Category: A Victory!
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Hehehe!
On July 19, 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken was shopping with his girlfriend at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Ind. when a gunman armed with a rifle opened fire in the food court. Upon witnessing the heinous crime, Dicken acted. The young man drew the Glock handgun he was concealed carrying and engaged the shooter as he gestured for others to flee.
According to reports, Dicken initially confronted the shooter at a distance of 30-40 yards. Demonstrating significant marksmanship under pressure, the armed citizen neutralized the threat in just 15 seconds – landing 8 of 10 shots on the evildoer.
Sadly, the criminal killed three people before Dicken dispatched him. However, Dickens unquestionably saved many innocents through his heroic actions.
Some initial reports indicated that Dicken was lawfully carrying a firearm in the mall due to Indiana’s new NRA-supported constitutional carry law, which went into effect July 1. However, Dicken’s attorney, Guy A. Relford, released a statement noting that the armed citizen is a lifetime Indiana Right-to-Carry permit holder.
The Greenwood Police Department was effusive in its praise for the armed citizen. Greenwood Police Chief James Ison called Dicken’s actions “nothing short of heroic.” Describing the scene, Ison explained, “[Dicken] engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun and was very proficient in that, very tactically sound. And as he moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for people to exit behind him.” The police chief added, “Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen.”
Praising Dicken, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers stated, “We’re very thankful for a young 22-year-old man, who stopped this violent act. This young man, Greenwood’s good Samaritan, acted within seconds, stopping the shooter and saving countless lives,” adding, “Our city, our community and our state is grateful for his heroism in this situation.”
Since the incident, Dicken has been understandably reluctant to speak with the media, instead his attorney released the following statement:
I am proud to serve as Eli Dickens’ attorney and spokesperson. He is a true American hero who saved countless lives during a horrific event that could have been so much worse if not for Eli’s courage, preparedness and willingness to protect others. Because we want to respect the on-going criminal investigation by the Greenwood Police Department and take time to honor the three innocent lives lost, we won’t be making any substantive comments on Sunday’s events until after the authorities’ investigation is closed. In the interim, we ask that you respect the privacy of Eli and his family.
Sensing a threat to their anti-gun narrative, the more pathetic elements of the gun control effort have sought to downplay Dicken’s heroism. Moms Demand Action Founder and left-wing social media gadfly Shannon Watts took to Twitter to declare:
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.
First, Dicken did not behave “illegally.” Even though the mall had a no firearms policy, as Relford aptly explained to the Indianapolis Star, in Indiana that simply means that if someone carrying a gun is asked to leave they must do so, or otherwise they are trespassing. Relford noted, “So the fact that (Greenwood Park Mall) had a no-gun policy creates no legal issue whatsoever for this gentleman… and it certainly has no effect whatsoever on his ability to use force to defend himself or to defend the other people in the mall.” Dicken’s attorney subsequently reminded Watts that “falsely accusing someone of committing a crime is ‘defamation per se.’”
Watts and her anti-gun comrades have good reason to downplay Dicken’s heroism. As more Americans are exercising their Right-to-Carry, the more obvious it becomes that good guys with guns are an effective means to confront violent criminals
Research has shown that Americans use guns to defend themselves more than 1 million – and up to 2.5 million – times per year.
The FBI has acknowledged the important role civilian intervention can play in ending high-profile shooting incidents. FBI’s “Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017” report stated,
Armed and unarmed citizens engaged the shooter in 10 incidents. They safely and successfully ended the shootings in eight of those incidents. Their selfless actions likely saved many lives. The enhanced threat posed by active shooters and the swiftness with which active shooter incidents unfold support the importance of preparation by law enforcement officers and citizens alike.
Moreover, research conducted by Economist John R. Lott suggests that the FBI tally of armed citizens stopping active shooters is an undercount.
Then there are the headline-grabbing stories of armed citizens defending themselves and others from senseless violence. In May, a Charleston, W.V. woman exercising her Right-to-Carry shot and killed a gunman who was shooting into a crowd of people. In 2019, NRA firearms instructor Jack Wilson felled an armed gunman who opened fire in the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. In 2017, armed citizen Stephen Willeford used his AR-15 to confront a mass shooter at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Dicken’s heroic actions serve as another important example that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
For some reason, I really like this picture! Grumpy
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Sniper rifles of Kalashnikov group
North Carolina: Carry Permit Training Bill Going to Senate Floor
Today, the Senate pulled House Bill 49 from the Committee on Rules and Operations and will send it to the floor for final passage. It requires sheriffs to waive the training requirement for former concealed carry permit holders who apply for renewal within 60 days of their previous permit expiring. If the permit has been expired for more than 60 days, but less than 180 days, the training requirement is waived for the completion of a refresher course. This ensures that law-abiding citizens who inadvertently let their permit expire can apply for a new one without as much time and expense.
