I just saw this headline and story:
"Teacher tackles gunman supected in school shooting"
As soon as I read it, I had to laugh, internally.
Upon checking it out, I found that some 32 year old chucklehead in Littleton, Colorado--not far from Columbine, it should be noted--was going through a high school's parking lot, shooting students at the end of their school day.
He had already wounded two and was reloading when this teacher, one David Benke, tackled the gunman and shut him down.
The story reported the shooter "...has an arrest record in Colorado dating back to 1996 for menacing, assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence, and he is believed to have a history of mental issues."
Another case that, maybe, possibly, if we had to register all weapons in the country, this shooting might not have happened. I doubt it but it could be.
Also, thank goodness he had a bolt action rifle and not a stupidly, sadly legal semi-automatic or he could wreaked far more damage, far faster, and possibly/likely killed students and/or teachers.
But yes, I had to laugh.
Just think, Mr. Benke stopped a gunman, a shooter, and to do it, he didn't need a gun himself.
Imagine that.
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David Benke is a hero. We don't have enough people like him in the world.
We don't have enough like him, willing to tackle a gunman while unarmed. There are more people who are willing to shoot back--If allowed, that's good enough most of the time, and I've never heard of a license holder making the situation worse.
It is also possible that if there had been a good guy with a gun available, whether cop or legally-carrying civilian, they could have ended it a shot or two sooner.
I doubt I'm brave enough to tackle a gunman under most circumstances. I think I am brave enough to shoot back--even in a case like this when the attacker has what gun control groups call "a high power sniper rifle" and all I have is a "Saturday Night Special". (Anti-gun people have pejorative terms for virtually all guns) Statistics would be on my side--most of the time the spree gunman surrenders or dies once there's armed resistance, very occasionally the defender gets shot. As far as I've been able to find out, nobody else dies, ever.
Columbine changed how law enforcement deals with spree shooters. Pre-columbine, they would wait until enough officers with enough specialty gear show up to overwhelm the shooter. Post-columbine, police recognized that the biggest factor in the number of victims is the speed of armed response rather than the firepower. Current policy in most places is for the first armed officer to do the best he can with what he's got.
Even better is if there's already a good guy with the capability of effective defense already on scene. An over-sized helping of courage and athleticism may be enough, but a gun in the right hands is more likely to work. There are over 5 million carry license holders in the US. I don't believe that there are 5 million people with the courage of David Benke.
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