I just happened to hear a talk host pair discussing the Oregon shooting a few days ago. The guy was trying his best to discredit the proposition that an armed citizen could have either prevented, or mitigated the attack. He chose to air a quote from someone who claimed to have been lawfully armed on campus that day but who decided, once he heard shooting, to leave the scene post-haste.
My thought is the radio jockey is confusing armed citizens with para-policemen. It's one thing to find oneself in a position that cannot be avoided, from which escape is impossible, to draw one's weapon in defense of one's own life and perhaps the lives of others against a murderous attacker. It's quite another thing to hear obvious signs of potentially serious danger, such as gunfire, and go looking to see what the ruckus is all about.
In any event, after successfully knocking down his straw man, the jockey concluded there's no need for concealed carry if the carriers aren't going to use their weapons to stop an incident like this. To paraphrase, "whats the use of carrying a gun if you aren't going to shoot someone".[/QUOTE]
Nothing like some FBI data to prove him wrong.
In fact, the data shows that it is more than 2x more likely that an armed citizen stops a mass shooter than an armed off duty LEO. Yet, off duty and retired LEO's always get the exceptions to the gun control laws.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/20...r-incidents-in-the-u.s.-between-2000-and-2013
■■ In 21 incidents (13.1%), the situation ended after unarmed citizens safely and successfully restrained the shooter. In 2 of those incidents, 3 off-duty law enforcement officers were present and assisted. Of note, 11 of the incidents involved unarmed principals, teachers, other school staff and students who confronted shooters to end the threat (9 of those shooters
were students).
■■ In 5 incidents (3.1%), the shooting ended after armed individuals who were not law enforcement personnel exchanged gunfire with the shooters. In these incidents, 3 shooters were killed, 1 was wounded, and 1 committed suicide.
■■ The individuals involved in these shootings included a citizen with a valid firearms permit and armed security guards at a church, an airline counter, a federally managed museum, and a school board meeting.25
■■ In 2 incidents (1.3%), 2 armed, off-duty police officers engaged the shooters, resulting in the death of the shooters. In 1 of those incidents, the off-duty officer assisted a responding officer to end the threat
