Once again, it’s a gun-free zone that someone decided was easy pickings in making himself a Celebrity in the eyes of Moms Demand Action and Everytown. Stories say that while he did kill 3 people and wounded 2 others, the shooter had a long gun and several loaded magazines with him as he entered the food court at the Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana – yet another gun-free zone. A 22-year-old man, carrying because Indiana has a Constitutional Carry law n the books (meaning no having to ask Daddy Government to exercise their Constitutional Right to self-defense) drew on him and “terminated the threat” (emphasis mine):
A lone man with a long gun killed three people before an armed bystander killed him in the Greenwood Park Mall food court Sunday evening, according to Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison. Two people were injured.
“It appears that he had a rifle with several magazines of ammunition, entered the food court and began shooting,” Ison said.
The “good Samaritan” who shot the man with the rifle was a 22-year-old man from Bartholomew County, Indiana, Ison said.
“The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began,” he said.
Note that lawful bit – there are some anti-gunners out there, who had NO thanks for someone that stopped what could have been a massacre. Like Bloomberg-bought-and-paid-for Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action. She just couldn’t be even the little bit grateful that others didn’t die:
No gratitude and then lies on top of it – and this is why we can’t have nice things or even compromise that stay within Constitutional bounds. That young man was LEGALLY carrying – no permission slip necessary. The shade she is trying to throw was that the owner of the Mall, Simon Properties, “ASK” that people do not bring weapons onto their property. Well, so much for the bad guy listening to that ask (emphasis mine):
Thank you for choosing a Simon shopper center as your destination for shopping, great food, and entertainment. It is our desire to provide you with an enjoyable and delightful shopping experience. We ask all of our guests to conduct themselves in a respectful way in accordance with the code of conduct and all laws and local ordinances.
- Wear appropriate clothing. Hoodies are acceptable.
- Disruptive behavior is prohibited.
- No weapons.
- Possession of open alcoholic beverages, except in designated areas, is prohibited.
- No solicitation.
- No pets (except service animals).
- Engaging in non-commercial expressive activity, not sponsored by the center, is prohibited.
- Smoking, except in designated areas, is prohibited.
- No loitering.
- No photographs or video recordings of any kind for commercial use. Video is acceptable for non-commercial and non-disruptive purposes.
- Use of transmitters, radar, lasers, beacons, cellular triangulation, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, magnetic or barometric technologies, or geographic information systems of any kind to capture geographic location or spatial data for commercial use is prohibited.
An “ask” is not a law – it is an “ask” which means that while people can say yes, they can also say no. His actions have already been declared legal. Could their security escort someone off the property for violating any of those? Perhaps. Did THEIR security escort Bad Guy out the door?
Nope. No mention of any mall cops at all. Just a good guy with a gun. Whom, as her tweet shows (screencap from The Truth About Guns), Shannon Watts slandered, IMHO, because she’s an ideologue. The Mayor of Greenwood gave his thanks for this young man’s “quick action”. The police chief called him “hero of the day”.
What Watts and others of her ilk get wrong is their outlook on those of us who do carry. We aren’t cowboys, we aren’t Rambos, and we aren’t looking for trouble. We do carry to protect ourselves, protect our families, and protect our friends (even though they may disagree with me concerning guns). We who carry have already made the decision, as rare and as improbably though it might be, that we would be willing to act like that 22-year-old. See the problem, see innocents gunned down, and be the one that would place our bodies between the threat and the innocents. It is a rational choice – and it is a HUGE responsibility.
It’s that responsibility part thoughtfully turned over, evaluated many times, considered the outcomes, and accepted it. For anyone – and that would include those like Shaheen, Kuster, Pappas, and Maggie The Red. It’s not selective but IF one has to fight, one does. And yes, I’d rather be left alone and not have to be in that situation – but sometimes, that’s not how Life works.
I learned long ago that the best fight you ever would have would be the one you could walk away from FIRST before it devolved into a fight (although I did work as a bouncer back in my college days – my friend told the owner he’d never have a problem with me as I didn’t drink). However, if you can’t, go for the stoppage.
That 22-year-old young man had to have practiced his skills and thought about it as well. It’s possible that as soon as that first shot rang out and he recognized what it was (or saw it), he was already drawing to respond. He didn’t have to – but responsibility (something, again, I don’t believe anti-gunners can or will ever understand) took over:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends
Or in this case, perfect strangers. He did what he had to, but only that much, and then stopped. I’m sure that he realized that he could have died as well – being the good guy with a gun doesn’t obviate bad things from happening to you and, at times, it has. He did, however, this time, made sure that no more were killed.
(H/T: DailyWire, BearingAarms, IJR, The Truth About Guns, ditto)