Let’s Stop Talking About the Shooters and Start Talking About the Heroes

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It’s a been a heartbreaking last few weeks here in the United States, with mass shootings occurring on July 28, August 3, and August 4.

What is becoming of our nation? The US continues to rank disturbingly low on the Global Peace Index scale, coming in at 128 out of 163 countries. The US is home to five of the world’s most violent cities.

Despite these grim statistics, fewer violent crimes are occurring in the US overall.

But there is still a tremendous amount of room for improvement.

Mass shootings seem to be here to stay.

The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group that tracks shootings and their characteristics in the US, defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people, excluding the perpetrator(s), are shot in one location at roughly the same time. By that criteria, there have been 255 mass shootings in this country so far in 2019. To put this in perspective, today is the 217th day in 2019.

We’ve had more mass shootings than days this year.

Mass shootings are not anything new. They have been occurring since at least the 1920s. There is no standard, widely-accepted definition for what constitutes a mass shooting, which makes gathering accurate statistics challenging. Some sources say these events are occurring more frequently, some say they aren’t – and still others say they are happening less often but are more deadly now.

But it doesn’t really matter, does it? The fact that they happen at all is deeply troubling.

In the wake of a tragedy, it is easy to find ourselves slipping into feelings of desolation and hopelessness. While it is important to study the minds of mass shooters and others who are prone to violence for the sake of preventing tragedies, it is also important to take some time to recognize the courageous individuals who step in to help during these events.

I know that many people believe these mass shootings are false flags (and it certainly is possible that at least some of them are), but for the purpose of this article, we will take things at face value, and focus on people who try to help others during these incidents.

I feel it is important to mention that I am personally very pro-gun rights. Many people tend to blame guns for these tragedies rather than the individuals who committed the atrocities. I think that is a copout – it is easier to blame inanimate objects and call for the government to do something (typically in the form of useless gun control laws – since when do criminals obey laws?) than it is to take a deep look at the possible root causes of these horrible crimes. What drives people to mass murder? What can be done to reduce or eliminate these events? Those are tough questions that do not have simple answers.

Guns are not the problem – people are – but that is a complex topic that is beyond the scope of this article.

While mass shootings expose us to the worst of humanity, they also expose us to the best – the brave people who put their own lives on the line to save others.

There are still a lot of good people out there.

Glendon Oakley, a 22-year-old Army serviceman, was shopping at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso on Saturday morning when a child ran up to him and said there was a shooter at the nearby Walmart. Oakley said he didn’t take the boy’s claims seriously at first, but knew it was real when he began to hear gunfire. He said he immediately went into combat mode and began to grab as many children as he could to get them out of harm’s way, reports ABC News:

“I did that because that’s what I was trained to do. That is what the military has taught me to do,” he told reporters Sunday. “But I really want you guys to focus on the people that are actually grieving through this. Yes, I’m grieving, but I’m not the one that lost a family member. Yes, it feels like I have lost one. But they are the ones that need to be the [focus].”

Oakley refused to offer details about the “tragic” scene he witnessed, but he called it “the worst thing” he’s ever seen.

“I’m not describing anything,” he said. “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I don’t want to think about what happened because it was tragic. I’m telling you this was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in my life. And I don’t want to keep having flashbacks of what happened.” (source)

Yesterday, Oakley addressed the media. The first five minutes or so of the interview is a bit erratic, but stick with it – it is worth it.

Every bit of Oakley’s interview moved me, but I found this bit remarkable:

“Don’t be afraid to put others before yourself.”

We could use more of that mentality, couldn’t we?

Surely there were others who stepped up to help out during this event, like this woman:

A Walmart employee told KTSM in El Paso that she was working by the self-checkout when gunshots rang out.

The employee, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, Leslie, said she initially thought boxes had been dropped.

“I thought it was just like loud boxes being dropped or something, until they got closer and closer,” she said. “That’s when I looked at my co-worker, and we looked at each other like shocked and scared.”

“I got all the people that I could, I even found a little girl that was missing from her parents, and I got her, too. I tried to get as many people as I could out,” the Walmart worker said. (source)

In times of crisis, many people DO snap into survival and protection mode and help others.

Heroes have emerged during past tragedies as well.

