Opinion: Pistol Packing Pedestrian Proves Priceless

Did you hear about the mass shooting at a Philadelphia barber shop last Sunday?

No? That’s because it didn’t happen.

When a man started a fight with a patron in a barber shop, grew enraged, then pulled out a gun and began shooting, he was stopped by an armed citizen who heard the commotion as he walked by outside.

According to a local CBS affiliate, ”there was a crowd of patrons inside the shop at the time of the shooting, including several children.” But the man walking past responded immediately, taking the would-be killer out with one quick shot to the chest. No one else was injured.

Philadelphia police are not charging this man with a crime. Far from it: They’re acknowledging the role this brave man played in stopping what could well have been a mass killing.

“He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in there,” Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Llewellyn told reporters. “There were numerous people in there,” he added. “So it could have been a lot worse.”

In March 2013, fifteen thousand law enforcement officers were surveyed about crime and gun control.

Ninety-one percent said they support law-abiding citizens’ right to carry a handgun for self-defense, and fifty-five percent said they believe this reduces crime. Detroit Police Chief James Craig even said such people are “good Americans.” When asked to identify measures that would prevent mass shootings or minimize injuries, the most popular answer by far was: armed citizens.

Last summer Dr. Lee Silverman took down a madman in Darby, Pennsylvania. That story didn’t get a lot of media coverage either, but the police chief said Silverman’s actions unquestionably saved many lives.

Americans defend themselves and others as often as two thousand times or more per day. In ninety-nine percent of these cases, merely brandishing a weapon is sufficient to deter a criminal attack – as happened in Manchester, New Hampshire just two years ago. This latest incident in Philadelphia proves once again that armed citizens are the first and best line of defense against thugs and madmen.