If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Open Carry Samaritan)

Jason Erik Washington was on the campus of Portland State University when he witnessed an argument between two men, one of whom used a racial slur. The men began to fight each other.

That's when, armed with his openly-carried handgun and a valid conceal carry permit, he leaped into the fight to try to break it up.

Meanwhile, two armed university police officers were already arriving to do the same thing. Washington continued to try to break up the fighters even as the police were attempting to do so.

A witness took a video of the incident. Here's a screenshot from that video where I highlighted the gun hanging off his hip, at 18 seconds into it:

From an article: 

Video footage shows what appears to be a black object attached to Washington’s right side as he’s seen pulling one man off another. Two PSU police officers can also be seen. 

“The gun slipped out of the holster when he had fallen, and I think he may have tried to retrieve it,” Smith said. “Then they said ‘gun.’” 

That’s when police fired, she said.

Watch the video and judge for yourself. You can hear the police telling him to drop his gun. And, one witness....

....recalled the man reaching for his gun after police told him three or four times not to. 

"They warned him multiple times not to reach for it, but he did," Dietz said. "I don't want the message out there that the cops were trigger-happy." Dietz said employees at the Cheerful Tortoise did everything they could to stop the situation from escalating like it did.  "It's just that people got drunk and stubborn," he added.  "They had to do it," he said of the officers involved. "People think they were overzealous, but they had to do it."

One friend of his, named Joseph, had this to say:

"I saw the video, and there is no way he should have been shot," Joseph said. "I wish he didn't have a gun on him, because this probably wouldn't have happened if he didn't."

According to an article:

Washington was a Navy veteran and an employee with the United States Postal Service since 1998. He worked with the collections unit as a letter carrier at the main office in downtown Portland, where he also served as the union shop steward. 

Washington was married with three kids and one grandchild.

And now those kids, wife, and grandchild have lost him in their lives, because he chose to arm himself, and because those police reacted the way they did.  This is also an example of how being a military veteran doesn't automatically make you more responsible with your guns.

PSU voted to arm its police force in 2015, despite opposition from students.


[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]
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If Only They'd Had A Gun To Defend Themselves. Oh, Wait... (Gun Shop Shootout)

The gun lobbies like to push the idea that if only you are armed, you'll be safe from the bad guys.  That they'll be dissuaded from attacking you simply because they know you have a gun, or that it isn't a "gun free zone."  But as I've shown again and again here at New Trajectory blog, the truth is just the opposite, and studies have show it, like THIS ONE which showed that carrying a gun makes you 4.5 times more likely to be shot.

But if the pro-gun mentality is correct, where else would be safer than a gun shop, surrounded by lethal weapons, and definitely not a "gun free zone?"

Such a scenario occurred yesterday in Mississippi. A man in his 50's and his 20-something son entered the McLemore Gun Shop on Highway 43 in Pearl River County to pick up a gun that they had had repaired there.  When the wife of the shop owner, who was at the counter, told them that there was a $25 fee, they got into an argument with pushing and shoving.  The wife called her 40-year old husband, the shop owner, who showed up with his 17-year old son.

It's unclear who shot first, but both sets of people were armed.  From an article:

An argument ensued, which turned physical, the station said, and gunfire followed. 

Chief Deputy Shane Tucker told the Sun Herald that ”one of the customers and one of the owners produced firearms. We don’t know who shot first.” 

The gun shop owner and his son were pronounced dead at the scene; the two customers were airlifted to hospitals with life-threatening injuries, Tucker told the paper. 

The wife of the gun shop owner was not wounded, WLOX reported.

This isn't the first time that a gun shop shootout has been featured here.  See HERE and HERE and HERE for examples.  In fact, it is disturbingly common, and many end up with the shop owner dead.  So much for the "gun free zone" mythology.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait... (Deli Conceal Carry Robbery)

Many, many times I have blogged here with examples of "good guys with guns" who, despite having loaded guns readily available to them, they were nonetheless victims of shootings or even had their own guns turned against them.

And the gun lobbies love to push the idea that, if only a citizen had a loaded gun concealed on them,

The robber, armed with the victim's concealed handgun,
struggles with the victim (in green) (source)

they would be safe against criminals. Worse, even, that they could become heroes, gunning down the bad guys and robbers, vigilante-style (as some extremist lawmakers have suggested).

Well, here's a good example of how that mentality can go wrong.  A patron (in the green shirt) was in a Philadelphia deli when a man came up behind him and tried to rob him.  The robber was unarmed.  A fight ensued.  During the fight, a loaded, holstered handgun fell out of the victim's clothing.  It turns out the victim had a conceal carry permit and was carrying.  