The following individuals demonstrated extraordinary courage in the face of danger. Some made the ultimate sacrifice, losing their own lives to save others.

  • As shots fired inside a synagogue outside San Diego in April, Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, put herself in between the shooter and the rabbi and died as a result. Oscar Stewart charged the shooter and chased him into the parking lot. Jonathan Morales shot four bullets into the shooter’s car, and he and Stewart were able to get the man’s license plate number as he sped away.
  • Riley Howell, 21, was fatally shot when he charged a gunman who burst into a University of North Carolina-Charlotte lecture room carrying a pistol on April 30.
  • In May, at a STEM school in Denver, Colorado, Kendrick Castillo, 18, lunged at a fellow student who had pulled a gun in class, giving his classmates time to take cover. He was the lone student killed in the attack. Brendan Bialy also helped subdue the gunman. “Brendan’s courage and commitment to swiftly ending this tragic incident at the risk of his own safety is admirable and inspiring,” Capt. Michael Maggitti said in a statement. “His decisive actions resulted in the safety and protection of his teachers and fellow classmates.”
  • When a gunman walked into a Waffle House and opened fire in April 2018, James Shaw Jr waited for the right moment to tackle the man. Shaw was able to wrestle the gun out of the shooter’s hands – and stopped the murderer from killing more people. Four people were killed by the shooter. Shaw started a GoFundMe campaign for the victims’ families and raised $241,731 – far more than his goal of $15,000.
  • Juan Carlos Nazario and Bryan Whittle, two armed citizens, gunned down a shooter outside an Oklahoma City restaurant in May of 2018.
  • Stephen Willeford stopped a man who shot 46 people (26 of them died) at a Texas church in 2017. Willeford opened fire on the shooter and hit him twice before the murderer took off in an SUV. Willeford then jumped inside a vehicle driven by Johnnie Langendorff, who gave chase until Kelley’s Ford Explorer hit a stop sign 10 miles away, lost control and veered into a ditch, where he shot himself in the head.
  • In 2018, Jason Seaman, a middle school science teacher, tackled a student who walked into his classroom and fired shots. Seaman and one student were injured during the incident, but no one was killed.
  • Anthony Borges was shot five times during the Parkland school shooting. He was 15 at the time. Borges barricaded a classroom door and used his body as a shield as the bullets flew, protecting a class full of students from harm. Aaron Feis, 37, worked as an assistant football coach and security guard at the school. Feis threw himself in front of students to shield them from bullets. He was shot and later died during surgery. Several other teachers and school staff took action to protect students during the massacre. (Meanwhile, the Coward of Broward County, Scot Peterson, did nothing to stop the shooting, despite being employed as a school security officer.)

Are mass shootings causing psychological changes in Americans?

In the article The Hero Solution to the Mass-Shooting Contagion, David French observes that we’re now remembering the heroes’ names more than the shooters. “The shooters failed in two of their core missions — to kill large numbers of victims and achieve enduring fame. And if they keep failing, I wonder . . . could the mass-shooting contagion finally start to break?” he writes.

But I do wonder if the sheer number of mass killings has caused a psychological change in a segment of the American people. I do wonder if “fight” is replacing “flight” in enough American hearts that immediate and courageous resistance becomes the norm – and that killers will start to understand that they’ll have to instantly battle one or more raging, charging men before they can complete their terrible, deadly work.

And if we can continue to honor and elevate the heroes at the same time that we ignore the killer, so that they don’t enjoy the infamy of their predecessors, perhaps we can start to change the psychology of a dreadful national moment. (source)

French concludes,

The killer? He should either die or rot away in anonymity. Take away his fame, take away his victims, and you just might take away his purpose. If so, we’ll have men like Riley Howell and Kendrick Castillo to thank. They didn’t just save lives; they’re inspiring a change in American hearts. (source)

I think French is onto something. I refuse to give mass shooters the notoriety they seem to crave, which is why I omitted their names from this article.

Let’s focus on the heroes – their courage should be appreciated and serve as inspiration for all of us.

Related Resources

How to Survive a Mass Shooting

Would Your Kids Know How to Survive a School Shooting?

How to Survive a Sniper Attack

What do you think?

