the 2012 attack at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, or Charleston in 2015, or Sutherland Springs, Texas, where, less than a year ago, 26 people lost their lives in a Baptist Church” (Eil, 2018, para. 6).

However, there’s another event that occurred this weekend that isn’t receiving nearly as much attention.  This past Saturday, an armed citizen at a McDonald’s in Alabama confronted a would-be mass shooter.  The only casualty in this event was the would-be mass shooter himself.

Fox News reports,

“A brave dad armed with a pistol stopped what could have been a mass shooting Saturday inside an Alabama McDonald’s when he took down a masked gunman who had stormed in and opened fire.

The unidentified father was leaving the establishment with his sons when a masked man walked into the Birmingham fast-food restaurant and started shooting, WBRC-TV reported. The father returned fire and, during the ensuing shootout, the gunman, the father and one of the man’s teenage sons were struck, according to the station.

The gunman, who was not identified, later died of his injuries. The other two injuries were not considered life-threatening” (DeMarche & Gaydos, 2018, para. 1-3).

There is no doubt that had this would-be mass shooter been successful, the story would have been run right alongside the Pittsburgh story, leading to even greater calls for gun control amidst the discussion of Anti-Semitism and internet free speech.  However, the facts of this story don’t fit the Left’s narrative, and they have predictably chosen to ignore it.

Progressives are all to eager to ignore the fact that people can and do use firearms for self-defense quite often.  According to a study conducted by the organization Just Facts, firearms are used more than 1 million times per year in legitimate self-defense situations in the United States.  This does not include when guns are used by policemen, soldiers, or private security guards (Agressi, Smith & Guerra, 2018).  By comparison, the CDC reports that there were only 36,252 firearms deaths in the U.S. in 2015, and this figure includes suicides, which even the pro-gun control Brady Campaign admits make up the majority of firearms related deaths (“Key Gun Violence Statistics”, 2016).

As the saying goes, “When only seconds make the difference between life and death, the police are only minutes away.”  Imagine what could have happened at this McDonalds had an armed citizen not been present and willing to respond?  Even assuming police had arrived one minute later (and this is an incredibly generous response time) the gunman could have easily killed as many or more people than lost their lives in Pittsburgh.

I’ve said it many times before, but I’ll continue to say it.  Guns save lives.  Period.

The Left merely exploits these tragedies in order to push their larger agenda of consolidating state control over the people.  Once government is the only entity holding guns, the citizens will be unable to protect themselves, and nothing the state plans to do will be impossible.  It’s no coincidence that all the greatest tyrants of history loved gun control.

If you haven’t yet taken the time to purchase a firearm and learn how to use it for self-defense, there’s no time like the present.  If nothing else, the difference in outcomes between Pittsburgh and Alabama this weekend should be evidence enough.

And that is My 2 Cents.  Take it for what it’s worth.

Citations:

Agresti, J. D., Smith, R. K. & Guerra, R. (2018, February 23). Gun Control Facts. Just Facts. Retrieved October 29, 2018 from www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

DeMarche, E., & Gaydos, R. (2018, October 29). Alabama McDonald’s gunman killed by armed dad, who is injured in shootout. Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://www.foxnews.com/us/alabama-mcdonalds-gunman-killed-by-armed-dad-who-is-injured-in-shootout

Eil, P. (2018, October 29). Opinion | Face It, The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Wasn’t An Aberration. Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-pittsburgh-synagogue-mass-shooting_us_5bd671d3e4b0a8f17ef928f9

Key Gun Violence Statistics. (2016). Retrieved October 29, 2018, from http://www.bradycampaign.org/key-gun-violence-statistics

National Center for Health Statistics. (2017, May 03). Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm

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