Do Armed Civilians Stop Mass Shooters? Actually, No.
5 cases commonly cited as a rationale for arming Americans don't stand
up to scrutiny.

—By Mark Follman
Mother Jones


In the wake of the unthinkable massacre in Connecticut, pro-gun
ideologues are once again calling for ordinary citizens to arm
themselves as a solution to mass shootings. If only the principal at
Sandy Hook elementary had possessed a M-4 assault rifle she could've
stopped the killer, they say. This latest twist on a long-running
argument isn't just absurd on its face; there is no evidence to support it.

*As I reported recently in our in-depth investigation, not one of the 62
mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years has been
stopped this way. More broadly, attempts by armed civilians to intervene
in shooting rampages are rare—and are successful even more rarely. (Two
people who tried it in recent years were gravely wounded or killed.) And
law enforcement overwhelmingly hates the idea.*

Those pesky facts haven't stopped the "arm America more!" crowd from
pressing the argument with alleged examples of successful armed
interventions. The problem is, the few examples they keep using—in which
they depict plain old folks acting heroically and with definitive
results—fall apart under scrutiny. Here are five of them and why they
don't work:

Appalachian School of Law shooting in Grundy, Virginia
Gun rights die-hards frequently credit the end of a rampage at the law
school in 2002 to armed "students" who intervened. They conveniently
ignore that those students also happened to be current and former law
enforcement officers, and that the killer, according to police
investigators, was out of ammunition by the time they got to him.

Middle school dance shooting in Edinboro, Pennsylvania
An ambiguous case from 1998, in which the shooter may well have already
been done shooting: After killing a teacher and wounding three others,
the 14-year-old perpetrator left the dance venue. The owner of the venue
followed him outside with a shotgun, confronting and subduing him in a
nearby field until police arrived. The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who
himself recently argued for more guns as an answer to gun violence, told
me this week that one police source he talked to about this case said
that it was "not clear at all" whether the kid had intended to do any
further shooting after he'd left the building.

High school shooting in Pearl, Mississippi
Another case, from 1997, in which the shooting was apparently already
over: After killing two and wounding seven inside Pearl High School, the
16-year-old perpetrator left the building and went outside near the
parking lot. The assistant principal—who was also a commander in the
Army reserves—ran out to his own vehicle, grabbed a handgun he kept
there, and then approached the shooter, subduing him at gunpoint until
authorities arrived.

New Life Church shooting in Colorado Springs
In 2007 a gunman killed two people and wounded three others before being
shot himself; the pro-gun crowd likes to refer to the woman who took him
out in the parking lot as a "church member." Never mind that she was a
security officer for the church and a former cop, and that the church
had put its security team on high alert earlier that day due to another
church shooting nearby.

Bar shooting in Winnemucca, Nevada
In 2008, a gunman who killed two and wounded two others was taken out by
another patron in the bar, who was carrying with a valid permit. But
this was no regular Joe with a concealed handgun: The vigilante, who was
not charged after authorities determined he'd committed a justifiable
homicide, was a US Marine.

And what about cases in which citizens try to use their guns and things
go terribly wrong? There are at least two examples of ill-fated attempts
that you won't see mentioned by those arguing for your kid's teacher to
start stashing a loaded Glock in her classroom:

Shopping mall shooting in Tacoma, Washington
As a rampage unfolded in 2005, a civilian with a concealed carry permit
named Brendan McKown confronted the assailant with his handgun. The
shooter pumped several bullets into McKown, wounding six people before
eventually surrendering to police after a hostage standoff. A comatose
McKown eventually recovered after weeks in the hospital.

Courthouse shooting in Tyler, Texas
In 2005, a civilian named Mark Wilson, who was a firearms instructor,
fired his licensed handgun at a man on a rampage at the county
courthouse. Wilson was shot dead by the body-armored assailant, who
wielded an AK-47.

Such actions in chaotic situations don't just put the well-intentioned
citizen at risk, of course. According to Robert McMenomy, an assistant
special agent in charge in the San Francisco division of the FBI, they
increase the danger for innocent bystanders. They also make law
enforcement officers' jobs more difficult. "In a scenario like that," he
told me in a recent conversation, "they wouldn't know who was good or
who was bad, and it would divert them from the real threat."

