It took the Orlando Police three hours to stop a mass murderer in a gay nightclub. Armed citizens like you responded in seconds. This happens not once, but time after time, and month after month. Again, you stopped mass murder in May of 2016. Similar reports from earlier months are listed here.
-A mass murder was defined as four victims of an armed attacker. I continue to use that definition. Our first example took place in Saint Andrew, South Carolina at about 10 in the morning. The store owner and six customers were playing video games in a game store when two criminals tried to rob them. The robbers wore masks and one robber carried a handgun. The robbers took money from the store owner and then started to rob the customers at gunpoint. That gave the store owner the chance he needed. The store owner drew his firearm from his pocket and shot the armed robber several times. Both robbers ran, and the armed robber shot back. The store owner and customers were not hurt. Police arrested the robbers at the local hospital.
–An armed man came into a Phoenix, Arizona taco restaurant and pointed a pistol at the store clerk. The female store clerk opened the cash register and ran away. She hid in the bathroom with several other people who worked at the restaurant. The robber also approached another store employee, only this employee was armed. The armed employee shot and killed the robber. The store had been robbed earlier that week. This time, none of the employees or customers were hurt. The robbery happened at around 9 pm. Police are looking for the eight customers who witnessed the robbery.
–A mentally ill man wasn’t feeling well. He visited a mental health clinic in Houston, Texas. The clinic agreed to reschedule the man’s appointment once he felt better. The mentally ill man left, but returned to the clinic a half hour later. He kicked through the glass doors, and threatened the staff and patients. The patients and staff hid in their offices. The violent mentally ill patient kicked on the solid doors as well. The mentally ill man then walked into a neighboring business in the same building. There, the mentally ill man lunged at one of the customers. The business owner shot him. The business owner was licensed to carry a concealed firearm.
In contrast, the medical clinic was a “gun free zone” even though the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than sixty percent of workplace physical violence occurs in the health care workplace.
–A store owner and his son were working in the back office of their Florida liquor store. It was noon when an armed and masked robber demanded money from an employee who walked out the back of the store. That employee didn’t have the store’s money, so the employee led the robber up to the other store clerk who was working at the cash register. That is when the owner and his son saw the robbery in progress. They saw their employees held at gunpoint. The robber demanded their money as well. The store owner’s son drew his firearm and shot the thief several times. The thief died at a local hospital. None of the employees or customers were injured.
–A mentally disturbed man lived in a nearby home. He tried to break into the wrong house, but the first home that the intruder tried to enter had a reinforced door. The occupants told the intruder to go away. The intruder went to yet another home in this Seattle neighborhood and started throwing furniture through the front window as he yelled and cursed at four in the morning.
This homeowner heard his windows breaking. He retreated with his wife and two daughters to their back bedroom. The homeowner also had his gun and a phone. One of his teenage daughters called police. After the stranger broke through the front of the house, the homeowner left the back room. The intruder moved toward the homeowner and the homeowner shot him.
Arriving deputies heard the shots and found the wounded suspect in the front yard. They applied a tourniquet to the intruder’s leg before medics transported him to the hospital for treatment. The mentally ill man survived his injuries.
–A 25 year old man barged into a busy sporting goods store in Memphis and demanded money. News reports are not clear whether it was a store employee or a store customer who took exception to being robbed at gunpoint. In either case, one of the robbery victims was armed with a concealed weapon of his own. He shot the armed robber. The robber was taken to a local hospital where he died. Neither the defender nor other customers and staff were hurt.
One customer said, “I’m only 24 and I really want to get away from Memphis.”
These are a few examples where you prevented mass murder in May. Instead of saying “Thank you,” socialist politicians propose more laws to disarm the victims of violent crime. I have a different plan. I trust my neighbors to keep us safe. Neighbors just like you.
I report on Self-Defense Stories each week.