If you listen to the “news” after every mass murder tragedy, there seems to be some type of debate as to whether an armed citizen on the scene would help.
Today, I would like to end that debate. Because there is no debate.
100% of the time when there is an armed “Good guy” on the scene of a mass murder situation, the body count is dramatically lower.
There Is No Debate: Armed Citizens Have and Will Continue To Stop Active Killers and Mass Murderers
It is really infuriating to read headlines like “Little Evidence Of Armed Civilians Stopping Shooters” or “Is It True Armed Civilians Have Never Stopped a Mass Shooting?”
Then you have snarky news reporters who often ask during debates with pro-gun guests “Can you give or think of one example where armed civilians stopped a mass killer?”
Unfortunately, the truth is not widely published but it should be.
This is my attempt to help get the truth and the facts out there.
Armed “good guys” regularly help stop mass shootings.
Before we get to the data, it’s important to understand why this is unequivocally true.
In A Mass Murder/Active Killer Situation, The FASTER The Defensive Response — The More Lives Are Saved. Period.
Way back in 1999, 34 people were shot at Columbine High School while they waited on police to arrive and stop the two active killers.
Police that day learned an important lesson.
Do NOT wait.
At Columbine, two officers exchanged fire with one of the teenage gunmen just outside the school door, then stopped — just like they were previously trained to do — to wait for a SWAT team that would make entry.
During the 45 minutes it took for the SWAT team to assemble and go in, the two killers shot 10 of the 13 people they killed that day.
That new type of threat — the active killer who doesn’t want hostages, no demands, and is just intent on getting a high body count — taught police not to wait.
After Columbine, police across the country developed specific “active-shooter” training for these types of situations.
In short, responding officers are taught to rush toward the gunfire (ignoring victims if necessary) to aggressively attack the active killer.
Because seconds count.
It had been proven over and over again that most these types of killers either give up or kill themselves when confronted with any type of resistance.
Suddenly the killer is not in control. Now he has to defend his own life which takes his mind off the killing.
For all the same reasons, immediate confrontation from a civilian on the scene is the MOST effective strategy to save lives.
PROOF: Armed Civilians Save Lives During Mass Murder Events
The chart below comes from Last Resort Firearms Training and was posted at Active Reponse Training:
It’s an excellent article which you should read yourself, but I’d like to share just a few highlights from the data here.
There are two major points to note.
Gun-Free Zones Make Law-Abiding Civilians Helpless Victims
From the article …
“-28 people were shot inside Sandy Hook Elementary School while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
– 31 people were shot inside a San Bernardino, CA government building while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
-34 people were shot at Columbine High School while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
-43 people were shot at Fort Hood, TX while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
-47 people were shot in an academic building at Virginia Tech University while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
-70 people were shot inside a movie theater in Aurora, CO while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
-And now, 102 people have been shot in a nightclub in Orlando, FL while they waited on police to arrive and stop the killing.
In addition to mass casualties, all of these crime scenes have one thing in common. They are all places where law prohibited law-abiding adults from carrying handguns for self-defense. This made everyone present a compulsory victim, a sitting duck, a fish in a barrel, once the killer chose that location and started his attack. It forced everyone to wait on police to arrive and stop the killing. The pattern and trend is obvious. A LOT of people can be shot in the time it takes police to arrive after a mass public shooting begins. The norm seems to be between three and eight minutes.”
100% Of The Time An Armed “Good Guy” Was Present, The Body Count Is In The Single Digits!
This is probably the most incredible fact, that you should share far and wide:
“In every single active shooter attack where a good, armed person was present when the attack began and acted aggressively to stop the killer, the body count was less than 10, single-digits. Every time. 100%. Having a good, armed person present who will act to stop the killer, whether it’s a cop, armed security guard, or armed citizen, ends the attack in the first 1 – 2 minutes. This prevents the killer from having the time needed to amass a high body count. Waiting on police to arrive and stop the killing gives the killer plenty of time to shoot a lot of people.”
Every single time. Less bodies.
There is no debate.
Swift, immediate action is needed to respond to the active killer threat and the people closest to the threat are the ones on the scene already.
If one of these people fights back, then the body counts go down. Period.