From an article with news video:

Surveillance cameras captured the customer, who was armed and licensed to carry, fight off the robber. As the two men fought, the customer's gun fell from his hip. The two men then struggled over the gun until the robber was able to gain control. Police say he then fired one shot that narrowly missed the customer and struck the ceiling vent. The customer then chased the robber out of the store. The robber managed to escape however. 

The victim is lucky the robber missed.  And that the robber didn't try to shoot at him again after the victim chased the shooter.  But the point is clear.  Carrying the gun didn't stop any crime, and it almost cost him his life.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Friend To The Rescue)

A man in Portland, Oregon, was being attacked and was stabbed by the attackers.

That's when the man's friend showed up with a gun, which he fired to "scare the attackers."

It didn't work.  Instead, the attackers fought the man and took the gun away from him.  As they fled, they fired back at him with the gun they'd just taken.  Luckily they missed.

Now another gun is in the hands of criminals.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait... (Home Defender)

31-year old Jeffre Faust was home at night with his mother when he discovered a prowler in his back yard.  Instead of locking his doors and calling 911, he grabbed his loaded rifle and went outside to confront the man.

The prowler was unarmed and said it was his house.  The suspect then grabbed Faust's gun, turned it around, and then the gun was fired (unclear if intentional), wounding Faust in the leg.

From an article and news video:

Faust told deputies that he armed himself with a rifle and went outside after hearing noises and his dogs barking around 3 a.m. Thursday. He confronted a man in his backyard and they struggled over the weapon. 

"He jumped at me and we were fighting over the gun," Faust said. "The gun went off and got me right in the leg." 

The bullet shattered Faust's femur and narrowly missed the femoral artery. 

"He was ranting and raving how this was his house ... what are you doing here?" Faust said. "Then he started walking toward me and I lifted the rifle toward him but there was no way I could pull the trigger."

Then the shot was fired, hitting the victim.  The suspect then fled and hasn't been caught.

So his own gun was used against him.  So much for defending himself.  You don't brandish a gun unless you intend to shoot to kill.  But is simply being in someone's back yard a reason to kill that person?  As the article states at the end:

Faust spent the last four days in the hospital. He said if he had it to do again he would stay inside and call 911.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]
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If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Witness Shootout)

A Vancouver, Washington man, John Kendall, was on the run after having shot a neighbor.

A man witnessed the fugitive and called 911 to report it.  When police showed up, however, they thought the caller was the fugitive, since he fit the fugitive's description, including his vehicle.

When the man exited his car and went to his trunk, police thought he was arming himself and opened fire, hitting the man in the leg.  The man then took up a position behind a gravel pile and returned fire, firing one shot.

Luckily, another call to 911 cleared it up and the shootout stopped.

The fugitive's car, however, had been around the corner.  He had shot himself to death.

From an article:

In a statement released by the Vancouver Police Department, a spokesperson said when police arrived on scene near the 700 block of NE Blandford Dr., they encountered a white man in his 50s, with an appearance matching Kendall’s, who exited his car and reached for his trunk.

“Fearing that he armed himself, law enforcement fired multiple shots at the individual in order to stop the perceived threat before the citizen could enter the woods,” the Vancouver Police Department said in a statement.

The man was struck in the leg, fired one shot from behind a rock, then called police again to report he had been shot. Once officers confirmed he was not Kendall, the man — who does not wish to be identified — was given medical treatment and transported to a nearby hospital.

At the time, police believed Kendall was armed with a rifle.

“Unbeknownst to responding law enforcement personnel, the reporting citizen parked his vehicle in the gravel turn-out nearby Kendall’s vehicle and remained on scene after hanging up,” the VPD said in a statement.

Police said responding officers did not see Kendall’s vehicle, because it was obscured by wooded and rocky terrain.

Did police see that the witness had been armed, and did that contribute to them opening fire?  Why did he return fire, knowing that these were police?  And why did he stick around when he knew a dangerous fugitive was in the area.  Was he trying to be a vigilante?


[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Yet Another Gun Shop Owner)

The NRA says that carrying guns makes us safer and scares away the "bad guys with guns."  With that philosophy, shouldn't gun stores be the safest places in the U.S.?

And yet, here is yet another case (like THIS ONE and THIS ONE) where that simply wasn't true.

Jon Bieker and his wife Becky were in the gun store that they own, called the cutesy name "She's A Pistol" (which targets women as customers) in Shawnee, Kansas, both of them were armed with loaded handguns, when a "customer," came up to the counter to talk to Becky about a handgun.  Then three more people came in, armed. According to one of the suspects, the plan was for them to grab a handgun and then make a run for it, stealing it.  But that's now how things went down.

