Many people will claim that there is never a “Good Guy With A Gun” to save the day in an Active Shooter Situation. While simply untrue, there is a point to be made here: 94% of Active Shooter Events take place in so-called “Gun Free Zones”. This means that law abiding citizens are rarely able to carry near the incident. We'll look at several cases today where the citizens had to go to their car to get their gun.
We took a dive into the 2000-2018 FBI stats on “Active Shooter” cases and we found at least 47 cases that were stopped in part or in whole by citizens, some with guns, and some without. Some of these are off-duty law enforcement, but these people certainly qualify as “Good Guys With Guns” and they were not there because of a 911 call. Again, most people will not carry a firearm in a gun free zone, but off-duty LEOs may feel more free to do so than most because of their ID, training, and position. Many were un-armed and were injured or certainly risked it all to wrestle the attacker down with their bare hands. Some didn't make it, but saved countless others. Let me ask you a question: Which is more evil: The gunman, or disarming the people who now provide the gunman easy targets?
We could philosophize on the merits of a good guy or we could just tell you there stories:
Story 1: In the early morning of April 23, 2001 before any children had been picked up for school in San Jose, California, CP went to the Bus Barn where she had worked for the better part of a decade, and began murdering her co-workers. She successfully killed a driver-trainer and wounded three other ladies, before Gregory Allan Lee, another driver, caught her attention and ultimately restrained CP until the police could arrive, saving an untold number of lives.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-24-mn-54869-story.html
Story 2: Near lunch time on July 28th, 2003, a disgruntled employee, RB, of the Kanawha School Board attempted to set his supervisor ablaze with a bucket of gasoline 10 minutes into the school board's meeting. After his match failed to light, RB resorted to his rifle, but was restrained by onlookers before he could inflict fatal wounds. These onlookers had to restrain RB without the aid of a firearm as they were at a School Board Meeting. One lady suffered gunshot trauma to the gut.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/school-board-meeting-attacked/
Story 3: After a long and hard night of seething jealousy, a jilted man, AC, arrived at his estranged wife's place of work the morning of July 28th 2003 with a handgun. He killed the owner of Gold-Leaf Nursery and one of his wife's co-workers after he had ended his wife's life. AC had a hard time figuring out which man was his wife's lover, and never had the chance to do so. Before AC could reload, two employees jumped AC and subdued him.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2003-09-24-0309230677-story.html
Story 4: After suffering from alleged bullying by Seth Bartell at their school, JM brought a .22 caliber pistol to Rocori High School and fired on Seth twice, one of these missing and striking another boy, Aaron Rollins. After escaping momentarily, Bartell was shot in the forehead by JM, who went on as if to continue the shooting spree. Mark Johnson, a PE Teacher, confronted JM who raised his gun to shoot Johnson. Johnson literally raised his hands and said “No”, and JM surrendered.
https://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/mclaughlin-jason.htm
Story 5: At roughly 10:30 AM JR walked into Columbia High School with a rage and pain he wanted to spread carrying a 12 gauge shotgun and the ammo to do it. Thankfully, JR only got two shots off, only managing to wound one of his teachers in the leg before an Assistant Principal could tackle JR and subdue him.Police and SWAT arrived several minutes later.
Story 6: February 13th, 2005, a quiet Sunday morning at the Hudson Valley Mall was interrupted by a black clad 24 year old RB. Despite shooting a 20 year old Army Recruiter in the knee and a 56 year old man in the hand, RB managed to miss everyone else and was eventually tackled by employees.
https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2005/02/14/gunman-goes-on-rampage-at/51136353007/
Story 7: On the afternoon of November 8, 2005 KB was called into the administrator's office of Campbell County Comprehensive High School for yet another weapon infraction. This time however, it was a .22 caliber that KB had brought to school. Upon being confronted, KB shot and killed an assistant principal and shot two other faculty. He was restrained by students and teachers until police took him away. He was later released from prison only to be in and out of prison with some charges including domestic abuse and allegedly killing his girlfriend's toddler. He is at large as of 2019 due to multiple miscarriages of justice.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9970713
Story 8: Before the bell rang at 9:00 AM at Pine Middle School, Jencie Fagan heard a student yell at JN and JN fire 3 rounds into two 14 year old girls who survived. Fagan had the courage to confront JN and demand that he put the gun down and wait for authorities. JN heeded Fagan's prompting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Middle_School_shooting
Story 9: Angered by the disciplinary actions meted out by Principal Klang at Weston Highschool, EH walked into school at 8:00 AM on September 29th, 2006 and aimed a shotgun at the Social Studies teacher. A janitorial staff member jumped EH and wrestled the shotgun out of EH's hands. Upon seeing the staff member struggling with the student, Principle Klang attempted to help the struggling janitor restrain EH. EH, however also had a .22 caliber pistol with which he shot Principle Klang multiple times. Although Klang and other staff were able to restrain EH, Klang died several hours later from the wounds to his head, torso, and leg.
https://nthfmemorial.org/swept-the-gun-away-john-alfred-klang/
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15060698
Story 10: On July 27, 2008 at The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, a shooter opened fire on the congregation killing 2 wounding 7, before the congregants could tackle the shooter DA. According to the manifesto DA wrote, he intended to shoot congregants until he was shot by police. God had other plans.