Talking About America's Gun Culture: Could "good guys with guns" have stopped the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton?

Could "good guys with guns" have stopped the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton?

If by “good guys with guns” you mean average civilians with legally-purchased, licensed, and concealed firearms, no. Not in this scenario.

First of all, it doesn’t matter if you’re a good marksman, an expert hunter, or a retired combat veteran. Mass shooting incidents are “bolt out of the blue” events; the perps (whether they are foreign terrorists, white supremacists, or angry adolescents with guns) don’t announce themselves ahead of time or act in a way that you, Mr. or Ms. Average Citizen With a Gun, will detect in time for you to reach for your concealed weapon, take the safety off, and fire ordnance downrange and on target to prevent a tragedy and, incidentally, become a hero.

In the case of Connor Stephen Betts, the Dayton, Ohio shooter, there were two law enforcement officers close by when the gunman started firing indiscriminately into crowds at the entrance of Ned Peppers Bar at 1:05 AM on August 4.

Betts used a customized AM 15 made by Anderson Manufacturing. This is a shortened version (almost pistol-sized) of Armalite’s AR-15 rifle, so it’s smaller than the AK-47 knock-off used by the shooter in El Paso some 13 hours earlier. And because he struck at a time and place when most people were distracted and having a good time, Betts managed to fire enough rounds to kill nine individuals (including his younger sister Megan) and wound 27 more in a few seconds.

The two police officers were close enough to engage Betts within 20 seconds once the shooter started firing, and within 30 seconds the killer was dead. Even so, Betts accomplished what he had set out to do, which was to kill people.

The El Paso shooting could only have been prevented if an armed passerby had noticed Patrick Wood Cruisus walking across a parking lot, a WASR-10 rifle in his hands. and heading toward the Walmart Supercenter, deduced Crusius’ intent, and preemptively shot him. Where was the “good guy with the gun” then?

Attackers usually have the element of surprise going for them. “Good Guys with Guns” would have to be on constant “Red Alert” every time they go out, and I mean every single time. It doesn’t matter if they are walking their dogs, going out on errands, or getting a hair cut; they’d have to be on the lookout for people like Betts or Cruisus all the time. And that, my friends, is a behavior pattern akin to paranoia.

Also, trying to wade in like John Wayne or Jack Ryan in a mass shooting scenario is also a good way of getting seriously wounded or even killed. Either the shooter will engage you - and if you are carrying a pistol, and he’s armed with a rifle, outgun you - or another “good guy with a gun” will shoot you because he doesn’t know if you are on the good guy’s team or the bad guy’s. Ditto for law enforcement agents who are responding to the “shots fired; unknown assailant on the loose” reports coming in.

So, no. The “good guys with guns” scenario is a one-in-a-million type of occurrence.