Shot in the Dark

Heroism Is Not Enough

I’ll urge prayers, or whatever your worldview calls for, for Chris Mintz, an Army veteran who was shot seven times trying to save others during yesterday’s mass-murder in Oregon.

While the details are still sketchy, it appears Mintz was shot repeatedly trying to either protect others, or to stop the murderer during his killing spree.  He’s still in very serious condition with seven gunshot wounds, in the back, abdomen, hands and apparently legs.

Mintz is, by all indications, a hero.

And hopefully via the grace of God he’ll come out of this a living hero.

But to paraphrase the vacuous suit that 52% of our low-information neighbors put into office, heroism is not enough.

Chris Mintz is a big, strong guy – he’s apparently done some cage-fighting – trained to a peak of physical power.  And he was laid low – hopefully temporarily – by a coward with a firearm.

But another hero – a 110 pound woman, a 70 year old man, a handicapped guy in a wheelchair – would have had a decent chance of taking the coward down even with a feeble little pocket .380.

Exactly as happened on December 11, 2012, just 120 miles north of Umpqua Community College, when Nick Meli confronted a man intent on mass-murder at the Clackamas Mall in Portland. Meli and his Glock didn’t even need to fire a shot; the man, intent on mass murder and who’d already killed two innocent people.  The killer saw Meli, realized the jig was up (as happens with most mass-murderers when confronted with unexpected lethal force), and slunk away to kill himself.  Exactly as has happened at many other episodes, where a “good guy or gal with a gun” ended a mass shooting before it became too “mass”.

Victory for the good guys.

But Umpqua is a gun free zone.

How’d that work out?

PS:  Heroism under fire seems to be in the water out there; one of the heroes from last month’s French train episode was from the same area in Oregon.

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Mitch Berg

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3 responses to “Heroism Is Not Enough”

  1. Adrian Avatar
    Adrian

    There’s no way to predict the future, nor to speculate with any degree of accuracy what might have happened in any given event had circumstances been altered…even slightly.

    Two outcomes MAY have happened had the College NOT been classified as a gun free zone.

    1. The murderer may have been stopped cold before he could have caused as much carnage as he did…if any.

    2. Being the coward he was, the murderer may have scrapped his plans to kill in a place/area that entirely possibly law abiding citizens were allowed the exercise of their rights as defined by the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment as well as their natural right’s of self defense and preservation.

  2. Dog Gone Avatar
    Dog Gone

    I notice you don’t mention that the shooter was an avowed 2A advocate and an avowed conservative.

    Factual information – the college was not a gun free zone. There were a number of armed students, trained ex-military.

    They CHOSE not to try to stop the gunman, so as not to confuse the responding SWAT teams as to who the actual shooter was. Apparently this was pretty well known on campus. Just as there were two armed cops at Columbine, which did not deter that mass shooting either.

    The gun pushers are factually inaccurate. NO mass shooting has been stopped by an armed civilian, and not much deterrence has resulted from the known presence of armed personnel either at the chosen locations.

    There is no evidence in the instance you cite Mitch that the armed man had any influence on the results, in contrast to the shooter opting to commit suicide when he did because of the arrival of more law enforcement. It is not in fact clear that the shooter actually saw Meli, who would not and could not safely shoot at the shooter in any case. Rather the cessation of more victims being shot appears to also relate to jamming problems with the shooter’s weapon. So you exaggerate his role in stopping the mass shooting.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2012/12/security_guard_said_he_had_rob.html

    “Meli earlier told a KGW reporter that he heard three gunshots, and then positioned himself behind a pillar in the mall. Meli said he saw the gunman working on his rifle, pulling a charging handle and hitting the side of the weapon.

    Meli said he then pulled out his Glock 22 pistol and aimed it at the suspect. But when he saw someone move behind Roberts, Meli decided against firing, concerned he might hit an innocent person. ”

    Another myth circulating about the Oregon mass shooter was that he targeted Christians – another factual fail.

    http://www.inquisitr.com/2468828/chris-harper-mercer-manifest-oregon-shooter-was-afraid-he-would-die-friendless-and-a-virgin/#bpB4B6QGVDVFHKcv.99

    The facts are not on your side, nor is reason.

  3. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    DG,

    As usual, you are living in a fantasy world.

    There is no evidence in the instance you cite Mitch that the armed man had any influence on the results, in contrast to the shooter opting to commit suicide when he did because of the arrival of more law enforcement.

    ALL the evidence points to that being EXACTLY what happened.

    Law enforcment didn’t arrive until after Roberts was dead. The ONLY motivation he had to break of his attack was Meli’s (check your spelling) resistance.

    Liberal critics long on ideology but bankrupt on knowledge say “Roberts committed suicide”. They don’t realize that’s what’s supposed to happen. That’s why law enforcement now trains to move immediately on active shooters, rather than waiting on SWAT – because mass shooters, on encountering ANY resistance that upsets their plan, tend to either give up or kill themselves.

    “But his gun jammed!” Clearing a jam in an M16/AR15 is usually a matter of yanking the charging handle. And Roberts had at least one handgun.

    But ALL the eyewitnesses said that seeing Meli and his gun was what sent Roberts into the Penney store. Where he shot himself. BEFORE law enforcement arrived.

    Sorry I’m not sorry, DG – you’re wrong, and you’re living in a fantasy world.

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