Though this bill is not a large step for Second Amendment rights in North Carolina, it is nonetheless another pro-self-defense bill that the General Assembly is sending to an anti-gun governor. Governor Roy Cooper is expected to veto this, as he vetoed the pistol permit repeal and the worshipper protection bill from last year.
This is a reminder to all law-abiding gun owners that they must be ready to vote this year to elect lawmakers who will work to protect their rights. Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org and your email inbox for further updates.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari to four gun rights cases Thursday and immediately vacated lower court rulings and remanded the cases back for further consideration “in light of” the court’s majority opinion in the New York right-to-carry Bruen case. IMG NRA-ILAU.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- In a sweeping action that could send shudders through the gun prohibition lobbying groups and their allies on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday granted writs of certiorari to four pending Second Amendment cases, vacating lower court rulings and remanding those cases back for “further consideration in light of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen.”
According to the Associated Press, the cases “include ones about high-capacity magazines, an assault weapons ban and a state law that limits who can carry a gun outside the home.”
Possibly the most important of the four are Bianchi, Dominic, et.al. v. Frosh, the Maryland case challenging a ban on so-called “assault weapons” that could determine whether modern semi-auto rifles are protected by the Second Amendment, and Duncan v. Bonta, the California case challenging that state’s ban on so-called “large capacity magazines” that hold more than ten cartridges.
The Bianchi case was brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Field Traders, LLC, and the Firearms Policy Coalition, and three private citizens.
The Duncan case was brought by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc., and five private citizens.
What apparently caused this stunning high court action was language in the New York case, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, that put the brakes on the use of a “two-step” test manufactured by Courts of Appeals “to assess Second Amendment claims.”
Under this structure, “At the first step, the government may justify its regulation by “establish[ing] that the challenged law regulates activity falling outside the scope of the right as originally understood,” according to the Supreme Court ruling written by Justice Clarence Thomas.
“At the second step,” Thomas continued, “courts often analyze ‘how close the law comes to the core of the Second Amendment right and the severity of the law’s burden on that right.’ The Courts of Appeals generally maintain ‘that the core Second Amendment right is limited to self-defense in the home.’… If a ‘core’ Second Amendment right is burdened, courts apply ‘strict scrutiny’ and ask whether the Government can prove that the law is ‘narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest.’…Otherwise, they apply intermediate scrutiny and consider whether the Government can show that the regulation is “substantially related to the achievement of an important governmental interest.”
But Thomas rejected that structure, stating, “Despite the popularity of this two-step approach, it is one step too many. Step one of the predominant framework is broadly consistent with Heller, which demands a test rooted in the Second Amendment’s text, as informed by history. But Heller and McDonald do not support applying means-end scrutiny in the Second Amendment context. Instead, the government must affirmatively prove that its firearms regulation is part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms.”
Translation: The “two-step” process doesn’t wash.
Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder, and executive vice president, issued a statement following the high court’s mass remand.
“The importance of Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion in the New York right-to-carry case may not be fully understood until all of these other cases have gone through lower court review,” he observed. “What we’re seeing today could be the beginning of court actions that eventually fully restore rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
He noted SAF attorneys are now reviewing earlier cases that resulted in bad rulings or were denied review by the high court “to determine which ones can be re-filed for further action based on the high court ruling in Bruen.”
“It is also important,” Gottlieb observed, “that the high court granted all writs of certiorari in these Second Amendment cases as they were being remanded back for further review. That tells me we have a Supreme Court willing to rein in lower court activism and limit how far they will allow local and state governments to reach when it comes to placing burdens on the exercise of a fundamental, constitutionally-enumerate right to keep and bear arms.”
He may not be far off the bullseye. Lower courts have now been advised they need to consider Second Amendment cases following the principles set down in the Thomas opinion. It puts full gravity on Thomas’ observation that the right to bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment “is not a second class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.”
Thursday’s mass remand also tells the lower courts these cases will be acceptable for high court review should they come back.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
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Count me in!
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Yep!
