How Concealed Carry Saves Lives
Most of the time when a mass shooting or an armed attack makes the nightly news, a segment of the population shakes their collective heads and says, “there is too much violence in the world, we need to restrict weapons, build more prisons and expand health care of the mentally ill.” These sound like feel-good measures s a coping mechanism, but what is often ignored is the fact that a concealed carry holder in the right place at the right time could have prevented these types of tragedies.
There have been numerous instances where a violent criminal was stopped by a lawful concealed weapon holder. These stories seldom make headline news as there is not much of a story when such an attack is thwarted.
On October 1, 1997 a high school student in Pearl, Mississippi, fatally stabbed and bludgeoned his mother to death in the early morning hours. The student drove his mother’s car to his high school and with a rifle hidden under his trench coat he fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and the school’s band director. The gunman proceeded to shoot seven other people and would have killed more if not for the brave actions of Joe Myrick, the school’s Assistant Principal.
Myrick was a U.S. Army Reserve officer and kept a Colt Model 1911A1 pistol in his truck. He retrieved his 45 caliber and drew down on the suspect, ordering him to stop. The gunman stopped shooting and tried to flee, but he was detained by Myrick and held at gunpoint until the police arrived and took the shooter into custody.
The news media paid little attention to this story and it could have been much worse had Myrick not been able to stop and detain the shooter with his lawfully owned firearm.
Myrick saved lives that day. His actions prevented the shooter from killing more students and teachers as well as the shooter ending his own life or killing any first responders. His good deed did not go unrewarded as people from the anti-gun side of the political spectrum confronted him, sent him hate mail and went as far as to call him a coward for pointing a handgun at a student.
Myrick’s story is one of thousands where a law-abiding citizen saved numerous lives by being in the right place at the right time and having the ability to use his concealed carry piece to protect the lives of others.