Do you think would-be mass murderers will think twice about shooting up public places if they think they will face resistance? Do you know of any heroes I have forgotten to mention here? How do you think you’d react during a mass shooting event? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

About the Author

Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of an experienced journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies of the MSM.

Picture of Dagny Taggart

Dagny Taggart

Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of an experienced journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies of the MSM.

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  • Agreed. The most touching story about the El Paso shooting to me has been the story of Jordan and Andre Anchondo dying saving their infant son Paul from harm. I am sure there will be other stories that come out as we learn more. May their memories be a blessing.

  • Thank God for Heroes and Heroines. That there are any in this day and age almost seems remarkable, the way society has turned from a free society where those that could, did, and those that could not where helped and protected by those that could.

    Now it is gun free zones, cry closets, safe spaces, time-outs, run & hide, gun-free zones, political correctness, everything said by an adult white Christian male is hate speech and racist, it is not my fault, it is not our fault, blame someone else, blame things for what happens instead of blaming the person that does them.

    Yet people, many of them, still do act as the sheep dogs for the sheep of country. They do not allow those in their flock to be harmed without attempting, and usually succeeding in stopping the aggressor in their tracks before harm can be done. And if they cannot stop it immediately, they do everything in their power to protect the rest stop the aggressor from doing more harm.

    Many of them are the men and women in blue. That thin blue line that still means something to most of those that wear the uniform. Their job is to react to events. They cannot do much else because they cannot be everywhere all of the time.

    The rest of the sheep dogs are the Citizens of this nation that believe in what the founders set up almost two-hundred-fifty years ago. That we, the Citizens of this nation, had inalienable rights that carried with them responsibilities. It is we, the Citizens, that have the responsibility to make this a safe country, because it is we, the Citizens, that are free to act, because of what happened those many years ago and several times since.

    We are free to act to stop an active shooter in their tracks as soon as they make that first aggressive move and it is obvious they have lethal intent. Where the choice has not been removed by force, we, the Citizens, have what is needed to insure the aggressors are stopped before major harm is caused.

    Once those that are willing are released from the restrictions that modern society has put upon them, many more Citizens will be returned to the can group of sheep dogs that will stop active shooters in their tracks with whatever action is necessary.

    There are no laws that can be passed that can stop active shooters and mass shootings. There are only laws that enable it, and more being passed every day and even more being contemplated that will not stop the events but will increase them, just as the laws already in place that some believed would make such things impossible have actually become the factor that draws so many of those that wish to attack others since they know that they are at less risk in those places.

    Gun-free zones have become killing zones. It was inevitable that it would happen, to those that have any sense of cause and effect relationships. The refusal now to see the cause that is driving and resulting in these effects of mass killings is one of the primary factors that is increasing the frequency and severity of the attacks.

    Only when the cause and effect relationship of what is happening is actually looked at with open eyes and an intention to find the truth, and then action taken based on that truth, will the sheep dogs, the heroes and heroines be around in large enough numbers that the shootings will be stopped more often than not, and eventually, as those that are inclined to such crimes realize that they cannot be successful in their attempts to gain fame and notoriety and to get the justice they believe they deserve, be it valid or imaginary, mass shooting will become a rarity, rather than a common event.

    The very actions of the heroes and heroines will create the environment where they will seldom need to take the actions that allow people to see that they are, in fact, heroes and heroines, all the time, because they are the sheep dogs of our society that are ready and willing to do what is necessary to protect all of us and any of us that are placed at risk by others action.

    Just my opinion.