Please Share This Article With Anyone Who Has Ever Asked For Examples of Armed Civilians Stopping Mass Murderers
The facts need to get out there.
Armed civilians and other “good guys” often stop mass murder attempts.
Heck, even un-armed good guys often stop mass murder attempts.
Ron Borsch in his study of what he calls “Rapid Mass Murder” attempts — four or more people being killed in less than 20 minutes in a public location — says that citizens, mostly unarmed, are credited with stopping a full two-thirds of these killings.
The key to it all is TIME.
When a crazed murderer decides to go kill a lot of people, WAITING for police or someone to come save you is not the solution.
Aggressive, violent response saves lives. The faster the response, the more lives saved.
Please share this with everyone you care about.
Armed citizens can control the amount of deaths for sure. The Orlando episode would have been a prime example. Orlando could have been prevented entirely
if the federal offices did their jobs when investigating the person that caused it especially since he worked for one of the divisions that actually are supposed to do just that. Blame also needs to be out on Obama since it has been proven he is truly a radical Muslim and is a major player with ISIS with other of his relatives. He needs to be removed before he causes more disasters and put in prison for the remainder of his life. Executing him is
too simple a solution to his crimes against the USA.
Armed citizens can control the amount of deaths for sure. The Orlando episode would have been a prime example. Orlando could have been prevented entirely if the federal offices did their jobs when investigating the person that caused it especially since he worked for one of the divisions that actually are supposed to do just that. Blame also needs to be put on Obama since it has been proven he is truly a radical Muslim and is a major player with ISIS with other of his relatives. He needs to be removed before he causes more disasters and put in prison for the remainder of his life. Executing him is
too simple a solution to his crimes against the USA.
Armed citizens can control the amount of deaths for sure. The Orlando episode would have been a prime example. Orlando could have been prevented entirely if the federal offices did their jobs when investigating the person that caused it especially since he worked for one of the divisions that actually are supposed to do just that. Blame also needs to be put on Obama since it has been proven he is truly a radical Muslim and is a major player with ISIS with other of his relatives. He needs to be put in prison for the remainder of his life. Executing him is too simple a solution for his crimes against the USA.
Caleb, is there a way you could have a printable link on your posts? It would help me at least to spread this info. Thank you.
Regarding the Orlando shooting. The timeline of the shooting leads me to ask the following questions. We are told an off duty officer working security at the Pulse engaged the shooter. How long was the shooter active? At what point did the officer/shooter engagement occur? At the beginning of the killing spreee, in the middle, towards the end? If it happened at the beginning or the middle then why didn’t that officer continue to engage per active shooter training? I can understand why the officer didn’t continue the engagement if it was at the end of the spree.
Exactly correct! I have been personally stressing the point that ONE armed person, ie; armed security, law enforcement, or LEGALLY LISCENSED citizen, could have saved 80 lives or more in the Orlando attack which 49 people were killed and 53 injured.
It would also have saved many families from the devastation and mourning of their loved ones who are no longer with them.
And for LIBERALS and OBAMA to lay blame on Christians/Americans whom had NO PART in the terror of that night is absolutely inhuman. What will be said next? That we also owe them an apology? NO!
Lay the blame where the blame is due. To those people who refuse to face the facts, and are collaborating with murdering terrorists and not blaming them for murder. OBAMA/HITLERY are TRAITORS to this country!
well instead of running from the gun man , they should attack the gun man, 10 people can take down 1 armed lunatic , they could have thrown beer bottles at the gun man to disrupt him and save lives , there are a lot of things you can do, but just standing there or running away gets people killed , and tell oboma if he needs armed ss then we need our guns and the world is not a safer place thanks to his stupidity
Absolutely Richard
I am so sick of Obama and Hillary and progressives in general! They have no idea how much destruction they have caused and now they can’t even admit that Americans would be safer if citizens carried guns and could shoot the terrorist when he is massacring dozens of innocent people!
They sure don’t know how to stop the terrorism but they won’t allow us to arm ourselves to stop it either!
If this country doesn’t get real decent leadership soon,
all us sitting ducks will be quacking up the wrong “tree!”