One of the four robbers leaped over the counter and punched Becky in the face, but then Jon, hearing the commotion, came out of a back room and opened fire.

What followed was a massive shootout which left two of the robbers injured and Jon Bieker injured and dying, surrounded by hundreds of his guns.  

Bieker later died in the hospital.  The suspects were captured after they tried to knock on the back door of a woman's home and the woman called 911 (instead of trying to shoot them, I'll add).

From an article:

Jon Bieker was killed and the man who allegedly shot him was placed in a medically induced coma following the Jan. 9 shootout. Three other suspects are in jail on first-degree murder charges while Becky Bieker is preparing to reopen her business, which specializes in offering personal protection options to females.

Yet the irony is that they can't protect themselves!

The irony is increased considering Becky's comments a few years ago:

In 2013, Becky Bieker explained why she is in business during an interview with KCTV. 

"People understand now that they can't rely on someone else or something else to protect them. They have to do it themselves," she said.

If Bieker hadn't opened fire, there's a good chance that no one would have died and the only problems would have been a stolen gun and Becky's bruised face.  Instead there was a shootout.  Jon's guns and all of his training didn't save him.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Open Carry Idiot)

William Coleman III had just purchased his brand new Walder P22 handgun and was walking down the street in Gresham, Oregon, proudly exercising his "Second Amendment right" to openly-carry the gun on his hip.

That's when he was approached by a man who said he wanted a cigarette, but when he saw Coleman's gun, he said, "I like your gun. Give it to me," and flashed a concealed handgun of his own.

Coleman then meekly handed over the gun, and the man fled.  

It's just that easy.

From an article:

Coleman, 21, was talking to his cousin in the 17200 block of NE Glisan St., after purchasing the handgun earlier that day, when a young man asked him for a cigarette, police said. 

The man then asked about the gun, pulled a gun from his own waistband and said “”I like your gun. Give it to me.” 

Coleman handed over the gun and the man fled on foot.

But, but...  the NRA says this shouldn't happen.  That simply seeing the gun openly-carried should scare away the bad guys, right??  Instead, it was merely an invitation for a free gun.  

Thankfully, Coleman handed it over instead of getting into a shootout, and no one had to die.  But that's not the fantasy ending that the gun guys dream about, is it?  Remember when Charlton Heston held up a rifle and shouted "from my cold dead hands"??

But there's nothing to keep Coleman from trying this stupidity again, is there?  And now there's one more illegal gun on the market.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Another Gun Shop Owner)

61-year-old Scott Maxie was in the gun shop that he owned in Indianapolis, Indiana, called Muscatatuck Outdoors, when three men entered.  

Despite being surrounded by his lethal weapons, Mr. Maxie was shot to death by the men:

Monday night, Dejaun Worthen, 23; Darion Harris, 20; and Darryl Worthen, 24, were taken into custody at an Indianapolis home. Maj. Jerry Shepherd of the Jennings County Sheriff's Office said all three men are being held without bond in the Jennings County Jail on charges of murder and robbery.

The suspects were arrested in connection to the slaying of 61-year-old Scott Maxie, Shepherd said. Maxie was found shot in the head Sunday night at his gun shop near the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge.

The men then stole 47 guns from the store.  Only four of those guns were recovered.  One of the suspects, Worthen, was a FedEx driver who stopped by the store on his route.

How is this possible?  The NRA has suggested many times that having a loaded gun will protect you from the "bad guys with guns," (remember the ridiculous post-Sandy Hook statement by Wayne LaPierre?).  And yet, time after time (as I have chronicled), this has failed to protect people -- including highly-trained gun owners with guns at the ready.

This isn't the first time a gun shop owner, surrounded by his lethal weapons, was killed by shooters.  HERE is another example.

Just goes to show you that, despite the NRA rhetoric, guns don't make you safer.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (The Packing Priest)

Rev. Joseph Terra was in the rectory of the Mother of Mercy Mission in Phoenix, Arizona, when he heard a suspicious sound outside in the courtyard.  Instead of calling police, he decided to investigate the sound himself and opened the kitchen door to the outside.

That's when a Gary Michael Moran, 54, an "ex-convict with a history of violence and drug abuse" and "a career criminal, a violent felony offender," pushed his way inside and started beating Terra with a metal rod.  If only Terra had had a gun to defend himself, as recommended by the NRA!  Oh wait, he did!  From an article:

Badly injured, Terra made it to his bedroom and retrieved his .357-caliber gun but was unable to fire before the attacker grabbed it, forced the priest to his knees and demanded money, according to court records.

