IS IT LUCK OF THE IRISH OR HEROIC CITIZENSHIP WHEN CONCEALED CARRIERS STOP A CRIME OR AID A VICTIM?

It seems that every time you read the newspaper or watch the news on TV, people who carry guns are almost always portrayed as killers, mass murders, criminals etc. While crime and killings are unfortunately a part of our society, sometimes someone carrying a gun is a heroic citizen that a victim was lucky enough to have come to their aid.

We rarely hear about legal concealed carry permit holders that carry a gun and stop a crime or stop someone from killing someone.

An Ohio concealed carry permit holder in Boardman, Ohio spotted two men going through his neighbor’s car so he grabbed his gun, went outside and ordered both men to the ground. One of the suspects took off on foot but the other suspect decided not to try his luck and stayed down on the ground. The concealed carrier told his girlfriend to go inside and call the police while he held the suspect at gunpoint until the police arrived. After police arrived, they informed the concealed carrier that both suspects had been breaking into cars in the area and three other cars on that street had been broken into and items stolen. The unlucky suspect was charged with theft and criminal trespass.

A Tennessee concealed carry permit holder just outside of Nashville, TN stopped a shooter in a local church. A 25-year –old shooter killed one person in a church parking lot, entered the church through a rear door and shot and wounded six people. Robert Engle, a church usher who was also a concealed carry permit holder tried to wrestle the shooter to the ground and during the struggle the shooter shot himself with his own gun causing a minor injury. Engle managed to get free and get to his car, retrieve his handgun and then go back into the church and hold the shooter at gunpoint until police arrived. The town police chief commented in a new video later that Engle was “the hero today. He is the person who stopped this madness in tis tracks.”

A Florida concealed carry permit holder stopped an attack at a local automotive repair shop. A man entered the automotive shop parking lot armed with a .45 caliber handgun and multiple magazines and opened fire killing one person and severely wounding another. He then proceeded inside the repair shop and opened fire again. Two workers in the shop who were concealed carriers confronted the attacker and shot him ending the attack. A reporter at the scene reported that police said the attack could have been much worse had these “good Samaritans” not intervened.

Concealed carriers know that luck has nothing to do with it. Its training, practice, situational awareness and being prepared to use your gun in the event that the worst happens.