I had a Deputy Sheriff tell me to get a concealed Permit, and start packing about a week before Christmas in Peirce County Wash. where I live. prowlers had tried to break in across the street and had gotten a rental truck stuck and ran away. He said they were nor putting that in the paper, but it was the policy. Honest Citizens should be armed. Why? He explained that Deputies could not always get there in time. He also told me if it comes down to gun grabbing politicians, the Sheriff Department would stand with citizens who would not give up their weapons. Interesting. Switzerland issues a rifle to a person after the mandentory two years of Military service. Men and women. The entire population is armed. They have to re-qualify every two years. Hand guns, they can have, but must by their own. Concealed carry, fine. They had no drive by shootings or home invasions until they started to let the Religion of Peace in. Now they really check out these people and only let in very few. They are not like Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Holland, France Austria, Germany, Romanian, Bellgem or other European Countries.
Ballistics tests proved that 7 of the children killed at Columbine were killed by one gun in particular, and that gun belonged to a local police officer. One of the very important facts you haven’t revealed, or perhaps know, is that cops coming to a shooting often kill innocents. Once the ballistics tests made it clear that the cop was the primary killer at Columbine, a number of parents sued, and the judge said “no liability”, but the police force did force the cop’s resignation. That same cop went on to work in Park County, Colorado, and he continued to kill innocents and beat people to death. Again, parents in Park County sued because their son was permanently damaged by this same cop beating him for many hours (he handcuffed the boy, then parked in the Park County school parking lot and used his gun to slice a 14 inch hole through the boy’s head). Every week we read about more cops shooting 17-18 year old unarmed boys at traffic stops. I am totally in favor of the 2nd Amendment and self defense/defense of others/open carry/concealed carry, but I would appreciate a bit of truth in your reporting. I personally know unarmed people who were killed in Target and Wal Mart Parking lots by alleged security guards. I don’t trust or feel safe because some person in a uniform has a gun. The facts and statistics show hundreds of people being killed yearly by police and security guards.
100% correct! An armed citizen, off duty officer, or whoever, will stop this crap in it’s tracks. But thanks to Obummer and his Damned-o-crats, as well as some turn coat Re-pukelicans they are taking our guns away and letting the ass*oles keep them. We haven’t got a chance.
I’ among those people who believe in being armed. In the past when more people carried, either open or concealed, far less crime in general and especially fewer murders happened, per capita than today. That alone gives evidence of gun free zones not being a good idea.
I wish new jersey would get smart an pass a law that we could carry a weapon
In 2005 at age 66 I had to use a pistol to chase a man out my back door. He was 24, a dangerous drug addict/gang member/drug dealer. He was high on meth, had outrun and evaded police. There were 17 cops right in my neighborhood searching for him, but they were 2 blocks north running farther away every second. It was up to ME and ONLY me to get rid of him. I had no time to run for a phone to call 911! I had to stop him NOW and get him out of here! When seconds count, police are only minutes away. Unfortunately, they got here in time to stop me from shooting him- – – DARN!!
We know all this hoopla is about control.. it’s not really about guns. the left does hate them, so it it somewhat about guns i suppose , but it is a deception told over and over to get people to believe we would be better off, safe if we are disarmed..yeah, that’ll stop the terrorists.. ban guns from law abiding citizens… people better wake up, the corrupt fascist gov’t is after your freedoms too .. none of us are immune to the slavery they have in store for all of us..
I can’t believe that these gun control nuts are actually that stupid that they will believe anything that the government says because THEY are feeding them and giving them all of those “goodies” for free instead of telling them to get off their a$$es and earn their “goodies, like all decent people who are stuck paying for their laziness.
Hey Caleb, I tried to post this article to Google plus and Pintrest. They’re the only social media I use now, sinceFacebook saw fit to delete my account calling me an imposter, funny thing tho, they left the imposter/hijacker’s page up and running from another 2 months. Freaking Liberal Hacks. I used to be friends with Mark Zuckerberg, when he cut me off and left the highjacker up instead, I kinda figured he never really knew me at all. So piss on him.
“Way back in 1999, 34 people were shot at Columbine High School while they waited on police to arrive and stop the two active killers.
Police that day learned an important lesson.