Terra then blacked out.

When another priest, Rev. Kenneth Walker, came to investigate what was happening, Moran then shot Walker to death with Terra's gun. 

Moran then stole a number of items, including a car, and fled the scene.

When Terra woke up, he found Rev. Walker and performed last rites on him.

Moran was eventually apprehended after tips from people he had bragged to, and DNA evidence:

During the investigation, Terra was only able to provide a limited description of the suspect, but detectives said they were later able to link Moran to the crime scene through DNA. 

Witnesses also helped authorities identify Moran. 

On Sunday, a man came to the police station to report that he had heard Moran "was bragging about beating a priest and robbing him," according to court records. 

A day later, a woman told police Moran had given her a black bag that contained the priest's camera.

Too bad Terra had a gun.  Rev. Walker might be alive otherwise.  Beatings with blunt force objects, such as metal rods, only have a death rate less than 5%, whereas being shot has a death rate up around 85%.

And in case you were wondering why a priest would have a gun, particularly in a church called "Mother of Mercy," the article had this to say:

Police confirmed that Terra's gun was used to shoot Walker. 

Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted said over the weekend that the question of gun ownership among priests has not been a topic of discussion and isn't prohibited by the church. 

"There are some priests that go hunting for javelina, and for deer and for elk," Olmsted said. "So there would be some (gun owners), but it's not a question that I generally ask priests."

But it wasn't a rifle that Terra had in his room.  It was a handgun -- as in for self-defense.  Having a gun around to kill someone doesn't sound very "godly" to me.  Others have questioned the validity of priests having guns, as a result of this case.

Just another example of how owning a gun does not guarantee your safety and can actually increase your chances of dying.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)].

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait.... (Like Father Like Son)

James Johnson was at the funeral home he owns in North Carolina when his son, Garcia Johnson, arrived, armed with a handgun, and the two had a confrontation.  The argument, apparently over who would perform a funeral, escalated into a shootout with multiple shots fired.  The father was shot multiple times and wasn't expected to survive at first.

The son eventually turned himself in.

Too bad the father wasn't armed with a gun, too, as the NRA says it would have protected him.  Oh wait...  he was!  From an article and news video:

WFMY News 2 has learned James Johnson was armed when he was shot. Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer says police took a gun out of the father's hand when they got to the shooting scene Friday.

Additionally, since the father was armed, the son isn't being charged with attempted murder, but rather a lesser charge, as well as a lower bail bond:

After speaking with Johnson's attorneys, Blitzer agreed to a lowered bond of $200,000 [from $1-million]. Johnson must also wear a GPS monitoring device.

The main reason why Blitzer says he agreed to a lower bond is because Garcia's father also had a gun. He says that fact is also the reason why Garcia is not charged with attempted murder. He is charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill.

"If there was no firearm in the father's hand, there would have been an Attempted Murder charge," said Craig Blitzer, Rockingham County District Attorney.

Guns don't solve problems, and having a gun on you doesn't mean you are safer.  In fact, it may escalate the situation from an argument to a shootout.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait .... (Pastor And Former Policeman)

69-year old Don Frazier, a pastor and former policeman in Harris County, Texas, was in bed with his wife on the Fourth of July when he heard a suspicious noise downstairs.

Instead of calling police, Don decided to get his loaded handgun and go downstairs to investigate.

That's when he encountered the unarmed burglar, Daniel Durham.  The two fought, and Durham took the gun from the pastor, made him beg for his life, then shot him dead and fled the scene.

From an article:

Sheriff s deputies said the preacher and his wife heard a noise downstairs in their garage it was the sound of their generator turning on. Deputies said when the preacher went down to investigate, somehow Durham managed to take the homeowner s gun.

Deputies said Durham told them the pastor was on the floor begging for his life and that s when Durham pulled the trigger and shot Frazier in the head.

Frazier s wife heard the shooting and called 911 as Durham fled.

Area residents heard the gunshots, but some said they thought they were fireworks.

Every life is precious, and Mr. Frazier did not deserve to die.  But it makes me wonder what would have happened if he had called the police instead of confronting the burglar.  And if Frazier hadn't been armed with a gun, would the burglar have still killed him?

One thing is certain, though:  having a loaded gun did not help him that night.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only They'd Had Guns To Defend Themselves. Oh, Wait... (Charlie Hebdo re-enactment)

Anytime there's a high-profile shooting in the news, the pro-gun crowd are quick to regurgitate the old myth that if only there were armed civilians carrying concealed handguns, the shooter would have been killed and the tragedy would never have happened.  Valiant vigilante heroes would save the day!

