Fast on the heels of the Uvalde, Texas elementary school massacre, where 100 trained law enforcement officers waited for an hour outside a classroom while a gunman methodically murdered 19 children and two teachers, a totally different outcome resulted at an Indiana mall.
And the left doesn’t have a clue how to react.
It’s as though their mouths were filled with that stuff Harry Truman’s wife Bess wanted him to call fertilizer — but he didn’t.
A gunman entered the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana Sunday, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and multiple loaded magazines.
He then went to the mall’s food court and opened fire.
But, unlike Uvalde, the terror didn’t last long.
It came to an abrupt halt 15 seconds later when a 22-year-old Good Samaritan, later identified as Elisjsha "Eli" Dicken, who was legally armed with a concealed handgun, shot and killed the gunman.
Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison told reporters Tuesday that according to mall surveillance footage, the gunman exited a restroom and opened fire at 5:56:48.
The time he was shot, according to the video, was 5:57:03 p.m. Fifteen seconds.
The lesson? When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.
Three people were killed (excluding the perpetrator), and two, including a 12-year-old girl, were injured and listed in stable condition.
"Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly," Ison told reporters Monday.
The incident was a perfect illustration of a remark NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre often makes: "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun."
While most Americans, including law enforcement, referred to Dicken as a "hero" and "Good Samaritan," gun control advocates were horrified.
Kris Brown, president of Brady United Against Gun Violence, was one of the first to respond.
"Here's what we're not going to do: continue to uplift the NRA myth of a 'good guy with a gun,'" she said.
"Let me be clear: If more guns made us safer, America would be the safest country in the WORLD. We need sensible gun laws, not vigilante safety nets."
So according to Brown, the "Good Samaritan" is now a "vigilante," the "good guy with a gun" adage is a "myth" and it’s bad that the "myth" actually happens in real life.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, seemed disappointed that the "good guy with a gun" happened to be at the mall at the moment the gunman opened fire.
"Imagine thinking that arming a civilian with weapons of war and enabling them to go into a mall to kill three people and wound three others before another armed civilian is forced to open fire on the gunman inside a crowded foodcourt is a good outcome," she tweeted.
Is she suggesting that it would have been better had Dicken not been there?
Then there’s this from Nexstar Media Group’s KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles.
Its headline said, "Armed 'Good Samaritan' Stopped Indiana Mall Shooting, Broke Mall Rules."
The report indicated that although Dicken "had a legal gun permit” he “should not have been carrying his handgun in the mall in the first place."
They explained that "Simon Property Group, which owns the mall, states in its code of conduct that no weapons are allowed at their shopping centers. The policy was last updated in April 2020."
KTLA is trying to make the point that Dicken was in the wrong for carrying his weapon inside the mall against mall rules, and should therefore not be hailed as a hero.
California. Go figure.
However, the point they’re actually making is that gun-free zones don’t work.
The fact that the mall was a gun-free zone was more-than-likely an attraction to the gunman. He probably thought he was walking into a shooting gallery, and would be the only person armed.
It was just dumb luck that Dicken was unaware of the mall’s policy.
After the Uvalde mass shooting, gun control advocates were giddy with righteous indignation. "See?!" they seemed to say. "This is why we need more gun control!"
After Greenwood they could only find fault with the Good Samaritan.
Nineteenth century orator, writer, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass once remarked that "a man’s rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box."
Many people believed the ballot box let us down in 2020. Far-left district attorneys like George Gascon in Los Angeles and New York City’s Alvin Bragg bypass the jury box to allow even repeat felons to get off Scot-free.
Until sanity is fully restored in America, all we have left is the cartridge box. Keep your powder dry and remember that guns only have two enemies: rust and politicians.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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