Do NOT wait.”
I read that once on the scene in Orlando – THEY WAITED THREE HOURS TO MAKE ENTRY!
The problem is NOT guns.
The problem is laws that prohibit citizens ability to fight for their lives ON THE SPOT – AT THE MOMENT!
And the problem is POLITICIANS that put these laws into effect!
Forced into a position of being defenseless and waiting for protection when there is a THREE HOUR RESPONSE TIME – IS UNACCEPTABLE!
While I agree that the rapidity of armed response is vital to shutting these kind of heinous acts down, I found possibly the most salient point the writer made was this: “Heck, even un-armed good guys often stop mass murder attempts.”
In short, to me, that means that if I am ever in a situation like this, that what I need to do at that moment in time is this: ATTACK-ATTACK-ATTACK!
Absolutely.
The definition of a mass shooting is more than a few people have been shot. If an armed citizen reacts to the situation immediately everytime, it’s has no longer become a “mass shooting,” so those studying shootings would be right! If there are no mass shootings due to interception, then there is really nothing with “mass” to study that exsts.
The definition of a mass shooting is more than a few people have been shot. If an armed citizen reacts to the situation immediately everytime, it’s has no longer become a “mass shooting,” so those studying shootings would be right! If there are no mass shootings due to interception, then there really is nothing with “mass” to study that exsts.
Another factor that cannot be quantified is that where concealed carry or even open carry is allowed, such mass shootings do not occur. The mass shootings occur in locations where no one is armed and the shooter knows it.
Start by reading 1 John 3:16
Once again in Orlando, Obama has demonstrated that he does not care about the lives of citizens despite how much he “says” he does. It is all show. Obama wants a terrorized population that he controls. Obama is waging jihad against America.
1. Make the american public defenseless
2. Decimate the armed forces and retain only senior officers that support Obama
3. Ruin the economy
4. Import refugees and illegals that will help ruin economy and vote democrat
5. release jihadists from GITMO to continue jihad against Israel and America
6. Release criminals from prison to continue preying on Americans
7. Pull forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan to allow Islam extremism to continue
I’m old, almost 70. Over the years I’ve drawn my weapon only twice. Result was immediate control of the situation, crises over. No I did not fire either time as the sight of the gun pointed at the perp created instant panic for him.
On five other occasions I placed my hand on the weapon and prepared to draw. This sight alone was enough to diffuse the situation. In one case a person was quickly advancing from behind. Yes, I pay attention to surroundings. I turned, held out my left hand, placed my right under my shirt, and ordered the perp to stop or else. No, I didn’t whisper. this perp ordered me to produce my right hand. I replied ” OK but I will be forced to use it when it comes out” The perp was still yelling when he went out of sight.
Once I happened upon a burglary in progress. The two perps started to rush me. I squared off and prepared to draw. The perps stopped, turned and ran to their vehicle. I collected their license number, went to the police station and gave the info. Officers ran out asking which way they went. This was before cell phones. At a later time one of the officers told me they had tried to catch these two twice earlier in the night without success. Tonight was different. They were caught a few miles away and arrested. Two successful burglaries and one failed, caught with proceeds from first two burglaries.
On other occasions the air of confidence in the face of danger has stopped bad guys in their tracks. Good guys with guns do a lot of good. A lot of people and property are saved every year just because a good guy is there.
Yes I sit with my back to the wall where I can see all entry and exit. I refuse to trade anywhere I am not allowed to carry, and I inform the management they lose the business of my entire family.
Stand and be counted, protect yourself, and your country. Only we the people can. Unite and be strong! Don’t ever stop training!
Kudos from one almost 70 to another! Your response, in each case, undoubtedly saved countless lives. I’ve had to “brandish” my weapon only once, that being in a roadrage incident where I had the driver of the assaulting vehicle rush to my window. Thankfully, what his intentions were was something I never found out because he freaked and literally ran back to his car and sped off the moment he saw my gun in hand, but resting on my lap. In retrospect, it’s kind of comical how this big burly man was going to set this 5’6″ 125 lb woman straight. He was suddenly reduced to the proverbial dog with his tail tucked hauling his tail feathers back to his car!
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