Sadly, this simply isn't the case, as I've blogged on several cases now.  And now a pro-gun group in Texas unintentionally proved my point.

On January 7, radical Islamic terrorists attacked the offices of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which is known in part for publishing images of Mohammed.  The shooting in the office and in the streets outside killed 12 people and wounded 11 more.  A branch of Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility.  A manhunt ensued after the initial shooting, culminating in a further shooting at a Jewish Kosher market, bringing the number of dead and injured up to 17 dead and 22 injured.  Click HERE for a timeline and relevant article on the incidents.

The world reacted with shock.  There were rallies to condemn the attack, with world leaders marching arm-in-arm with 3.7 million people in Paris and elsewhere in France.  And a "#JeSuisCharlie" movement began, starting on social media.

But what did the pro-gun pundits do?  Naturally, they dragged out the old argument that, in the words of NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," arguing that if only some of those French people had been armed with concealed guns, those heavily armed terrorists with full-auto AK-47s would have been stopped and the whole sordid affair never would have happened!

Naturally, FOX News and their talk shows led the way, setting a tone for the pro-gun folks to parrot, including an appearance by Wayne LaPierre who bizarrely thinks that "we don't have this problem [of mass shootings] in the United States" simply because we have the Second Amendment.  Never mind that mass shootings happen in the U.S. every single week (in fact, I saw another one as I was writing this post -- a murder/suicide at a restaurant in Florida -- and a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs was stopped today) and are practically unheard of France (or nearly any other industrialized country) and that the rate of mass shootings in America has tripled since 2011!

From a Media Matters article:

On the January 7 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland said that one thing that stood out to her about the attack is "that in France they have a very strict gun control policy." Later on Fox's The Five, host Greg Gutfeld said the victims of the attack were "sitting ducks" because the country "has the most powerful gun control in the world, and nobody's armed." On Fox Business Network, Fox's senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano said, "One of the reasons these people are dead is because they were sitting ducks. One of the reasons they're sitting ducks is you can't carry a gun in Paris. This would not happen in New York City." On Twitter, frequent Fox guest Donald Trump wrote that the attack occurred "in one of the toughest gun control countries in the world."

And another FOX reporter, Emily Miller, repeated the same refrain:

Miller, the chief investigative reporter for Washington, D.C.'s Fox affiliate WTTG, also pushed false information about gun violence, including the claim that "gun-free zones" attract mass killers and that civilians with concealed weapons have stopped mass shootings.

During the January 11 edition of Fox & Friends Sunday, Miller (the former senior opinion editor of the conservative Washington Times who also contributes columns to FoxNews.com) claimed the reason "terrorists don't come here is because of civilian's ownership" of firearms. Miller continued with the confounding argument that terrorists use bombs but not guns in the United States because of civilian gun ownership.

During a January 12 appearance on Fox & Friends, Miller added, "The Second Amendment is what keeps us safer from terrorist attacks because foreigners know we have guns." (Al Qaeda has actually encouraged its followers to exploit loose gun laws in the United States to get weapons without a background check.)

The Media Matters article also exposes a number of false and misleading claims that Miller makes.  (See more, HERE).

Well, a pro-gun group called "The Truth About Guns" decided to test this scenario.  They recreated a

From the re-enactment (source)

mock-up of the Charlie Hebdo offices and took turns playing the two shooters and the office staff, armed with paintball gun versions of the firearms, except that they armed members of the office staff with concealed handguns.  Apparently, they wanted to demonstrate what all those FOX pundits were claiming.

But, try as they might, over and over (12 times, in fact), the result was always the same:  NO lives were saved.

From an article:

No matter how the situation played out, though, one thing remained consistent — if the “armed civilian” confronted the attackers, he or she died. The only time the “armed civilian” survived was when the volunteer playing him ran away at the first sound of gunfire. 

“He started shooting,” volunteer Linda Cruz said, “and I started shooting, and I died” — that is, she was shot by a paintball in a area that the group designated was a “critical hit.”

Another volunteer, Parks Matthew, said he “still got killed, but did better than I thought I would.”

Hmmm.   Funny, that.  That might explain why no mass shooting in America has ever been stopped by an armed citizen who wasn't law enforcement or security.