  • What is fueling violent mass shootings?
    Mostly the popularization of targeted mindless hatred coupled with mob style activism focusing on pure emotion being used by the **Progressives **to manipulate as many people has they can into causing as much mayhem as they will so that the Progressives may be “chosen” to take power absolute with their promises to end it..essentially by repressing everyone that operates from pure emotion.
    IOW, That bus has a trap door in the isle that leads directly to the back wheels…for enemy and [“useful fool”] ally alike.
    All the “seats” are occupied by the control freek back stabbers who WANT you to be ‘out of control’.
    “ALL ABOARD” !!!
    Note that **Progressives **are NOT Democrats OR ”Liberals”..and certainly not Conservatives.
    They excel in conflation of meanings and spreading confusion, all a part of twisting you around so you CAN’T *think* straight and fall back on the only thing left that mimics thought…emotion. [BLIND RAGE]
    2 heads may be better than one, but 20 heads are **completely empty**.
    They have been trying this crap for over 100 years.
    Social Manipulation been studied as a SCIENCE for over 100 years, likely starting in an organized manner with the Fabian Society. [Yes, Progress HAS been made]
    I’ll lay odds dollars to doughnuts that NOT ONE single mass shooter was an NRA member, an independent voter, a “Tea Bagger” or a Conservative.
    …just very disturbed and confused over emotional people, “Anti-hero” martyrs latching onto the currently popular victim mobs “cause of the day”.
    The cure?
    DO NOT JOIN GROUPS that define themselves by victim-hood [only the leader of such a group needs to be influenced to set a virulent **infection **into play]
    DO NOT LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO TELL YOU WHAT TO THINK OR BELIEVE…or how you “should” feel.
    Check those emotions, discard that need to “fit in” Check those emotions, discard that need to “fit in” or “Stand out” in your little circle of victims and THINK IT THROUGH.

  • What can an old lady like me do?? Well. for one I can not cower in a corner and act helpless. Maybe my last act on earth will be an act of heroism – saving others? I’m thinking of always keeping my cane with me even though I only need it sometimes. Chemo has left me with foot and leg issues. I think i’m ornery enough to react by fighting back. Especially if we think about it a bit ahead of time , as this article does, maybe we’ll be more ready to respond appropriately. I’ve led a full, good life. If my last act is to save others…..I’d be honored. May God help me and everyone to think and act quickly . It would be fitting for a punk shooter to get taken out by an old lady before he does any damage.

    • Janie you do what you can that’s what. If it’s calling 911, putting pressure on a wounded or just saying a prayer it’s all needed. If you get the chance to smoke that thug then by all means do so!
      There should have been enough able bodied people in a carry friendly state like that to handle it. Don’t even get me started on “men” who shoulda handled this punk.
      The OKC example is one I’m proud of because we don’t tolerate such around here. He not only got engaged by one but by two with grit.
      I train hard, I fight hard and I pray to God that I will have enough courage, will and skill to handle the challenge presented to me. I’ve been that way in the Army, my Law Enforcement career and hopefully can maintain after retirement in less than 2 years.
      We can not let them win.

  • Ever notice how it’s almost always a hero with a gun who stops these madmen? But sure, let’s pass knee jerk laws that will do nothing but take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens. That’ll fix it.

    Examples of how Red Flag laws would work: Hint, gossip and innuendo coupled with just plain not liking someone would fill the bill.

    “That crazy guy down the street has guns. We should call the cops on him.”

    “My neighbor is one of those racist, conservative, Republicans and he has guns, so he must have mental health issues. Good God, he even voted for Trump and that proves he’s crazy.”

    “Look, he has a Confederate Flag/Don’t Tread On Me Flag in his den. You should take his guns before he kills someone.”

    If you think this type of BS wouldn’t happen, you don’t know people. Seriously, what penalty would ensue for false reporting?

    • Every time some whack job takes a gun and murders a bunch of people, its ALWAYS in a “gun free zone”.

      EVERY
      SINGLE
      TIME

      And, every single time, the usual no talent ass clowns pipe up to say that we should turn the entire country into a “gun free zone”.

      Because, yeah, that’ll work out just great /sarc

      • A Walmart usually isn’t a gun free zone. But in this case, the Walmart shares a parking lot with a mall which IS A GUN FREE ZONE. And thus those who conceal carry would not want to carry in this particular Walmart for fear of violating the law.

  • That was such a moving article. Very good indeed; I’d much rather hear about the heroes than the unmentionables.

  • I agree with the article and I would go one step further . . . everybody needs training on how to react to this because it aint going away. Most people in this country have been anesthetized to the reality . . . we are tip toeing through the tulips, but they are being planted in a mine field.

  • Do you think would-be mass murderers will think twice about shooting up public places if they think they will face resistance?

    There must be SOME reason 94% or 97% or 98% of these mass shootings occur in gun-free zones.

    I don’t dare enter such places.

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