http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/09/us/las-vegas-shooting-victims/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
I came across this link on CNN. It details how a CCW holder in Las Vegas attempted to confront a shooter in a local WalMart after the shooter had killed two off duty police officers. It left me with 2 thoughts:
1) We all talk about the effect of "good guys with guns," but the reality is that being that person may mean we put ourselves in harms way. It is a risk we all assume.
2) The citizen CCW, Joseph Wilcox, moved to confront someone who from what I read, fired a round into the ceiling of the Walmart store. The LEOs that had been killed were killed in a local pizza place, which I assume was not attached to the WalMart. The article also quotes Wilcox's sister, stating that he ran into the store to confront the shooter.
From a T&T standpoint, this raises the question of who you intend to defend with your weapon. Wilcox decided to try to defend other people in the store, whereas many of us believe we carry only ourselves and our famlies. I won't call either of these right or wrong, but I think it is ALWAYS a bad idea for a non-LEO citizen to engage a shooter, especially since the only known crime at the time was shooting into the ceiling and ordering people out.
Am I off base here?
ETA: I tried searching for this before posting, but just now found an earlier thread on this event. The focus on that thread appears to be the role of CCWs in stopping tragedies. As such, unless Staff feel the thread is redundant, I want to keep this one focused on the tactics used and how we can learn from this tragedy (i.e. the risks of entering an active shooter situation, the need to identify all targets, etc.)
I came across this link on CNN. It details how a CCW holder in Las Vegas attempted to confront a shooter in a local WalMart after the shooter had killed two off duty police officers. It left me with 2 thoughts:
1) We all talk about the effect of "good guys with guns," but the reality is that being that person may mean we put ourselves in harms way. It is a risk we all assume.
2) The citizen CCW, Joseph Wilcox, moved to confront someone who from what I read, fired a round into the ceiling of the Walmart store. The LEOs that had been killed were killed in a local pizza place, which I assume was not attached to the WalMart. The article also quotes Wilcox's sister, stating that he ran into the store to confront the shooter.
From a T&T standpoint, this raises the question of who you intend to defend with your weapon. Wilcox decided to try to defend other people in the store, whereas many of us believe we carry only ourselves and our famlies. I won't call either of these right or wrong, but I think it is ALWAYS a bad idea for a non-LEO citizen to engage a shooter, especially since the only known crime at the time was shooting into the ceiling and ordering people out.
Am I off base here?
ETA: I tried searching for this before posting, but just now found an earlier thread on this event. The focus on that thread appears to be the role of CCWs in stopping tragedies. As such, unless Staff feel the thread is redundant, I want to keep this one focused on the tactics used and how we can learn from this tragedy (i.e. the risks of entering an active shooter situation, the need to identify all targets, etc.)
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