In fact, in every study that has come out on the topic, the presence of a gun makes a person less safe.  For instance, these studies have found that a gun in the home is at least 22 times more likely to be used to harm someone in the home than to save them, that carrying a concealed gun in public makes the carrier 4.5 times more likely to be killed, that having a gun in the home increased the risk of suicide by five fold, and that people living with a gun in the home were nearly three times more likely to be murdered than those with no gun in a home.

But the pro-gun guys wouldn't let a little thing like statistics or failed mass shooting recreations stop them from trying to play the action-movie hero.  From the article about the Charlie Hebdo recreation:

Another volunteer, Parks Matthew, said he “still got killed, but did better than I thought I would.”

His “death” would not, however, deter him from acting in a situation with an actual hostile shooter. “If I’m in a movie theater and someone pulls a gun, what am I going to do?” he asked.

“I know now I’m not gonna just fall on my kids and protect them, I need to advance on the threat.”

I hope he never finds out.  Chances are, he would die in real life, too.

Hey, here's an idea to keep us safe...  Keep the terrorists from getting guns in the first place!  Oh, um, I guess the conservatives stopped that effort despite Al Qaeda calling for their followers to purchase guns without background checks at gun shows and private sales.  We wouldn't want to squash those vigilante pro-gun daydreams, would we?

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, wait... (gun shop owner)

The gun crowd is always saying, “If only the victim had had a gun, they could have defended themselves.”  After all, according to the NRA's Wayne LaPierre in his unhinged call to arm all schools, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

But that philosophy certainly didn't help Frank Petro, owner of Frank's Gun Shop & Taxidermy, in Saltsburg, PA, just outside of Philadelphia.  His business also features a "double tap shooting range" as advertised on his webpage, which features a news feed from the NRA-ILA and an NRA-approved training program ("Tuesday is Ladies Night").  Here's his Facebook page for his business.

What could be safer?  Not only was this not a "no gun zone" that the pro-gun folks are always saying are so unsafe, but it was literally FULL of guns within easy reach -- and approved by the NRA!

Unfortunately for Mr. Petro, all those guns couldn't save him.  In fact, it was one of his OWN GUNS, taken from a display case, that killed him, in his gun shop.

You see, Mr. Petro had an ongoing conflict with a man named Jack Edmundson Jr., who had extorted a large amount of money from Mr. Petro.  

Edmundson confronted Petro in the gun shop, took a loaded handgun from a display case, and shot Petro twice.  Edmundson then started trying to set the store on fire, when Petro revived and attacked Edmundson, shooting and injuring him, before Edmundson delivered the lethal shooting to Petro.

Petro died, guns in reach.  Edmundson is recovering before being arraigned for the shooting.

From an article:

Frank Petro had since contacted an attorney about getting back the money he had given Edmundson, his brother told police. 

Surveillance video shows Edmundson grabbing a pistol from a display case at Petro's shop and shooting him twice on Tuesday afternoon, according to the criminal complaint. The video also shows Edmundson pouring black powder around the shop and spraying a fuel, with which police believe Edmundson intended to set fire to the business, the complaint said. 

Instead, Petro, who survived the initial shooting, got up and scuffled with Edmundson and shot him in the thigh before Edmundson shot Petro at least one more time in the face, police allege, citing the video. 

Online court records don't list an attorney for Edmundson. Dougherty's office said Edmundson was hospitalized and would be arraigned when he's medically stable. 

Edmundson is a paramedic and well known to volunteer firefighters in the Saltsburg area, while Petro was well known and liked in the rural community, where hunting is a way of life. 

Edmundson worked as a detective for the Lancaster County drug task force in eastern Pennsylvania, a job he lost when he was convicted of stealing rare coins seized during a 1995 drug raid. He was sentenced to one to two years in prison, a term that was knocked down to three to six months in county jail, before being paroled in 2001, Lancaster County detectives said.

Every life is precious, but multiple studies show that a gun is far, far more likely to cost you your life than to protect you, as Mr. Petro and others have found out.

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]

If Only He'd Had A Gun To Defend Himself. Oh, Wait…. (famed sniper at gun range)

Chief Chris Kyle, decorated sniper and SEAL veteran,
killed with guns in reach at shooting range

(UPDATED -- See below)

The gun crowd is always saying, “If only the victim had had a gun, they could have defended themselves.”  After all, according to the NRA's Wayne LaPierre in his unhinged call to arm all schools, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

But here we are again (just as with the recent case of firearms customizer and famed YouTube video star, Keith Ratliff) with yet another famed gun guy getting shot in cold blood while armed and ready.

Saturday, the U.S. military's most deadly sniper, Chief Chris Kyle, was fatally shot, along with another man, by another veteran who was suffering from PTSD, at a gun range in Texas (wait, aren't gun ranges supposed to be havens of safe and responsible gun handling?).

