Good Guy With a Gun-Myth Debunked

This entry is part 13 of 13 in the series Guns

There’s much I can say about the massacre in Orlando and will write more about that after some reflection, but this one topic was too clear and obvious to need any reflection. It is time to end the NRA claim about how a “good-guy-with-a-gun” will rush in and save the day, if only there’s one around.

I don’t believe a single event should set a precedent or make a point, so I’ll start with another example. A Facebook “friend” posted an article about one of these always-armed ammosexuals, who was claimed in the article to be a hero. Apparently around May 30, 2016, in a Houston Mall, a 25-year-old Army veteran allegedly suffering from PTSD opened fire. Concealed carry permit holder Byron Wilson drew his handgun and engaged the shooter. The article she posted claimed Wilson was a hero because he ran towards the shooting and not away.

Wilson was shot three times, along with seven other people. It took the local SWAT team to take down the shooter. It doesn’t appear Wilson ever even hit the guy.

So let’s look at this situation. In a crowd, some mentally unstable person went on a shooting rampage. Police were on the way, but a second shooter rushes in and starts firing in that same crowd. This “hero,” had he still be shooting, was adding to the danger and confusion, and would have made it especially difficult for the SWAT team to suss out who was and wasn’t the bad guy. In fact, if they had shot Wilson, they would have been justified.

“The FBI has also compiled some of its own numbers breaking down what role “good guys” have played in active shooter incidents. In a 2014 report, the FBI examined 160 active shooter incidents that took place between 2000 and 2013. The report found that in five of those incidents, armed individuals who were not members of law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the shooter, leading to either the shooter being killed, wounded or taking his own life. By contrast, 21 of the 160 incidents ended after unarmed citizens “safely and successfully restrained the shooter,” the report stated.”¹

And now to Orlando, where we have yet another situation where a person who was clearly unstable and with a violent history was able to too-easily acquire high-capacity, rapid-firing weapons, and acted on his bigotry. There was a police officer at the club who attempted to engage the shooter there. He was out-gunned and had to fall back. It took the SWAT team to finally take down the guy.

In fact, research has shown that gun-toting independence unleashes much more chaos and carnage than heroism. A 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research study revealed that right-to-carry laws increase, rather than decrease, violent crime. Higher rates of gun ownership is correlated with higher homicide rates. Gun possession is correlated with increased road rage.²

There have been times when a civilian with a gun successfully intervened in a shooting, but these instances are rare. Those who carry guns often have their own guns used against them. And a civilian with a gun is more likely to be killed than to kill an attacker.

“Even in more private situations, like confronting a robber in your home, the popular conception of the outcome is far from the truth. According to Mother Jones, for every time a gun is used in self-defense, there are seven assaults, 11 suicide attempts, and four accidents in or around the home. In reality, you’re far more likely to die at the hands of your own gun than you are to protect your family by shooting somebody else.”³

So, unless you think a trained police officer with a weapon isn’t a good guy with a gun, here are the examples that say it doesn’t work like gun-nuts claim it works. This NRA meme needs to come off the table. It doesn’t work. If more guns and less gun control make us safer, this America should be the safest place on earth, and we all know it ain’t.

1. “Breaking down the NRA-backed theory that a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun,” ABC News, meghan keneally, Oct 29, 2018.
2. “Right-to-Carry Laws and Violent Crime: A Comprehensive Assessment Using Panel Data and a State-Level Synthetic Control Analysis,” National Bureau of Economic Research, John J. Donohue, Abhay Aneja, Kyle D. Weber, NBER Working Paper No. 23510, Issued in June 2017, Revised in November 2018.
3. “The ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ Myth,” Harvard Political Review, Rachel Tropp, August 17, 2016.