A citizen with a valid concealed carry permit put a stop to a mass shooting in a South Carolina nightclub.
As reported by WQAD:
Officers arrested a 32-year-old man who they say shot and wounded three people at the nightclub in Lyman. Jody Ray Thompson of Lyman is charged with four counts of attempted murder and two weapons violations, jail records show. . . . Investigators say Thompson got into an argument and fired into the crowd. A man in the crowd pulled his gun and shot Thompson in the leg. Lt. Kevin Bobo says the man had a valid concealed weapons permit and will not face charges in Sunday’s shooting.
Less than a month after The Pulse mass murders, we have another shooting in a nightclub where things turned out differently. In both cases, a person who was breaking the law fired into a crowded nightclub. However, in this case, there was an armed law-abiding citizen nearby. Instead of many dead victims, we have a situation where the alleged criminal is in custody facing charges after being shot by an armed citizen, and no victims lost their lives.
Sadly, I am sure this case of an armed citizen stopping a mass shooting will not get nearly the media coverage that was paid to The Pulse shootings, or any other cases from the past where an armed citizen was not there to stop the criminal before it was too late.
We as a society really need to come to terms with the fact that gun control doesn’t work, and never will. In a free society (or even a not-so-free society), the police cannot know everything, be everywhere, or otherwise stop most crimes before they occur. The only thing that will stop a violent criminal from using a gun, a knife, a car, or any other tool to inflict harm is another person right there who can quickly subdue the criminal.
When it comes to fires, we all recognize this, which is why fire extinguishers are required in businesses (and sometimes in homes too). By having a fire extinguisher handy, each of us can stop a small fire before it becomes a large fire that causes death and destruction. Similarly, just as we saw here, an armed citizen was able to use their concealed firearm to stop a mass shooting before anyone lost their life.