In the wake of this most recent tragedy at Umpqua Community College, a lot of concealed carriers already know: there’s no such thing as a “gun free zone”.
One thing we have to give credit for is to the members of law enforcement who selflessly rush into the fray in the attempt to save lives and neutralize the shooting threat. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in this radio clip included with the article (above) — 5 minutes is too long.
In the Umpqua Community College shooting incident which claimed the lives of over 10 students and sent 20 into emergency medical care, it only took the shooter less than 5 minutes to move between multiple classrooms before police were able to engage him.
He was captured. That’s the only good news.
The bad news is we’re seeing a pattern emerging.
Fast Law Enforcement Response — But Always Too Late
In the Tennessee theater shooting, which we reported on earlier, law enforcement were able to respond in under 2 minutes from the time of reported incident.
via CNN (8/5/2015)
Police were called to the Carmike Hickory 8 movie theater complex in the Nashville suburb of Antioch at 1:13 p.m. CT. Two officers were already at the mall working a car accident when people came running toward them. The officers were inside the complex withing two minutes…
In the Aurora theater shootings, it only took 90 seconds.
via archived Denver Post (2012)
Aurora police began receiving a swath of calls at 12:39 a.m. and were at the theater within 90 seconds. [The Shooter] was taken into custody behind the theater, near a white Hyundai.
What about the recent assassination of a faculty member on the campus of Delta State University? On the campus of Delta State University, in Cleveland, Mississippi, a lone gunman was able to gain access to a professor’s office and fatally shoot him at point blank range. Campus police were able to respond within 10 minutes but were unable to apprehend the shooter.
Delta State University President Bill LaForge says within 10 minutes of a shooting being reported to campus police, the university sent a campuswide alert. He says it was sent Monday morning to students, staff and faculty members by text message and messages on Twitter and Facebook. The campus was locked down much of the day.
In that case, police weren’t even able to stop the shooter leaving campus. They apprehended him miles outside after an extensive manhunt and the gunman took his own life.
Are we seeing a trend, yet?
In almost every case, we’re seeing “gun free zones” as a legal prohibition against concealed carriers. In many cases, the ability to respond immediately to a life threatening situation is the only way to deter and counteract these vile acts of mayhem.
Even more troubling than these mass shooting events is the willful ignorance of so many who refuse to see that firearms are a tantamount piece in self-defense. In less than 5 minutes in Oregon, 30 lives were permanently changed. In Aurora, even more.
If we’re to take the gun debate seriously, we need to start considering the realities of the times we are facing: gun control is ineffective in deterring criminals from conducting criminal, violent activities.
We can either face this problem together or we can continue to be subjected to its ruinous consequences. When life and death are measured in seconds, minutes are too long to wait for reinforcements to arrive.