On 12/19/2012 8:13 AM, ESAD wrote:

Do Armed Civilians Stop Mass Shooters? Actually, No.
5 cases commonly cited as a rationale for arming Americans don't stand
up to scrutiny.

—By Mark Follman
Mother Jones


In the wake of the unthinkable massacre in Connecticut, pro-gun
ideologues are once again calling for ordinary citizens to arm
themselves as a solution to mass shootings. If only the principal at
Sandy Hook elementary had possessed a M-4 assault rifle she could've
stopped the killer, they say. This latest twist on a long-running
argument isn't just absurd on its face; there is no evidence to support it.

*As I reported recently in our in-depth investigation, not one of the 62
mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years has been
stopped this way. More broadly, attempts by armed civilians to intervene
in shooting rampages are rare—and are successful even more rarely. (Two
people who tried it in recent years were gravely wounded or killed.) And
law enforcement overwhelmingly hates the idea.*

Those pesky facts haven't stopped the "arm America more!" crowd from
pressing the argument with alleged examples of successful armed
interventions. The problem is, the few examples they keep using—in which
they depict plain old folks acting heroically and with definitive
results—fall apart under scrutiny. Here are five of them and why they
don't work:

Appalachian School of Law shooting in Grundy, Virginia
Gun rights die-hards frequently credit the end of a rampage at the law
school in 2002 to armed "students" who intervened. They conveniently
ignore that those students also happened to be current and former law
enforcement officers, and that the killer, according to police
investigators, was out of ammunition by the time they got to him.

Middle school dance shooting in Edinboro, Pennsylvania
An ambiguous case from 1998, in which the shooter may well have already
been done shooting: After killing a teacher and wounding three others,
the 14-year-old perpetrator left the dance venue. The owner of the venue
followed him outside with a shotgun, confronting and subduing him in a
nearby field until police arrived. The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who
himself recently argued for more guns as an answer to gun violence, told
me this week that one police source he talked to about this case said
that it was "not clear at all" whether the kid had intended to do any
further shooting after he'd left the building.

High school shooting in Pearl, Mississippi
Another case, from 1997, in which the shooting was apparently already
over: After killing two and wounding seven inside Pearl High School, the
16-year-old perpetrator left the building and went outside near the
parking lot. The assistant principal—who was also a commander in the
Army reserves—ran out to his own vehicle, grabbed a handgun he kept
there, and then approached the shooter, subduing him at gunpoint until
authorities arrived.

New Life Church shooting in Colorado Springs
In 2007 a gunman killed two people and wounded three others before being
shot himself; the pro-gun crowd likes to refer to the woman who took him
out in the parking lot as a "church member." Never mind that she was a
security officer for the church and a former cop, and that the church
had put its security team on high alert earlier that day due to another
church shooting nearby.

Bar shooting in Winnemucca, Nevada
In 2008, a gunman who killed two and wounded two others was taken out by
another patron in the bar, who was carrying with a valid permit. But
this was no regular Joe with a concealed handgun: The vigilante, who was
not charged after authorities determined he'd committed a justifiable
homicide, was a US Marine.

And what about cases in which citizens try to use their guns and things
go terribly wrong? There are at least two examples of ill-fated attempts
that you won't see mentioned by those arguing for your kid's teacher to
start stashing a loaded Glock in her classroom:

Shopping mall shooting in Tacoma, Washington
As a rampage unfolded in 2005, a civilian with a concealed carry permit
named Brendan McKown confronted the assailant with his handgun. The
shooter pumped several bullets into McKown, wounding six people before
eventually surrendering to police after a hostage standoff. A comatose
McKown eventually recovered after weeks in the hospital.

Courthouse shooting in Tyler, Texas
In 2005, a civilian named Mark Wilson, who was a firearms instructor,
fired his licensed handgun at a man on a rampage at the county
courthouse. Wilson was shot dead by the body-armored assailant, who
wielded an AK-47.

Such actions in chaotic situations don't just put the well-intentioned
citizen at risk, of course. According to Robert McMenomy, an assistant
special agent in charge in the San Francisco division of the FBI, they
increase the danger for innocent bystanders. They also make law
enforcement officers' jobs more difficult. "In a scenario like that," he
told me in a recent conversation, "they wouldn't know who was good or
who was bad, and it would divert them from the real threat."

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