In these violent times, a shooting event is often over before law enforcement arrives at the scene.  As those with bad intentions search for soft targets, they often choose “gun-free zones” such as malls, as the site of their hoped-for mass casualty event.  Sometimes, however, a law-abiding citizen breaks the rules taped to the entrance and becomes a hero by ending the shooting (and the shooter); a hero to most but, apparently, not to those on the Left.

This exact scenario played on Sunday, July 17, 2022, when a 20-year-old man decided to shoot up a mall in Greenwood, Indiana. Emerging from a food court restroom, he got far enough to kill three people and injure at least two others before being taken down by an armed civilian bystander.

The shooter, Jonathon Sapirman, was a troubled individual who quit a warehouse job recently and was evicted from his apartment.  Although he had a juvenile record for fighting at school and had run away from home, he had no criminal history as an adult.  Sapirman reportedly had two rifles and a handgun in his possession and about 100 rounds of ammunition, 24 of which were fired before he was shot dead by Elisjsha Dicken, a 22-year-old man who happened to be in the vicinity.

The good Samaritan bystander, who had no prior law enforcement or military experience, is thought to have acted almost immediately and displayed surprising proficiency with a handgun, apparently first striking Sapirman at a range of 40 yards.  As Dicken closed in on the shooter, he motioned other mall patrons towards exits behind him.  Once Sapirman was down, Dicken turned himself in to mall security.  He was handcuffed by local police and taken for questioning.

Jim Ison, Greenwood police chief, wasn’t reluctant to give credit to Dicken: “On Behalf of the City of Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in this situation.”

Left-leaning pundits and gun control advocates, however, were quick to question and criticize the young man who may have saved dozens of lives.

One anchor at a local CBS station tweeted: "The term, ‘Good Samaritan’ came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man who was injured and ignored.  I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone killing someone… my God."

Gun control advocate Shannon Watts of “Moms Demand Action” chimed in: "I don’t know who needs to hear this but when a 22-year-old illegally brings a loaded gun into a mall and kills a mass shooter armed with an AR-15 after he already killed three people and wounded others is not a ringing endorsement of our implementation of the Second Amendment."

Another, comedian John Fugelsang, joined the Twitter storm, suggesting that Christ would not have approved of Dicken’s life-saving actions: "The Good Samaritan did not shoot anyone.  Jesus was not a fan of killing for any reason, including self-defense.  But if these ammosexuals had ever read the Bible, they couldn't support the GOP or NRA."  Interesting to hear that Jesus is anti-Republican.

Sunny Hostin, co-host of  "The View," claimed that Elisjsha Dicken “broke the law” by carrying a gun into the Greenwood, Indiana mall.  She probably doesn’t know that mall rules are not actual laws.

Left-leaning media outlets that didn’t criticize the American hero gave precious little coverage to Dicken’s extraordinary valor.  Search MSNBC and you’ll get exactly one result, a two-minute statement by the police chief.  You’ll hear even less from President Joe Biden, who failed to mention the lives saved by Dicken at all.  Of course, both the administration and leftist media gave massive coverage to the tragic mass shooting that wasn’t stopped at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school recently.

Dicken’s actions aren’t unique. Active shooters have been neutralized and dozens of lives saved by armed bystanders in last few years in places like Fort Myers, Florida, Syracuse, N.Y., Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Lyman, South Carolina.

Whenever there’s a “successful” (from the shooter’s point of view) mass casualty event, a series of “copycat” incidents usually follow.  It is often said that having armed citizenry doesn’t prevent these from occurring.  It’s true that the allure of fifteen minutes of fame is hard to resist, so I’ll agree to this point.  However, you might also agree that the potential of making the death toll smaller is worth having responsible good guys with a gun around.

There’s a strange paradox in the thinking of the Left regarding an armed citizenry and COVID vaccines.  Think about it: COVID vaccines and boosters don’t stop a COVID infection from occurring, but reduce its severity.  Armed bystanders may not stop a mass shooting from occurring, but might reduce its severity.  If the Left can push this line of reasoning so hard with COVID, why don’t they do the same for armed citizens against active shooters?

Joe Alton MD is the NY Times bestselling author of The Survival Medicine Handbook and founder of the medical preparedness website doomandbloom.net.

Image: Alien Gear Holster