From an article:

Chris Kyle, a retired Navy SEAL and the U.S. military's most lethal sniper, was fatally shot Saturday along with another man on the gun range of Rough Creek Lodge, a posh resort just west of Glen Rose, Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said. 

A suspect was arrested about five hours later in Lancaster, southeast of Dallas, more than 70 miles from the scene, Bryant said. 

The suspect, identified as Eddie Ray Routh, 25, was pursued to a house in Lancaster by officers, including a local SWAT team. Routh tried to flee in a vehicle but was stopped about 9 p.m. after spikes were laid across a road, Bryant said. 

"The suspect has been caught and is in custody in Lancaster," he said. Erath County sheriff's investigators and Texas Rangers were securing a capital murder warrant, he said. 

Witnesses told sheriff's investigators that the gunman opened fire on the two men around 3:30 p.m., then fled in a pickup belonging to one of the victims. The Sheriff's Department didn't get a call until around 6 p.m.
Rough Creek Lodge is 77 miles southwest of Fort Worth between Glen Rose and Hico. 

The motive for the shootings remains unclear, Bryant said. "Not a clue, absolutely no idea." 

WFAA/Channel 8 quoted unnamed sources as saying that Kyle, who lived in Midlothian, and a neighbor had taken Routh on an outing to help him deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. Routh turned on the men and shot them in the back, the report said.

Here is an interview with Chris Kyle.  

Here is another interview about his days as a sniper.  At timepoint 5:19 he is asked by the interviewer, "If you never got to kill another person again, would you be okay with it?" There is sad irony when Kyle answers, "I'm fine.  I don't have to kill to live."

The real irony here is that Chris Kyle was also very outspoken against any possible form of gun regulation.  See here as he recites the NRA propaganda that any regulation is a prelude to an all-out gun ban and confiscation, then goes on to give falsehoods about other nations which don't match statistics.  Oh, and for good measure, throws in support for arming school teachers (trained by his security company, of course).  I wonder how he felt about reporting dangerously mentally ill people to the background check system (which his shooter clearly wasn't reported, despite being committed to a mental hospital, twice, in the past six months and threatening to shoot his father to death).

Though I am a pacifist and feel the Iraq war was unjustified, I have great respect for Kyle as a decorated war hero and veteran, and for most other veterans.  He did his duty, and did it well.  Sadly, he leaves behind a wife and two kids.  

But let's not kid ourselves here.  There are some important lessons to be learned from this incident.  And unlike most veterans, particularly snipers, Kyle reveled in the fact that he was a killer, advertising it widely, including in his book, and sharing how much he loved his job killing Iraqis.  The old man who taught me gun safety at Boy Scout camp had been a sniper in WWII in the Pacific.  He was very humble, and it was only with great reluctance that he shared just a few bits of info about his experience.  Nothing at all like Kyle and his narcissism. 

Kyle is a gun nut's dream example of someone who can defend himself, and he had guns within reach.  Let's look at his qualifications, shall we?

• He was the military's most deadly sniper, with a record 150 confirmed kills, and perhaps as many as 255 including unconfirmed kills. 
• He was an ex-Navy SEAL, with  two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.
• He was a firearms trainer for military, law enforcement, and civilians.
• He grew up with guns and hunting, riding rodeo and living the life of a cowboy.
• He literally wrote the book on a sniper's life, called American Sniper, an autobiography released last year.
• He was  president of Craft International, a Dallas firm that provided military and law enforcement sniper training as well as private security.

Lessons to learn:

• No matter how well-trained you are with guns, having one increases the chances you'll be killed.
• Severe PTSD and guns are a deadly mix (remember the Mason case?).
• Gun ranges are not havens of gun safety and responsibility.

If this "good guy with a gun", with his firearms within reach, and all of that experience killing "bad guys with guns" can't protect himself against a shooter right next to him, then how can the gun nuts claim they would be any better?

[this post is part of an ongoing series of people being shot to death or attacked despite being armed (and sometimes because they are armed)]
UPDATE (2/3/13): Some additional detail in another article:

Bryant said Kyle, Littlefield and Routh went to the shooting range around 3:15 p.m. Saturday. A hunting guide at Rough Creek Lodge came across the bodies of Kyle and Littlefield around 5 p.m. and called 911. .... 

Travis Cox, the director of a nonprofit Kyle helped found, told The Associated Press on Sunday that Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the range. Littlefield was Kyle’s neighbor and “workout buddy,” Cox said. 

