I am fairly certain that if an active shooter was firing at me or people around me I would draw and shoot back. But maybe a lot of folks don't.
A lot of folks don't, no question about it. A lot of us WON'T, unless there is absolutely no other choice. A CCW permit is NOT a Deputy's badge!
We are under no obligation (other than your own personal morals) to try and stop one of these bad guys. They have paid professionals who are trained for this kind of thing. I'm not one of them! I don't WANT to be one of them. And I especially don't want some of them shooting ME!
It is a popular fantasy, and, if its in you, by all means, be the hero. It not in me anymore, even in my fantasies. Probably because I'm old, and my dreams have faded. If there's no choice, them or me (or my loved ones, or even
possibly innocents near me) then I'm going to do what I think I have to do.
If there is a possibility of exit, we'll be taking that, rather than taking the fight to the bad guy.
The reason you don't hear much about armed resistance to the mass shooting instances is that in the rare cases it does happen, it is downplayed by the popular media, UNLESS the defender spectacularly FAILS.
The Walmart shooting where an armed citizen did try to stop the bad guy, and was shot and killed by bad guy#2 (female in this case) who the armed citizen apparently did not realize was a bad guy. That FAIL was news, it fit their agenda.
The Oregon mall shooting where the bad guy was faced with a CCW holder, (who didn't fire, due to the risk to others), the bad guy, retreated, then killed himself. That wasn't big news, #1, didn't fit the media agenda, and #2, wasn't a
mass shooting, because only 2 or 3 were killed, including the bad guy. sorry folks, by today's rules, has to have a body count at 4 or above to qualify as a mass shooting. Nothing to see here, move along....
The number of CCW permits in an area is misleading, if you are trying to figure out the % of people likely to be armed at a given spot and time.
A lot of CCW holders are not going about daily life armed. And those who are, are further restricted by specific locations where they cannot be legally armed.
These factors pare down the numbers available from the CCW permit "pool" by a considerable amount. Then there is the hugely important factor of random chance putting an armed person in the place of attack, at the TIME of attack.
Once / IF you get past all that, THEN you have the individual armed citizen who may, or may not "fight back".
We talk a lot about how an armed citizen in the right place and time COULD make a difference. And we are entirely right, they COULD make a difference. There have been cases where they have made a difference, some even ending the attacks. We do not say they WILL end an attack, only that they COULD.
Sure would be nice if the law encouraged that possibility, rather than the reverse.