“What I know is Chris and a gentleman — great guy, I knew him well, Chad Littlefield — took a veteran out shooting who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him, try to help him, try to, you know, give him a helping hand and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them,” Cox said. ... 

Cox described Littlefield as a gentle, kind-hearted man who often called or emailed him with ideas for events or fundraisers to help veterans. He said he was married and had children. 

“It was just two great guys with Chad and Chris trying to help out a veteran in need and making time out of their day to help him. And to give him a hand. And unfortunately this thing happened,” Cox said.

UPDATE (2/4/13):  The shooter, had been to a mental hospital twice in the past half year and suffered from PTSD.  Just the sort you should arm and take to the shooting range with you.  From an article:

Routh, a member of the Marines Corps Reserve, was first taken to a mental hospital on Sept. 2 after he threatened to kill his family and himself, according to police records in Lancaster, where Routh lives. Authorities found Routh walking nearby with no shirt and no shoes, and smelling of alcohol. Routh told authorities he was a Marine veteran who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

"Eddie stated he was hurting and that his family does not understand what he has been through," the report said. 

Routh's mother told police that her son had been drinking and became upset when his father said he was going to sell his gun. She said Routh began arguing with them and said he was going to "blow his brains out." 

Police took Routh to Green Oaks Hospital for psychiatric care. 

Dallas police records show Routh was taken back to the same mental hospital in mid-January after a woman called police and said she feared for Routh's safety. 

In May, Routh's mother reported a burglary that included nine pill bottles and her son was involved, according to a Lancaster police report. No other details were available.

UPDATE (2/5/13):  A CNN.com article with additional details on the killer (Routh, that is).

UPDATE (1/8/15):  A new movie is being released about Kyle, named after Kyle's book, American Sniper.  I haven't yet seen the movie, but the trailer looks to be a spin on the man's story glorifying him as a reluctant hero.  I wonder how it will handle his ironic death, or if it will display his glee at killing.  HERE is a good write-up on this.  From the article:

Chris Kyle, a US navy Seal from Texas, was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and claimed to have killed more than 255 people during his six-year military career. In his memoir , Kyle reportedly described killing as “fun”, something he “loved”; he was unwavering in his belief that everyone he shot was a “bad guy”. “I hate the damn savages,” he wrote. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the Iraqis.” He bragged about murdering looters during Hurricane Katrina, though that was never substantiated.

UPDATE (1/20/15):  The movie, "American Sniper," is clearly fictionalized, with added arch-nemesis bits, over-simplified demonization of Iraqis, and glorification of Kyle to paint him as a victim instead of a killer.  From a good review of the movie:

One investigating journalist wrote in the New Yorker that these tales “portray Kyle as if he really were the Punisher, dispensing justice by his own rules. It was possible to see these stories as evidence of vainglory; it was also possible to see them as attempts by a struggling man to maintain an invincible persona.” Maybe some of these brags were true, and maybe they weren’t. A lot of this film certainly isn’t – and all the complicated questions it leaves out would have made it a much more interesting story than the Bush-era propaganda it shovels in.

UPDATES (2/24/15):
-- Kyle's shooter, Eddie Ray Routh, has been found guilty.
-- Another sniper from the Iraq war questions Kyle's depiction of Iraqis as "savages" and the way they are portrayed in the movie. 

UPDATE (5/25/16):  One example of where Kyle has lied about his credentials has been in his exaggeration of the number of medals he has won.

UPDATE (7/9/16):  Exemplifying Kyle's overestimation of himself, he overstated his medal count on an official Navy form, stating that he had an extra silver star and an extra two bronze stars.  Recognizing the mistake, the Navy corrected the form.  From an article:

The Navy personnel form that Kyle signed and initialed when he left the Navy in 2009 credited him with two Silver Star and six Bronze Star medals with “V” device for valor, according to the document. Kyle, whose best-selling book American Sniper was later made into a Hollywood blockbuster, wrote that he had been awarded two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars.  ... 

However, the Navy’s investigation of Kyle’s record, which began in 2012, determined that Kyle had commendations for one Silver Star and four Bronze Star medals with “V” devices. .... 

“After thoroughly reviewing all available records, the Navy determined an error was made in the issuance of Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle’s form DD214,” Ensign Marc Rockwellpate, a Navy spokesman, said in a statement. “Specifically, the DD 214 did not accurately reflect the decorations and awards to which Kyle was officially entitled. After notifying his family of the error, the Navy issued a corrected copy of the DD 214, which accurately reflects Kyle’s years of honorable and extraordinary Navy service.” 

.